Council of Georgist Organizations

Overview

The Council of Georgist Organizations (CGO) was an umbrella body coordinating a dozen or more independent Georgist organizations, most visibly by convening an annual multi-day conference on the philosophy, sociology, and economics of Georgism (also referred to as Geoism or Geonomics).[1] Its formation was announced in the September–October 1980 issue of Henry George News, under the headline "Council of Georgist Organizations Formed."[2] The Council drew on the work of Henry George alongside earlier and later economists it associated with the same tradition, including Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, and Mason Gaffney.[1]

CGO has since been legally dissolved; its own site now carries a notice that the Council "was legally dissolved" and that this site "will soon belong to Common Ground-USA," with recorded conference videos remaining available through the Public Revenue Education Council.[1] The site does not state a year: its "Who We Were" page and homepage notice both describe the dissolution without dating it, and its conference-video archive runs only through 2022, which points to a wind-down in roughly the 2022–2023 period. The exact date is not published here; a future editor could confirm it via the organization's IRS Form 990 filing history (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer / GuideStar under its EIN) or state incorporation-dissolution records, which carry the precise date.

Role in the Field

As an umbrella rather than an advocacy or educational organization in its own right, CGO's primary function was coordination: bringing together member groups such as the Henry George School and the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation for shared annual conferences, rather than conducting research or lobbying under its own name. This organizational role — convening the movement rather than speaking for it on policy — distinguishes CGO from advocacy networks like Common Ground USA and from research and education bodies like the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

See Also

• Common Ground USA — the network CGO's resources and activities are transitioning to
• Henry George School of Social Science — a member organization of the wider Georgist movement CGO coordinated
• Robert Schalkenbach Foundation — a member organization CGO coordinated with
• International Union for Land Value Taxation — the parallel international umbrella body

Sources

1. Council of Georgist Organizations — official site, "Who We Were" — used for the Council's role as an umbrella/conference-convening organization, its membership drawing on Georgist and classical-economics figures, and its dissolution with resources transitioning to Common Ground USA and the Public Revenue Education Council. cgocouncil.org
2. "Council of Georgist Organizations Formed," Henry George News, September–October 1980 — used for the Council's founding announcement date. PDF (cooperative-individualism.org)