InfluenceWatch Friday

InfluenceWatch, a project of Capital Research Center, is a comprehensive and ever-evolving compilation of our research into the numerous advocacy groups, foundations, and donors working to influence the public policy process. The website offers transparency into these influencers’ funding, motives, and connections while providing insight often neglected by other watchdog groups.

The information compiled in InfluenceWatch gives news outlets and other interested parties research to use in reporting on significant topics that are often overlooked by the American public.

CRC is pleased to present some of the most significant additions to InfluenceWatch in the past week:

• The Freedom Fund is an international human rights organization that advocates for the end of modern-day slavery worldwide. As of 2026, the group lists the Corporate Accountability Lab(CAL) as one of its many global partners. The Freedom Fund has received large donations from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The Freedom Fund has itself made grants to the Greenpeace Fund, the Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), Oxfam America, and the Tides Center.
• WaterStone, legally known as the Christian Community Foundation, is a donor-advised fund provider that works to connect donors with causes and organizations aligned with Christian beliefs. WaterStone has received grants from the Bradley Impact Fund, the National Christian Charitable Foundation, the Servant Foundation, and Donor Advised Charitable Giving, Inc. It has made grants to Alliance Defending Freedom, the Discovery Institute, the America First Policy Institute, and the Family Research Council.
• Asian Pacific Community Fund (APCF) is a grantmaking organization that provides funding to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) groups in Southern California. APCF was the administrator of the API COVID-19 Recovery Fund supported by the Asian Pacific Fund and the James Irvine Foundation. It organizes bi-annual “Meet the Funders” events with participation from the Tides Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the California Community Foundation, and other Grantmakers. APCF has received funding from the Chicago Community Trust, the California Wellness Foundation, and MacKenzie Scott.
• Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) is a left-of-center organization that provides legal services for migrants within the United States and engages in immigration policy advocacy. ILCM was involved with the 2017 formation of Solidarity MN, to coordinate grants to immigrant advocacy groups in the state. Founding members of Solidarity MN included the McKnight Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the Pohlad Family Foundation, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. ILCM has received grants from the Otto Bremer Trust, the Minnesota Freedom Fund, the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, and Equal Justice Works.
• International Institute of Minnesota (IIMN) is a nonprofit that provides resettlement and workforce-development services for migrant communities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. According to its 2025 annual report, the IIMN received government funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Labor. Listed corporate and foundation partners included Asian Americans Advancing Justice of Southern California, the Headwaters Foundation for Justice, the Otto Bremer Trust, and the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation.