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:

• Western Resource Advocates (WRA) is an environmentalist advocacy group that has promoted left-of-center climate policies such as cutting carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and reducing water usage in western U.S states by 25 percent. The WRA has received funding from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Catena Foundation, the National Philanthropic Trust, and the United States Energy Foundation. It has made grants to organizations that include American Rivers, Faith in Action Nevada, One Apia Nevada, and the River Network.
• Asian Law Caucus (ALC) is a California-based advocacy group that provides legal services for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities within the state. The ALC has received funding from the Ford Foundation, the NEO Philanthropy Action Fund, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society. The ALC has itself made grants to Chinese for Affirmative Action, the State Power Fund, the Asian Community Development Council, and Communities United For Restorative Youth Justice.
• Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) is an environmental activist group that advocates in favor of policies to prevent the production and release of chemicals from industrial and military facilities in the state. In 2024, the group received $2 million from Yield Giving, a grantmaking organization founded by MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazonfounder and former CEO Jeff Bezos. ACAT has also received funding from the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, the Windward Fund, the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, and the Groundswell Fund.
• Center for an Urban Future (CUF) is a New York City-based think tank that researches and produces economic and environmental policy proposals for the city. The CUF has received funding from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, the Tides Center, the New York Community Trust, the Tides Foundation, the Altman Foundation, the Clark Foundation, and the Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation.
• Faith in Place is a Chicago-based activist organization that works with religious and faith-based groups to promote left-of-center environmentalist policies. The group has received funding from the Lily Endowment, the Joyce Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the Chicago Community Trust. It has made grants to the Chicago Votes Education Fund, the Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund, and Ceres, Inc..