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:

• Food Solutions Action is an advocacy group that pushes for public policies and government subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the development and distribution of lab-grown and plant-based meat products. During the 2024 election cycle, Food Solutions Action’s affiliated political action committee (PAC) contributed to both Democrat and Republican candidates, and to both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The group’s PAC has received funding from John A. Sobrato, co-founder of the Sobrato Family Foundation; Bruce Friedrich, founder of the Good Food Institute; and Josh Balk, co-founder of The Accountability Board (TAB).
• National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC) is an activist group that advocates for “harm reduction” policies for drug users while opposing what it calls “racialized” drug policies. In 2022, the NHRC received a $708,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of the National Expansion of Syringe Service Providers Technical Assistance (NEST) grant program. In recent years the NHRC has received donations from organizations including the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Tides Foundation, and the R Street Institute.
• Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE) is a nonprofit that provides capital and business development resources to businesses within the Atlanta metro area and North Georga region. In 2024, ACE received a $10 million donation from MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, while Bezos donated another $5 million in 2020. ACE has also received donations from organizations including the Truist Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
• Colorado Nonprofit Development Center (CNDC) is a group that provides fiscal sponsorship to projects in Colorado. The CNDC claims to have supported 300 projects with over $250 million in project revenue since its founding in 1999, including those advocating the concept of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI), as well as those advocating “harm reduction” in drug use. In 2023, the CNDC received funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Tides Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Walmart Foundation, among many others.
• Will J. Reid Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation based in Long Beach, California that provides funding to organizations advocating for left-of-center policies across multiple issues. Grantees include environmental advocacy groups such as the GrassRoots Recycling Network, The Ocean Foundation, Cool Effect, and First Nations Development Institute. In addition, the Foundation has donated to other left-of-center groups including Planting Justice, Centro Legal de la Raza, and Allied Media Projects.