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:

• People Acting in Community Together (PACT) is a left-of-center faith-based network of different religious organizations based in San Jose, California. The network is an affiliate of Faith in Action (formerly known as the PICO Network), a national network of left-leaning faith-based institutions based in Oakland, California. PACT supported SB 567, the Homelessness Prevention Act, which passed in September 2023 and places new restrictions on landlords in California.
• The Global Coalition for Tech Justice (GCTJ) is a digital advocacy group that calls for social media platforms to regulate online content in order to stand against “online disinformation, hate speech, abuse, and manipulation.” The organization is convened by Digital Action, a fiscally sponsored project of the nonprofit New Venture Fund managed by consulting firm Arabella Advisors.
• Climate Cabinet Education (CCE) is a fiscally sponsored project of Climate Cabinet Action (CCA), a climate advocacy group that promotes environmental policy recommendations to state and local elected officials. As of 2023, CCE has received donations from several left-of-center funders including the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and the McKnight Foundation.
• The Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund is a grantmaking coalition of 14 left-of-center organizations that support content moderation on social media platforms to protect young users. As of November 2023, the coalition’s partners include the Omidyar Network, the Archewell Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, New Media Ventures, the Oak Foundation, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is an environmental organization that advocates for conservation policies focused on the Chesapeake Bay. In March 2023, the group endorsed the Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act that would place stricter environmental review requirements on federal agencies while appropriating $75 million in annual “environmental justice” grants.