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:

• North Dakota Native Vote (NDNV) is a Native American advocacy group that was formed to oppose the state’s voter identification legislation. NDNV’s executive director, Nicole Montclair-Donaghy Donaghy previously worked as a field organizer for the Dakota Resource Council, a member organization of left-of-center lobbying group Western Organization of Resource Councils Education Project. NDNV has previously received donations from several organizations including a $100,000 grant from the left-of-center Northwest Area Foundation.
• Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights was a ballot initiative committee formed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana to support the passage of ballot initiative CI-128, amending the state constitution to include the right to an abortion. The committee spent over $17 million during the 2024 election cycle to promote the ballot initiative, which ultimately passed with 57% of the vote in favor. Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights reportedly received over $17 million in contributions, including from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Advocacy Action Fund, the Global Impact Social Welfare Fund Montana, and the Fairness Project.
• Life First PC was a state-level political committee created to oppose Florida Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative, which was on the state ballot during the 2024 election cycle. The amendment, which would have changed the state constitution to protect the right to an abortion, was supported by several state groups including Floridians Protecting Freedom, the ACLU of Florida, Florida Rising,  SEIU 1199 Florida, and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. On November 5, 2024, 57.17% voted in favor of the amendment, short of the 60% threshold required, and it was defeated.
• The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis is a research and advocacy group that promotes weather-dependent sources of energy in North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. At the group’s 2024 Energy Finance Conference in Malaysia, workshops and panels included “decarbonizing transport and driving investment,” “corporate decarbonization,” and “catalyzing private capital for the energy transition in emerging Asia.” The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has received funding from several organizations including the ClimateWorks Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Sandler Foundation, and the Wallace Global Fund.
• Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action is an advocacy group and the lobbying arm for the pro-Palestinian organization Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). The group supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, an effort to delegitimize the State of Israel through consumer boycotts and sanctions. JVP Action has received funding from organizations that include the Open Society Policy Center, the Proteus Action League, and Tides Advocacy.