Organization Trends
InfluenceWatch Friday
July 12, 2024

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 Integrity Institute is a nonprofit think tank that advocates in favor of regulating content on the internet in order to curb certain speech. The institute has received funding from several left-of-center organizations including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Omidyar Network. In May 2024, the Institute’s co-founder Sahar Massachi resigned from the organization after allegations of “blunt and rude” behavior towards female employees.
- The Olayan Charitable Trust is a New York-based nonprofit that provides funding to organizations tied to education, healthcare, and international policy. One of the group’s two trustees, Hutham Olayan, sits on the board of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2003 it was reported that the Trust donated $50,000 to Columbia University to support the professorship of pro-Palestinian academic Rashid Khalid, who was once described as, “one of the most outspoken critics of Israel in academia.”
- Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) is a coalition campaign created to support Florida Amendment 4 in 2024, which would enshrine the right to abortion access within the state constitution. Members of the coalition include the Florida state ACLU chapter, Planned Parenthood, Florida Rising, and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East (UHE). The coalition has also received financial support from several left-of-center groups including the Tides Foundation, ACLU Florida, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
- Harriet Heyman is a philanthropist who serves as a director of the Crankstart Foundation, and who is married to Michael Moritz, a venture capitalist and former head of Sequoia Capital. The Crankstart Foundation has previously donated to several left-of-center organizations including the American Immigration Council, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Heyman also made political donations, including to former president Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, the DNC Service Corps, and John Kasich’s campaign for Ohio governor.
- Aileen Getty is a philanthropist and the granddaughter of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, described in the 1960’s as the richest man in the world. Aileen Getty is the founder and president of the Aileen Getty Foundation, which has provided grants to left-of-center organizations such as the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), the Good Food Institute, Third Act, and the Climate Reality Project. CEF has in turn provided grants to radical anti-oil activist groups including Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, and Climate Defiance.