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:

• The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) is an advocacy group focused on marine life conservation at the local, state, and federal levels. It has received donations from several donor-advised fund providers including the National Philanthropic Trust, the Schwab Charitable Fund, and Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. In February 2024, the CCA co-signed a letter to Congress supporting the Reinvesting in America’s Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act, which would direct funding from offshore wind production to coastal improvements that protect fish and wildlife.
• The Israel on Campus Coalition is a pro-Israel advocacy group that provides services for Jewish students to confront antisemitism on college campuses. It has received funding from the Marcus Foundation, the Koum Family Foundation, and the Jewish National Fund. The Israel on Campus Coalition holds events and retreats for students to attend, including an annual National Leadership Summit in Washington D.C.
• The Manassas Mosque is a religious institution in northern Virginia that has been scrutinized for receiving almost $200,000 from the Alavi Foundation, a U.S-based group with alleged ties to the Iranian government. Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks against Israel, the Mosque released a newsletter stating: “We stand firmly with the Palestinian Resistance (Hamas) and the courageous people of Palestine.” In 2010, Manassas Mosque Imam, Abolfazl Bahram Nahidian, spoke at a Quds Day rally in Washington D.C, and claimed that Israelis “are the chosen people of God – to be the most devilish ones on the Earth.”
• The South Carolina Education Association (SCEA) is a teachers’ union and the state-level affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), the largest government-worker union in the United States. The SCEA has lobbied for left-of-center education policies such as opposing school choice programs and pushing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related initiatives. In 2024, the SCEA opposed a state bill requiring school employees to notify parents if a minor identified themselves as transgender, stating that “all South Carolina students deserve to feel protected in our public schools.”
• Este Poder is a voter registration group that seeks to register rural voters of color in East Texas. It has received funding from left-of-center organizations including the Foundation for Women and the Arabella Advisors-managed Heartland Fund. Este Poder’s co-executive director, Emily Pinal, previously worked as a field organizer for former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-TX) 2018 Senate campaign, and as a community organizer for the Smith County Democratic Party.