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:

• Civix is a for-profit corporation that offers business and management services, including for elections. In 2024, the company signed a five-year, $4.8 million contract with the state of Iowa to manage the state’s voter database and election system. The agreement came after the company hired former Iowa deputy secretary of state Christy Wilson in October 2021. The state had previously signed an agreement to have the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) manage the state’s voter registration rolls, until the state withdrew from the agreement with ERIC in March 2023.
• Save Our Home Planet Action (SOHPA) is a corporate entity registered in Delaware and whose address matches that of sportswear company Patagonia. In December 2024, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that between August and September 2024, SOHPA acted as a “straw donor” to pass over $1.425 million in donations from Patagonia to support Democratic Party-affiliated super PACs and committees backing the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris. These reportedly included the Senate Majority PAC, the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund (LCV Victory Fund), the House Majority PAC, the Future Forward PAC, and the PAC for America’s Future (also known as Future Now Fund).
• Street Roots is a Portland, Oregon-based community newspaper that publishes articles covering “economic, environmental, and social inequity” related to the city’s homeless population. The outlet has advocated for policy proposals such as the decriminalization of homelessness, low-income housing, and addressing what it calls “the relationship between climate change and homelessness.” Street Roots has received funding from left-of-center organizations including the Proteus Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Northwest Health Foundation, and Seeding Justice.
• Ohio Student Association (OSA) is a state advocacy group that promotes left-of-center policies focused on students and young voters. OSA has supported “ending the criminalization of…Black, brown, and poor young people[‘s]” communities, promoted voter registration and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) events for young people, supported pro-Palestinian encampments on college campuses, and accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza. The group is a member of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) through which it has received donations from left-of center organizations including the Cedar Tree Foundation, the Hill-Snowdon Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy, and the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation.
• New Mexico Native Vote (NM Native Vote) is a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) organization that advocates for increasing Native American voter turnout within the state. During the 2024 election cycle, NM Native Vote supported the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris as well as the Congressional campaigns of U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM). NM Native Vote has received funding from several left-of-center organizations including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Grove Action Fund, the State Engagement Fund, and the Groundswell Action Fund.