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:

• Coastal Trollers Association is a trade association based in Washington state that advocates for increased economic opportunities for troller fishermen, as well as conserving local fish resources. The group is a member organization of the Save Our Wild Salmon coalition, a network of Pacific Northwest and national environmentalist and conservation groups that advocate for the protection of salmon populations. Other members include Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, the National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the NW Energy Coalition, Oceana, and the Sierra Club.
• Brown Votes is a project housed at Brown University that advocates for increased campus civic engagement through voter turnout initiatives. It is a member of several initiatives to increase campus voter turnout, including the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge and the Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition. Other member organizations of the Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition include the Rhode Island chapter of the League of Women Voters, the NAACP Providence branch, the National Council of Jewish Women, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, and the Rhode Island Working Families Party.
• Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) is a criminal justice advocacy group based in New York state. According to its website, the CCA promotes statewide left-of-center policies such as reforming drug laws and ending relations between local prisons and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The CCA has received funding from left-of-center organizations including the Tow Foundation, the New Venture Fund, the Vital Projects Fund, the Open Society Institute, and the Robin Hood Foundation.
• Evjue Foundation is a philanthropic organization associated with the Capital Times, a Wisconsin-based newspaper that describes itself as a “progressive voice for news, information and opinion.” From its founding in 1958 through 2024, the foundation has reportedly made over $72 million in grants for community causes in the state of Wisconsin, including those focused on children’s welfare and “racial and social justice.” In 2024, the foundation made grants to organizations including Voces de la Frontera, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC), the Dane County chapter of United Way, Centro Hispano, The Progressive magazine, and the Wisconsin chapter of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
• ImpactAssets Inc. is a financial services nonprofit that manages donor-advised funds (DAFs) with a focus on impact investing and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) It was created in 2010 by Tim Freundlich, Ron Cordes, and Wayne Silby as a spin-off of Calvert Impact Capital. In 2023, ImpactAssets made grants to numerous left-of-center organizations including Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Tides Foundation, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, and the New Venture Fund.