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 National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is a legal policy research group that advocates for innovations in state court systems in order to improve the justice system. The NCSC is a sponsoring organization of the Election Law Program, which operates the Election Law Navigator that has received funding from the Democracy Fund, the Hewlett Foundation, and other grantmakers. The NCSC itself has received federal grants from the U.S. Department of State, as well as funding from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, the MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
• The Ocean Resilience and Climate Alliance (ORCA) is a philanthropic coalition created to fund efforts to find “ocean-based solutions” to climate change. ORCA was initially announced with $250 million in commitments, which later grew to over $300 million. Its funders include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Oak Foundation, and Oceankind.
• King Philanthropies is a private foundation that provides funding for projects and initiatives that emphasize the “climate-poverty nexus.” Its founders, Bob and Dottie King, signed the Giving Pledge in 2020, in which they agreed to contribute at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity during their lifetimes or in their wills. King Philanthropies has previously made grants to groups that include Blue Ventures Conservation, the Environmental Defense Fund, One Acre Fund, and Last Mile Health.
• Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights is a ballot measure coalition created to support the passage of “Issue 1,” which was approved by voters in November 2023 and made abortion a right under the Ohio state constitution. The top donors to the coalition included the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Open Society Policy Center, the Tides Foundation, the ACLU, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Other donors listed included the Voter Participation Center, the Hopewell Fund, the North Fund, and NARAL Pro Choice California.
• Khan Academy is an online learning platform that offers courses on subjects such as mathematics, science, economics, and test preparation. It has received funding from corporations and philanthropic organizations that include the Gates Foundation, Google, Bank of America, the Musk Foundation, the Overdeck Family Foundation, the Valhalla Foundation, and the Siegel Family Endowment. Khan Academy’s Global Advisory Board includes Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Susan and Craig McCaw, and Laurene Powell Jobs.