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:

• New Yorkers for Equal Rights was a state-level coalition created to support the passage of New York Proposal 1, a ballot measure passed during the 2024 election to amend the state’s Constitution to prevent discrimination based on categories such as gender identity, sexual orientation, and reproductive health decisions. The coalition’s executive committee consisted of representatives from several activist groups and labor unions including 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, 32BJ SEIU, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the ACLU, the New York State United Teachers, and the New York Immigration Coalition. Major contributors to New Yorkers for Equal Rights included the New York Civil Liberties Union and the National Institute for Reproductive Health.
• The Lemelson Foundation is a private foundation founded by American inventor Jerome “Jerry” Lemelson and his wife Dorothy. It funds innovation education, entrepreneurship, and environmentalism. Jerome’s sons Eric and Robert Lemelson are listed as vice president and president, respectively, while former USAID official Robert Schnieder is listed as executive director. The Lemelson Foundation has previously made grants to the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
• Capital Pride Alliance is an advocacy group that helps organize and promote LGBT events, including the annual Capital Pride event in Washington, D.C. One of its campaigns, “Still We Advocate,” pledges (among other things) to help end “systemic discrimination and violence.” Still We Advocate promotes resources published by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. 2020 partners of Capital Pride Alliance included the Human Rights Campaign, the DC Preservation League, and Rainbow Families.
• Project Censored is a media advocacy group that claims to research and publish “important but under-reported news stories” while providing literacy training on advocating against censorship in the media. The group is part of the National Coalition Against Censorship whose members also include the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. Project Censored is housed within the Media Freedom Foundation, which has received funding from left-of-center organizations such as Free Press and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
• The Tiger Foundation is a private foundation that provides funding for academic training, family support, and other community services within New York City. The foundation’s late founder Julian Robertson Jr. was a signer of the Giving Pledge, whereby signatories commit to donating nearly all their wealth towards charity-related programs and initiatives during their lifetime. In 2023, the Tiger Foundation provided over $11 million in grants to organizations that included the Center for Justice Innovation, The Door, the Fortune Society, the KIPP Foundation New York, the Children’s Aid Society and the Fund for the City of New York.