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:

• LightHawk Conservation Flying is left-of-center environmental group that uses aviation to further its work. It has partnered with other environmental groups and networks including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Nature Conservancy, and 1% for the Planet. LightHawk has received funding from the Walton Family Foundation, the Thomas W. Haas Foundation, and the Marisla Foundation.
• Circle of Blue is a left-of-center journalism nonprofit that publishes articles on water-based ecosystems, as well as the impact of water quality and usage on certain communities. It has written articles criticizing the Second Trump Administration for increasing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions, cutting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, and closing down the United States Agency for International Development(USAID). In 2024, Circle of Blue received funding from organizations that included the Brookby Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Wege Foundation.
• The New Economy Project is a New York-based advocacy group that promotes left-of-center economic policies that it claims would establish “racial and social justice,” “neighborhood equity,” and “ecological sustainability.” As of 2025, the group was listed as an investor in Inclusiv, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that leverages wealth to support low-income communities and develop environmental infrastructure. The New Economy Project has received funding from the Scherman Foundation and Demos.
• Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project is an interdisciplinary academic research group that assesses voting systems and machines, as well as the impact of electoral system changes on voting patterns. It is a joint project of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is also affiliated with the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, a research center within MIT whose narratives on election reforms tend to favor left-leaning perspectives on issues such as redistricting, mail-in ballots, and same-day voter registration.
• United States Elections Project at University of Florida is a left-of-center political research group that studies demographic trends and election laws to help “improve” the U.S. electoral system. It is a project of the University of Florida,and managed by professor Michael McDonald. McDonald and MIT scientist Micah Altman collaborated to start DistrictBuilder, an application for voting district analysis which has received funding from the Sloan Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, Amazon in Education, and the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.