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:

• Do No Harm is a medical advocacy organization that argues against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies influencing medical education and clinical practices. In January 2024, the group filed a suit against the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), claiming that NAEMT’s offering of a “diversity” scholarship for racial minorities excluded white students. It further stated that such a practice violated both federal law and the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Practitioners code of ethics, which does not discriminate based on race.
• The Pipeline Fund is a political activist organization that encourages a greater number of female and racial minority candidates to run for office in the United States. The Pipeline Fund is fiscally sponsored by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a nonprofit managed by the philanthropic consulting firm Arabella Advisors. As of March 2024, members of the Pipeline Fund’s national steering committee include EMILY’s List, the National Democratic Training Committee, and the Latino Victory Fund.
• Poder Latinx is a voter advocacy group that focuses on increasing Latino voter registration and mobilization in key battleground states including California, Texas, Washington, and Georgia. Poder Latinx and its 501(c)(3) affiliate, the Poder Latinx Collective Fund, are managed by Tides Advocacy and the affiliated Tides Foundation, respectively. In March 2024, Poder Latinx and the Hispanic Federation, a Latino membership group, won a suit challenging Florida Senate Bill 7050, which prohibited non-U.S citizens from working for voter registration groups within the state.
• The Tortuga Foundation is a grantmaking foundation that primarily donates to conservation groups including the Land Trust Alliance and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The foundation is controlled by the Livingston family, whose philanthropic efforts were primarily led by Joan Livingston Tweedy until her death in 2018. It has also donated to left-of-center advocacy groups including Planned Parenthood, the Environmental Integrity Project, and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
• U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent U.S government agency that provides foreign aid and financial support to developing countries. Between 2022 and 2024, USAID released two Equity Action Plans that called for integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory-influenced policies into its programming. In 2024, USAID faced controversy for having issued grants to Helping Hand for Relief and Development, a Michigan-based organization that has been accused of having links to terrorist groups including the Pakistan-based Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.