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:

• Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence is an organizational network which is active on the issue of gun violence within the state of Massachusetts. According to its website, as of 2026 its member groups included Everytown for Gun Safety, Guns Down America, Stop Handgun Violence, the American Federation of Teachers–Massachusetts, and Amalgamated Bank. The Coalition has received funding from Vanguard Charitable, Global Impact, the New Venture Fund, the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, and Elluminate Inc.
• Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) is an environmental group that is active in the Gila River region of New Mexico. In August 2020, GRIP was one of numerous nonprofits to sign a letter opposing the First Trump Administration’s nomination of William Pendley as Director of the Bureau of Land Management for allegedly opposing “virtually all issues of social justice and diversity.” GRIP has received funding from the National Forest Foundation, the National Philanthropic Trust, Network for Good, and the National Wildlife Federation.
• Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness (FBWW) is an activist group that opposes development projects within the Boundary Waters region of Minnesota. FBWW executive director Chris Knopf previously worked at the consulting firm Blue Green Solutions, and as the director of the Ohio branch of the Trust for Public Land. FBWW has previously received funding from the National Philanthropic Trust, the Minneapolis Foundation, Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc., and the American Online Giving Foundation Inc.
• Just Strategy is a nonprofit activist group that also provides fiscal sponsorship. It was formed in 2018 as the 501(c)(4) partner of the Alliance for a Just Society, which was originally formed in 1993 by LeeAnn Hall as the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations. Just Strategy has previously received funding from the Energy Action Fund, the Inatai Foundation, America Votes, Tides Advocacy, and the Proteus Action League.
• Environmental Protection Network (EPN) is a policy advocacy organization founded in January 2017 by former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials to oppose the environmental policies of the First Trump Administration, and later of the Second Trump Administration. In recent years, the EPN has received grants from several philanthropic organizations, including the Wallace Genetic Foundation II, RF Catalytic Capital, the United States Energy Foundation, and the Climate Imperative Foundation. Additional grants have come from the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Skyline Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.