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:

• Florida Philanthropic Network is a Tampa-based coalition of foundations and other Grantmakers that provides networking and educational opportunities for philanthropic organizations in the state. In September 2026, it hosted a virtual meeting to discuss ballot proposals that would eliminate or restrict property taxes. Attendees included staff from the Florida Policy Institute, the Oklahoma Policy Institute, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Florida Philanthropic Network has received funding from the Gates Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the New Venture Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, and NEO Philanthropy.
• Freedom Trainers is a network that provides training to activists and organizers in “nonviolent resistance” and civil disobedience. The group is a project of Community Change, a Washington D.C.-based left-of-center advocacy group with an affiliated lobbying group, Community Change Action. Community Change itself has received funding from left-of-center Grantmakers such as the Open Society Foundations and the Tides Foundation.
• Yellowhammer Fund is a left-of-center nonprofit that advocates for increased abortion and contraceptive access in southern states such as Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. It is listed as a partner of Elevated Access, a transportation network that facilitates travel to obtain abortions. Other Elevated Access partners include Midwest Access Coalition, the Cobalt Foundation, and the Campaign for Southern Equality. The Yellowhammer Fund has received grants from groups that include the Ford Foundation, Borealis Philanthropy, and the Foundation for Women.
• Yes on 4 Coalition was a California-based ballot measure committee formed to support Proposition 4, a ballot measure which passed in November 2024 that approved the issuance of $10 billion in state bonds to fund environmental projects in the state. Contributors to the Yes on 4 Coalition included Fund for a Better Future, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Trust for Public Land. Organizations that endorsed Proposition 4 also included Clean Water Action, the National Wildlife Federation, the Resources Legacy Fund, the California Teachers Association, and the California Federation of Teachers.
• Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (BikeLA) is a transportation advocacy group that has supported ballot proposals to increase taxes in Los Angeles. These included Measure M, a Los Angeles County sales tax increase of 0.5 percent that passed in November 2016, and Measure ULA, which levied new city real estate transfer taxes on properties over $5 million that passed in November 2022. BikeLA’s funders have included the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, the California Community Foundation, Climate Ride, and Donor Advised Charitable Giving.