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:

• National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) is a network of organizations and individuals that advocate for left-of-center policies regarding economic and social equity. In March 2023, Biden Administration Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Marcia L. Fudge spoke at an annual NCRC “Just Economy Conference” about ending alleged discrimination within the United States economy. The NCRC has been awarded grants from several executive departments and federal agencies, including HUD, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce (DOC), and the Small Business Administration (SBA).
• Active Voice Lab (AV Lab) is a group that helps promote left-of-center policies towards immigration, criminal justice, and socioeconomic equity. It is a project of the advocacy group Community Initiatives, and has previously received funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. AV Lab claims to have previously worked with other advocacy groups such as the National Black Justice Coalition, Human Rights Watch, the NAACP, the Constitution Project, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Migration Policy Institute.
• Finance Uncovered is a London-based nonprofit that provides training to journalists in reading financial documents and writing on related topics, including money laundering and tax revenue. Part of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), Finance Uncovered previously helped develop the “Money Trail Project,” a three-year program that included courses on “tax abuse, money laundering, and grand corruption.” The group has received funding from organizations including Luminate, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundations (OSF), and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
• Somos Votantes is a fiscally-sponsored project of the political advocacy group Family Friendly Action Fund. It claims to be the “largest independent Latino civic and voter engagement programs in the country.” An August 2022 Forbes article accused Somos Votantes’ Super PAC arm, Somos PAC, of being connected to a “dark money” effort to support the campaigns of Democratic Party candidates running in the 2022 midterm elections. The article claimed that donors could anonymously pass grants through the left-of-center North Fund, which would then be sent to the PAC for the purpose of funding media ads and online marketing.
• National College Players Association (NCPA) is an advocacy organization that promotes increased protection and compensation for student athletes. As of January 2025, the NCPA receives strategic support from the United Steelworkers labor union, including legal, organizing, communications, and fundraising assistance. In 2024, the NCPA voiced opposition to a $2.8 billion settlement fund offer by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to compensate college athletes for lost revenue, claiming that the deal would centralize nearly all financial agreements between student players and the NCAA, rather than permit the players to make agreements with third parties.