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:

• Internews Network is a media advocacy group that claims to promote training and network building between local and international news organizations and media outlets. Founded in 1982 through funding from the left-of-center Kendall Foundation, Internews Network receives the majority of its funding from government grants, including from the S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It has also received funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network, the Open Society Foundations, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
• American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) is a legal advocacy group that challenges organizations it believes are using “distinctions and preferences made on the basis of race and ethnicity.” Edward Blum, the president of AAER, also serves as president of Students for Fair Admissions and the Project on Fair Representation, and is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In April 2025, AAER asked the IRS to investigate the Lagrant Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Creative Capital Foundation over claims the foundations offered scholarships, career development opportunities, and mentorships based solely on race while discriminating against white Americans.
• Dignity of Work Institute is a think tank formed in March 2025 by former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who lost reelection to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in the 2024 election. It advocates for policies aligned with labor unions such as increased wages, worker protections, and healthcare provisions. The group’s advisory board includes Brown’s former chief of staff Sarah Benzing, Patrice Willoughby, who works as Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the NAACP, and Julie Su, the former acting U.S. Secretary of Labor during the Biden Administration and senior fellow at the Century Foundation.
• Glencoe Family Foundation is a private foundation that has donated to groups focused on assisting at-risk youth, promoting immigration policy, and providing refugee protections. Brian Henderson and Louise Henderson, the foundation’s president and CFO, respectively, are listed as officers with Glencoe Capital Partners Limited. In 2023, the Glencoe Family Foundation made $72,000 in grants to organizations that included Everytown for Gun Safety and the Waterkeeper Alliance.
• Democratic Power is a political action committee (PAC) initially organized to support then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, following then-President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race. During the 2024 election cycle, Democratic Power raised approximately $7 million, and gave approximately $2 million to several Democratic Party-connected campaign committees and PACs, including the Harris Victory Fund, Future Forward USA, and Senate Majority PAC. According to The Bulwark, Democratic Power was one of several PACs connected to Democratic Party strategist Ryan Morgan that were labeled as “scam PACs” and banned from using the ActBlue fundraising platform.