Press Releases

For Immediate Release
3/3/2004
Contact: Jeff Krehely / Rick Cohen
(202) 387-9177
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NCRP RELEASES RESULTS OF YEAR-LONG EXAMINATION OF THE PHILANTHROPIC GRANTMAKING OF POLITICALLY CONSERVATIVE FOUNDATIONS
NCRP's Axis of Ideology details the effective philanthropic strategies that 79 conservative foundations have used to support the activities of 350 public policy-oriented right-wing think tanks at the federal, state, and local levels
WASHINGTON - The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) has issued a new report on the grantmaking of politically conservative foundations, revisiting the analysis and conclusions reached in NCRP's seminal report on conservative philanthropy in 1997.  The new report greatly expands on the 1997 research, looking at 79 conservative foundations and their grants to 350 archconservative policy nonprofit organizations between 1999 and 2001.

"Conservative foundations are brazen and confident in their grantmaking to advance a conservative political agenda, constituting a vital component for financing the right wing policy juggernaut," said NCRP executive director Rick Cohen.  "These conservative foundations know how to mobilize resources for their ideological causes and they do it well, to the detriment of the constituencies and populations that are not served by their nonprofit clients' assaults on civil rights, tax equity, affirmative action, gay and lesbian rights, and so many other concerns of ordinary Americans."

Jeff Krehely, NCRP's deputy director and the lead author of NCRP's report, Axis of Ideology: Conservative Foundations and Public Policy, outlined the key findings of the study, saying, "Our research both confirms and advances the conclusions NCRP researched in 1997 on several fronts. Conservative foundations are far more likely to provide their grantees with flexible core operating support and long-term funding, they focus their grantmaking on a small number of grantees with an eye toward investing in and sustaining existing politically conservative policy centers, and they fearlessly support and promote organizations that lobby their conservative ideas aggressively in state capitals and in Washington."

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NCRP News Release

Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2004

Page 2 of 3

Among the major findings of NCRP's Axis of Ideology report are the following:

·        From 1999 through 2001, the 79 conservative foundations made more than $252 million in grants to nonprofit public policy organizations.  (NCRP's 1997 study profiled only 12 conservative foundation grantmakers)

·        The top conservative foundation givers were the Sara Scaife Foundation ($44.8 million), the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation ($38.9 million), the John M. Olin Foundation ($17.4 million), the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation ($13 million), and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation ($12.2 million).

·        Multi-issue public policy think tanks got 46% of the grants, followed by 10% for education-oriented policy centers and 10% for conservative policy centers devoted to legal advocacy.

·        The largest recipient locales for conservative foundation public policy grantmaking, in rank order, were the District of Columbia, Virginia, California, Delaware, New York, Michigan, Indiana, and Texas.

·        The 10 largest recipients of conservative foundation grants between 1999 and 2001, in rank order, were the Heritage Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, George Mason University (the Mercatus Center), the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Hillsdale College, Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, Judicial Watch, the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
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