An investigation by the Congressional Integrity Project
Capital Research Center brands itself as a watchdog. In reality, it helps fuel partisan attacks on progressive groups and civil society. Public filings show who is bankrolling the operation — and we’re naming them.
Updated August 2026Based on public IRS Form 990 filings205 funders documented
The operation
Capital Research Center presents itself as a watchdog. In practice, its work helps power partisan attacks on progressive nonprofits, civic groups, and civil society. Its research has been cited and used by Republican investigators, and the Congressional Integrity Project has criticized it for conspiracy-laden, partisan attacks.
That work is funded — by a network of foundations, wealthy donors, donor-advised funds, and political interests. This project follows the money. The question is what they expect in return.
Foundations, donor-advised funds, trusts, and individuals give to Capital Research Center. The giving appears in the funders' IRS filings and annual reports.
Capital Research Center turns that funding into reports, briefings, researcher commentary, and media appearances.
CRC's material is cited by Republican investigators and amplified across right-wing media and the broader policy ecosystem.
That chain feeds partisan attacks on progressive nonprofits, civic groups, and civil society — the pattern the Congressional Integrity Project has documented.
Capital Research Center wants to talk about transparency. So let’s start with its own money.
The premise of this investigation
The scale of it
$0
in documented giving has flowed to Capital Research Center from 205 funders — much of it routed through donor-advised funds that keep the original donors off the public record.
The case files
The largest funders that appear in public filings as supporters of Capital Research Center. Pull a file.
DonorsTrust is the largest identifiable channel of money to Capital Research Center in recent filings. Widely described as the conservative movement's “dark-money ATM,” it is a donor-advised fund — so the public record names DonorsTrust, not the individuals or companies whose money passes through it. It has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to right-of-center groups.
Total to Capital Research Center
$3,211,900
The Sarah Scaife Foundation — flagship of the late billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife's philanthropy, with assets reported near $1 billion — is among the oldest pillars of conservative-movement funding. It is widely credited with helping build the right-of-center think-tank infrastructure that Capital Research Center operates within, and appears in public filings as a CRC supporter.
Total to Capital Research Center
$2,400,000
Fidelity Charitable is the nation's largest grantmaker by dollars distributed — and a donor-advised fund sponsor. When its name appears in Capital Research Center's filings, the public record shows the fund, not the individual or company whose account recommended the gift. Commercial DAFs like Fidelity disclose grants only in aggregate.
Total to Capital Research Center
$2,300,491
The receipts
Congressional Integrity Project releases documenting CRC's conspiracy-laden, partisan output.
After Capital Research Center president Scott Walter published a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the Congressional Integrity Project argued he was downplaying CRC's role in supporting the Trump administration's actions against nonprofits — and laid out the record.
Key claims
The Congressional Integrity Project documents how a new FBI unit uses vague criteria — “anti-capitalism,” “extremism on migration, race, and gender” — to target political opponents. It is the enforcement end of the machine that research from groups like Capital Research Center helps feed.
Key claims
Answers
Source-based answers to the most common questions.
According to public IRS filings, Capital Research Center is funded by a network of private foundations, donor-advised funds, charitable trusts, and individual donors — more than 200 funders accounting for over $16 million in documented giving between 2017 and 2025. The largest funders on record include DonorsTrust, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, along with donor-advised funds such as Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable. The donor database on this site compiles those funders from public records, including IRS Form 990 filings indexed by ProPublica.
Why this matters
When a self-styled “watchdog” is bankrolled by the very interests it serves, the public deserves to know. Share this investigation. Put it in front of reporters and lawmakers. Help hold Capital Research Center’s funders accountable.