Growing Popularity of Philanthropist Funded Think Tanks

On January 30, 2008, the New York Times contained an article about how philanthropists are funding think tanks that are, in turn, having an real impact of Presidential campaigns.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

The research institutions say the boom is fueled by three major factors: big money from Wall Street, a post-Sept. 11 sense that foreign policy matters and anger at the Bush administration.

“While President Bush was bad for the world, he was good for our business,” said John Podesta, the chief executive of the Center for American Progress, a liberal research institution financed by, among others, the investor George Soros and his Open Society Institute. Mr. Podesta’s annual operating budget is now $23 million after barely four years in business.

But Mr. Podesta’s group is hardly the only one flush with cash. Operating budgets are up at all of Washington’s top two dozen research organizations — liberal, conservative or bipartisan — and philanthropy is feeding them. As the very richest Americans have given away record amounts of money, the organizations have become prestigious and relatively well-priced recipients of largess.

For the entire article, see “Research Groups Boom in Washington” in the January 30, 2008, New York Times.

DAB