August 27, 1998 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Lobbying groups and think tanks that get money from conservative foundations have eclipsed their liberal counterparts in strategy and public influence, largely because conservative foundations spend their money more effectively than do liberal ones, according to an article in The American Prospect (September-October).
The conservative “infrastructure” of think tanks, legal centers, magazines, and other ideological platforms “has far outstripped the left’s organizational capacity and resources,” Karen M. Paget writes in an article titled “Lessons of Right-Wing Philanthropy.”
Ms. Paget, who has been a consultant on state and local fiscal issues for the Ford Foundation and the Twentieth Century Fund, writes that the left has lost “repeated battles” to conservatives on such issues as affirmative action, welfare, immigration, and school vouchers, and that “left-liberal activists have attributed these losses to the massive amounts of money conservatives have spent on the initiatives.”
“However,” she adds, “it is the way conservatives have spent the money that has made the difference.”
Conservative grant makers “share an ideological agenda” and “contribute in accordance with political objectives,” most notably “limiting government and freeing markets from regulation — and shaping public opinion accordingly.”
Ms. Paget asserts that ultimately, the only real way to counteract conservative grant makers is by effectively organizing people and ideas. It is not enough to simply identify where the conservatives’ money is coming from, she says.
Citing a series of recent publications on conservative philanthropy, Ms. Paget writes that “conservative funders are strategic not just because they meet together or invest in think tanks, but because they view electoral politics as reinforcing (or diluting) the dynamics of agenda setting, issue framing, and grassroots organizing.
“It is this connective tissue between individual citizens, policy, and politics that progressive strategists — whether philanthropist or activist — need to take most seriously.”
