As the midterm campaign season heats up, a new watchdog tool is pulling back the curtain on what it describes as a hidden flood of foreign money shaping American politics and policy. Americans for Public Trust, a nonprofit organization, unveiled this week a first-of-its-kind database called Follow Foreign Money that compiles more than 12,000 records tracking over $5 billion in grants from foreign sources to U.S.-based nonprofits — many of them familiar names in the political ecosystem.
According to Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, the database is designed to expose how organizations are quietly using foreign cash to move the needle toward their preferred political outcomes. The groups listed in the database fund issue advocacy, protests, voter registration, state ballot initiatives, lobbying, newsrooms, universities, and think tanks. Sutherland argues that nearly all of these organizations push left-wing causes.
Billions in Foreign Influence
“Foreign nationals, charities, and governments with anti-American agendas are spending billions of dollars to influence our politics, policies, and institutions,” Sutherland wrote in an announcement. “That’s not a typo — billions with a ‘b’ — and most Americans have no idea.”
The database documents grants that have flowed to organizations involved in everything from climate litigation to voter mobilization. Among the most striking examples cited is the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit chaired by British billionaire Christopher Hohn. The foundation is also a registered NGO in China, with its in-country work overseen by various Chinese Communist Party ministries, according to Americans for Public Trust. Over the past decade, the group has funneled more than half a billion dollars into efforts that the watchdog says include attempts to stifle American energy production, funding climate litigation, and supporting protests.
The foundation’s CEO, Kate Hampton, has drawn scrutiny for her ties to the Chinese government, including receiving a “Friendship Award” from a CCP official and working with the CCP’s Belt and Road International Green Development Coalition, the database notes.
Radical Groups and Green Agendas
Another organization highlighted in the database is Indivisible, a D.C.-based nonprofit that gained attention for organizing disruptions at congressional town halls. Indivisible now leads nationwide protests and has announced plans to build its “strongest election protection program ever” for the 2026 midterm cycle. The database shows Indivisible received $7.5 million in grants from the Berger Action Fund, which the watchdog describes as an entity that channels the wealth of Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss into American politics and policy.
On the environmental front, the database tracks more than $1 billion in foreign grants to major groups pushing left-wing green agendas, including ClimateWorks, The Nature Conservancy, Energy Foundation China, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and League of Conservation Voters. These organizations, Sutherland notes, are actively registering voters, suing the Trump administration, and engaging in climate activism this election cycle.
The ACLU and its sister foundation also appear in the database, with nearly $19 million in total foreign money cataloged. Sutherland claims that this cycle, the ACLU Foundation has already channeled millions into two ballot issue campaigns in Missouri, which she says appears to violate the state’s ban on direct and indirect foreign funding of ballot measures. Americans for Public Trust has filed complaints with the Missouri Attorney General’s office.
A Legal Loophole
Federal law prohibits foreign entities from contributing directly to political campaigns and Super PACs, but Sutherland points out that there are virtually no restrictions on foreign funding for policy advocacy and election-related activities. That loophole, she argues, is allowing foreign influence to seep into U.S. elections through nonprofits.
“This is an immediate and quantifiable threat to our democracy that must be exposed and stopped,” she said.
The launch of the database comes as state and federal officials begin to move on the issue. Americans for Public Trust maintains a state legislative tracker showing that 11 states have passed laws banning foreign funding in ballot measure campaigns in the last two years, including Iowa and Nebraska just this year.
In Congress, the House Administration and Ways and Means Committees have been investigating the issue, and the U.S. House recently passed the “Stop Foreign Funds in Elections Act,” which would ban foreign money in state and local ballot measures. The bill now awaits action in the Senate.
Calls for Action
Sutherland urged voters to contact their senators and representatives to push for closing all foreign influence loopholes. “We’ve revealed the depth of the problem,” she wrote. “It’s long past time for our lawmakers to do something about it.”
The database is searchable and aims to provide transparency to the public, allowing anyone to look up specific organizations and trace foreign funding sources. Whether the tool will prompt legislative action remains to be seen, but its release adds fresh ammunition to the ongoing debate over foreign interference in U.S. democracy.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/foreign-money-is-pushing-leftist-causes-we-created-a-tool-to-expose-it