How Corporate Donors Captured Conservative Think Tanks (2000–2024)

From 2000 to 2024, a small network of wealthy donors — led by the Koch brothers, the Bradley Foundation, the DeVos family, and tech investors like Peter Thiel — funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into conservative think tanks and legal organizations to shape federal policy and judicial appointments. The Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and the Federalist Society built a pipeline that turned corporate money into model legislation, regulatory rollbacks, and lifetime court appointments. After Citizens United v. FEC (2010) removed limits on corporate election spending, dark money 501(c)(4) groups like Donors Trust channeled anonymous giving at industrial scale. Leonard Leo coordinated the Federalist Society's judicial selection network, placing six of nine current Supreme Court justices while raising hundreds of millions in dark money. ALEC drafted template state bills for corporate members including ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and PhRMA, then distributed them to state legislators. Project 2025, led by the Heritage Foundation in 2023–2024, represented the apex of this 25-year infrastructure — a 900-page governing blueprint written by think tank alumni funded by the same donor networks.