SPN In Your State: GEORGIA

 

Who Is Behind The Georgia Public Policy Foundation? The State Policy Network (SPN) is an umbrella group of right-wing think tanks across the country. The Georgia

Public Policy Foundation (GPPF) is SPN’s cookie-cutter think tank in Georgia. While GPPF claims to be focused on issues important to the people of Georgia, it actually pushes an agenda dictated by its national

right-wing funders and partners.      

EXPOSED: GPPF's Secretive Out-of-State Funders While GPPF is not required to disclose its donors to the public, and does not do so voluntarily, the few

publicly available records show the organization is largely funded by right-wing, out-of-state special interests. GPPF’s largest known donor is the secretive Koch-funded Donors Capital Fund, known as “the dark money ATM of the conservative movement.” The funders of Donors Capital Fund are kept

anonymous, therefore adding another layer of secrecy.

Other right-wing out-of-state GPPF funders include the Roe Foundation (of SPN founder Thomas Roe), the California-based Jaquelin Hume Foundation, and funding directly from the Koch brothers through

the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.

FUNDER BASED IN AMOUNT YEARS Donors Capital Fund Virginia $531,500 2007-2011

Jaquelin Hume Foundation California $225,000 2001-2010 The Roe Foundation South Carolina $110,000 1999-2011

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Oklahoma $67,000 1998-1999 State Policy Network Virginia $65,475 2003-2011

William H. Donner Foundation New York $25,000 1998 Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation Kansas $1,750 2011

WinShape Foundation Georgia $1,000 2010 [American  Bridge  Conservative  Transparency;  Donors  Capital  Fund  IRS  990s,  2008-­‐2011;  Georgia  Public  Policy  Foundation  IRS  990,  2011]  

GPPF's Extreme Agenda for Georgia's Middle Class § Defund and privatize Georgia's public schools through vouchers and charter schools

§ Oppose renewable energy, deny the science of climate change, and repeal air and water pollution

protections

§ Block access to affordable healthcare for Georgia families

§ Privatize and give control to Georgia's prisons to privative corporations

§ Oppose workers' rights and push anti-union measures like "paycheck deception" and "right to work"

§ Lower corporate taxes and cut off funding to essential public programs

§ Oppose federal consumer protections aimed at regulating Wall Street GPPF even promoted the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) “Rich States, Poor States”

report in order to push for lower corporate taxes and less corporate regulation. The State Policy Network, which GPPF is an affiliate of, is also a long time member and sponsor of ALEC, a

controversial organization where state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists come together to vote on “model” legislation behind closed doors that end up benefiting their corporate members.

Georgia Public Policy Foundation: Issues