National Center for Public Policy Research

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) is a rightwing 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that focuses on public policy research and education. The organization's areas of interest include U.S. domestic and foreign policy, social security and medicare, government reform, environmental regulations, health care, and taxes.

NCPPR began operations in 1982. Its website states that the organization "helped change public opinion through vocal national campaigns aimed at supporting Reagan administration initiatives concerning the USSR, arms control, Central America and human rights." Its more recent focus is on environmental policies; it has stated that "private owners are the best stewards of the environment." The organization also promotes "regulatory horror stories" to fight environmental protection policies like the Endangered Species Act.

News and Controversies

NCPPR Opposes DEI Efforts, Sues Starbucks and Nasdaq

NCPPR filed a law suit against Starbucks Corporation for implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies as part of the company's goal of "taking further action toward tangible and lasting change" in company's internal affairs. NCPPR claimed this policies were racist in their suit. Such policies included goals of "achieving BIPOC representation of at least 30% at all corporate levels and at least 40% at all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025" and completing "the roll out of an analytics tool that will provide leaders with visibility to current diverse representation relative to Starbucks representation goals".

NCPPR also joined forces with the Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment to challenge Nasdaq's board diversity rule, which will apply to any Nasdaq-listed company. According to the rule, companies must report the diversity status of their boards. Nasdaq is requiring at least one female-identifying director and one LGBTQ+ director or member of an underrepresented minority.

NCPPR Hosts "Stop Corporate Tyranny" Coalition

NCPPR launched its "Stop Corporate Tyranny" coalition in 2021 to expose "the Left's nearly completed takeover of corporate America" and provide "resources and tools for everyday Americans to fight back against the Left's woke and censoring mob in the corporate lane". The project was part of the "Back to Neutral Coalition" associated with other Right-wing organizations, such as Tea Party Patriots and the Capital Research Center. Back to Neutral has also been a conduit for anti-LGBT sentiment. NCPPR purchases shares in corporations and lobbies board members and shareholders to oppose supporters of diversity initiative within the board.

NCPPR Launches 'GroupSnoop'

In October 2011 NCPPR launched GroupSnoop, a project that purports "to provide a candid, documented analysis of the work and impact of the nation’s most influential public policy-oriented non-profits." NCPPR uses the site to try to attack and discredit organizations which do not promote its agenda, some of which include the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Center for Media & Democracy.

"Fright Mail" Firm

NCPPR has been criticized for bombarding senior citizens with "fright mail." According to an article by Diane Walsh of the San Francisco Examiner, NCPPR contracts out its mailing of repetitive and frightening letters to the right-wing direct mail mill, Response Dynamics. NCPPR's leader Amy Moritz Ridenour admitted to an investigative reporter that "her organization sent donors up to a dozen major pitches a month. The appeals are sent on four different letterheads. She said anyone receiving more than a dozen solicitations in a month probably was on mailing lists the National Center has "rented" from other organizations, which she said were outside her control."

According to comments on Guidestar, adult children of senior citizens targeted by NCPPR are not happy with the group's tactics. One commentor asserted "Amy R. is the Queen of Scare Mail. My father receives 5-15 letters from them per day under four different names (maybe more I hadn't realized the association). He started giving to them in 2009 and gave them thousands of dollars little by little. When I found out he was spending all his money, I started tracking his junk mail and putting him on a charity budget.". That commentor added that: "In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing this organization are... Children of the elderly who find out what they are doing" and "They are Parasites feeding off the elderly!" Another commentor in 2010 urged fellow citizens to "Be VERY careful before giving money to this organization. You will be swamped by mail and they do not honor requests to be removed from mailing lists." Yet another commentor stated "the National Center for Public Policy Research has several 'projects' such as The National Retirement Security Task Force, etc. These projects simply acquire the names of older people and mail them requests for donations. These requests are sent with letters intended to scare the recipient into donating. Often these requests are sent via Certified Mail in the hope that the recipient will think the contents more important." NCPPR was cited by three other anonymous commentors for praise for supposedly shedding light on government corruption.

Distributing Millions in Charitable Donations as Directed by Jack Abramoff

According to a U.S. Senate investigation of the financial dealings and influence peddling of disgraced right-wing lobbyist Jack Abramoff, NCPPR's Amy Ridenour directed money received from tribes and others, at Abramoff's direction, and distributed it to other "charities," again at his direction.. Specifically, Ridenhour admitted that in 2002 she received a one million dollar gift from the Mississippi Band of Choctaws, who had been paying Abramoff to help secure its casino business, and also received $1.5 million from Abramoff's law firm, Greenburg Traurig. At Abramoff's direction, she gave $700,000 of this money to one of Jack Abramoff's "charities" called the "Capitol Athletic Foundation" (CAF). CAF reportedly used money it received from a variety of sources not to help inner city kids but to fund luxury golf trips for Members of Congress, like Bob Ney, and to buy sniper scopes and camouflage for West Bank settlers in Israel, among other things. Ridenour also directed $1.275 million to received at another Abramoff entity called "Kaygold, LLC," whose address was listed as her board member, Abramoff's. Ridenour testified that she thought Kaygold was controlled by Abramoff's colleague Michael "Sean" Scanlon, Congressman Tom DeLay's former communications director, who later pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of conspiracy to bribe public officials. She also gave $500,000 to Scanlon's "Capital Campaign Strategies." Abramoff was convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy, and he resigned from the board of NCPPR. Ridenour was not charged with a crime for distributing tax-deductible donations NCPPR's received to entities controlled by Abramoff and his associates.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

ALEC Supports "Stop Corporate Tyranny" Initiative

ALEC President Lisa Nelson discussed ALEC's role in forming the "Back to Neutral Coalition" at a Council for National Policy meeting in May 2021. Back to Neutral is a NCPPR project, hosted on a website called Stop Corporate Tyranny. "We're particularly sensitive about this corporate woke culture," she said.

NCPPR Launches a Voter Identification Task Force

In April, the NCPRR announced that it would launch a Voter Identification Task Force after the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) caved in to public pressures to dismantle their Public Safety and Elections Task Force. The Voter Identification Task Force would be used to carry forward voter ID legislation.

Through ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force corporate lobbyists and elected officials voted behind closed doors to approve "model" legislation that creates obstacles to American citizens voting through restrictive voter ID bills, as well as other damaging legislation, such as reckless gun laws that have been cited to protect violent vigilantes from being held accountable.

Press Release Scolds Corporations that Dropped ALEC

NCPPR's press release scolds the 11 corporations, that had announced they had dropped out of ALEC, which has come under intense scrutiny as a result of the Center for Media and Democracy's ALEC Exposed investigation and the efforts CMD, Color of Change, Common Cause, People of the American Way, Progress Now!, and other groups as well as Daily Kos bloggers. A growing number of concerned citizens are speaking up about ALEC across the country.

NCPPR even set up an email for corporations to reach out to if they "regret" their decision to cut ties with ALEC under the theme "we are not yellow." NCPPR asserts that corporations have succumbed to the "left-wing" which is supposedly using a "trotskyite strategy of making relentless demand-after-demand."

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Ties to the State Policy Network

NCPPR was formerly an 'associate member' of the State Policy Network. SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. As of June 2024, SPN's membership totals 167. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.

In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"

A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.

Ties to the Council for National Policy

NCPPR President David Ridenour and general council Justin Danhof are both CNP members as of September 2020.

Council for National Policy

The Council for National Policy (CNP) is a secretive, Christian Right organization of funders and activists founded in 1981 by activist Morton Blackwell, commentator Paul Weyrich, direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie, right-wing activist Phyllis Schlafly and Left Behind author Tim LaHaye. Anne Nelson's book about CNP, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, describes how the organization connects "the manpower and media of the Christian right with the finances of Western plutocrats and the strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives.” CNP membership as of September 2020 is available here.

Issue Positions

The Free Enterprise Project

NCPPR boasts its "Free Enterprise Project is the nation's leading program for confronting liberal shareholder activism". The project was started in 2007 to combat "big government and big business" through activism and education. The project "files shareholder resolutions, engages corporate CEOs and board members at shareholder meetings, petitions the SEC for interpretative guidance, and sponsors effective media campaigns to create the incentives for corporations to stay focused on their missions" according to its website.

The project is directed by Scott Shepard, who wrote in an Op/Ed on the Free Enterprise Project's website that environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) is "not an effort to achieve any sort of objective sustainability, or to advance all stakeholders, or to improve society in broadly agreed ways. It's just pushing a hard-left agenda that mirrors pretty exactly the goals of leftist professors and "progressive" politicians, while having not time whatever for any other interests".

Anti-Environmentalism and Climate Change Denial

The NCPPR retains a "firm belief that private owners are the best stewards of the environment" and "advocates private, free market solutions to today's environmental challenges." The Center for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs Task Force regularly publishes articles detailing the views of the center on various environmental policy issues. They deny the that a scientific consensus exists on the role of humans in global warming and question the credibility of scientists that have publicly defended the science on global warming. Global warming has been described by the NCPPR as an "unproven premise" and as a science that "is not settled." NCPPR analyst Amy Rideenour even went so far as to claim that global warming is a religion:

"The unquestioned adherence to the theory of Global Warming bears all the markings of what traditionally would be recognized as a religion. Complete with sin (the emitting of carbon dioxide), scriptures (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment reports), commandments (drive a Prius, use Compact Florescent Light bulbs, do not eat meat, etc.), indulgences (carbon offsets), proselytism and prophets (Al Gore), priests (scientists), prophecy and apocalypse (floods, hurricanes, dead polar bears), infidels (Warming skeptics), and salvation (the halting of carbon-emitting industrial progress), the religion of Global Warming fits the mold. "

Funding

NCPPR is not required to disclose its funders. Its major foundation funders, however, can be found through a search of IRS filings. Here are the know funders of NCPPR:

• Adolph Coors Foundation: $60,000 (2016-2020)
• Alliance Defending Freedom: $30,000 (2019-2020)
• American Chemistry Council: $40,000 (2012; 2016; 2022)
• Bradley Impact Fund: $90,120 (2020-2022)
• Brian & Joelle Kelly Family Foundation: $2,500 (2022)
• Calvanese Family Foundation: $1,500 (2014-2015)
• Capital Research Center: $135,000 (2021)
• Carthage Foundation: $65,000 (2014)
• Crawford Family Foundation: $8,600 (2013-2022)
• Daniel J Taylor Family Charitable Foundation: $1,000 (2022)
• David S Baum Foundation: $5,000 (2021)
• Donors Capital Fund: $417,000 (2010-2020)
• DonorsTrust: $704,221 (2010-2022)
• Eric Javits Family Foundation: $4,000 (2013-2018; 2021-2022)
• ExxonMobil: $445,000 (1998-2008)
• Farrell Family Foundation: $4,500 (2022)
• Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund: $178,535 (2020-2021)
• Gerry-Corbett Foundation: $38,900 (2014-2020; 2022)
• Glacs Endowment Fund: $31,500 (2014-2019; 2021)
• Gordan A. Cain Foundation: $20,000 (2020-2021)
• Jewish Communal Fund: $10,000 (2014)
• Ken W Davis Foundation: $10,000 (2021)
• Kickapoo Springs Foundation: $5,000 (2020)
• Legett Foundation: $5,000 (2020)
• Lundy Fetterman Family Foundation: $50,000 (2014-2020)
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $2,220,000 (2019–23)
• Minnie & Bernard Lane Foundation: $1,000 (2022)
• National Christian Charitable Foundation: $11,840 (2021-2022)
• National Philanthropic Trust: $200,000 (2021)
• Oda Family Charitable Foundation: $1,000 (2022)
• Paula And William J Marino Family Foundation: $1,000 (2021)
• Preston B And Maurine M Hotchkis Foundation: $2,000 (2013)
• Randolph Foundation: $195,000 (2008-2017)
• Redbud Foundation: $10,000 (2014-2015)
• Robert M Beren Foundation: $1,000 (2021-2022)
• Sarah Scaife Foundation: $550,000 (2012-2022)
• Schwab Charitable Fund: $39,289 (2019-2020)
• Servant Foundation: $67,000 (2021)
• Snider Foundation: $25,000 (2021)
• Servant Foundation: $67,000 (2021)
• Tepper Family Foundation: $2,500 (2022)
• Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program: $47,000 (2020-2021)
• Woodford Foundation for Limited Government: $1,250 (2013-2017)

Core Financials

2023

• Total revenue: $11,732,840
• Total expenses: $11,233,025
• Net assets: $3,712,525

2022

• Total revenue: $12,253,949
• Total expenses: $11,317,127
• Net assets: $3,092,796

2021

• Total revenue: $13,112,904
• Total expenses: $12,349,763
• Net assets: $2,328,313

2020

• Total revenue: $8,222,822
• Total expenses: $8,163,981
• Net assets: $1,576,883

2019

• Total revenue: $4,990,829
• Total expenses: $4,844,715
• Net assets: $1,255,279

2018

• Total revenue: $5,050,145
• Total expenses: $5,023,332
• Net assets: $1,043,207

2017

• Total revenue: $4,716,778
• Total expenses: $4,829,357
• Net assets: $1,069,189

2016

• Total revenue: $6,088,403
• Total expenses: $6,033,559
• Net assets: $1,152,540

Personnel

Staff Members

As of September 2022:

• David A. Ridenour, President
• David Almasi, Vice President
• Bonner Cohen, Ph.D., Senior Fellow
• Horace Cooper, Senior Fellow and Project 21 Chairman
• Justin Danhof, Program Manager
• Daniel D. Faoro, Director of Marketing and Communications
• Sarah Grassilli, Development Coordinator
• David Hogberg, Ph.D., Adjunct Fellow
• Donna Jackson, Project 21 Director of Membership Development
• Drew Johnson, Senior Fellow
• Nickie Kelley, Program Assistant
• Judy Kent, Media Director
• Bradley Krieger, List Manager
• Jennifer Lee, Program Assistant
• Steve Milloy, Adjunct Fellow
• Deroy Murkock, Distinguished Fellow
• Ethan Peck, Free Enterprise Project Associate
• Sarah Rehberg, Free Enterprise Project Program Coordinator
• Joe Roche, Adjunct Fellow
• Scott Shepard, Fellow and Free Enterprise Project Director
• Robert J. Smith, Senior Fellow
• Julianna Ustica, Program Assistant

Former Staff Members

• Amy Ridenour, Founder

Board of Directors

As of September 5, 2022:

• Horace Cooper
• Mike Franc
• Edmund F. Haislmaier
• Dennis Hollingsworth
• Lisa Nelson
• Victor Porlier
• David Ridenour
• Ron Robinson
• Peter Schweizer

Documents Contained at the Anti-Environmental Archives

Documents written by or referencing this person or organization are contained in the Anti-Environmental Archive, launched by Greenpeace on Earth Day, 2015. The archive contains 3,500 documents, some 27,000 pages, covering 350 organizations and individuals. The current archive includes mainly documents collected in the late 1980s through the early 2000s by The Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR), an organization that tracked the rise of the so called "Wise Use" movement in the 1990s during the Clinton presidency. Access the index to the Anti-Environmental Archives here.

Contact Information

Employer Identification Number (EIN): 52-1226614

National Center for Public Policy Research
2005 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20036

• Phone: (202) 507-6398
• Email: info@nationalcenter.org
  
• Website: http://www.nationalcenter.org/
• Twitter: @NationalCenter
• Instagram: @natlctr
• Facebook: National Center for Public Policy Research
• YouTube: National Center for Public Policy Research

SourceWatch resources

• Amy Moritz Ridenour
• Jack Abramoff

Articles and Resources

IRS 990 Filings

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2009

Articles

• "Diana Walsh, "The Fear Merchants," San Francisco Examiner, February 8, 1998, p. A1.
• Bill Berkowitz, "The National Center for Public Policy Research: Tom DeLay's Right Arm", Media Transparency, May 2, 2005.
• James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt, "Senate Report: Five Nonprofit Groups Sold Clout to Abramoff," Washington Post, October 12, 2006.
• Press release, "Black Activists Call on Obama to Condemn Race-Baiting Tactics in Health Care Debate," National Center for Public Policy Research / Project 21, August 7, 2009.
• "National Center for Public Policy Research, Inc.", Media Transparency, accessed May 2005.