US Donors Who Gave To Rightwing UK Groups
A range of charitable foundations have donated millions of dollars to free market thinktanks
American donors that have given money to British rightwing groups since 2014
John Templeton foundations $3.3m
Three foundations have been created using the fortune of an ultra-conservative US billionaire, Sir John Templeton, who died in 2008. They have given $1.5m to the Legatum Institute, $1.4m to the Adam Smith Institute and $497,000 to the Institute of Economic Affairs.
The John Templeton Foundation said it supports “a variety of projects in an effort to promote individual freedom, free markets, prosperity, and enterprise-based solutions to poverty”. Two of the Templeton foundations maintain public databases of grants, which are acknowledged on the websites of their UK thinktank recipients.
Pierre F and Enid Goodrich Foundation $115,000
Named after an Indianapolis businessman and his wife, the foundation has funded a series of rightwing groups in the US. It gave $80,000 to the Institute of Economic Affairs in regular donations between 2014 and 2017 for what it called “general support”. It also donated $35,000 to the Adam Smith Institute in 2015.
Rosenkranz Foundation $85,000
The foundation was established in 1985 by US financier Robert Rosenkranz. It gave $84,845 to Policy Exchange in 2014 and 2015. Of this total, $45,000 was earmarked for Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power project in 2014, according to US tax filings.
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This project questions whether judges have become too powerful and are undermining parliament. The project’s advocates have argued against legal challenges on Brexit issues. The thinktank said government lawyers made “important use” of its legal arguments to oppose Gina Miller in 2016 when she disputed whether Theresa May could trigger Brexit without a parliamentary vote.
Rosenkranz has been on the board of Policy Exchange since at least 2014.
