Center for American Progress

think tank

Center for American Progress  link () Influencewatch Sourcewatch Website
File:Center for American Progress logo.png
Formation	October 24, 2003
Founder	John Podesta
Headquarters	Washington D.C.
Membership	Stacey Abrams,Julián Castro,Steve Daetz,Tom Daschle,Patrick Gaspard,Andrew Hauptman,Eric Mindich,Kristin Mugford,Donald Sussman,Hansjörg Wyss,Robert Abernethy,John Adams(NRDC),Paul Applegarth,Wesley Clark,David desJardins,Peter Edelman,Jose W. Fernandez,Margaret Gupta,Shashi Gupta,Jane Hartley,Fred P. Hochberg,Bill Ivey,Hamilton James,Farhad Khosravi,Ron Kirk,Judith Lichtman,Win McCormack,Ken Miller,Lois Quam,Robert W. Roche,Harley Shaiken,Kathleen Kennedy Townsend,Laura Tyso,Jon F. Vein,Madeleine Albright
A very well funded US think tank and advocacy organization closely aligned with the Democratic Party establishment.

The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a think tank and advocacy organization closely aligned with the Democratic Party establishment. With massive pay-for-play funding and people interlocked in central government jobs, corporate board rooms and other think tanks, it is a major behind the scenes force in US politics.

Activities

The president and chief executive officer of CAP is Patrick Gaspard, a former diplomat and labor leader, who served most recently as the president of George Soros' Open Society Foundations. Gaspard succeeded Neera Tanden, who was appointed special advisor to President Joe Biden in May 2021. Tanden previously worked for the Obama and Clinton administrations and for Hillary Clinton's campaigns. The first president and CEO was John Podesta, who has been White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Bill Clinton and as the chairman of the 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. Podesta remained with the organization as chairman of the board until he joined the Obama White House staff in December 2013. Tom Daschle is the current chairman.

Funding

The CAP routinely represents the interests of its major funders.

As president of CAP, Neera Tanden received donations from repressive right-wing foreign governments while she advanced their hardline policy priorities. The donors included lobbyists for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who enjoyed a friendly public forum with Tanden; the permanent monarchy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose ambassador to the US publicly thanked CAP for a favorable report it published on the Middle East following a series of substantial donations; the right-wing nationalist government of Japan, whose former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, gained an audience with Tanden; and the administration of Taiwan, which apparently used CAP as a vehicle to campaign for a more hostile US policy toward China.

In a February 1, 2012 email, CAP’s then-chief of staff Ken Gude detailed a meeting with AIPAC, the principal lobbying arm of the Israel lobby in the US, where he attempted to calm pro-Israel donors. According to Tanden’s underling, an AIPAC staffer “expressed the view that he felt we were now moving in the right direction.” Gude also mentioned “an effort to reach out to” the American Jewish Committee – the Israel lobby powerhouse that later rewarded Tanden with a speaking fee. Under pressure from the pro-Israel lobby, Tanden ousted four staffers over their vehement opposition to a US war on Iran and public criticisms of neoconservatives.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is a major donor to CAP. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given several million dollars over the years.

In the past, CAP has accepted support from weapons manufacturers like BAE Systems, Northrup Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. CAP hosts two former Raytheon vice presidents as a senior fellows, and has provided a revolving door for senior fellow Rudy De Leon to circle between the think tank sector and arms industry.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) – the de facto embassy of Taiwan in the US is one of CAP’s most generous funders. In 2019, TECRO contributed between $250,000 and $500,000. In return, CAP has published a number of reports calling for a harder line on China and calling for making the deepening of ties with Taiwan “a strategic and moral priority.”

According to a 2015 Politico report, CAP received large donations from Wall Street, including at least $50,000 from both Bank of America and Goldman Sachs as well as at least $100,000 from Citigroup and Blackstone. It also receives donations from Silicon Valley, including at least $100,000 each from Apple, Google, and Microsoft and $5,000 from Facebook + $665,000 from the Chan Zuckerberg Institute. Donors also include those is the Clinton and Obama inner circle, including Obama supporters Joan and Irwin Jacobs who gave at least $200,000, and Quinn Delaney and Wayne Jordan, who gave at least $100,0000. President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Obama fundraiser Orin Kramer have given at least $50,000.

CAP also receives donations from the Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Sea Change Foundation, Wyss Foundation, Glaser Progress Foundation, and Schwab Charitable Fund.

People

The Board Members listed above are from October 2021, plus some older names.

It employs more than 300 people, from senior staff, editors, communications personnel, administrative workers, development staff, academic fellows, and more to policy experts on the following subjects: democracy and government, early childhood policy, economic policy, education-K-12, education (post-secondary), energy, faith, guns and crime, health, immigration, LGBT, legal progress, national security and international policy, poverty, public lands, technology, and women’s health.

The Center for American Progress has a youth-engagement organization, Generation Progress, and a sister advocacy organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF).