The Big 8 Peace Firms vs. The AEI and the Heritage Foundation

Have you noticed that none of the Big 8 peace firms are funding the push for a diplomatic solution in Iran through their multi-billion dollar infrastructure. Why?

Because their are no Big 8 peace firms! There is no multi-billion dollar infrastructure pushing peace.

You have a billion dollar think tank industry hammering the media and co-opting an entire broadcast medium because it is seen as a profitable way to keep their business growing. And EVEN if it turns out that MILLIONS of people are damaged by their views and policies, they are still seen as a success by the people funding them because their donor foundations and corporations are doing better. The funders of AEI and the Heritage Foundation are getting more money and since they are the ones paying for things, life is lush.

War. Pushing it. Big Time.
Check out this AEI and Heritage Foundation info from the good people at Sourcewatch.
Donate to the Center for Media and Democracy or join them. I've been a member for years and I love Stauber's and Sheldon Rampton's books.

AEI Funding

Between 1985 and 2001, AEI received $29,653,933 from the following funding sources:

• Carthage Foundation
• Castle Rock Foundation
• Earhart Foundation
• John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.
• Scaife Foundations (Scaife Family, Sarah Mellon Scaife, Carthage)
• Smith Richardson Foundation

Amounts contributed by the Coors Foundation are not included.

Funding has come from many other sources, such as Amoco, the Kraft Foundation, and the Procter & Gamble Fund. AEI, unlike some think tanks, has no endowment - something which has led the organization into financial embarrassment in 1985 when its operating budget outstripped its donations by 25 percent (Newsweek, 1984).

Corporate donations are not public, but it is known that during 1997, Philip Morris contributed $100,000 to the Institute [90]; and during 2005, ExxonMobil contributed $252,500 (including an estimated 50% of ExxonMobil's donation to the AEI Brookings "Joint Center".) [91].

Heritage Foundation Funding

The Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation. In its annual report it states that "we rely on the financial contributions of the gemeral public: individuals, foundations and corporations. We accept no government funds and perform no contract work." [2]

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2004 Budget

In calendar year 2004 the Heritage Foundation spent over $36.3 million on its operations. That year the foundation raised over $21.3million from individual contributors and $8.46 million from foundations. [3]

While corporations provided only $1.98 million - 6% of Heritage’s contributions in 2004 - they none the less have significant interest in the foundations policy output. There's defence contractor Lockheed Martin, finance companies such as the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America and Merrill Lynch, auto companies including Honda and Ford, drug and medical companies Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Pfizer, PhRMA, the oil company ChevronTexaco, United Parcel Service and, chipping in over $100,000 each, Talk Radio Network and Microsoft. [4]

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Historical Funding

Between 1985 and 2003, Media Transparency reports that the following funders provided $57,497,537 (unadjusted for inflation) to the Heritage Foundation [5]:

• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Scaife Foundations: Sarah Mellon Scaife, Scaife Family, Carthage
• John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
• Castle Rock Foundation
• JM Foundation
• Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation
• Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.
• Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
• Roe Foundation
• Rodney Fund
• Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation
• Orville D. and Ruth A. Merillat Foundation
• Bill and Berniece Grewcock Foundation
• Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
• William H. Donner Foundation
• Walton Family Foundation
• Armstrong Foundation
• John Templeton Foundation
• William E. Simon Foundation

Right Web says of the Heritage Foundation:

"The foundation received $2. 2 million from the Federation of Korean Industries in the early 1980s. Initially it was believed this donation came from the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (which would make the Heritage Foundation a foreign agent of Korea), but the Federation later stated that the donation came at the encouragement of the KCIA."

"The Heritage Foundation's income has increased every year since 1981. The progression has been: 1981--$7. 1 million; 1982-$8. 6 million; 1983--$10. 6 million; 1984--$10. 7 million; 1985-$11. 6 million; 1986--$14. 0 million; 1987--$14. 3 million; and 1988--$14. 6 million. In 1988, foundations provided 38 percent of Heritage's income, individuals provided 34 percent, and corporations gave 17 percent; the remainder came from investments and sales of materials."[6]

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Case studies

• Heritage Foundation: Capitalizing on Hurricane Katrina