PUBPOL 301

Provides an index of the largest and most influential think tanks around the world.

Useful for finding…

Who’s giving how much to whom and trying to influence policy

Tips

Use Politicians and Elections tab for campaign finance; or search for individual donor records using Donor Lookup (Quick Links)

Use the News & Analysis tab; see esp. Issue Profiles link at bottom, and the blog

Use the Lobbying tab for numbers of lobbyists, dollars spent, top firms and spenders

Mashup using data from Open Secrets and other reliable sources; match Congressional campaign contributions with legislators' votes on current bills; see aggregate interest group funding and where it went.

Useful for finding…

Federal agencies, international organizations and NGOs in Washington D.C.

Federal department and agency organization charts
Tips

Use Advanced Search to choose types of organizations

See appendices for directory of government info on the Web, foreign embassies staff, and more.

Useful for finding...nonprofits, with a summary of each organization's mission and programs, financial information and IRS Form 990s. Similar to Guidestar; also has downloadable data on the nonprofit sector in the US.

From Harvard's Kennedy School of Government library; custom Google search + list of hundreds of US and international think tanks

Think tanks are defined by the above as institutions affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, non-governmental organizations, and businesses that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity.

Tips: Search these selected think tanks by keywords to find research and analysis. If one seems most relevant to your topic, go to the home page and mine the site for publications, issues, research, and links to other organizations.