Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) (1984–2004) was a conservative political group operating in the United States. It was established in 1984 by Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries. Ron Paul was appointed as the first chairman of the organization. The CSE described itself as "hundreds of thousands of grassroots citizens dedicated to (1) free markets and limited government, and (2) the highest level of personal involvement in public policy activism."
Samuel Dale Brownback is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011 and as the 46th governor of Kansas from 2011 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, Brownback also served as the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom during the administration of Donald Trump and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.
The Koch family foundations are a group of charitable foundations in the United States associated with the family of Fred C. Koch. The most prominent of these are the Charles Koch Foundation and the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation, created by Charles Koch and David Koch, two sons of Fred C. Koch who own the majority of Koch Industries, an oil, gas, paper, and chemical conglomerate which is the US's second-largest privately held company. Charles' and David's foundations have provided millions of dollars to a variety of organizations, including libertarian and conservative think tanks. Areas of funding include think tanks, political advocacy, climate change denial, higher education scholarships, cancer research, arts, and science.
David Hamilton Koch was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held company in the United States. He became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979 and became a co-owner of Koch Industries in 1983. Koch served as an executive vice president of Koch Industries until he retired due to health issues in 2018.
FreedomWorks is a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representatives. It was widely associated with the Tea Party movement before firmly aligning with Donald Trump. The Koch brothers were once a source of the organization's funding.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one of the most influential American conservative organizations.
Foster Stephen Friess was an American investment manager and prominent donor to the Republican Party and to Christian right causes. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Wyoming in the 2018 election, losing in the primary to State Treasurer Mark Gordon.
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit through decreased government spending. The movement supported small-government principles and opposed government-sponsored universal healthcare. The Tea Party movement has been described as both a popular constitutional movement and as an "astroturf movement" purporting to be spontaneous and grassroots, but created by hidden elite interests. It was composed of a mixture of libertarian, right-wing populist, and conservative activism. It has sponsored multiple protests and supported various political candidates since 2009. According to the American Enterprise Institute, various polls in 2013 estimated that slightly over 10% of Americans identified as part of the movement.
The 60 Plus American Association of Senior Citizens is an American conservative advocacy group founded in 1992 and based in Alexandria, Virginia. Its stated purpose is to promote solutions to seniors' issues that are grounded in free markets, less government, and less taxes. The organization is pro-Republican Party. The organization is known for its advocacy for the privatization of Social Security and senior citizen health programs, as well as its opposition to the estate tax. The organization has been funded by Charles and David Koch. Although the organization did have ties to Koch family in the past, they say that there have been no contributions from anyone in the Koch network for well over a decade.
The Tea Party Patriots is an American conservative political organization founded in 2009 as part of the Tea Party movement. It is known for organizing citizen opposition to the Affordable Care Act during the presidency of Barack Obama, and more recently for supporting President Donald Trump.
The Koch family is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities and their control of Koch Industries, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States. The family business was started by Fred C. Koch, who developed a new cracking method for the refinement of heavy crude oil into gasoline. Fred's four sons litigated against each other over their interests in the business during the 1980s and 1990s.
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises its member think tanks on fundraising, running a nonprofit, and communicating ideas. Founded in 1992, it is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with member groups located in all fifty states.
Charles G. and David H. Koch (1940–2019), sometimes referred to as the Koch brothers, have become famous for their financial and political influence in United States politics with a libertarian, more so, right-libertarian or American-style libertarian political stance. From around 2004 to 2019, with "foresight and perseverance", the brothers organized like-minded wealthy libertarian-oriented conservatives, spent hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money to build an "integrated" and "stealth" network of think tanks, foundations, "grassroots" movements, academic programs, advocacy and legal groups to "destroy the prevalent statist paradigm" and reshape public opinion to favor minimal government. As of mid 2018, the media has been encouraged to refer to the "Koch network" rather than the "Koch brothers".
Charles de Ganahl Koch is an American billionaire businessman. As of June 2023, he was ranked as the 20th richest person in the world on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of $62 billion. Koch has been co-owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of Koch Industries since 1967, while his late brother David Koch served as executive vice president. Charles and David each owned 42% of the conglomerate. The brothers inherited the business from their father, Fred C. Koch, then expanded the business. Koch Industries is the largest privately held company by revenue in the United States, according to Forbes.
Donors Trust is an American nonprofit donor-advised fund. It was founded in 1999 with the goal of "safeguarding the intent of libertarian and conservative donors". As a donor advised fund, Donors Trust is not legally required to disclose the identity of its donors, and most of its donors remain anonymous. It distributes funds to various conservative and libertarian organizations, and has been characterized as the "dark money ATM" of the political right.
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.
The American Future Fund is a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization based in Iowa.
KochPAC is a United States political action committee that represents the interests of Koch Industries and its affiliates.
In 2013, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), under the Obama administration, revealed that it had selected political groups applying for tax-exempt status for intensive scrutiny based on their names or political themes. This led to wide condemnation of the agency and triggered several investigations, including a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal probe ordered by United States Attorney General Eric Holder. Conservatives claimed that they were specifically targeted by the IRS, but an exhaustive report released by the Treasury Department's Inspector General in 2017 found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used both conservative and liberal keywords to choose targets for further scrutiny.
Generation Opportunity was a center-right political advocacy organization in the United States focused on economic policy and aimed at young adults. It was a sister organization to the Americans for Prosperity-led political network initially funded by the Koch family. The group had campaigned against the Affordable Care Act.
