# Heritage Foundation The largest and most influential conservative think tank in the United States. Founded in 1973, Heritage operates with a $100M+ annual budget and has served as the policy factory for Republican administrations since Reagan. Its most consequential recent project: **[[Project 2025]]**, the 920-page governance blueprint and 30,000-name personnel database designed to restructure the federal government from Day One of a second Trump term. Heritage represents the **institutional conservative** wing — older and more establishment than the Claremont Institute or [[the New Right]], but possessing the largest policy infrastructure, the deepest donor relationships, and the most comprehensive personnel pipeline on the American right. ## Origins and History Founded by [[Paul Weyrich]], [[Edwin Feulner]], and [[Joseph Coors]] in 1973. Weyrich was a New Right organizer who also helped found ALEC, the Council for National Policy, and the [[Moral Majority]]. Coors provided the initial $250K seed funding. The founding premise: the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (AEI) was too academic and slow to influence policy; Heritage would produce actionable, timely policy briefs that could be implemented immediately. **The Reagan template:** Heritage's *[[Mandate for Leadership]]* (1981) — a 1,093-page policy blueprint — was delivered to the Reagan transition team. Heritage claims 60% of its recommendations were adopted within Reagan's first year. This established the model: produce the playbook *before* the election, have personnel *ready* to implement it, and treat the transition as a military-style operation rather than an improvisation. ## Project 2025 Heritage's most ambitious undertaking. Officially the **2025 Presidential Transition Project**, coordinated by Heritage president [[Kevin Roberts]]. ### The Four Pillars 1. **Policy Agenda** (*Mandate for Leadership 2025*) — 920 pages, 30+ chapters covering every federal agency, written by 400+ contributors from across the conservative movement 2. **Personnel Database** — 30,000+ vetted conservatives matched to specific government positions, ready for appointment on Day One 3. **Training Academy** — "Presidential Administration Academy" online training for prospective political appointees (180-day playbook for each agency) 4. **180-Day Playbook** — Agency-by-agency restructuring plans designed to be executable immediately ### Key Policy Provisions - Reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees as political appointees ([[Schedule F]] revival) - Dismantle the [[Department of Education]] - Restrict abortion access through executive action and agency rule changes - Federalize the anti-trans agenda: model bills for state gender-affirming-care bans, Title IX rollback, sex-segregation restoration in federal facilities — Heritage is the policy spine of political [[Transphobia]] - Expand presidential control over DOJ and FBI - Roll back climate regulations and expand fossil fuel extraction - Restrict immigration enforcement through agency restructuring - Centralize executive power and weaken congressional/judicial oversight ### Advisory Board (partial) Over 100 conservative organizations signed on, including: - [[Federalist Society]] - [[Claremont Institute]] - [[Turning Point USA Ecosystem]] - [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] - [[Family Research Council]] - [[Center for Immigration Studies]] ([[Tanton Network]]) - [[Hillsdale College]] - [[FAIR]] ### The Trump Disavowal Paradox Trump publicly disavowed Project 2025 during the 2024 campaign when it became a Democratic attack line. However: Heritage personnel populate his administration, Project 2025 policy recommendations align closely with executive actions taken in 2025-2026, and the personnel database has been used for staffing. The disavowal was political messaging, not operational reality. ## Budget and Funding Heritage's annual budget exceeds $100M. Key funding sources: | Source | Relationship | |--------|-------------| | **Bradley Foundation** | Major multi-decade funder | | **Koch-adjacent foundations** | Historical funders (relationship complicated by MAGA tension) | | **[[DonorsTrust]]** | Anonymous routing vehicle | | **Scaife Foundations** | Founding-era and ongoing funder | | **DeVos family** | Major conservative philanthropy ([[Betsy DeVos]], Trump Education Secretary) | | **Individual mega-donors** | Heritage Action for America (501(c)(4)) accepts unlimited anonymous donations | Heritage operates through two main entities: - **The Heritage Foundation** — 501(c)(3) tax-exempt research/education - **Heritage Action for America** — 501(c)(4) lobbying and political advocacy (can accept unlimited anonymous donations, does not disclose donors) ## Heritage vs. Claremont | Dimension | Heritage Foundation | [[Claremont Institute]] | |-----------|-------------------|----------------------| | **Ideology** | Institutional conservatism, Reaganite | Post-liberal, New Right, "Flight 93" | | **Approach** | Policy papers, personnel database, institutional capture | Intellectual doctrine, philosophical justification | | **Relationship to Trump** | Pragmatic alliance (Project 2025) | Ideological alignment (state power for conservative ends) | | **Personnel** | Establishment Republicans, career policy wonks | New Right thinkers, Vance orbit, [[Rockbridge Network]] | | **Output** | 920-page governance blueprints | "Flight 93 Election" essays, *Claremont Review of Books* | | **Scale** | $100M+ budget, 30,000-name database | ~$10M budget, smaller but more ideologically intense | Heritage provides the *machinery*. Claremont provides the *justification*. Both are essential to the dark money ecosystem, but they serve different functions and different factions within the right. ## Daily Signal Heritage's media arm, launched in 2014. Produces news and opinion content promoting Heritage policy positions. Functions as the think tank's public-facing media operation, complementing the behind-the-scenes policy work with direct audience engagement. Part of the broader right-wing media ecosystem documented in [[Media Ecosystem]]. ## See Also - [[Federalist Society]] — Complementary judicial capture pipeline - [[Claremont Institute]] — New Right intellectual rival/ally - [[Leonard Leo]] — Dark money network that partially overlaps - [[Bradley Foundation]] — Major funder - [[Council for National Policy]] — The private coalition where Heritage, FRC, Federalist Society, and the religious-right principals align strategy three times a year; Weyrich co-founded both Heritage and CNP - [[Council for National Policy Ecosystem]] — CNP ecosystem map; Project 2025 as "CNP made visible" - [[Turning Point USA Ecosystem]] — Youth pipeline, Project 2025 advisory member - [[Dark Money Ecosystem]] — The full dark money architecture - [[DOGE Ecosystem]] — Parallel government restructuring operation (tech-oligarch wing)