Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led initiative for the next conservative president to follow to transform the federal government, has received growing attention in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. Some of the plan’s goals would be to fire thousands of federal workers and replace them with conservatives, abolish the Department of Education and eliminate federal funding for abortion providers.
The Adolph Coors Foundation, Walton Family Foundation and ExxonMobil Foundation have all donated to the Heritage Foundation in the past. However, only the Adolph Coors Foundation has donated to the organization since the think tank publicly announced Project 2025.
The Adolph Coors Foundation names the Heritage Foundation as one of the organization’s “featured projects” on its website. The Adolph Coors Foundation notes that Joseph Coors was one of the Heritage Foundation’s founders.
The 2023 grant list for the Walton Family Foundation isn’t yet available. However, neither the organization’s 2022 grant list or its 2022 tax forms indicate any donations to the Heritage Foundation.
The Walton Family Foundation’s website says the organization donated to the Heritage Foundation almost every year between 1992 and 2018.
Each year, ExxonMobil releases its “Worldwide Giving Report” that lists the organizations the corporation donates to through the ExxonMobil Foundation. The 2022 report, its most recent, includes a list of think tanks, public information and policy research organizations to which the ExxonMobil Foundation has granted money. The Heritage Foundation is not included in that list.
ExxonMobil’s 2012 Worldwide Giving Report shows the company’s foundation gave to significantly more think tanks and similar organizations that year, including a $50,000 donation to the Heritage Foundation.
The Heritage Foundation did not appear in ExxonMobil’s giving reports from 2017 to 2022.
While it’s possible members of the Walton family and executives at ExxonMobil have made their own donations separate from the broader charitable organizations, there is no obligation for individuals to reveal their donations to the public.
VERIFY reached out to ExxonMobil and the Walton Family Foundation to confirm their donation history and did not receive responses before publishing.
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