The Heritage Foundation

File:The heritage foundation building on mass. ave.jpg on Capitol Hill]]

The foundation was founded on February 16, 1973, during the Nixon administration by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner, and Joseph Coors.{{Cite book |last=Stahl |first=Jason |url=https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469646350/right-moves/ |title=Right Moves |date=July 2018 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9781469646350 |pages=55, 70, 73, 78, 80, 89 |language=en-US |access-date=2018-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006200518/https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469646350/right-moves/ |archive-date=2018-10-06 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=March 17, 2003 |title=Brewery magnate Joseph Coors dies at 85 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2003-03-17-coors_x.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105055958/http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2003-03-17-coors_x.htm |archive-date=2013-01-05 |access-date=2017-09-16 |work=USA Today |agency=Associated Press}}{{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Edwards |title=The Power of Ideas:The Heritage Foundation at 25 Years |publisher=Jameson Books |year=1997 |isbn=0-915463-77-6 |location=Ottawa, Illinois |pages=1–20}} Growing out of the new business activist movement inspired by the Powell Memorandum,{{Cite web |last=Moyers |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Moyers |date=November 2, 2011 |title=How Wall Street Occupied America |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/164349/how-wall-street-occupied-america |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220185226/http://www.thenation.com/article/164349/how-wall-street-occupied-america |archive-date=2013-12-20 |access-date=January 20, 2014 |website=The Nation}}{{Cite book |last=Doogan |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTsXHSMMndIC&pg=PA34 |title=New Capitalism |publisher=Polity |year=2009 |isbn=978-0745633251 |page=34 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915172750/https://books.google.com/books?id=YTsXHSMMndIC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA34 |archive-date=September 15, 2015}} discontent with Richard Nixon's embrace of the liberal consensus, and the nonpolemical, cautious nature of existing think tanks,{{Cite magazine |last=Monroney |first=Susanna |date=December 1995 |title=Laying the Right Foundations |magazine=Rutherford |page=10}} Weyrich and Feulner sought to create a conservative version of the Brookings Institution that advanced conservative policies. In its early years, Coors was the Heritage Foundation's primary funding source. Weyrich was the foundation's first president. Later, under Weyrich's successor, Frank J. Walton, the Heritage Foundation began using direct mail fundraising, which contributed to the growth of its annual income, which reached $1 million a year in 1976. By 1981, the annual budget grew to $5.3 million.

The foundation advocated for pro-business policies and anti-communism in its early years, but distinguished itself from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) by also advocating for cultural issues that were important to Christian conservatives. But throughout the 1970s, the Heritage Foundation remained small relative to Brookings and AEI.

In January 1981, the Heritage Foundation published Mandate for Leadership, a comprehensive report aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. It provided public policy guidance to the incoming Reagan administration, and included over 2,000 specific policy recommendations on how the Reagan administration could utilize the federal government to advance conservative policies. The report was well received by the White House, and several of its authors went on to take positions in the Reagan administration.{{cite book|title=The Power of Ideas|last=Edwards|first=Lee|author-link=Lee Edwards|publisher=Jameson Books|location=Ottawa, Illinois|isbn=0-915463-77-6|pages=41–68|year=1997}} Ronald Reagan liked the ideas so much that he gave a copy to each member of his cabinet to review.{{Cite web|title = Reagan and Heritage: A Unique Partnership|url = http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2004/06/reagan-and-heritage-a-unique-partnership|website = The Heritage Foundation|access-date = January 29, 2016|language = en-US|archive-date = February 6, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160206204044/http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2004/06/reagan-and-heritage-a-unique-partnership|url-status = unfit}} Among the 2,000 Heritage proposals, approximately 60% of them were implemented or initiated by the end of Reagan's first year in office.{{cite book|title=The First Year|last=Holwill|first=Richard|year=1981|publisher=The Heritage Foundation|location=Washington, D.C.|page=1}} Reagan later called the Heritage Foundation a "vital force" during his presidency.

The foundation was influential in developing and advancing the Reagan Doctrine, a key Reagan administration foreign policy initiative under which the U.S. began providing military and other support to anti-communist resistance movements fighting Soviet-aligned governments in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Nicaragua, and other nations during the final years of the Cold War.[https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/182608-heritage-foundation-receives-largest-donation-to-date/ "Heritage Foundation receives largest donation to date"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205180108/https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/182608-heritage-foundation-receives-largest-donation-to-date/|date=December 5, 2022}}, [https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/182608-heritage-foundation-receives-largest-donation-to-date/] by Rebecca Shabad, The Hill, September 17, 2013, retrieved June 27, 2018

When Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in the 1980s, The Wall Street Journal later reported, "the Soviet leader offered a complaint: Reagan was influenced by the Heritage Foundation, Washington’s conservative think tank. The outfit lent intellectual energy to the Gipper’s agenda, including the Reagan Doctrine—the idea that America should support insurgents resisting communist domination."[https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-time-is-it-at-the-heritage-foundation-regan-war-ukraine-military-funding-taiwan-invasion-9a3f8ece "What Time Is It at the Heritage Foundation?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318044224/https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-time-is-it-at-the-heritage-foundation-regan-war-ukraine-military-funding-taiwan-invasion-9a3f8ece |date=March 18, 2024 }}, The Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2023

The foundation also supported the development of a new ballistic missile defense system for the United States. In 1983, Reagan made the development of this new defense system, known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, his top defense priority.

By mid-decade, the Heritage Foundation had begun emerging as a key organization in the national conservative movement, publishing influential reports on a broad range of policy issues by prominent conservative thought leaders.{{cite book|title=The Power of Ideas|last=Edwards|first=Lee|author-link=Lee Edwards|publisher=Jameson Books|location=Ottawa, Illinois|isbn=0-915463-77-6|pages=25–35|year=1997}} In 1986, in recognition of the Heritage Foundation's fast-growing influence, Time magazine labeled the Heritage Foundation "the foremost of the new breed of advocacy tanks".{{cite news|title=Joining the think ranks|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962184,00.html|newspaper=Time|date=September 1, 1986|access-date=2011-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007053135/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,962184,00.html|archive-date=2011-10-07}} During the Reagan and subsequent George H. W. Bush administrations, the Heritage Foundation served as the brain trust on foreign policy to both administrations.Arin, Kubilay Yado (2013): Think Tanks, the Brain Trusts of US Foreign Policy. Wiesbaden: vs Springer.

The foundation remained an influential voice on domestic and foreign policy issues during President George H. W. Bush's administration. In 1990 and 1991, the foundation was a leading proponent of Operation Desert Storm designed to liberate Kuwait following Saddam Hussein's invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990. According to Baltimore Sun Washington bureau chief Frank Starr, the Heritage Foundation's studies "laid much of the groundwork for Bush administration thinking" about post-Soviet foreign policy.{{cite news |last=Starr |first=Frank |date=1991-01-20 |title=What Kind of New World Order? What Will the U.S. Fight For? {{!}} Liberation of Kuwait campaign |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/bs-xpm-1991-01-20-1991020140-story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319085034/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-20/news/1991020140_1_saddam-hussein-kuwait-iraqi-president-saddam |archive-date=2018-03-19 |access-date=2024-03-01 |newspaper=Baltimore Sun}} In domestic policy, the Bush administration agreed with six of the ten budget reform proposals the Heritage Foundation proposed in its Mandate for Leadership III book, which the administration included in its 1990 budget proposal.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The foundation continued to grow throughout the 1990s. The foundation's flagship journal, Policy Review, reached a circulation of 23,000. In 1993, Heritage was an opponent of the Clinton health care plan, which died in the U.S. Senate the following year, in August 1994.

In the 1994 Congressional elections, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, and Newt Gingrich was elected as the new House Speaker in January 1995, largely based on commitments made in the Contract with America, which was issued six weeks prior to the 1994 elections. The Contract was a pact of principles that directly challenged the political status quo in Washington, D.C. and many of the ideas at the heart of the Clinton administration.{{Cite web|title=Washington and The Contract With America|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/jfnpr/jfreview.htm|access-date=2020-09-16|website=theatlantic.com|archive-date=November 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123145321/https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/jfnpr/jfreview.htm|url-status=live}}

The foundation also became engaged in the culture wars, publishing The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators by William Bennett in 1994. The Index documented how crime, illegitimacy, divorce, teenage suicide, drug use, and fourteen other social indicators had worsened measurably since the 1960s.{{cite book|title=The Power of Ideas|last=Edwards|first=Lee|author-link=Lee Edwards|publisher=Jameson Books|location=Ottawa, Illinois|isbn=0-915463-77-6|pages=43–50|year=1997}}

In 1995, the Heritage Foundation published its first Index of Economic Freedom, an annual publication that assesses the state of economic freedom in every country in the world; two years later, in 1997, The Wall Street Journal joined the project as a co-manager and co-author of the annual publication.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In 1996, Clinton aligned some of his welfare reforms with the Heritage Foundation's recommendations, incorporating them into the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Heritage Foundation supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the war on terror.{{Cite journal|last1=Zalman|first1=Amy|last2=Clarke|first2=Jonathan|date=2009|title=The Global War on Terror: A Narrative in Need of a Rewrite|journal=Ethics & International Affairs|language=en|volume=23|issue=2|pages=101–113|doi=10.1111/j.1747-7093.2009.00201.x|s2cid=145665077|issn=0892-6794}}{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2632845.stm|title=Viewpoint: Why Saddam must go|date=2003-01-09|access-date=2019-06-22|language=en-GB|archive-date=June 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622000858/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2632845.stm|url-status=live}} The foundation challenged opposition to the war.{{cite journal |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Chaim |title=Threat Inflation and the Failure of the Marketplace of Ideas: The Selling of the Iraq War |journal=International Security |date=March 17, 2024 |volume=29, No. 1 |issue=Summer 2004 |pages=5–48 |jstor=4137546 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4137546 |access-date=March 3, 2024 |archive-date=April 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418202804/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4137546 |url-status=live }} They defended the George W. Bush administration's treatment of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

In April 2005, The Washington Post reported that the Heritage Foundation softened its criticism of the Malaysian government after Heritage Foundation president Edwin Feulner initiated a business relationship with Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. "Heritage's new, pro-Malaysian outlook emerged at the same time a Hong Kong consulting firm co-founded by Edwin J. Feulner, Heritage's president, began representing Malaysian business interests" through his relationship with Belle Haven Consultants.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/04/17/think-tanks-ideas-shifted-as-malaysia-ties-grew/57dd8464-f2d1-408f-920c-439ecc8cb3c5/ "Think Tank's Ideas Shifted As Malaysia Ties Grew"], The Washington Post, April 16, 2005[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15538280 "Foreign lobbies took the guise of nonprofits"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318020039/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15538280 |date=March 18, 2024 }}, NBC News, November 3, 2006 The foundation denied a conflict of interest, saying that its views on Malaysia changed following the country's cooperation with the U.S. after the September 11 attacks,{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59539-2005Apr16.html |author=Thomas B. Edsall |title=Think Tank's Ideas Shifted As Malaysia Ties Grew: Business Interests Overlapped Policy|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 17, 2005|page= A01 |access-date=2017-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025100736/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59539-2005Apr16.html |archive-date=2017-10-25 |url-status=live }} and the Malaysian government "moving in the right economic and political direction."{{Cite web |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18542450_ITM |title="Heritage hails Malaysia's bold economic policies.", Asia Africa Intelligence Wire|date=2005-01-05 |access-date=2010-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117190932/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18542450_ITM |archive-date=2012-01-17 |url-status=live }}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJohfS4vTQ&feature=context&context=G23b6491RVAAAAAAAAAw "Heritage Foundation advocated for Iraq war?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529090000/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJohfS4vTQ&feature=context&context=G23b6491RVAAAAAAAAAw |date=2016-05-29 }} Real Time with Bill Maher.

File:US Navy 100513-N-8273J-010 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead speaks at the Heritage Foundation.jpg Admiral Gary Roughead speaking at the Heritage Foundation in May 2010]]

In March 2010, the Obama administration introduced a health insurance mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, an idea that the foundation supported in an October 1989 study, "Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans".{{Cite news |last= |date=June 28, 2012 |title=Individual health care insurance mandate has roots two decades long |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/individual-health-care-insurance-mandate-has-roots-two-decades-long/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517095111/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/28/individual-health-care-insurance-mandate-has-long-checkered-past/ |archive-date=2013-05-17 |access-date=2013-05-08 |work=Fox News}} In 2006, the mandate proposed in the Heritage Foundation study had been incorporated into Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's health care plan, known as "Romneycare," for Massachusetts.{{Cite news |last=Roy |first=Avik |date=2011-10-20 |title=How the Heritage Foundation, a Conservative Think Tank, Promoted the Individual Mandate |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/10/20/how-a-conservative-think-tank-invented-the-individual-mandate/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715050207/http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/10/20/how-a-conservative-think-tank-invented-the-individual-mandate/ |archive-date=2013-07-15 |access-date=2013-09-26 |work=Forbes}} The foundation opposed the Affordable Care Act.{{Cite news |last=Khimm |first=Suzy |date=January 25, 2013 |title=Heritage Action's Distinct Lobbying Plan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/24/the-rights-latest-weapon-think-tank-lobbying-muscle/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240626135731/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/24/the-rights-latest-weapon-think-tank-lobbying-muscle/ |archive-date=June 26, 2024 |access-date=September 28, 2023 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In April 2010, partly inspired by the model of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, founded by the progressive Center for American Progress, the foundation launched Heritage Action as a sister 501(c)4 organization designed to expand Heritage's political influence and reach.{{Cite web |title=Heritage Action for America |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0007959/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505152044/https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwaN0007959/ |archive-date=May 5, 2021 |access-date=2020-04-14 |website=Library of Congress}} The new group quickly became influential.

In July 2011, the Heritage Foundation published a widely criticized study on poverty in the United States,{{Cite report |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty |title=Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today? |last1=Rector |first1=Robert |last2=Sheffield |first2=Rachel |date=July 19, 2011 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |author-link=Robert Rector |access-date=September 16, 2013 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901210843/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/what-is-poverty |archive-date=September 1, 2013}} which was denounced by The New Republic, The Nation, the Center for American Progress, and The Washington Post.{{Cite magazine |last=Rothwell |first=Jonathan |date=November 8, 2011 |title=Why Heritage Is Wrong About Poverty in America |url=https://newrepublic.com/blog/the-avenue/97198/why-heritage-wrong-about-poverty-in-america |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018054713/http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/the-avenue/97198/why-heritage-wrong-about-poverty-in-america |archive-date=2015-10-18 |access-date=September 16, 2013 |magazine=The New Republic}}{{Cite web |last1=Boteach |first1=Melissa |last2=Cooper |first2=Donna |date=August 5, 2011 |title=What You Need When You're Poor; Heritage Foundation Hasn't a Clue |url=http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2011/08/05/10063/what-you-need-when-youre-poor/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003154738/http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2011/08/05/10063/what-you-need-when-youre-poor/ |archive-date=2013-10-03 |access-date=September 16, 2013 |website=Center For American Progress}}{{Cite news |last=Milloy |first=Courtland |date=September 13, 2011 |title=Study dismisses poverty, but try telling that to the poor |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/study-dismisses-poverty-but-try-telling-that-to-the-poor/2011/09/13/gIQANZSbQK_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910123431/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-09-13/local/35273697_1_poor-children-poverty-rate-latest-poverty-figures |archive-date=September 10, 2013 |access-date=September 16, 2013 |url-status=live |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite web |last=vanden Heuvel |first=Katrina |author-link=Katrina vanden Heuvel |date=July 28, 2011 |title=Colbert Challenges the Poverty Deniers |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/162421/colbert-challenges-poverty-deniers# |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417194931/http://www.thenation.com/blog/162421/colbert-challenges-poverty-deniers |archive-date=April 17, 2014 |access-date=September 16, 2013 |website=The Nation}}

In December 2012, Jim DeMint, then a U.S. senator from South Carolina, announced that he intended to resign from the U.S. Senate to replace Feulner as the foundation's president.{{Cite news |last=Kane |first=Paul |date=December 6, 2012 |title=Jim DeMint to head conservative think tank |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/conservative-sen-jim-demint-resigning-from-senate-to-head-conservative-think-tank/2012/12/06/3f815f26-3fbe-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150804192614/http://www.washingtonpost.com/conservative-sen-jim-demint-resigning-from-senate-to-head-conservative-think-tank/2012/12/06/3f815f26-3fbe-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html |archive-date=2015-08-04 |access-date=2017-09-16 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} As Heritage Foundation president, DeMint was paid $1 million annually, making him the highest-paid think tank president in Washington, D.C. at the time.{{Cite news |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |date=December 6, 2012 |title=Jim DeMint gets his reward |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/jim-demint-gets-his-reward |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207143434/https://www.thedailybeast.com/jim-demint-gets-his-reward |archive-date=February 7, 2023 |work=Daily Beast}}{{Cite magazine |last=Amira |first=Dan |date=December 6, 2012 |title=Jim DeMint cashes in |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/12/jim-demint-resign-senate-heritage-think-tank.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210073911/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/12/jim-demint-resign-senate-heritage-think-tank.html |archive-date=December 10, 2023 |magazine=New York}}

DeMint's hiring led some pundits to predict that he would bring the foundation a sharper, more politicized edge.{{Cite news |last=Tumulty |first=Karen |author-link=Karen Tumulty |date=December 7, 2012 |title=A sharper edge |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/demint-marks-a-new-sharper-edge-for-heritage-foundation/2012/12/06/2da434a0-3fe5-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201081541/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/demint-marks-a-new-sharper-edge-for-heritage-foundation/2012/12/06/2da434a0-3fe5-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html |archive-date=2017-12-01 |access-date=2017-09-16 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} DeMint led changes to a long-standing process the foundation had utilized for the publication of its policy papers, which historically were authored by policy experts and then reviewed by senior departmental staff. Under DeMint, however, his team heavily edited policy papers and sometimes shelved them entirely. In response to DeMint's new practice, several scholars at the foundation quit.

In May 2013, Jason Richwine, a senior fellow at the foundation, resigned after his Harvard University Ph.D. thesis, authored in 2009, and comments he made at a 2008 American Enterprise Institute forum, drew extensive media scrutiny. In his thesis and at in the earlier American Enterprise Institute forum, Richwine argued that Hispanics and Blacks are intellectually inferior to Whites with a supposed predisposition to a lower IQs, leading them to struggle in assimilating.{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Conn |date=May 10, 2013 |title=Amnesty study author Jason Richwine resigns from Heritage Foundation |url=http://washingtonexaminer.com/breaking-jason-richwine-has-resigned-from-the-heritage-foundation/article/2529392?custom_click=rss |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054106/http://washingtonexaminer.com/breaking-jason-richwine-has-resigned-from-the-heritage-foundation/article/2529392?custom_click=rss |archive-date=2013-09-21 |access-date=May 10, 2013 |work=Washington Examiner}}{{Cite news |last=Walshe |first=Shushannah |date=2013-05-10 |title=Co-Author of Controversial Heritage Foundation Report Resigns |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/co-author-of-controversial-heritage-foundation-report-resigns/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801185819/https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/co-author-of-controversial-heritage-foundation-report-resigns/ |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |access-date=2013-12-09 |publisher=ABC News}} A foundation study that month by Richwine and Robert Rector also was widely criticized across the political spectrum for methodology the two used in criticizing immigration reform legislation.{{Cite news |last=Keller |first=Bill |date=May 12, 2013 |title=Dark Heritage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/opinion/keller-dark-heritage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216022636/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/opinion/keller-dark-heritage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |archive-date=2014-12-16 |access-date=December 10, 2014 |work=The New York Times}} Reason magazine and the Cato Institute criticized it for failing to employ dynamic scoring, which Heritage previously incorporated in analyzing other policy proposals.{{Cite news |last=Dalmia |first=Shikha |date=May 7, 2013 |title=Heritage's Updated Study on the Welfare Costs of Immigrants: Garbage In, Garbage Out |url=http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/07/heritages-updated-study-on-the-welfare-c |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141206173410/http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/07/heritages-updated-study-on-the-welfare-c |archive-date=2014-12-06 |access-date=December 10, 2014 |work=Reason Magazine Hit & Run Blog}}{{Cite news |last=Parker |first=Ashley |date=May 10, 2013 |title=Author of Study on Immigrants' I.Q. Leaves Heritage Foundation |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/author-of-study-on-immigrants-i-q-leaves-heritage-foundation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110001129/http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/author-of-study-on-immigrants-i-q-leaves-heritage-foundation/ |archive-date=2015-01-10 |access-date=December 22, 2014 |work=The New York Times}}

In July 2013, following disputes with the Heritage Foundation over the farm bill, the Republican Study Committee, which then included 172 conservative U.S. House members, reversed a decades-old tradition and barred Heritage employees from attending its weekly meeting in the U.S. Capitol, though it continued cooperating with the foundation through "regular joint events and briefings".{{Cite web |last=Alberts |first=Tim |date=August 28, 2013 |title=Republican Lawmakers Retaliate Against Heritage Foundation |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/republican-lawmakers-retaliate-against-heritage-foundation-20130828 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828203544/http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/republican-lawmakers-retaliate-against-heritage-foundation-20130828 |archive-date=2013-08-28 |website=National Journal}}

In September 2015, the Heritage Foundation announced that it had been targeted by hackers, which resulted in the theft of donors' information stored in its systems. The Hill, a Washington, D.C.–based newspaper covering politics, compared the cyberattack on the foundation to a similar one against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management several months earlier by China's Jiangsu State Security Department, a subsidiary the Ministry of State Security spy agency, which accessed security clearance information on millions of federal government employees. After announcing the hacking, the foundation released no further information about it.{{Cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Katie Bo |last2=Smilowitz |first2=Elliot |date=2015-09-02 |title=Heritage Foundation hit by hackers |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/252615-heritage-foundation-hit-by-hackers-report/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018054713/http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/252615-heritage-foundation-hit-by-hackers-report |archive-date=2015-10-18 |access-date=2015-10-18 |website=The Hill}}{{Cite web |last=Sanders, Sam |date=4 June 2015 |title=Massive Data Breach Puts 4 Million Federal Employees' Records At Risk |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/04/412086068/massive-data-breach-puts-4-million-federal-employees-records-at-risk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605041629/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/04/412086068/massive-data-breach-puts-4-million-federal-employees-records-at-risk |archive-date=June 5, 2015 |access-date=5 June 2015 |website=NPR}}

In June 2015, Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. In July 2015, appearing on a Fox News panel, Michael Needham, leader of Heritage Action, the foundation's advocacy arm, said, "Donald Trump's a clown. He needs to be out of the race."{{Cite web |last=McMurry |first=Evan |date=July 19, 2015 |title=Fox Panel Dines Out on Trump's Comments: 'Despicable,' 'Clown' |url=https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-panel-dines-out-on-trumps-comments-despicable-clown/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829131938/https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-panel-dines-out-on-trumps-comments-despicable-clown/ |archive-date=August 29, 2023 |website=Mediaite}}

The following month, in August, a Heritage Foundation economic writer, Stephen Moore, criticized Trump's policy positions, saying, "the problem for Trump is that he’s full of all of these contradictions. He’s kind of a tabula rasa on policy."{{Cite news |last1=Costa |first1=Robert |last2=Rucker |first2=Philip |date=August 9, 2015 |title=Donald Trump struggles to turn political fling into a durable campaign |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-orbit-growing-pains-for-a-sudden-front-runner/2015/08/09/7672a8be-3ec6-11e5-9443-3ef23099398b_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204155138/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-orbit-growing-pains-for-a-sudden-front-runner/2015/08/09/7672a8be-3ec6-11e5-9443-3ef23099398b_story.html |archive-date=December 4, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} In December 2015, then Heritage Foundation executive vice president Kim Holmes, authored an essay opposing Trump and his candidacy for Public Discourse, published by the Witherspoon Institute, a Princeton, New Jersey-based think tank, which criticized Trump as "not a conservative." Holmes also criticized Trump supporters, writing that, "they are behaving more like an alienated class of Marxist imagination than as social agents of stability and tradition. They are indeed thinking like revolutionaries, only now their ire is aimed at their progressive masters and the institutions they control," he wrote.{{Cite web |last=Holmes |first=Kim R. |date=December 14, 2015 |title=Donald Trump: At Home in Postmodern America |url=https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/12/16133/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329010917/https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/12/16133/ |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |website=Public Discourse}} Then Heritage president Jim DeMint "praised both Rubio and Cruz, but said that he couldn’t 'make a recommendation coming from Heritage'."{{Cite web |last=Plott |first=Elaina |date=October 11, 2016 |title=Where in the World Is Jim DeMint? |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/10/11/where-is-jim-demint-heritage-foundation-donald-trump/ |website=Washingtonian}}

After Trump secured the Republican nomination and only a few days prior to the 2016 general election, the foundation's Restore America Project began emailing potential political appointees in the event Trump won the presidency. "I need to assess your interest in serving as a presidential appointee in an administration that will promote conservative principles," the email said. It asked that questionnaires and a resume or bio be returned to them by October 26, roughly a week prior to the general election.{{Cite news |last=King |first=Robert |date=October 22, 2016 |title=Report: Heritage Foundation cold calling for Trump posts |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1719517/report-heritage-foundation-cold-calling-for-trump-posts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329020835/https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1719517/report-heritage-foundation-cold-calling-for-trump-posts/ |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |work=Washington Examiner}}

File:Secretary Pompeo Delivers a Speech, “After the Deal A New Iran Strategy”, at the Heritage Foundation (27386414477).jpg Mike Pompeo addressing the Heritage Foundation in May 2018]]

Following Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, the Heritage Foundation obtained influence in his presidential transition and administration.{{Cite web |last=Kopan |first=Tal |date=December 6, 2016 |title=Meet Donald Trump's think tank |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/06/politics/donald-trump-heritage-foundation-transition/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130175605/http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/06/politics/donald-trump-heritage-foundation-transition/index.html |archive-date=2017-01-30 |access-date=2017-01-30 |website=CNN}}{{Cite news |last=Mahler |first=Jonathan |date=June 20, 2018 |title=How One Conservative Think Tank Is Stocking Trump's Government |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/magazine/trump-government-heritage-foundation-think-tank.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621022603/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/magazine/trump-government-heritage-foundation-think-tank.html |archive-date=2018-06-21 |access-date=2018-06-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Katie |date=2016-11-22 |title=Trump's shadow transition team |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-transition-heritage-foundation-231722 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203005436/http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/trump-transition-heritage-foundation-231722 |archive-date=2017-02-03 |access-date=2017-01-30 |work=Politico}} The foundation had a say in the staffing of the administration with CNN reporting in January 2017 that, "no other Washington institution has that kind of footprint in the transition." One reason for the Heritage Foundation's disproportionate influence relative to other conservative think tanks, CNN reported, was that other conservative think tanks had "Never Trump" staff during the 2016 presidential election, while the Heritage Foundation ultimately signaled that it would be supportive of him.

Drawing from a database that the foundation began building in 2014 of approximately 3,000 conservatives it trusted to serve in a hypothetical Republican administration, at least 66 foundation employees and alumni were hired into the Trump's first presidential term. According to employees involved in developing the foundation's database, several hundred people from the database ultimately entered the Trump administration and at least five, Betsy DeVos, Mick Mulvaney, Rick Perry, Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, became members of Trump's cabinet. Jim DeMint, president of the foundation from 2013 to 2017, personally intervened on behalf of Mulvaney, who ended up heading the Office of Management and Budget and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and later served as Trump's acting White House chief of staff.

In May 2017, the foundation's board of trustees voted unanimously to terminate DeMint as its president. In a public statement, the foundation's board said that, following a thorough investigation of the foundation's operations under DeMint's management, they found "significant and worsening management issues that led to a breakdown of internal communications and cooperation." "While the organization has seen many successes," the board said in the statement, "Jim DeMint and a handful of his closest advisers failed to resolve these problems."{{Cite web |last1=Johnson |first1=Eliana |last2=Cook |first2=Nancy |date=May 2, 2017 |title=The real reason Jim DeMint got the boot |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/02/why-jim-demint-was-ousted-from-heritage-237876 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508054031/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/02/why-jim-demint-was-ousted-from-heritage-237876 |archive-date=May 8, 2018 |website=Politico}} DeMint's firing was praised by some, including former U.S. Representative Mickey Edwards (R-OK), who said he saw it as a step to pare back the foundation's partisan edge and restore its reputation as a pioneering think tank. In January 2018, Kay Coles James succeeded DeMint as the foundation's president. The same month, a year into the first Trump presidential term, Heritage said the Trump administration had embraced 64% of 334 policies in the foundation's agenda.{{Cite news |last=Peters |first=Jeremy W. |date=2018-01-22 |title=Heritage Foundation Says Trump Has Embraced Two-Thirds of Its Agenda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/us/politics/heritage-foundation-agenda-trump-conservatives.html |access-date=2024-06-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=January 23, 2018 |title=Trump Administration Embraces Heritage Foundation Policy Recommendations |url=https://www.heritage.org/impact/trump-administration-embraces-heritage-foundation-policy-recommendations |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240626113440/https://www.heritage.org/impact/trump-administration-embraces-heritage-foundation-policy-recommendations |archive-date=June 26, 2024 |access-date=June 22, 2024 |website=Heritage Foundation}}

In February 2021, after Trump lost reelection, the Heritage Foundation hired three former Trump administration officials, Ken Cuccinelli, Mark A. Morgan, and Chad Wolf, who held various roles in immigration-related functions in the Trump administration. Cuccinelli and Wolf authored several publications in 2021 before leaving the foundation.{{Cite web |last1=Treene |first1=Alayna |last2=Kight |first2=Stef W. |date=January 29, 2021 |title=Top Trump Homeland Security officials join Heritage Foundation |url=https://www.axios.com/trump-homeland-security-heritage-foundation-chad-wolf-4531a55a-e5d8-4ff7-87b2-a195d7272caf.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129202401/https://www.axios.com/trump-homeland-security-heritage-foundation-chad-wolf-4531a55a-e5d8-4ff7-87b2-a195d7272caf.html |archive-date=January 29, 2021 |access-date=2021-01-29 |website=Axios |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Ken Cuccinelli |url=https://www.heritage.org/staff/ken-cuccinelli |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315212018/https://www.heritage.org/staff/ken-cuccinelli |url-status=unfit |archive-date=March 15, 2021 |website=The Heritage Foundation}}{{Cite web |title=Chad Wolf |url=https://www.heritage.org/staff/chad-f-wolf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318003905/https://www.heritage.org/staff/chad-f-wolf |archive-date=March 18, 2024 |url-status=unfit |website=The Heritage Foundation}}

At the same time, Heritage also hired former U.S. vice president Mike Pence as a distinguished visiting fellow. The following month, in March 2021, Pence authored an op-ed column, which made false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, including numerous false claims about the For the People Act, a Democrat-supported bill designed to expand voting rights. Pence's false claims drew criticism and corrections from multiple media outlets and fact-checking organizations.{{Cite news |last1=Dale |first1=Daniel |last2=Lybrand |first2=Holmes |last3=Subramaniam |first3=Tara |date=March 3, 2021 |title=Fact check: Pence echoes Trump's Big Lie in dishonest op-ed on election rules |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/politics/fact-check-pence-election-hr1-democrats-elections/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310155349/https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/03/politics/fact-check-pence-election-hr1-democrats-elections/index.html |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |access-date=2021-03-04 |work=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Sherman |first=Amy |date=March 5, 2021 |title=Pence falsely says if HR 1 passes, millions of people in US illegally will be registered to vote |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/05/mike-pence/pence-falsely-says-if-hr-1-passes-millions-people-/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301231355/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/05/mike-pence/pence-falsely-says-if-hr-1-passes-millions-people-/ |archive-date=2023-03-01 |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=PolitiFact}}{{Cite web |last=Ibrahim |first=Nur |date=4 March 2021 |title=Would HR 1 Ensure Millions of 'Illegal Immigrants' Are Registered to Vote? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pence-op-ed-hr1-immigrants/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301231512/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pence-op-ed-hr1-immigrants/ |archive-date=2023-03-01 |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=Snopes}} Pence left the foundation in 2022.{{Cite web |last=Groppe |first=Maureen |title=Mike Pence to join Heritage Foundation to 'lead the conservative movement into the future' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/04/think-tank-pence-wants-lead-conservatives-into-future/4389431001/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206071656/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/04/think-tank-pence-wants-lead-conservatives-into-future/4389431001/ |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |access-date=2021-02-06 |website=USA Today |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Vice President Mike Pence Joins Heritage Foundation as Distinguished Visiting Fellow |url=https://www.heritage.org/press/vice-president-mike-pence-joins-heritage-foundation-distinguished-visiting-fellow |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204170250/https://www.heritage.org/press/vice-president-mike-pence-joins-heritage-foundation-distinguished-visiting-fellow |url-status=unfit |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |access-date=2023-10-22 |website=The Heritage Foundation |language=en}}

The foundation's positions and management under Kay Coles James drew criticism from conservatives and Trump allies, which intensified in 2020 and 2021. "In the early days of the pandemic in spring 2020, Heritage leadership under James rejected an article from one of its scholars denouncing government restrictions, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The foundation's offices stayed closed for about three months, and signs urging masking became something of a joke for many conservatives who mocked the concept," The Washington Post reported in February 2022. Conservatives also began commenting publicly that the Heritage Foundation had lost the significant intellectual and political clout that led to the foundation's ascent as a global and national political and policy force in the 1980s and 1990s. "People do not walk around in fear of the Heritage Foundation the way they did 10 years ago," conservative activist and commentator Avik Roy told The Washington Post. In March 2021, in response to mounting criticism of her leadership of the foundation, James and executive vice president Kim Holmes resigned from the foundation.{{Cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Jeff |last2=Torbati |first2=Yeganeh |date=February 7, 2022 |title=Heritage Foundation, former powerhouse of GOP policy, adjusts in face of new competition from Trump allies |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/02/07/heritage-foundation-trump-republicans/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207123602/https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/02/07/heritage-foundation-trump-republicans/ |archive-date=2022-02-07 |access-date=2022-02-07 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

In October 2021, the Heritage Foundation announced that Kevin Roberts, who previously led a state-based think tank, Texas Public Policy Foundation and was a member of Texas Governor Greg Abbott's COVID-19 task force, would replace James as the foundation's new president.{{Cite web |last=Samuels |first=Brett |date=October 14, 2021 |title=Heritage Foundation names new president |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/576743-heritage-foundation-names-new-president/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428213912/https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/576743-heritage-foundation-names-new-president/ |archive-date=April 28, 2022 |access-date=April 28, 2022}} According to the foundation's filing with the Internal Revenue Service, Roberts was compensated $953,920 annually as of 2023.[https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237327730/202443129349303214/full "Heritage Foundation" full fiscal year ending December 2023], ProPublica

In May 2022, the Heritage Foundation began opposing military aid to Ukraine designed to repel Russia's invasion of the nation, which the foundation previously supported.{{Cite web |last=Carafano |first=Jim |title=The Path Forward in Ukraine |url=https://www.heritage.org/defense/heritage-explains/the-path-forward-ukraine |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827202800/https://www.heritage.org/defense/heritage-explains/the-path-forward-ukraine |archive-date=August 27, 2023 |access-date=2023-08-27 |website=The Heritage Foundation |language=en |department=Heritage Explains}} Following the reversal of its position on military aid to Ukraine, the foundation claimed, "Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last".{{Cite news |last=Edmondson |first=Catie |date=2022-05-27 |title=Why the Once-Hawkish Heritage Foundation Opposed Aid to Ukraine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/us/politics/ukraine-aid-heritage-foundation.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827202800/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/us/politics/ukraine-aid-heritage-foundation.html |archive-date=August 27, 2023 |access-date=2023-08-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In September 2022, the foundation's foreign policy director said the foundation ordered him to retract his earlier statements supporting aid to Ukraine; he subsequently left the organization.{{Cite web |last1=Fahlberg |first1=Audrey |last2=Lawson |first2=Charlotte |date=September 15, 2022 |title=Partisanship Over Policy at the Heritage Foundation |url=https://thedispatch.com/article/partisanship-over-policy-at-the-heritage/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021184730/https://thedispatch.com/article/partisanship-over-policy-at-the-heritage/ |archive-date=October 21, 2022 |access-date=October 21, 2022 |website=The Dispatch |language=en-US}} In August 2023, Thomas Spoehr, the foundation's Center for National Defense director, resigned his position over the dramatic policy change.{{Cite news |last=Quinn |first=Jimmy |date=2023-08-23 |title=Heritage's Top Defense Expert to Exit over Ukraine Stance |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/heritages-top-defense-expert-to-exit-over-ukraine-stance/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230827090535/https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/heritages-top-defense-expert-to-exit-over-ukraine-stance/ |archive-date=August 27, 2023 |access-date=2023-08-27 |work=nationalreview.com}}{{subscription required}}

In September 2022, Luke Coffey, then director of the Heritage Foundation's Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy, said he was "required by management to remove a Twitter post condemning the January 6 Capitol riots."

In March 2023, the Heritage Foundation established a cooperative relationship with the Danube Institute, a Budapest-based state-funded think tank founded in 2013.{{Cite web |last=Zemplényi |first=Lili |date=March 13, 2023 |title=Heritage Foundation and Danube Institute Sign Landmark Cooperation Agreement |url=https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/current/cooperation_agreement_heritage_foundation_danube_institute/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224202020/https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/current/cooperation_agreement_heritage_foundation_danube_institute/ |archive-date=February 24, 2024 |website=Hungarian Conservative}}

In January 2024, Roberts described Heritage's role as "institutionalizing Trumpism",{{Cite news |last=Garcia-Navarro |first=Lulu |date=January 21, 2024 |title=Inside the Heritage Foundation's Plans for 'Institutionalizing Trumpism' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213083434/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html |archive-date=February 13, 2024 |access-date=June 23, 2024 |work=The New York Times Magazine |issn=0028-7822}}{{Cite news |last=Leingang |first=Rachael |date=July 1, 2024 |title=The force behind Project 2025: Kevin Roberts has the roadmap for a second Trump term |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/01/kevin-roberts-trump-heritage-foundation-project-2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240712191646/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/01/kevin-roberts-trump-heritage-foundation-project-2025 |archive-date=July 12, 2024 |access-date=July 13, 2024 |work=The Guardian}} and The Economist reported the following month that the foundation was incrementally embracing national conservatism as its guiding ideology.{{Cite news |date=February 15, 2024 |title='National conservatives' are forging a global front against liberalism |url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/02/15/national-conservatives-are-forging-a-global-front-against-liberalism |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220205122/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/02/15/national-conservatives-are-forging-a-global-front-against-liberalism |archive-date=February 20, 2024 |newspaper=The Economist |location=London}}

In May 2024, the Heritage Foundation donated $100,000 to the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) for the purpose of AAF developing a website that features personal information of career civil servants, who AAF describes as "America's Most Subversive Immigration Bureaucrats". The website publicly features their photographs, small-dollar political donations, and screenshots of their personal social media accounts.{{Cite web |date=2024-06-24 |title=Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans |url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-president-project-2025-33d3fc2999a74f4aa424f1128dca2d16 |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=AP News |language=en}}

In July 2024, according to the Associated Press, the foundation had promoted a conspiracy theory that Biden may attempt to use force to remain in office following the 2024 election if he lost, which ultimately never happened since Biden withdrew from the election nine days later, on July 21, and Trump ultimately defeated Kamala Harris in the general election and peacefully assumed the presidency in January 2025.{{Cite news |last1=Fields |first1=Gary |last2=Swenson |first2=Ali |date=July 12, 2024 |title=Conservative group behind Project 2025 floats conspiracy idea that Biden could retain power by force |url=https://apnews.com/article/heritage-foundation-biden-trump-election-2024-3056df8a1ea882e23f8e2faf2eff7a3b |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713110730/https://apnews.com/article/heritage-foundation-biden-trump-election-2024-3056df8a1ea882e23f8e2faf2eff7a3b |archive-date=July 13, 2024 |access-date=July 13, 2024 |work=The Associated Press}} The same month, in July 2024, The Washington Post reported that, four months before the general election was even held, Heritage had already declared the election illegitimate.{{Cite news |last=Arnsdorf |first=Isaac |date=July 11, 2024 |title=Trump allies at Heritage declare 2024 election illegitimate in advance |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/11/heritage-foundation-election-war-game/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713045309/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/11/heritage-foundation-election-war-game/ |archive-date=July 13, 2024 |access-date=July 13, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286}} In September 2024, The New York Times reported that the Heritage Foundation used deceptive videos during the 2024 US election campaign to falsely claim that noncitizen voting posed a major threat.

The Heritage Foundation has historically ranked among the world's most influential think tanks, influencing concrete policies, media, and political discourse in general. In 2020, the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, published by the University of Pennsylvania, ranked the foundation sixth on its list of "top ten think tanks in the United States", 13th among think tanks globally, and first in its category of think tanks having the most significant impact on public policy between 2017 and 2019.{{Cite report |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=think_tanks |title=2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report |last=McGann |first=James G. |date=January 28, 2021 |publisher=Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522000141/https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=think_tanks |archive-date=May 22, 2021}}

{{Main|Policy Review}}

From its 1973 founding through 2001, the Heritage Foundation published Policy Review, a public policy journal and its flagship publication; the journal was acquired by the Hoover Institution in 2001.{{Cite web |title=Policy Review |url=https://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review#:~:text=the%20bimonthly%20journal%20became%20a%20publication%20of%20the%20Hoover%20Institution,%20Stanford%20University,%20in%202001. |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Hoover Institution |language=en}}

{{Main|Mandate for Leadership}}

In 1981, the Heritage Foundation published Mandate for Leadership, which offered specific policy recommendations on policy, budget, and administrative action for the incoming Reagan administration.{{cite book |last=Edwards |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Edwards |title=The Power of Ideas |publisher=Jameson Books |year=1997 |isbn=0-915463-77-6 |location=Ottawa, Illinois |pages=41–68}} Eight additional editions of Mandate for Leadership have been published since.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

{{Main|The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center}}

In 1983, the Heritage Foundation's founded the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, which publishes research studies and commentary on Asia and the Pacific Rim and U.S. policy toward the region. The center also has hosted Asia-specific lectures by Henry Kissinger (1995), Donald Rumsfeld (1988), Paul Wolfowitz (2000), Henry Paulson (2007), and others.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

{{Main|State Policy Network}}

The Heritage Foundation is an associate member of the State Policy Network, founded in 1992, a network of conservative and libertarian organizations financed by the Koch brothers, Philip Morris, and other corporate sources.{{Cite news |last1=Pilkington |first1=Ed |last2=Goldenberg |first2=Suzanne |date=December 5, 2013 |title=State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/state-conservative-groups-assault-education-health-tax |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301201741/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/state-conservative-groups-assault-education-health-tax |archive-date=March 1, 2015 |access-date=January 12, 2013 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}{{Cite news |last=Kopan |first=Tal |date=November 13, 2013 |title=Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-think-tank-report-99791.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215002658/http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-think-tank-report-99791.html |archive-date=2015-02-15 |access-date=February 24, 2015 |publisher=Politico}}{{Cite web |title=Directory SPN Members |url=http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318011132/http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp |archive-date=March 18, 2015 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |publisher=State Policy Network}}

{{Main|Index of Economic Freedom}}

Since 1995, the Heritage Foundation has published Index of Economic Freedom, an annual publication that measures countries' state of economic freedom, using property rights, freedom from government regulation, corruption in government, barriers to international trade, income tax and corporate tax rates, government expenditures, rule of law and the ability to enforce contracts, regulatory burdens, banking restrictions, labor regulations, and black market activities as key metrics.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In 1997, The Wall Street Journal began partnering with Heritage as co-manager and co-editor of the Index of Economic Freedom. In 2014, Charles W. L. Hill, a professor at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, criticized the Index of Economic Freedom, writing that, "given that the Heritage Foundation has a political agenda, its work should be viewed with caution."{{Cite book |last=Hill |first=Charles W. L. |title=International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-07-811277-5 |edition=10 |page=75}}

{{Further|2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums}}

In November 2011, the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) co-hosted a debate among the candidates for the 2012 Republican 2012 presidential election on foreign policy and national defense issues, which was televised by CNN{{Cite web |last=Hoffman |first=Gabriella |date=2011-11-23 |title=GOP candidates talk foreign policy, national security at Heritage/AEI debate |url=http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/young-conservative-and-spicy/2011/nov/23/gop-foreign-policy-national-security-aei-heritage/ |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024080952/http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/young-conservative-and-spicy/2011/nov/23/gop-foreign-policy-national-security-aei-heritage/ |archive-date=2014-10-24 |access-date=2012-10-25 |website=The Washington Times}} and was the first presidential debate hosted by Heritage or AEI.{{Cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Mike |date=November 1, 2011 |title=National Security Debate Moves to Nov 22 |url=http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/01/national-security-debate-moves-to-nov-22/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124192640/http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/01/national-security-debate-moves-to-nov-22/ |archive-date=2011-11-24 |access-date=November 17, 2011 |website=The Foundry |publisher=The Heritage Foundation}} Heritage fellows Edwin Meese and David Addington were among the debate's moderators.{{Cite news |last1=Rutenberg |first1=Jim |last2=Zeleny |first2=Jeff |date=November 22, 2011 |title=Spirited Foreign Policy Debate Includes a Test of Gingrich's Rise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/politics/security-and-foreign-policies-dominate-republican-debate.html?_r=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203231728/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/politics/security-and-foreign-policies-dominate-republican-debate.html?_r=1 |archive-date=2011-12-03 |access-date=February 29, 2012 |work=The New York Times}} Following the debate, political commentator Michael Barone wrote in The Washington Examiner that it was "probably the most substantive and serious presidential debate of this election cycle."{{Cite news |last=Barone |first=Michael |date=November 23, 2012 |title=Barone: Thoughts on the AEI-Heritage-CNN debate |url=http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/aei-heritage-cnn-debate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125191433/http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/aei-heritage-cnn-debate |archive-date=2011-11-25 |access-date=February 29, 2012 |work=The Washington Examiner}}

{{Main|The Daily Signal}}

In June 2014, the Heritage Foundation phased out its blog, the Foundry, replacing it with the Daily Signal, a news and conservative commentary website.{{Cite news |last=Chasmar |first=Jessica |date=June 3, 2014 |title=Sharyl Attkisson joins new Heritage website The Daily Signal |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/3/sharyl-attkisson-joins-heritage-foundations-websit/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231080102/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/3/sharyl-attkisson-joins-heritage-foundations-websit/ |archive-date=2014-12-31 |access-date=December 1, 2014 |work=The Washington Times}}{{Cite news |last=Byers |first=Dylan |date=May 7, 2014 |title=Heritage Foundation to launch news service |url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/05/heritage-foundation-to-launch-news-service-188148 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224184558/https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/05/heritage-foundation-to-launch-news-service-188148 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |access-date=April 3, 2021 |work=Politico}} A decade later, in June 2024, The Signal became an independent publication with its own board of directors and leadership.{{Cite news |last=Bluey |first=Rob |date=June 3, 2024 |title=Independent and Ambitious: A New Era for The Daily Signal |url=https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/03/independent-and-ambitious-a-new-era-for-the-daily-signal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603071039/https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/03/independent-and-ambitious-a-new-era-for-the-daily-signal/ |archive-date=June 3, 2024 |access-date=June 3, 2024 |publisher=Daily Signal}}

{{Main|Project 2025}}

{{Excerpt|Project 2025|paragraph=1-3|only=paragraph}}

{{main|Project Esther}}

Project Esther is an effort by the Heritage Foundation to suppress pro-Palestinian protests{{Cite web |last=Harb |first=Ali |date=31 May 2025 |title=What is Project Esther, the playbook against pro-Palestine movement in US? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/31/what-is-project-esther-the-playbook-against-pro-palestine-movement-in-us |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=Al Jazeera English |language=en}} and what the group claims is antisemitism. It has been criticized by journalist Steve Rabey for actually incorporating antisemitic tropes into its own rhetoric, and for failing to address right-wing antisemitism.{{cite web |last1=Rabey |first1=Steve |title=Heritage Foundation antisemitism effort recycles conspiracy theories |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/heritage-foundation-antisemitism-effort-recycles-conspiracy-theories/ |publisher=Baptist News Global |access-date=11 January 2025}} Critics have said its ultimate aim is to paint groups critical of Israel as Hamas associates.

The Heritage Foundation publishes The Insider, a quarterly magazine about public policy.{{Cite web |title=The Insider |url=https://www.heritage.org/insider |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308010507/https://www.heritage.org/insider |archive-date=March 8, 2024 |access-date=March 7, 2024 |url-status=unfit |website=The Heritage Foundation}} From 1995 to 2005, the Heritage Foundation ran Townhall, a conservative website that was subsequently acquired by Salem Communications.{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=http://www.townhall.com/AboutUs.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503151635/http://www.townhall.com/AboutUs.aspx |archive-date=2007-05-03 |website=Townhall}}

Beginning in 2002, the Heritage Foundation began publishing "Index of Dependence", an annual report on federal government programs in five areas: housing, health care and welfare, retirement, higher education, and rural and agricultural services that, in its view, constrain private sector or local government alternatives and impact the dependence of individuals on the federal government.{{Cite web |last=Hogberg |first=David |date=June 28, 2010 |title=Government Dependency Surges; Addiction to get worse |url=http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/1862-government-dependency-surges-addiction-to-get-worse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629230930/http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/1862-government-dependency-surges-addiction-to-get-worse |archive-date=2010-06-29 |access-date=September 13, 2011 |website=Investor's Business Daily}} The 2010 edition of the "Index of Dependence" concluded that the number of Americans who pay nothing in federal personal income taxes and the number who rely on government services have both increased measurably,{{Cite report |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/10/the-2010-index-of-dependence-on-government |title=The 2010 Index of Dependence on Government |last=Beach |first=William |date=October 24, 2010 |publisher=heritage.org |access-date=September 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904023447/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/10/the-2010-index-of-dependence-on-government |archive-date=2011-09-04 |url-status=unfit |work=Heritage Foundation}} and that, over the prior eight years, Americans' dependence on government had grown by almost 33 percent.{{Cite news |last=Hadro |first=Matt |date=April 22, 2010 |title=Dependence on Government Growing in U.S. |url=https://humanevents.com/2010/04/22/dependence-on-government-growing-in-us/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625010441/http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36648 |archive-date=2010-06-25 |access-date=September 14, 2011 |work=Human Events}} In February 2012, the foundation's conclusions were challenged by Rex Nutting of MarketWatch, who wrote that the report was "misleading" and "alarmist", that the percentage of Americans "dependent" upon government had remained essentially the same as it was in the 1980s, and that a small increase was attributable to the Great Recession and an aging population with proportionally more retirees.{{Cite news |last=Nutting |first=Rex |date=February 9, 2012 |title=Heritage Foundation is wrong about welfare state |url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heritage-foundation-is-wrong-about-welfare-state-2012-02-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411051924/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heritage-foundation-is-wrong-about-welfare-state-2012-02-09 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |access-date=April 3, 2021 |work=MarketWatch}}

In September 2005, the Heritage Foundation established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom named in honor of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.{{Cite news |last=Ros-Lehtinen |first=Ileana |date=September 13, 2005 |title=Honoring the Iron Lady |work=The Washington Times}} Thatcher maintained a long-standing relationship with the Heritage Foundation. In September 1991, shortly after Thatcher left office, the foundation hosted a dinner in Thatcher's honor.{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Roxanne |date=September 24, 1991 |title=Margaret Thatcher, On the Right Track; Raves for the Iron Lady at the Heritage Foundation Dinner |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Six years later, in 1997, Thatcher delivered the keynote address at Heritage's 25th anniversary celebration.{{Cite news |last=Rankin |first=Margaret |date=December 12, 1997 |title=Heritage of conservatism is ongoing after 25 years |work=The Washington Times}} In 2002, Thatcher was again honored by the foundation, which awarded her with its annual Clare Boothe Luce Award.{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2002 |title=Tribute to Margaret Thatcher |url=https://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/174164-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111195239/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/174164-1 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |access-date=November 3, 2010 |website=C-SPAN}}

{{Main|Reboot conference}}

In September 2024, several Heritage Foundation representatives, including Kevin Roberts, participated in the Reboot conference in San Francisco, and the foundation sponsored the event.{{Cite web |last=Lawton |first=Sophie |date=2024-09-06 |title=Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts says his group will release a “Project 2028” if Kamala Harris wins |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/kevin-roberts/heritage-foundation-president-kevin-roberts-says-his-group-will-release-project-2028 |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=Media Matters for America |language=en}} Project 2025 was a major theme of the conference.{{Cite news |last=Ho |first=Soleil |date=September 10, 2024 |title=Why did a major S.F. tech conference just host a panel about making more babies?: Right-wing politics and tech are seeking common ground in fertility issues. Is it working? |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/soleilho/article/san-francisco-tech-conference-pronatalism-19742497.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}

The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project started in 2022, whose objective the foundation says is "investigating and exposing the Biden administration".{{Cite press release |date=January 20, 2022 |title=Heritage Foundation Launches Oversight Project |url=https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-launches-oversight-project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220708170722/https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-foundation-launches-oversight-project |url-status=unfit |archive-date=July 8, 2022 |access-date=2024-12-22 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |language=en}} The Oversight Project files large numbers of FOIA information requests to government agencies.

In a late 2024 interview, Oversight Project director Mike Howell estimated that the foundation had filed 50,000 requests over two years. An October 2024 analysis by ProPublica showed many requests sought the names of employees who have used certain conservative hot-button keywords in communications, such as "climate equity" and "DEI", the acronym standing for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The foundation also sought communications with civil rights and voting rights organizations, and the names of all Biden administration appointees.{{Cite news |last1=Lerner |first1=Sharon |last2=Kroll |first2=Andy |date=October 1, 2024 |title=Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/have-government-employees-mentioned-climate-change-voting-or-gender-identity-the-heritage-foundation-wants-to-know |access-date=2024-12-22 |work=ProPublica |language=en}}

In May 2024, the Oversight Project publicized a faked flier to falsely accuse an immigration-assistance NGO of encouraging illegal voting. The social media posts were widely disseminated, and the head of the NGO received threats. The head of the Oversight Project said they had not tried to verify the flier.{{Cite news |last=Joffe-Block |first=Jude |date=May 10, 2024 |title=5 takeaways from NPR's reporting on the purported Matamoros flyer |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/05/10/1250585392/takeaways-migration-biden-flyer-matamoros |access-date=2024-12-22 |work=NPR News}}{{Cite news |last=Joffe-Block |first=Jude |date=May 10, 2024 |title=A flyer in her name told migrants to vote for Biden. But she says she didn't write it. |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/05/10/1248599505/migrants-vote-biden-conspiracy-theory-social-media |access-date=2024-12-22 |work=NPR News}}{{Cite news |last=Bensinger |first=Ken |date=April 30, 2024 |title=A Mysterious Flier, a Tiny Charity and a Disinformation Campaign at the Border |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/us/politics/immigration-disinformation-campaign-biden-trump.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240928101159/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/us/politics/immigration-disinformation-campaign-biden-trump.html |archive-date=September 28, 2024 |access-date=2024-12-22 |language=en |url-status=live }} The Oversight Project was the publisher of a 2024 misleading video, which falsely asserted that 14% of non-citizens in Georgia were registered to vote.

In January 2025, leaked documents from the Oversight Project detailed a plan to dox Wikipedia editors alleged to be antisemitic using techniques such as facial recognition software, cross-referencing to a database of hacked information, tricking Wikipedia users into visiting websites that harvest IP addresses, and creating sock puppet accounts.{{Cite news |last=Rosenfeld |first=Arno |date=2025-01-07 |title=Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors |url=https://forward.com/news/686797/heritage-foundation-wikipedia-antisemitism/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |newspaper=The Forward |language=en}}Heritage Foundation, [https://forward.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Heritage-Wikipedia-Oversight-Project-Forward.pdf Wikipedia Editor Targetting], published by The Forward. Journalist Stephen Harrison compared the plan to the 2021 doxing by pro-Chinese government editors, which led to some Hong Kong editors being physically harmed.{{cite news |last1=Harrison |first1=Stephen |author1-link=Stephen Harrison (author) |title=Project 2025’s Creators Want to Dox Wikipedia Editors. The Tool They’re Using Is Horrifying. |url=https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/wikipedia-project-2025-heritage-foundation-doxing-editors-antisemitism.html |access-date=5 February 2025 |work=Slate |date=5 February 2025}} Howell said that this investigation of Wikipedia will be "shared with the appropriate policymakers to help inform a strategic response".{{cite news |last1=Talbot |first1=Margaret |author1-link=Margaret Talbot |title=Elon Musk Also Has a Problem with Wikipedia |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/elon-musk-also-has-a-problem-with-wikipedia |access-date=5 March 2025 |work=The New Yorker |date=4 March 2025}} After a month-long discussion, Wikipedia editors decided to blacklist the Heritage Foundation website, meaning that attempts to link to it on Wikipedia will be automatically blocked.{{cite news |last1=Bandler |first1=Aaron |title=Wikipedia Editors Blacklist Heritage Foundation Following Report of Plan to Unmask Antisemitic Editors |url=https://jewishjournal.com/news/united-states/380190/wikipedia-editors-blacklist-heritage-foundation-following-report-of-plan-to-unmask-antisemitic-editors/ |access-date=26 March 2025 |work=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles |date=25 March 2025}}

In March 2025, the Oversight Project promulgated an unfounded story casting doubt on the validity of President Biden's presidential actions, claiming that almost all of the documents signed by Biden had identical signatures and therefore had been signed by machine. The foundation claimed, "this raises questions of who was really in control during the Biden Presidency", calling Biden the "Hologram President". The story went viral, casting doubt on the validity of Biden's pardons among other actions and suggesting the president had not been cognizant of presidential actions when there actually had been news stories and photo opportunities of the president signing some of the documents the Oversight Project alleged he had not signed. Other presidents used signing technology, and scholars agree such signatures are valid. The identical signatures found by the Oversight Project, the starting point for its false claims, were an image of the president's signature that is inserted into government documents obtained from the Federal Register.{{Cite news |last=Treisman |first=Rachel |date=March 17, 2025 |title=Trump tries to void Biden's pardons, blaming autopen. Many presidents have used it |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5330709/autopen-biden-pardon-void |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=NPR}}{{cite tweet |number=1900295462004912234 |user=OversightProject |title=Official Statement on Growing Biden Autopen Scandal and Hologram President}}{{Cite web |first1=Louis |last1=Jacobson |first2=Amy |last2=Sherman |date=March 17, 2025 |title=Is Trump right that Biden's pardons are void? No |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/mar/17/donald-trump/are-biden-pardons-void-because-he-used-an-autopen/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=@politifact |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Deng |first=Grace |date=March 13, 2025 |title=Biden may have signed documents with autopen – like many presidents before him |url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/03/13/biden-autopen-signature-documents/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=Snopes |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Olmstead |first=Molly |date=March 19, 2025 |title=Our Beautiful Autopens: How the Trump conspiracy theory about Joe Biden's signatures gained traction |url=https://slate.com/life/2025/03/what-is-autopen-trump-biden-signature-pardons.html |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=Slate}}

In September 2021, a Heritage Foundation senior fellow, Mike Gonzalez, released a book, BLM: The New Making of a Marxist Revolution, which characterizes Black Lives Matter as "a nationwide insurgency" and labels its leaders "avowed Marxists who say they want to dismantle our way of life".{{Cite web |title=BLM: A New Marxist Revolution |url=https://www.heritage.org/blm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830135746/https://www.heritage.org/blm |archive-date=August 30, 2023 |url-status=unfit |website=The Heritage Foundation}}{{primary inline|date=December 2024}}

The Heritage Foundation rejects the scientifically proven consensus on climate change.{{Cite book |last1=Washington |first1=Haydn |title=Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand |title-link=Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand |last2=Cook |first2=John |publisher=Earthscan |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84971-335-1 |location=London |page=75 |oclc=682903020}}{{Cite web |last=Fisher |first=Michael |title=Heritage Foundation |url=https://www.desmog.com/heritage-foundation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808183550/https://www.desmog.com/heritage-foundation/ |archive-date=August 8, 2021 |access-date=September 1, 2021}} The foundation is one of many climate change denial organizations that have been funded by ExxonMobil, an oil and petroleum company that, with over $413 billion in 2022 revenue, is the eighth-largest corporation in the world.{{Cite book |last=Powell |first=James Lawrence |url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-inquisition-of-climate-science/9780231157186 |title=The Inquisition of Climate Science |date=2011 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-52784-2 |pages=110–111 |access-date=August 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813105031/https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-inquisition-of-climate-science/9780231157186 |archive-date=August 13, 2019 |url-status=live}}

In December 1997, the foundation strongly criticized the Kyoto Agreement to curb climate change, arguing that U.S. participation in the treaty would "result in lower economic growth in every state and nearly every sector of the economy."{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=James |title=The Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-674-97997-0 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=167, 183 |oclc=1023100262}} In 2009, the foundation projected that the cap-and-trade bill, known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, would cost the average U.S. family $1,870 by 2025 and $6,800 by 2035, which varied greatly from conclusions from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which projected that it would cost the average family $175 in 2020.{{Cite web |last=Richert |first=Catharine |date=November 27, 2009 |title=$6,800 for cap and trade not a CBO estimate |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/nov/27/chain-email/6800-cap-and-trade-not-cbo-estimate/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218134921/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/nov/27/chain-email/6800-cap-and-trade-not-cbo-estimate/ |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |access-date=February 18, 2020 |website=PolitiFact}}

In 2021, the Heritage Foundation said that one of its two priorities, along with tightening voting laws, was to push Republican-controlled states to ban or restrict critical race theory instruction.{{Cite web |last1=Meyer |first1=Theodoric |last2=Severns |first2=Maggie |last3=McGraw |first3=Meridith |date=2021-06-23 |title='The Tea Party to the 10th power': Trumpworld bets big on critical race theory |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/23/trumpworld-critical-race-theory-495712 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623190711/https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/23/trumpworld-critical-race-theory-495712 |archive-date=June 23, 2021 |access-date=2021-06-23 |website=Politico |language=en}} The Heritage Foundation sought to get Republicans in Congress to put anti-critical race theory provisions into must-pass legislation such as the annual defense spending bill.

The Heritage Foundation has promoted false claims of electoral fraud. Hans von Spakovsky, who heads the Heritage Foundation's Election Law Reform Initiative, has played an influential role in elevating alarmism about voter fraud in the Republican Party, despite offering no evidence of widespread voter fraud.{{Cite news |last1=Horton |first1=Alex |last2=Schneider |first2=Gregory S. |date=2017-06-30 |title=Trump's pick to investigate voter fraud is freaking out voting rights activists |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/06/30/trumps-pick-to-investigate-voter-fraud-is-freaking-out-voting-rights-activists/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123195521/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/06/30/trumps-pick-to-investigate-voter-fraud-is-freaking-out-voting-rights-activists/ |archive-date=November 23, 2020 |access-date=2017-07-26 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{Cite magazine |last=Mayer |first=Jane |date=October 25, 2012 |title=The Voter Fraud Myth |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/29/the-voter-fraud-myth |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106060127/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/29/the-voter-fraud-myth |archive-date=January 6, 2016 |access-date=January 15, 2017 |magazine=The New Yorker}} His work, which claims voting fraud is rampant, has been discredited.{{Cite web |last1=Spies |first1=Mike |last2=Pearson |first2=Jake |last3=Huseman |first3=Jessica |date=September 15, 2020 |title=No Democrats Allowed: A Conservative Lawyer Holds Secret Voter Fraud Meetings With State Election Officials |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/no-democrats-allowed-a-conservative-lawyer-holds-secret-voter-fraud-meetings-with-state-election-officials |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211014938/https://www.propublica.org/article/no-democrats-allowed-a-conservative-lawyer-holds-secret-voter-fraud-meetings-with-state-election-officials |archive-date=February 11, 2021 |access-date=2020-09-15 |website=ProPublica |language=en}}

Following the 2020 presidential election, in which President Donald Trump made baseless claims of fraud after he was defeated for reelection, the Heritage Foundation launched a campaign in support of Republican efforts to make state voting laws more restrictive.{{Cite web |last=Huey-Burns |first=Caitlin |date=March 22, 2021 |title=Republicans unite on "election integrity" message for coming elections |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republicans-election-integrity-message/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331024411/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republicans-election-integrity-message/ |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |access-date=2021-04-02 |publisher=CBS News}}{{Cite web |last=Kessler |first=Glenn |date=March 31, 2021 |title=The bogus claim that Democrats seek to register 'illegal aliens' to vote |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/31/bogus-claim-that-democrats-seek-register-illegal-aliens-vote/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511214334/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/31/bogus-claim-that-democrats-seek-register-illegal-aliens-vote/ |archive-date=May 11, 2021 |access-date=April 2, 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In March 2021, The New York Times reported that the Heritage Foundation's political arm, Heritage Action, planned to spend $24 million over two years across eight key states to support efforts to restrict voting, in coordination with the Republican Party and allied conservative outside groups, including the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, American Legislative Exchange Council, and State Policy Network. Almost two dozen election bills introduced by Republican state legislators in early 2021 were based on a Heritage letter and report.{{Cite web |last1=Corasaniti |first1=Nick |last2=Epstein |first2=Reid J. |date=March 25, 2021 |title=G.O.P. and Allies Draft 'Best Practices' for Restricting Voting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/politics/republican-voter-laws.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402223530/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/politics/republican-voter-laws.html |archive-date=April 2, 2021 |access-date=April 2, 2021 |newspaper=The New York Times}} Heritage also mobilized in opposition to H.R. 1./S. 1, a Democratic bill to establish uniform nationwide voting standards, including expanded early and postal voting, automatic and same-day voter registration, campaign finance law reforms, and prohibiting partisan redistricting.

In May 2021, Heritage Action spent $750,000 on television ads in Arizona to promote the false claim that "Democrats...want to register illegal aliens" to vote, even though the Democrats' legislation creates safeguards to ensure that ineligible people cannot register. In April 2021, Heritage Action boasted to its private donors that it had successfully crafted the election reform bills that Republican state legislators introduced in Georgia and other states.{{Cite web |last1=Berman |first1=Ari |last2=Surgey |first2=Nick |title=Leaked video: Dark money group brags about writing GOP voter suppression bills across the country |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/heritage-foundation-dark-money-voter-suppression-laws/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513203833/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/heritage-foundation-dark-money-voter-suppression-laws/ |archive-date=May 13, 2021 |access-date=2021-05-13 |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US}}

On January 21, 2024, after three years of silence on Trump's position that Biden was an illegitimate president and that Trump actually won the 2020 election, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a reporter for The New York Times, presented the question to Heritage president Kevin Roberts: "Do you believe that President Biden won the 2020 election?" "No", Roberts replied.{{Cite news |last=Garcia-Navarro |first=Lulu |date=2024-01-21 |title=Inside the Heritage Foundation's Plans for 'Institutionalizing Trumpism' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213083434/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html |archive-date=February 13, 2024 |access-date=2024-02-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

{{anchor|Misleading Georgia voters video}}

The New York Times reported in September 2024 that "the notion that [noncitizens] will flood the polls—and vote overwhelmingly for Democrats—is animating a sprawling network of Republicans who mobilized around" Trump after he claimed the 2020 election was rigged, and "the false theories about widespread noncitizen voting could be used to dispute the outcome again." In summer 2024, the Heritage Oversight Project produced videos for distribution on social media and conservative media outlets that made false or misleading claims about the extent of noncitizen voting registrations. In one video that was sent viral by an Elon Musk repost, Heritage falsely claimed that 14% of noncitizens in Georgia were registered, concluding, "the integrity of the 2024 election is in great jeopardy." Heritage based their findings on an extrapolation of hidden camera interview responses from seven residents in a Norcross, Georgia apartment complex. State investigators found the seven people had never registered.{{Cite news |last1=Bensinger |first1=Ken |last2=Fausset |first2=Richard |date=September 7, 2024 |title=Heritage Foundation Spreads Deceptive Videos About Noncitizen Voters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/us/politics/heritage-foundation-2024-campaign-immigration.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 7, 2024 |archive-date=September 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240907203454/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/us/politics/heritage-foundation-2024-campaign-immigration.html |url-status=live }} Heritage maintains an election fraud database that in 2024 showed just 68 documented instances of noncitizen voting since the 1980s, and just 10 of those were in the country illegally.{{Cite news |last=Berzon |first=Alexandra |date=September 5, 2024 |title=Republicans Seize on False Theories About Immigrant Voting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/us/politics/immigrant-noncitizen-voting-republicans.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 8, 2024 |archive-date=September 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240907170435/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/us/politics/immigrant-noncitizen-voting-republicans.html |url-status=live }} When Heritage president Kevin Roberts was presented in June 2024 with data from the Heritage database indicating there were only 1,513 total instances of voter fraud in the United States since 1982, he responded that fraud is "very hard to document, and the Democrat party is very good at fraud." When asked if Heritage would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election regardless of who wins, Roberts replied, "yes, if there isn't massive fraud like there was in 2020." Despite the persistence of an election denial movement, no evidence of material election fraud in 2020 was found.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend/watch/top-project-2025-architect-talks-conservative-blueprint-for-trump-second-term-213497413811 |title=Top Project 2025 architect talks conservative blueprint for Trump second term |date=June 22, 2024 |publisher=MSNBC |time=7:20 |access-date=September 8, 2024 |archive-date=August 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240828065209/https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend/watch/top-project-2025-architect-talks-conservative-blueprint-for-trump-second-term-213497413811 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Yoon |first1=Robert |title=Trump's drumbeat of lies about the 2020 election keeps getting louder. Here are the facts |url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-2020-election-lies-debunked-4fc26546b07962fdbf9d66e739fbb50d |publisher=Associated Press |date=August 27, 2023 |access-date=September 8, 2024 |archive-date=March 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312081645/https://apnews.com/article/trump-2020-election-lies-debunked-4fc26546b07962fdbf9d66e739fbb50d |url-status=live }}

In July 2024, Mike Powell, Heritage's executive director for its Oversight Project said, "as things stand right now, there is a zero percent chance of a free and fair election in the United States of America," adding, "I'm formally accusing the Biden administration of creating the conditions that most reasonable policymakers and officials cannot in good conscience certify an election." Heritage released a report predicting without supporting evidence that Biden might try to retain power "by force" if he were to lose in November. Election law expert Rick Hasen remarked, "this is gaslighting and it is dangerous in fanning flames that could lead to potential violence."{{cite news |last1=Fields |first1=Gary |last2=Swenson |first2=Ali |title=Conservative group behind Project 2025 floats conspiracy idea that Biden could retain power by force |url=https://apnews.com/article/heritage-foundation-biden-trump-election-2024-3056df8a1ea882e23f8e2faf2eff7a3b |publisher=Associated Press |date=July 12, 2024 |access-date=July 13, 2024 |archive-date=July 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713110730/https://apnews.com/article/heritage-foundation-biden-trump-election-2024-3056df8a1ea882e23f8e2faf2eff7a3b |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Rutenberg |first1=Jim |last2=Corasaniti |first2=Nick |title=Unbowed by Jan. 6 Charges, Republicans Pursue Plans to Contest a Trump Defeat |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/us/politics/republican-election-campaign-2024.html |work=The New York Times|date=July 13, 2024 |archive-date=July 13, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713192154/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/us/politics/republican-election-campaign-2024.html|url-status=live}}

In 2013, a Heritage Foundation panel denounced the Boy Scouts of America organization's proposal to allow membership for gay boy scouts, but not gay scout leaders. Heritage's panelists variously argued that the proposal, if implemented, would be a "fatal concession" that would lead to "increased boy on boy contact", "moral confusion", and damage to "understanding of fatherhood" or "character formation".{{Cite news |last=Flock |first=Elizabeth |date=May 14, 2013 |title=Heritage Foundation Alleges Gays in Scouts Would Lead to More 'Boy-on-Boy Contact' |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/05/14/heritage-foundation-alleges-gays-in-scouts-would-lead-to-more-boy-on-boy-contact |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609072051/https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/05/14/heritage-foundation-alleges-gays-in-scouts-would-lead-to-more-boy-on-boy-contact |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=U.S. News & World Report}}{{Cite news |last=McCambridge |first=Ruth |date=May 17, 2013 |title=Heritage Panelists: Don't Be 'Snookered' by Boy Scout Proposal |url=https://nonprofitquarterly.org/heritage-panelists-don-t-be-snookered-by-boy-scout-proposal/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609072051/https://nonprofitquarterly.org/heritage-panelists-don-t-be-snookered-by-boy-scout-proposal/ |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=Nonprofit Quarterly}}

The Heritage Foundation has controversially opposed gay marriage,{{Cite news |last=Shackford |first=Scott |date=November 30, 2022 |title=What Does the Respect for Marriage Act Actually Say? |url=https://reason.com/2022/11/30/what-does-the-respect-for-marriage-act-actually-say/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609072051/https://reason.com/2022/11/30/what-does-the-respect-for-marriage-act-actually-say/ |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=Reason}}{{Cite news |last=Eckholm |first=Erik |date=2014-02-23 |title=Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage Take Bad-for-Children Argument to Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/us/opponents-of-same-sex-marriage-take-bad-for-children-argument-to-court.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240422131612/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/us/opponents-of-same-sex-marriage-take-bad-for-children-argument-to-court.html |archive-date=April 22, 2024 |access-date=2024-06-09 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}} including both the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision by the Supreme Court,{{Cite news |last=Sherman |first=Mark |date=April 21, 2015 |others=The Associated Press |title=Opponents to same-sex marriage want Supreme Court to decide slowly |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/opponents-sex-marriage-say-prejudice-want-supreme-court-decide-slowly |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609072050/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/opponents-sex-marriage-say-prejudice-want-supreme-court-decide-slowly |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=PBS}}{{Cite news |last=Cassella |first=Megan |date=June 27, 2015 |title=Celebration and bittersweet memories outside U.S. Supreme Court |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-court-gaymarriage-scene-idINKBN0P705820150627/ |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=Reuters |quote=Outside the courthouse, Jennifer Marshall of the Heritage Foundation conservative think tank said the case 'won't settle the marriage debate any more than Roe v. Wade settled the abortion debate,' referring to the court's 1973 ruling legalizing abortion.}}{{Cite news |date=June 26, 2015 |title=Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/news-wrap-supreme-court-rules-favor-gay-marriage |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609072050/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/news-wrap-supreme-court-rules-favor-gay-marriage |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=PBS NewsHour}} and the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act.{{Cite news |last=Dorn |first=Sara |date=November 23, 2022 |title=Ads Attacking Same-Sex Marriage Bill Will Air During Thanksgiving NFL Games–But Here's What They Get Wrong |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2022/11/23/ads-attacking-same-sex-marriage-bill-will-air-during-thanksgiving-nfl-gamesbut-heres-what-they-get-wrong/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240609072049/https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2022/11/23/ads-attacking-same-sex-marriage-bill-will-air-during-thanksgiving-nfl-gamesbut-heres-what-they-get-wrong/ |archive-date=June 9, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=Forbes}} Ahead of the Obergefell ruling, Heritage's Ryan T. Anderson argued that gay acceptance is linked to single motherhood, sexual permissiveness, and reformed divorce laws. He added that the issue should be left to the states, but that the states should not legalize gay marriage either. Arguing against the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, Heritage's Roger Severino stated: "Marriage is the exclusive, lifelong, conjugal union between one man and one woman, and any departure from that design hurts the indispensable goal of having every child raised in a stable home by the mom and dad who conceived him."{{Cite news |last=Jalonick |first=Mary Clare |date=November 30, 2022 |title=Landmark same-sex marriage bill wins Senate passage |url=https://apnews.com/article/biden-religion-gay-rights-marriage-clarence-thomas-2d09d9213472d04195c64d09644f124c |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615025227/https://apnews.com/article/biden-religion-gay-rights-marriage-clarence-thomas-2d09d9213472d04195c64d09644f124c |archive-date=June 15, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=The Associated Press}} In 2010, the Heritage Foundation also conducted meetings, which included social researchers opposed to gay marriage, which reportedly helped lead to the publication of the controversial New Family Structures Study.{{Cite news |last=Frank |first=Nathaniel |date=March 4, 2014 |title=The Shamelessness of Professor Mark Regnerus |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/03/mark-regnerus-testifies-in-michigan-same-sex-marriage-case-his-study-is-bunk.html |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=Slate}}

The group has engaged in several activities in opposition to transgender rights, including hosting several anti-transgender rights events,{{Cite web |last=Fitzsimons |first=Tim |date=January 29, 2019 |title=Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists 'from the left' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/conservative-group-hosts-anti-transgender-panel-feminists-left-n964246 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503015702/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/conservative-group-hosts-anti-transgender-panel-feminists-left-n964246 |archive-date=2019-05-03 |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=NBC News |language=en}}{{Cite journal |date=April 2021 |title=Outlawing Trans Youth: State Legislatures and the Battle over Gender-Affirming Healthcare for Minors |url=https://harvardlawreview.org/2021/04/outlawing-trans-youth-state-legislatures-and-the-battle-over-gender-affirming-healthcare-for-minors/ |url-status=live |department=Developments in the Law |journal=Harvard Law Review |language=en-US |volume=134 |issue=6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216142940/https://harvardlawreview.org/2021/04/outlawing-trans-youth-state-legislatures-and-the-battle-over-gender-affirming-healthcare-for-minors/ |archive-date=2023-02-16 |access-date=2023-02-16}} developing and supporting legislation templates against transgender rights,{{Cite web |last=Avery |first=Dan |date=February 17, 2021 |title=State anti-transgender bills represent coordinated attack, advocates say |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/state-anti-transgender-bills-represent-coordinated-attack-advocates-say-n1258124 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603233024/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/state-anti-transgender-bills-represent-coordinated-attack-advocates-say-n1258124 |archive-date=2021-06-03 |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=NBC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Holt |first=Lauren |date=2021-03-29 |title=Transgender rights in the spotlight as Arkansas and Tennessee become latest states to pass anti-trans legislation |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/28/us/transgender-rights-arkansas-tennessee-anti-trans-laws/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216142941/https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/28/us/transgender-rights-arkansas-tennessee-anti-trans-laws/index.html |archive-date=2023-02-16 |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite magazine |last=Bauer |first=Sydney |date=2020-02-11 |title=The New Anti-Trans Culture War Hiding in Plain Sight |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/156539/new-anti-trans-culture-war-hiding-plain-sight |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018043110/https://newrepublic.com/article/156539/new-anti-trans-culture-war-hiding-plain-sight |archive-date=2021-10-18 |access-date=2023-02-16 |magazine=The New Republic |issn=0028-6583}} and making claims about transgender youth healthcare and suicide rates based on internal research, which are contradicted by numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies.{{Cite web |last=Migdon |first=Brooke |date=2022-06-14 |title='Absurd:' LGBTQ+ advocates, medical professionals respond to conservative study linking gender-affirming care to greater risk of youth suicide |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/3523225-absurd-lgbtq-advocates-medical-professionals-respond-to-conservative-study-linking-gender-affirming-care-to-greater-risk-of-youth-suicide/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619180405/https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/3523225-absurd-lgbtq-advocates-medical-professionals-respond-to-conservative-study-linking-gender-affirming-care-to-greater-risk-of-youth-suicide/ |archive-date=2022-06-19 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}} The Heritage Foundation–led initiative Project 2025 proposed LGBT-related policies, including the limiting of LGBT anti-discrimination protections, and a ban on transgender people from the military.{{Cite news |last1=Barrón-López |first1=Laura |last2=Popat |first2=Shrai |date=March 27, 2024 |title=How a second Trump presidency could impact the LGBTQ+ community |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-second-trump-presidency-could-impact-the-lgbtq-community |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613153023/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-second-trump-presidency-could-impact-the-lgbtq-community |archive-date=June 13, 2024 |access-date=June 9, 2024 |work=PBS NewsHour}}

In May 2022, Heritage Action, the Heritage Foundation's political activism organization, announced its opposition to the $40 billion military aid package for Ukraine passed that month following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, completely reversing the organization's previous position of support for such aid.{{Cite web |last=Brooks |first=Emily |date=2022-10-12 |title=Future Ukraine aid faces bumpier road in House Republican majority |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3683746-future-ukraine-aid-faces-bumpier-road-in-house-republican-majority/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022035946/https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3683746-future-ukraine-aid-faces-bumpier-road-in-house-republican-majority/ |archive-date=2022-10-22 |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}{{Cite press release |title=Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last |date=May 10, 2022 |url=https://heritageaction.com/press/ukraine-aid-package-puts-america-last |language=en-US |access-date=October 21, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025080734/https://heritageaction.com/press/ukraine-aid-package-puts-america-last |archive-date=October 25, 2022 |website=Heritage Action for America}} The Heritage Foundation's foreign policy director at the time, Luke Coffey, said he was ordered to retract his earlier statements supporting aid to Ukraine; he subsequently left the foundation.

In August 2023, newly installed Heritage president Kevin Roberts wrote in an op-ed column that Congress was holding victims of the 2023 Hawaii wildfires hostage "in order to spend more money in Ukraine". The op-ed was followed by a public messaging campaign with the same message and with a tweet by a Heritage vice president, who argued, "It's time to end the blank, undated checks for Ukraine." This, in turn, led the foundation's second senior official, Lt. Gen. (Ret) Thomas Spoehr, director of Heritage's Center for National Defense, to submit his resignation.{{Cite tweet |number=1695141939274711170 |user=Heritage |title="It's time to end the blank, undated checks for Ukraine." - @VictoriaCoates You won't believe what the Biden administration is doing to try and coerce Congress to authorize more unaccountable aid for Ukraine.}}

Heritage is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization and BBB Wise Giving Alliance-accredited charity funded by donations from private individuals, corporations, and charitable foundations.{{Cite web |date=2010-12-31 |title=Heritage Foundation – Charity Reports – Give.org |url=http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/heritage-foundation-in-washington-dc-1875 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212013920/http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/heritage-foundation-in-washington-dc-1875 |archive-date=2013-12-12 |access-date=2013-12-09 |website=Better Business Bureau}}{{Cite news |last=Barro |first=Josh |date=June 11, 2013 |title=The Heritage Foundation Is Using Anonymous, Tax-Deductible Donations To Blast Marco Rubio |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/heritage-hits-rubio-with-tax-free-money-2013-6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131124115136/http://www.businessinsider.com/heritage-hits-rubio-with-tax-free-money-2013-6 |archive-date=2013-11-24 |access-date=November 26, 2013 |work=Business Insider}}{{Cite web |title=About Heritage |url=http://www.heritage.org/about |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131128140932/http://www.heritage.org/about |archive-date=2013-11-28 |access-date=November 26, 2013 |website=heritage.org |publisher=The Heritage Foundation}} It is not required to disclose its donors and donations under the current laws that guide tax-deductible organizations.

In 1973, businessman Joseph Coors contributed $250,000 to establish the Heritage Foundation and continued to fund it through the Adolph Coors Foundation.{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=John J. |date=March 20, 2003 |title=Joseph Coors, RIP |url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB122719750183444441 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213215908/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB122719750183444441 |archive-date=2013-12-13 |access-date=November 25, 2013 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}{{Cite book |last=Bellant |first=Russ |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fyzsTGPTkOIC&q=%22The+Coors+Connection%22 |title=The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism |date=1991 |publisher=Political Research Associates |isbn=978-0-89608-416-2 |access-date=2015-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320131131/http://books.google.com/books?id=fyzsTGPTkOIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22The+Coors+Connection%22#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Coors%20Connection%22&f=false |archive-date=2015-03-20 |url-status=live}} The foundation's trustees have historically included individuals affiliated with Chase Manhattan Bank, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Mobil, Pfizer, Sears, and other corporations.{{Cite book |last=Kotz |first=David M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUYZBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0674725652 |page=74 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915180018/https://books.google.com/books?id=JUYZBgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA74 |archive-date=2015-09-15}}

In the 1980s, the Heritage Foundation reportedly received a $2.2 million donation from the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, the intelligence agency of South Korea.{{Cite book |last=Bellant |first=Russ |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fyzsTGPTkOIC&q=%22The+Coors+Connection%22 |title=The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism |date=1991 |publisher=South End Press |isbn=978-0-89608-416-2 |language=en}}

As of 2010, the foundation reported that it had 710,000 individual financial contributors.{{Cite web |last=Kreutzer |first=David W. |date=August 3, 2011 |title=Subsidizing Natural-Gas Technology |url=http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/kreutzertestimony922.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140919075637/http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/kreutzertestimony922.pdf |archive-date=2014-09-19 |access-date=December 2, 2013 |website=United States House of Representatives |department=United States House Committee on Ways and Means}}

For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2011, CharityWatch reported that Edwin Feulner, the Heritage Foundation's past president, received the highest compensation in its top 25 list of compensation received by charity members. Two years later, in 2013, according to CharityWatch, Feulner received $2,702,687, which included investment earnings of $1,656,230 accrued over 33 years.{{Cite web |title=Top Charity Compensation Packages |url=https://www.charitywatch.org/top-charity-salaries |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409044419/https://www.charitywatch.org/top-charity-salaries |archive-date=2015-04-09 |access-date=April 8, 2015 |website=CharityWatch |ref=Charity Watch – Top Salaries}}

As of 2013, Heritage is a grantee of DonorsTrust, an Alexandria, Virginia-based nonprofit donor-advised fund.{{Cite news |last=Kroll |first=Andy |date=February 5, 2013 |title=Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218002434/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos |archive-date=2015-02-18 |access-date=February 20, 2015 |work=Mother Jones}}{{Cite news |last=Kroll |first=Andy |date=February 11, 2013 |title=Exclusive: Donors Trust, The Right's Dark-Money ATM, Paid Out $30 Million in 2011 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/donors-trust-2011-dark-money-heritage-cato-unions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226021220/http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/donors-trust-2011-dark-money-heritage-cato-unions |archive-date=2015-02-26 |access-date=March 5, 2015 |work=Mother Jones}}{{Cite news |last=Abowd |first=Paul |date=February 14, 2013 |title=Koch-funded charity passes money to free-market think tanks in states |url=http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/14/16939114-koch-funded-charity-passes-money-to-free-market-think-tanks-in-states |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313170452/http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/14/16939114-koch-funded-charity-passes-money-to-free-market-think-tanks-in-states |archive-date=2015-03-13 |access-date=March 10, 2015 |work=NBC News |agency=Center for Public Integrity}}

In 2023, the foundation's total revenue was $101 million and its expenditures were $103 million, according to its filings with the Internal Revenue Service, reported by ProPublica. Among its 517 employees as of 2023, average compensation was $96,000 annually, and 15 employees were paid in excess of $300,000 annually that year. The foundation's president, Kevin Roberts, was compensated $953,920 annually in 2023.[https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237327730/202443129349303214/full "Heritage Foundation" full fiscal year ending December 2023], ProPublica

As of June 2024, eighteen individuals serve as members of the organization's Board of Trustee. Notable members include:

• Larry P. Arnn (since 2002), president, Hillsdale College{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |url=https://www.heritage.org/board-trustees |access-date=2023-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230909074208/https://www.heritage.org/board-trustees |archive-date=2023-09-09 |url-status=unfit}}
• Edwin Feulner (since 1973), co-founder and former president, the Heritage Foundation
• Robert P. George, professor, Princeton University
• Rebekah Mercer (since 2014), director, Mercer Family Foundation
• Anthony Saliba (since 2012), trader, entrepreneur, and author
• Brian Tracy (since 2003), motivational public speaker and self-development author

Notable former board members include:

• Edwin Meese, former U.S. attorney general
• Marion G. Wells, philanthropist and president, Marion G. Wells Foundation{{cite web |title=Annual Report 2016 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |url=https://static.heritage.org/annual-report/pdf/TheHeritageFoundation_AnnualReport_2016.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711020517/https://static.heritage.org/annual-report/pdf/TheHeritageFoundation_AnnualReport_2016.pdf |url-status=unfit |archive-date=July 11, 2024 |access-date=2024-12-28}}
• Preston A. Wells Jr., businessman and philanthropist

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