Forest of Advocacy

Visualizing Partisan Giving

Forest of Advocacy provides a dynamic look at the partisan tilt of giving within organizations. For each organization, individuals are characterized as points sketching out a line over time. The X axis is time, and the Y axis represents the net partisan tilt of contributions over the preceding 6 months.

Over the decades, one sees lines sketched out, reflecting the partisanship of individuals over time. For each organization, we also provide the net contributions of the entire organization, and the names of biggest Democratic, Republican, and "bipartisan" contributors.

We analyzed eight organizations: ACLU, Bain Capital, Bain Company, Boston Consulting Group, Goldman Sachs, Harvard Business School, Heritage Foundation, and McKinsey Company.

Key Findings

Some organizations are partisan in the sense that most employees give to the same party. ACLU employees tend to give to Democratic candidates, while Heritage Foundation members give primarily to Republicans.

Other organizations are bi-partisan, employing both Democratic and Republican partisans. For example, Harvard Business School employees give to both parties, but few paths cross the center line.

In certain organizations like Goldman Sachs, many individuals give to both sides over time, indicated by paths that criss-cross the center. This suggests that these people give to recipients who might share their view on particular issues that cross-cut ideology, rather than giving based on ideological affinity.