It sounds like the title of a Netflix thriller, but Project 2025 is actually a set of instructions for how a “conservative” president of the U.S. should rule the country, a “Presidential Transition Project.” The website lists training opportunities for people who’d like to submit their resumes to become part of a “presidential Administration.” And there is a certification you can earn from the Presidential Administration Academy.

It sure sounds as though this website has direct access to whoever would become the next conservative President of the U.S. But is that even possible?

Additionally, there is a link to a “Playbook”: “The project will create a playbook of actions to be taken in the first 180 days of the new Administration.” On this page there is another link: “To learn more about Project 2025’s vision for a conservative administration, please read our recently published book, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.“

Again, it reads as though this Project 25 has a direct link to the White House. Who is this organization that is boldly giving “mandates” to the next “conservative” President of the U.S.?

Broadly speaking, the Heritage Foundation organized Project 25. While this Project is new, the Heritage Foundation has been around since the 1970s; it is a non-profit public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C. Basically, the Heritage Foundation pushes for certain policies in the government — policies that support its self-defined “conservative” agenda. Members meet with congressional staff and members of congress, organize activists, and “train the leaders of tomorrow.”

On its face, the Heritage Foundation sounds much like any other nonprofit organization that pushes for public policy. However, when a nonprofit organization seemingly has a direct link to the White House, you must take a closer look at who is funding this organization and what it’s “mandate” actually says.

“After backing Ronald Reagan’s Presidential bid in 1968, beer magnate Joseph Coors concluded that an intellectual infrastructure for shaping public policies was just as important as good candidates. Liberals already had a policy infrastructure in universities and organizations like the Brookings Institution. Coors decided that conservatives needed think tanks of their own—so in 1972 he wrote a $250,000 check to begin the Heritage Foundation. […] Coors continued to invest in the Heritage Foundation over many years, including a $300,000 gift in 1980 that allowed it to move to improved offices.” (https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/joe-coors-brews-up-the-heritage-foundation/)

Additionally, the article goes on to say, “As Ronald Reagan finally took office in 1981, the Heritage Foundation issued Mandate for Leadership, a book of nearly 1,100 pages that became a policy blueprint for his administration. The think tank became active in virtually every area of government action, from welfare transfers to national defense. It eventually grew into the biggest and at times most influential think tank on the right.”

Today, the Heritage Foundation is funded by a combination of private individual donors, organizations, and corporate donors, many with ties to the Koch Brothers. In the past, they have accepted donations from Marlboro cigarette company’s parent company Altria; around this same time, the Heritage Foundation took a position favorable to the tobacco companies and encouraged journalists to question the dangers of secondhand smoke.

In my next post, I’ll take a deeper look into Project 2025’s mandate and see what it has to say about how the U.S. should be governed.