The Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) is a United States-based
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
political
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
education
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
and
advocacy
Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
. The stated purpose of CPI is the professional development of conservative staffers and elected officials.
Under the leadership of
Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...
, since 2017 the nonprofit has grown sixfold to become the "nerve center" of the
Make America Great Again
"Make America Great Again" (MAGA, ) is an American political slogan most recently popularized by Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2024. "MAGA" is also used to refer to Trump's ideology, political bas ...
movement, bolstering notable figures such as U.S. Representatives
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Marjorie Taylor Greene ( Taylor; born May 27, 1974), sometimes referred to by her initials MTG, is an American far-rightSources describing Greene as "far-right" include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
politician, businesswoman, and cons ...
and
Lauren Boebert
Lauren Opal Boebert ( ; ; born December 19, 1986) is an American politician, businesswoman, and gun rights activist serving as the U.S. representative for beginning in 2025, having previously represented from 2021 to 2025. From 2013 to 202 ...
, according to ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''.
In 2024, journalist
Jonathan Blitzer
Jonathan Blitzer is an American journalist and writer. He is a staff writer at ''The New Yorker''. He has received a National Award for Education Reporting, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and the 2018 Immigration Journalism Prize from the French-Amer ...
in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' called it a well-financed network of about two dozen right-wing organizations, the next Trump Administration "in waiting", and a "base of operations" for conservatives who not only target
Democrats but other
Republicans
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
who they believe to be insufficiently conservative.
According to one supporter, the staff of the organization have "thought deeply about what’s needed to create the infrastructure and the resources for a more anti-establishment conservative movement”.
Planning for the protests of January 6, 2021, and the effort to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election, were both centered at CPI’s headquarters according to Jonathan Blitzer.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' reported that the group has also held numerous "election integrity" summits in battleground states, advocating "election integrity", expanded poll watching, "clean" voter rolls, and other initiatives defenders say could favor Republican candidates.
History
The Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) was founded in 2017 by former
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
Jim DeMint
James Warren DeMint (born September 2, 1951) is an American businessman, author, and retired politician who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from South Carolina and as president of The Heritage Foundation. A leading figure ...
, who serves as the organization's chairman.
Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...
, former chief of staff to then-president
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, joined as a senior partner in January 2021. Trump's
Save America
Save America (founded on November 9, 2020) is a leadership political action committee founded and controlled by 45th President and 47th President Donald Trump. It has been Trump's primary fundraising and political spending arm since he left hi ...
PAC
Pac or PAC may refer to:
Aviation
* IATA code PAC Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport in Panama City, Panama
* Pacific Aerospace Corporation, New Zealand, manufacturer of aircraft:
** PAC 750XL
** PAC Cresco
** PAC CT/4
** PA ...
donated $1 million to CPI.
DeMint started the group at a donors' retreat after being terminated from
the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...
. On their way back to Washington, D.C., he and his now unemployed associates came up with the idea of founding a new organization, that unlike Heritage would not be a
think tank
A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
developing policy proposals, but instead focus on where their expertise lay, i.e. the workings of the US Congress. The Republican Party congressional leadership (DeMint's associates felt), always had an advantage of "better and more extensive staffing" over movement conservatives like themselves. By recruiting and training conservatives to become more effective, they could infiltrate conservatives into "the system" as staffers.
This would turn out to be especially useful during the Trump administration, as early on many of the staff Trump hired were reluctant to follow orders they disagreed with, leading to enormous turnover. CPI saw a role for itself, as Trump's aides struggled to find replacements for all the executive agency vacancies. As one CPI member described it, administration staff (before CPI came to the rescue) tended to be either old school Republicans unsympathetic to Trump's policies and behavior, or "Trump-campaign supporters who could barely get their pants on in the morning.”
As of mid-2024, DeMint has reportedly become a "figurehead" at CPI, i.e. taken on a less active role, and Mark Meadows is primarily involved in fundraising.
The Heritage Foundation has reconciled with CPI, hiring key figures in that organization, such as
Russell Vought
Russell Thurlow Vought ( , born March 26, 1976) is an American government official and conservative political analyst who has been the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since February 2025. He held the same position from July ...
, Ed Corrigan,
Stephen Miller, and Saurabh Sharma, to be part of Heritage's massive
Project 2025
Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in ...
-- an indication of CPI’s "mounting influence".
Organization and projects
Unlike other conservative organizations, such as
the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...
and
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right think tank based in Washington, D.C., that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare ...
, which both focus on public policy, CPI is "an incubator and an activist hub that funds other organizations, coördinates with conservative members of the House and Senate, and works as a counterweight to G.O.P. leadership".
Some of the conservative groups in its network include:
*
America First Legal, headed by
Stephen Miller, a public interest law firm that targets "woke corporations", public school districts, and the
Biden administration
Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...
*
American Accountability Foundation
The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is an American conservative opposition research group founded in 2020 that opposed nominees to the Joe Biden administration.
History
The AAF's executive director and co-founder, Tom Jones, previou ...
, an organization that investigates federal employees to find those who lack loyalty to
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
by going through their personal profiles and social media posts
*American Moment, cultivates new conservative staffers in Washington, D.C.
*American Voting Rights Foundation, finances voting audits in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
*Election Integrity Network, trains volunteers to monitor election polling locations and investigate low level election officials
*Personnel Policy Operations, provides legal funding for conservatives being prosecuted by the justice system, especially
Jeffrey Clark
Jeffrey Bossert Clark (born April 17, 1967) is an American lawyer who is Acting Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget. Clark was Assistant Attorney General for the Environment ...
and
Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...
; almost all its funding comes from CPI.
*
State Freedom Caucus Network, helps state legislators establish state level replicas of the
Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican Party (United States), Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most Cons ...
, a
caucus
A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.
The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...
in the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
.
CPI may share resources/services with these groups, such as discounted real estate, accounting (Compass Professional) and legal representation (Compass Legal), direct mail, studios for podcast recordings and videos. Their boards often have overlapping membership.
Holding weekly meetings at the CPI headquarters are the hard right House
Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican Party (United States), Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most Cons ...
, and the conservative Senate Republican Steering Committee, headed by
Mike Lee
Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Lee became Utah's senior senator in 2019, whe ...
.
Cultural and legal support for Trump
According to Andrew Kloster, formerly of Compass Legal, one of CPI's goals is "de-risking public service on the right". This is made possible, according to
Jonathan Blitzer
Jonathan Blitzer is an American journalist and writer. He is a staff writer at ''The New Yorker''. He has received a National Award for Education Reporting, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and the 2018 Immigration Journalism Prize from the French-Amer ...
of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', by providing "an alternative, fully self-sufficient ecosystem" for anyone on the right who fears "financial ruin" and/or "pariah status" in Washington from taking "bold" action in the service of the Trump cause.
Kloster's group, Courage Under Fire Legal Defense Fund, has spent approximately $3 million as of May 2024 defending
John Eastman
John Charles Eastman (born 1960) is an American lawyer and academic. He is known for his efforts to block certification and overturn the results of the 2020 United States presidential election.
Eastman is the founding director of the Center fo ...
,
Peter Navarro
Peter Kent Navarro (born July 15, 1949) is an American economist who has been the senior counselor for trade and manufacturing to U.S. president Donald Trump since January 2025. He previously served in the first Trump administration, first as ...
,
Mike Roman
Michael A. Roman is an American Republican political operative and opposition researcher. He was director of election day operations for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, and was subsequently involved in efforts to overturn the resul ...
.
Property purchases and finances
"Patriot's Row" Washington DC Properties
Within the span of one year, limited liability companies connected to CPI purchased nine properties that are "steps" from each other in Washington D.C.
Grid News
Grid News, also known as Grid, was a digital media company based in Washington, D.C. It launched in January 2022. Grid News was initially led by Mark Bauman as a senior advisor and Laura McGann as its executive editor. It produced a podcast called ...
refers to these purchasing entities as "shell companies".
The total purchase price for these properties is $41 million. These properties are located two blocks east of the
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the United States Congress, the United States Congress, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, federal g ...
, which houses the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
.
The purchased properties, which CPI now controls, consist of "four commercial properties along a single
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...
block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI's aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls 'Patriot's Row.
"Camp Rydin" Eastern Shore Compound
In December 2021, CPI purchased a compound near the eastern shore in
Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 13,096 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in Ma ...
. Described as a "conservative
Camp David
Camp David is a country retreat for the president of the United States. It lies in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont, Maryland, Thurmont and Emmitsburg, Maryland, Emmitsburg, a ...
", the eleven bedroom lodge is "a place where conservatives can strategize and unite" and features marshland for hunting, fishing and kayaking as well as indoor tennis and basketball courts. Roughly a dozen congressional staff training events are held at the compound each year, including a "researcher bootcamp" and a "legislative director retreat".
The name of Edward Corrigan, the president of CPI, appears on public documents related to the property purchases. The companies involved in the purchases list Cameron Seward, CPI's general counsel and director of operations, as an officer on corporate filings, and give CPI's Independence Avenue headquarters as their principal address.
Seward's name also appears on the purchasing companies' incorporation documents.
Finances
2021
Finances for fiscal year 2021 consist of: revenue of $45,707,730; expenses of $17,160,422; and donations of $45,027,954
-- more donations than its first four years altogether. $25 million came from one person, Mike Rydin, a retired software developer.
(Since 2021, other large donors have eclipsed Rydin.)
2022
According to the ''New Yorker'' magazine, CPI and its network of mostly non-profit groups raised "nearly" $200 million in 2022.
According to CPI tax filings in that year,
*$15.5 million came from "an unnamed donor".
Other large donors were
*
Servant Foundation
The Servant Foundation, also known as The Signatry, is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit organization funded primarily by anonymous donors, that operates a donor-advised fund. It is best known for "He Gets Us", a religious advertising campaign that ...
, a fund affiliated with
David Green, billionaire and founder of the chain store
Hobby Lobby
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 1,001 stores in 48 U.S. states. The Green family fo ...
;
*
Donors Trust
DonorsTrust is an American nonprofit donor-advised fund that was founded in 1999 with the goal of "safeguarding the intent of libertarian and conservative donors". As a donor advised fund, DonorsTrust is not legally required to disclose the id ...
, a fund connected with the
Koch family
The Koch family ( ) is an American family engaged in business, best known for their political activities in the Koch network and their control of Koch Inc, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2019 revenues of $1 ...
and
Leonard Leo
Leonard Anthony Leo (born November 1965) is an American lawyer, businessman, and conservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society and is currently, along with Steven Calabresi, the co-chairman of the or ...
;
*
Bradley Impact Fund;
*Dave Frecka, a food company entrepreneur; and
*Mike Rydin (whose foundation gave $1.5 million).
Criticisms
A 2022
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
investigation found CPI might be violating prohibitions on
501(c)(3) charities (as a nonprofit, it is prohibited from "partisan spending or certain kinds of lobbying") providing benefits to political parties by supporting candidates and groups aligned with the
Republican Party.
Members of its network though have affiliated groups which are legally allowed to spend money on political advertising with few restrictions. (
America First Legal, for example has a non-non-profit called
Citizens for Sanity which spent in excess of $90 million on TV advertisements blaming the Biden administration "for crime, high inflation, and low wages on illegal immigration and warned viewers that Biden was leading the country toward 'World War Three'”. )
According to the investigative journalism group Documented CPI has moved money through different groups to disguise the fact that Trump funded part of some electoral challenges of the 2020 presidential election. (The
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
Save America
Save America (founded on November 9, 2020) is a leadership political action committee founded and controlled by 45th President and 47th President Donald Trump. It has been Trump's primary fundraising and political spending arm since he left hi ...
— founded and controlled by Donald Trump — donated a million dollars to CPI, which donated a million to American Voting Rights Foundation, which donated a million dollars to audit of voting in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona).
This connection seemed to contradict public pronouncements by Republican leaders in Arizona who insisted that the election audit had “absolutely has nothing to do with Trump”.
See also
*
Make America Great Again
"Make America Great Again" (MAGA, ) is an American political slogan most recently popularized by Donald Trump during his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and in 2024. "MAGA" is also used to refer to Trump's ideology, political bas ...
*
Save America PAC
Save America (founded on November 9, 2020) is a Leadership PAC, leadership political action committee founded and controlled by First presidency of Donald Trump, 45th President and 47th President Donald Trump. It has been Trump's primary fundrai ...
*
Ziklag (organization)
Ziklag is a Christian dominionist organization named after the biblical city of Ziklag. Its membership is exclusively for individuals with a net worth over $25 million as well as faith-based interests. The organization's goal is to "take domin ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{WikidataCoord
Non-profit organizations based in the United States
Conservatism in the United States
Trumpism
Politics of the United States
Political organizations based in the United States
Conservative political advocacy groups in the United States