What We’re Looking for and Where to Find it Once you’ve identified your power research target, there is a lot of information you can find about it! The graphic below shows different categories of information you might want to know about a powerful corporation or other organization. Depending on the...
Power Mapping Corporations & Other Organizations
What to look for: Who are the key executives and staff? Who is on the board of directors? What other corporations/organizations are represented on the board? Where to find it: LittleSis.org, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, non-profit tax returns on ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer, news articles, the company’s website, the...
What to look for: If you are investigating a corporation, who are its investors? Who are its creditors? Investors Where to find it: The SEC’s EDGAR database, Yahoo! Finance, Whale Wisdom, Google. For public companies, there are several different ways to identify investors. EDGAR provides us with some of this...
What to look for: What politicians and political committees has the organization and its leadership contributed money to? Does the organization have a political action committee (PAC)? Does the organization and its leadership contribute to federal, state, and local elections? Where to find it: Opensecrets.org, The Federal Election Commission (FEC)...
What to look for: Does the corporation have a foundation or philanthropic arm? If so, what think tanks, foundations, or other non-profits are they contributing money to? What think tanks, foundations or other non-profits does the corporation’s leadership donate to? Do any of the corporation’s executives or board members have...
What to look for: What think tanks, trade groups, government councils, etc. is the organization part of? Examples include a local Chamber of Commerce, The Partnership for New York City, or The Economic Club of Chicago. Where to find it: Google, LittleSis.org, website biographies of the corporation’s leaders, annual charitable...
https://youtu.be/z1YSmgL-VYg?si=6lbr2QAvb3U87_zo What to look for: How much money does a company spend trying to influence policymakers? Which policymakers is the organization trying to influence? Who has the organization hired to lobby for it? Companies are required to disclose who they hire to contact the government to advocate on specific laws...
What to look for: Does the organization have notable subsidiaries? Where to find it: Croctail, The SEC’s EDGAR database. Croctail is a search engine that helps you search subsidiaries of public and private companies. Public companies have to provide a list of their subsidiaries in the 10-k they file with...
What to look for: Has the corporation gotten any recent tax breaks? Are they currently applying for other kinds of public subsidies? Where to find it: Google, news searches, the Good Jobs First subsidy tracker. Most of the research strategies and tools above are applicable to most corporations. However, there...
