# Source note: OpenSecrets / money-in-politics influence

Date: 2026-08-04

## What was checked

- OpenSecrets' accessible API/open-data page, including its public positioning as a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit and its description as a premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer / IRS Form 990 data for EIN 52-1275227.
- InfluenceWatch's profile for Center for Responsive Politics / OpenSecrets, used as an outside profile with its own ideological lens.
- Wikipedia background, used only as a tertiary cross-check for history/merger/founders.

## Key facts used

- OpenSecrets is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt since September 1983, EIN 52-1275227.
- Public profiles trace the organization to the Center for Responsive Politics, founded in 1983 by former U.S. Senators Frank Church and Hugh Scott.
- OpenSecrets describes itself as tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy, providing data, analysis and tools for policymakers, storytellers and citizens.
- Its site/tooling covers donors, politicians, elections, outside spending, lobbying, industries, personal finances and revolving-door style influence data.
- ProPublica's structured data lists 2024 revenue of $3,036,734, expenses of $4,498,584, assets of $2,890,676, and contributions of $2,464,473.

## Editorial caution

OpenSecrets is influential because journalists, researchers and citizens cite its organized disclosure data. It is not a court, regulator or neutral fact in itself. It depends on disclosed data, classification choices, methodology and data timeliness. Its funders and institutional assumptions should be visible when assessing its influence.