Does the Koch network or Donors Trust fund Project 2025 or the Heritage Foundation?

1. How Project 2025 is organized and who convened it

Project 2025 is a policy-and-transition blueprint convened and led by the Heritage Foundation, which produced a 920‑page compendium and recruited more than 100 partner organizations to advise a potential Republican administration ^{[4] [5] [6]}. Reporting describes Heritage as the convener and principal author of the project, with the initiative framed publicly as a “government‑in‑waiting” plan that aggregates policy proposals and personnel lists ^{[4] [5]}.

2. What the Koch network’s involvement looks like

Investigations and watchdog reporting show that Koch-affiliated nonprofits and the broader Koch network have given millions to organizations that are partners or advisors to Project 2025, including a notable $3.8 million gift to the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and smaller donations to Heritage-linked entities; DeSmog and allied outlets document Koch-linked donations of several million dollars to Project 2025 groups and at least $845,000 to Heritage since 2020 ^{[1] [7]}. Summaries by nonprofit monitors and news outlets characterize the Koch network not always as a direct financier of Heritage’s internal budget but as a major funder of allied think tanks and policy centers that populate Project 2025’s advisory board ^{[1] [8]}.

3. What DonorsTrust’s role is and how money flows through it

DonorsTrust — a donor‑advised fund described as a philanthropic vehicle for conservative and libertarian donors — has been a conduit for substantial sums into organizations that advised Project 2025; reporting shows DonorsTrust contributed over $21.1 million to roughly 40 Project 2025‑advising organizations in a single year and received large inflows from Leonard Leo‑linked funds, underscoring its role as an intermediary rather than an originating donor in most cases ^{[3] [2]}. Multiple outlets cite DonorsTrust as a major pass‑through that has routed tens of millions from Leo and other conservative networks into the ecosystem of groups working on Project 2025 ^{[2] [3]}.

4. Aggregate totals and competing emphases in reporting

Accountable US and NBC‑cited reporting estimate more than $55 million flowed from Leonard Leo’s and Charles Koch’s networks into Project 2025 advisory groups, with some reports emphasizing Leo’s network as the bigger immediate funder while others highlight Koch gifts to specific partner groups like TPPF ^{[2] [1]}. Different investigations focus on different pieces: some trace donor-advised fund flows (DonorsTrust and the 85 Fund) into dozens of groups ^[3], while others map direct grants from Koch-affiliated foundations to particular think tanks tied to Project 2025 ^[1].

5. What can and cannot be concluded from these reports

The evidence in the cited reporting supports the conclusion that Koch-linked entities and DonorsTrust have materially funded groups in the Project 2025 network and have given money to organizations associated with the Heritage ecosystem, but the sources also show that funding is diffuse, often channeled through intermediary funds, and that Leonard Leo’s networks are repeatedly named alongside Koch as a primary mover — meaning no single donor or vehicle alone “funds” Project 2025 or entirely bankrolls Heritage ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Public reporting does not, in these sources, claim Koch or DonorsTrust singularly owns or wholly funds the Heritage Foundation or Project 2025; rather, both appear as prominent funders among a broader constellation of conservative philanthropic networks ^{[1] [2] [4]}.