Think Tanks Received Millions in PPP Loans

Today the US's Small Business Administration (SBA) released information on nearly 700,000 loans issued as part of the $660 billion Payroll Protection Program (PPP), and Think Tank Watch has been scouring SBA's database in search of think tanks that received money.

The database consists of small businesses and nonprofits that received at least $150,000.  Here are a few of the think tanks we found that received PPP funds:

• Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC): $1-$2 million
• Center for a New American Security (CNAS): $350,000 - $1 million 
• Center for Security Policy (CSP): $150,000 - $350,000
• Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA): $350,000 - $1 million
• Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): $2-$5 million
• Economic Policy Institute (EPI): $350,000 to $1 million
• Institute for Policy Studies (IPS): $350,000 to $1 million
• Institute for the Study of War (ISW): $150,000 to $350,000
• Middle East Institute (MEI): $350,000 to $1 million
• New America: $2-$5 million
• Stimson Center: $350,000 to $1 million
• Third Way: $350,000 to $1 million

As previously noted by Think Tank Watch, the Aspen Institute returned $8 million that it had received from the PPP.

The libertarian Cato Institute is one of the few think tanks that has promised not to take bailout money.

Aspen Institute Returns $8 million Loan After Being Shamed

Here is more from the Washington Post: 

The Aspen Institute think tank announced it would return $8 million in federal small-business funds after a Thursday meeting of its board of trustees.

The decision marked an about-face for the nonprofit organization, which had argued Wednesday that the funds were necessary to keep its 430-person staff on payroll despite a $115 million endowment and several billionaires among its trustees.

The decision comes one day after The Washington Post revealed the institute had received the loan. The D.C.-based group joins a series of public companies, the Los Angeles Lakers and other larger employers that applied and received money from the Small Business Administration fund, only to later give it back.

The group’s many conferences and forums, the bread-and-butter of its operations, have been canceled. A 98-room conference center it owns in Aspen is closed and forecasting substantial losses. Overall, the D.C.-based nonprofit organization is projecting a loss of between $14 million and $17 million for 2020.

In defending the initial decision to keep the loan Wednesday, Aspen said it had already received board approval to tap into its endowment for $7.5 million but that about 80 percent of its endowment funds were restricted and could not be used for operating purposes.

Aspen had an endowment of more than $115 million at the end of 2018, according to its most recently available tax filing. Its board includes former Disney Chairman Michael Eisner and Chairman James S. Crown, a member of one of America’s wealthiest families.

Here is the original WaPo piece about the Aspen Institute receiving the $8 million loan.

Think Tank Watch is aware of other large think tanks that have received Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans, and it is likely that many will be pressured to return those funds once that news becomes public.

The libertarian Cato Institute is one of the few think tanks that has promised not to take bailout money.