https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails//fileid/21232/5122

Memo_CAP&Space.docx [137.27 KiB]

MEMO

TO: Steve Daetz
From: Heather Boushey
RE: A marriage of equals: Equitable Growth’s hopes and dreams for our relationship with the Center for American Progress
Date: August 1, 2014

We are extremely appreciative for all CAP has done for us. Without the support of Neera Tanden and her staff we would not have been able to get off on such a strong footing. After nearly a year and with senior staff firmly in place, we now have a better sense of what the Washington Center for Equitable Growth would like out of our relationship with the Center for American Progress.

Our mission is to be “fiercely independent.” Every day, we must convey to academics and policymakers that our research is unbiased and honest. While we believe there is much to be gained from our affiliation with CAP, we also believe that for us to be successful—and to do the most to support the work of CAP and other progressive organizations—requires that CAP’s support “leaves no fingerprints.” (Please burn this email after you read it!) We want to be able to tap into CAP’s resources—and allow them to tap into ours—as it makes sense, but with a public-facing image that is independent of CAP.

Here’s a brief run-down:

1. Back-end support. As a small start up, our most urgent need is to tap into a variety of support functions:

• Technical support for hardware, software, and web tech 
• Human resources, including payroll, health and retirement benefits 
• Legal, including 501(c) status
• Finance, tax and auditing 

But, to maintain our “fierce independence,” we need:

• Phone lines that show up as “Equitable Growth,” not “Center for American Progress.”
• Job openings posted on our site, not CAP’s
• Our staff listed on our own website, not CAP’s
• The ability to sign contracts with academics and researchers saying only “Equitable Growth,” not “Center for American Progress.”
• To be able to raise funds specifically to send directly out the door in support or grantmaking that do not have to include all of CAP’s standard 15 percent overhead.
• To control our spending by having a Washington Center for Equitable Growth credit card to expedite securing event space, among other things.

2. Office space that works for our organization. Our mission is to engage academics in policy

-2-

debates. Our work-plan includes a DC fellows program and recruiting and retaining serious economists and researchers. We meet regularly with donors and policymakers, as well as with advocates. Our office space must reflect that we are “fiercely independent,” and it must match the amenities of the institutions with which we are partnering (often competing with for talent). Therefore, our space must:

• Provide contiguous and suitable office space for all our staff and fellows. This includes private offices with natural light for all PhDs and senior staff.
• Provide suitable meeting space for our team and our guests that is not CAP-branded and where we could brand it as Equitable Growth.
• Provide an entryway for guests, with Equitable Growth signage

3. Tap into and build on CAP’s excellent reputation with advocates and policymakers. We are establishing our own independent brand with academics and the press, but especially in advocacy and policymaking circles, our affiliation with CAP signals that we are policy-relevant and committed to real-time engagement.

4. Engage with CAP on policy agenda setting. We anticipate this dialog will be useful especially as we build up to the economic debates that will happen around the 2016 election. We could do this regardless of whether we are affiliated or not.

5. Emergency back up. As a small start-up, we have no back-up capacity. If one of our staff members becomes ill or has a family emergency, this could wreck havoc on our work. In case of such an emergency, we want the ability ask to tap into CAP’s communications, editorial, art, or other functions.

6. What we don’t need on an on-going basis:

• We have put together an in-house communications team (Ed Paisley, Casey Schoeneberg, Brad Delong, Nick Bunker, and Dave Evans) and we are looking to hire our own web developer. Aside from consultations and the occasional press request for Heather in her Senior Fellow capacity, we are not tapping CAP’s communications team.
• We do not make use of CAP’s Editorial or Art teams.
• Our mission requires that we be “fiercely independent” and therefore we cannot use CAP’s event space.