Common Sense Institute is a Colorado policy organization that appears in this repository as a recurring research and media-validation node in Colorado conservative policy fights. In the Advance Colorado source cluster, it is central because CTR reporting and the Who is Advance Colorado? microsite frame it as the think-tank component of a broader ballot-politics persuasion system.
The current repo evidence supports two layers. Direct linked Schedule I excerpts show ADVANCE COLORADO granting money to COMMON SENSE INSTITUTE in 2022 and 2023. CTR reporting and the microsite add the interpretation that Common Sense Institute research helps make Advance Colorado-backed policy positions look neutral or nonpartisan in public debate.
This page should not be used to assert that Common Sense Institute is controlled by Advance Colorado. The current source set supports funding, recurring personnel or network overlap as reported by CTR, and a role in the microsite's persuasion-machine frame.
- Role or function: policy research / think-tank organization.
- Scope in this repo: Colorado economic, ballot, education, and policy debates.
- Known aliases: CSI; Common Sense Policy Roundtable, based on CTR reporting about its founding name.
- Direct grant evidence retained in this pass: Advance Colorado Schedule I excerpts showing
$50,000 in 2022 and $40,000 in 2023 to Common Sense Institute for GENERAL ASSISTANCE.
- Interpretive context: CTR reporting and the microsite describe CSI as a validation or laundering mechanism for donor-friendly ideas. That remains source-framed analysis, not a filing label.
- Advance Colorado: direct Schedule I grantor in linked
2022 and 2023 excerpts, plus broader CTR reporting context.
- Clarity Media Group: paired with CSI in the microsite's media-amplification frame.
- High Hopes Colorado: appears in the source cluster as a donor-conduit candidate that also relates to Advance Colorado funding.
- Michael Fields: recurring Advance Colorado actor in source pages where CSI appears.
¶ Evidence and source basis
- a locally retained pdf from media.coloradotimesrecorder.com, captured 2026-04-18T21:56:43-06:00, titled Advance_990_2022_partial.pdf: first-page Schedule I text sample showing a
$50,000 Advance Colorado grant to Common Sense Institute.
- a locally retained pdf from media.coloradotimesrecorder.com, captured 2026-04-18T21:56:43-06:00, titled Advance_990_2023_partial.pdf: first-page Schedule I text sample showing a
$40,000 Advance Colorado grant to Common Sense Institute.
- a locally retained article from Colorado Times Recorder, published 2025-01-16, titled Despite Claim Not to Take Sides, Common Sense Institute Accepts Funds from Conservative Advocacy Group and Pays GOP Consulting Firm To Conduct Research: CTR reporting on CSI funding and research work.
- a locally retained article from Colorado Times Recorder, published 2024-02-08, titled Most Reporters Aren’t Informing You That the Common Sense Institute Is Conservative, Investigation Reveals: CTR reporting on media treatment of CSI.
- Who is Advance Colorado microsite and linked tax-document cluster: bounded source-cluster synthesis for the microsite and one-hop linked sources.
- The current pass did not retrieve Common Sense Institute's own current governance, staff, donor, or program pages. Those would be needed before expanding this beyond the Advance Colorado source-cluster role.
- Personnel overlap claims in the
$600k in 90 Days? article should be checked against direct archived Advance Colorado team pages before being hardened.
¶ Source access and local retention
Atlas Trace retains research captures and provenance records locally. Public originals, when available, appear in the Original links section below; internal archive paths and restricted materials are not public links. See Sources, access, and local retention.