The executive director of IWF is Sabrina Schaeffer, who started her political career with the American Enterprise Institute, an organization that has been called the “epicenter” of the American neoconservative movement. She accused Sheryl Sandberg of “grasping at straws to stay relevant” for Sandberg’s comment that gender stereotypes can be taught in childhood, writing that “most women don’t want to be leaders at a Fortune 100 company.” Following the 2014 shooting in Santa Barbara, California, Schaeffer wrote that “the modern feminist movement today was in ‘need’ of a horrible tragedy like the Elliott Rodger killings,” claiming that “contemporary ‘feminism’…regularly pits men and women against one another” and “need women to remain victims in order to justify their raison d’etre.” Schaeffer told Glamour Magazine in 2013 that abortion and gun safety are issues she wishes “would just go away.”

The IWF has a “sister organization,” the Independent Women’s Voice, that works to “impact key policy, legislative, and political battles.” IWV claims an 86% campaign success rate, and ran ads before the 2012 presidential election encouraging female voters to view President Obama as “a boyfriend that didn’t work out.” The IWV has made independent expenditures in support of a number of candidates, including $67,242 for Todd Akin in 2012, and $92,963 for Joni Ernst and $134,407 for Cory Gardner in 2014. The IWF is also affiliated with the Independent Women’s Network, a set of local chapters that host events and discussions and “participate in local, state, and national issues.”

The Independent Women’s Forum is closely affiliated with the Koch brothers; IWF received $3,704,104 from DonorsTrust between 2002 and 2014, as well as $835,000 between 1998 and 2010 from the  Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, a group that is closely affiliated with the Koch brothers – Charles Koch took over the foundation after Claude Lambe’s death. According to The Nation, IWF also received $125,000 from Koch brothers’ subsidiary company Flint Hills Resources. The IWF’s sister organization, the Independent Women’s Voice, says that they have never received any Koch money, however they received $250,000 in 2009 from the Center to Protect Patient Rights, another closely Koch-affiliated group.

IWV is also associated with Koch organizations through staff and board members. IWV president Heather Higgins – who is also the IWF board chair – previously served on the board of the Center to Protect Patient Rights; Nancy Pfotenhauer, a former lobbyist for Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity president, was previously the IWF president. Patrice Lee, the Director of Outreach at Koch-funded Generation Opportunity, is an IWF senior fellow.