I have reached the point where I just assume any of those prominent conservative groups are nothing more than legal money-laundering rackets staffed by useless grifters.
Anyone remember Solzhenitsyn visiting the US when Ford was in office? An editorial cartoon showed Ford and Kissinger hiding behind a couch not wanting to see him. Solzhenitsyn spoke the truth and the deep state had bigger fish to fry.
You assume correctly. They are NGO grifters for hire run by the corporate elite who see a profit for their companies in paying for this garbage. Having seen the inside of CATO, Heritage and CEI I pay no attention to the garbage they produce because it is supposed to be garbage.
I feel that way about most of them, but i've kept up with the heritage foundation for years, and they do stuff that the other "grifter" types never do.
Heritage works on grass roots issues and the underlying philosophy of conservatism. I think the project 2025 is probably very rational and well thought out, though I haven't read it. I just recall stuff from them that I have read over the years, and I imagine project 2025 is of a like type.