Some do a lot more than just commissioned research. It's a very social business and one that, well beyond simple commissioned reports, is used by customers to

Some do a lot more than just commissioned research. It's a very social business and one that, well beyond simple commissioned reports, is used by customers to maintain asymmetric advantages in information awareness and social access. (Some of the best established tanks are staffed in part by elites who, interestingly enough, achieve some notoriety outside of work for throwing some of the most famous elite dinner parties and such.) Besides commissioned reports: Expensive periodicals: informing an elite of little known new developments in a field of interest. For example, one article might be a survey of recent research in microprocessor fabrication written for an audience of investment bankers and CEOs. Expensive membership libraries: Over time, some tanks accumulate extensive libraries of reports, many of which remain useful long after they're written. You can buy one-off copies or buy memberships. Elite Conferences: Some run invitation-only conferences. Public speaking, article publishing: self explanatory. Lobbying: self explanatory. Being a social butterfly: This requires some explanation because generally money does not change hands. In some cases, the reason the tank is able to do the kind of research is because it "knows all the right people" (and knows the diplomacy of how to speak with them without raising too many legal or social problems). Thus, a report might just come from looking up lots of open source stuff and synthesizing ... or it might come in part from having a lot of conversations with a related elite (who, normally, are barred or just would not speak directly with one another on the matter). As the diplomat, spreading around selected information while protecting sources, etc., they can help elites in industry and government to be "situationally aware" in ways that the general public can not. Nobody pays them for that but the social butterfly role helps to reinforce the "brand" of the more serious tanks, and so when people are ready to spend on something, they have some reason to think of the tank. I imagine that these days there are innovations I haven't seen yet (but that must be there) like "hidden" social networks, and such.