The Washington Post features CGD as an effective and influential international policy organization.
From the article:
For all the effort that goes into ranking and rating charities, it's much harder to know which nonprofit groups are truly effective. Some months ago, faced with my own philanthropic dilemma, I began informally polling friends, sources and readers to get a sense of which organizations carry weight in both foreign- and domestic-policy negotiations.
On domestic policy, the name that kept coming up was the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It leans left, but people on both sides admire its empirical rigor, focus on policy and fierce advocacy. It is widely acknowledged as having a voice in both the White House and Congress.
On international policy, two names came up with roughly equal frequency: The Center for Global Development and Oxfam International. Oxfam is a large organization (actually, a confederation of 14 smaller organizations) with a ground presence in 99 countries. People who work in international affairs say Oxfam is uncommonly sophisticated and respected in policy discussions. CGD is a smaller, more policy-focused outlet, but one with an outsize influence among decision-makers.