Lawson R. Bader is a pivotal figure in the American conservative and libertarian donor network, serving as President and CEO of DonorsTrust and its sister organization, Donors Capital Fund since 2015, following the death of Whitney Ball. In these roles, he oversees all grant-making, donor relations, and the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars through donor-advised funds managing over $1.29 billion in assets as of 2023. DonorsTrust is a leading donor-advised fund channeling anonymous contributions to conservative and libertarian causes, strictly protecting donor anonymity and "donor intent." Bader defends this donor privacy as a fundamental First Amendment right and a safeguard for "philanthropic liberty" against political harassment, although the organization has faced media scrutiny for the political influence of such funding. He directly supervises Peter Lipsett.

Bader’s career is deeply rooted in conservative philanthropy, free-market research, education groups, and the "Virginia school" of political economy. He spent over 16 years at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, including as Vice President of Operations, during which the center received over $10 million from Koch-related foundations. He has also held leadership roles at SRI International and the Liberty Fund. From 2012 to 2015, Bader served as President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), after previously holding the position of Vice President there. At CEI, he focused on legal challenges to federal agency overreach, particularly targeting the EPA and the Affordable Care Act—most notably supporting the King v. Burwell case—while advocating for deregulation. He maintains an extensive network across major free-market think tanks and advocacy groups, including the State Policy Network (SPN), where he is an influential voice. In 2024, Bader received the Thomas A. Roe Award for his lifetime contributions to the free-market movement, establishing him as a central coordinator within the modern libertarian movement.