Social think tanks, characterized by their deep roots in society, interest neutrality, and strong professionalism, are an important component of the new type think tanks with Chinese characteristics. Possessing dual identities as both social organizations and think tanks, they exhibit significant differences from comprehensive think tanks, specialized think tanks, and corporate think tanks in terms of goal orientation, operational mechanisms, and resource utilization. The exertion of their influence is worthy of in-depth exploration. To explore the path to high-impact social think tanks, this study, based on the resource dependence theory, constructs a configuration effect model of social think tank influence. By comprehensively employing necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods, it identifies eight key condition variables from five dimensions: reputation resources, talent resources, communication resources, social resources, and international resources, and analyzes 25 representative social think tanks in China. This clarifies the configuration paths for Chinese social think tanks to achieve high impact, providing valuable references for the construction and development of social think tanks in China. The research findings are summarized follows: (1) Strong team strength, stable communication channels, diverse communication carriers, rich social activities, and extensive international cooperation are indispensable necessary factors in building high-impact social think tanks. (2) There exist three configuration paths for Chinese social think tanks to achieve high impact, with team strength, communication carriers, social activities, and international cooperation present in each path. Further analysis of the practical experience of representative think tanks in each path in building high impact reveals the key resources that Chinese social think tanks need to focus on to achieve high impact. Chinese social think tanks should closely integrate with the actual situation, integrate, allocate, and reorganize these resources, and choose the appropriate path to high impact based on their own characteristics and resource endowments. This study not only expands the theoretical perspective of think tank research but also provides an optimized resource allocation plan and path selection decision framework for the strategic planning of Chinese social think tanks, holding practical guiding value for improving the system of new type think tanks with Chinese characteristics.