NEO Philanthropy (formerly Public Interest Projects) is a New York-based nonprofit that serves as a fiscal clearinghouse for left-of-center causes. The group serves as a vehicle for center-left foundations to pool resources, hosts donor-advised funds, and sponsors various liberal projects. ¹

The organization is the fiscal sponsor of center-left entities, including the Funders Committee on Civic Participation, a liberal voter mobilization group. ² Disbursing grant money serves remains one of NEO’s primary functions; NEO Philanthropy gave close to 60 percent of its total expenditures as grants. ³

Inside Philanthropy described NEO as “an intermediary that doesn’t have its own resources for grantmaking.” ⁴ The group receives funding from major center-left donors, including the Atlantic Philanthropies, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Gill Foundation, the Pew Trusts, and the Carnegie Corporation, among others. ⁵ The organization and similar left-of-center groups that engage in “nonpartisan” voter registration have received criticism for appearing to favor the registration of voters exceptionally likely to vote for Democratic candidates. ⁶

The NEO Philanthropy Action Fund is the 501(c)(4) advocacy arm of NEO Philanthropy.

Background

Founding of “Public Interest Projects”

NEO Philanthropy was formed in 1983 as Public Interest Projects. NEO’s founder, Donald Ross, reportedly chose the relatively bland name “Public Interest Projects” because he “wanted the organization to be under the radar so that people wouldn’t necessarily know what it did.” ⁷

Donald K. Ross

Donald K. Ross is a left-wing environmental activist credited with proposing the model of the Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) in the 1970s alongside activist Ralph Nader. The PIRGs, state-based policy advocacy groups, operate under the national U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US-PIRG); US-PIRG and numerous other left-wing policy advocacy groups, including the canvassing services group Fund for the Public Interest, are controlled by the umbrella group Public Interest Network. Ross worked as the founding director of New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) from 1973 to 1982, where he reportedly grew the organization to 180 staffers operating out of 31 offices. ⁸ Barack Obama, then a student at Columbia University, worked full-time for NYPIRG as a community organizer from February through May 1985. ⁹ Ross later worked as director of Ralph Nader’s group Citizen Action. ¹⁰

In 1971, Ross co-authored Action For a Change alongside Nader, a book credited as a kind of manual for the then-new network of Public Interest Research Groups they had founded. In More Action For a Change (1987), journalist Kelley Griffin noted that Ross, “a native of the Bronx with a law degree from New York University and three years’ experience in organizing PIRGs nationwide . . . was a natural candidate to heard NYPIRG” as well as its lobbying program in 1973. Ross also aided activists in establishing the Oregon Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) in the 1970s, one of the oldest and largest state PIRGs, as well as the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group. ^{11 12}

From 1985 to 1999, Ross was chief administrative officer for the Rockefeller Family Fund. ¹³ In July 2014, a report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works recorded that Ross was part of “a narrow set of individuals whose careers are part of the fabric of the far-left environmental movement . . . [who] exercise outsized influence regarding the distribution of funds” by groups like “Environmental Grantmakers Association, Democracy Alliance, and others.” ¹⁴

From 2004 to 2009, Ross was a member of the Greenpeace board of directors; in multiple years he was also board chairman. ¹⁵ Ross was also a member of the board of directors for the League of Conservation Voters from 2004-2010. ¹⁶

Ross is the co-founder of Malkin & Ross, an Albany, New York-based lobbying and government affairs firm created in 1984. Malkin & Ross lists clients including Food and Water Watch, Vera Institute of Justice, Sierra Club, and Make the Road New York; it’s first large client was reportedly the New York Trial Lawyers Association. ^{17 18 19} Arthur N. Malkin, Ross’s business partner and the firm’s co-founder, reportedly worked for Ross as legislative director for NYPIRG beginning in 1979. ²⁰

M&R Strategic Services (MRSS) is Malkin & Ross’s Washington, D.C.-based lobbying and government relations affiliate. MRSS notes campaigns and left-wing groups it’s consulted for, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Sierra Club, GLAAD, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Population Connection, Oxfam America, Planned Parenthood, 350.org, and Earthrights International. ²¹ The group also opposed the Trump administration’s decision to undo the creation of several national parks in the final weeks of the Obama administration. ²²

Past MRSS clients also include AARP, Alliance for Justice, Bread for the World, Environmental Defense Fund, Human Rights Campaign, NARAL Pro-Choice America, League of Conservation Voters, National Environmental Trust, the Bauman Family Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Public Interest Projects (NEO Philanthropy). ²³

In 2018, the Packard Foundation reported a $50,000 grant to MRSS “for public opinion polling and other research on views of science”; in 2018 it reported another $150,000 grant to the firm for the same purpose. ^24 25

Since 1996, MRSS has donated $41,735 to Democratic Party political candidates, including 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. ²⁶

In the 2018 midterm election, MRSS received $1,335,417 in payments from left-wing PACs and labor unions, including Planned Parenthood Votes, the SEIU, League of Conservation Voters, Win Justice PAC, United We Can, American Nurses Association, and It Starts Today. ²⁷

Rebranding as “NEO Philanthropy”

A 2015 interview with the website Inside Philanthropy noted that NEO Philanthropy was always intended to provide funding to “social justice” causes, but grew more cognizant of “alliance-building” with other left-wing groups in the mid-2000s. Around 2008, according to then-president Berta Colón, the group rebranded itself from Public Interest Projects to NEO Philanthropy and coalesced its mission around “strengthen[ing] intersections of social justice issues, aligning the diverse interests of donors and advocates while nurturing collective action across areas that are too often pursued in isolation.” ²⁸

The Fiscal Sponsorship Model

According to a June 2015 interview with NEO president Michele Lord, NEO was established to serve as the 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor for numerous left-wing groups that didn’t want to pursue nonprofit recognition by the IRS under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code. According to Lord, NEO was “the backroom for lots of organizations that didn’t have their own 501(c)(3) [status].” Lord also noted that, as of 2015, NEO hosted over 40 fiscally sponsored projects. ²⁹

“Alliance building is central to NEO’s model,” according to a 2015 Inside Philanthropy interview with Lord. The group calls itself a “bridge” between funders and activists on the Left, using its various funds to sponsor projects aimed at pushing center-left policies in voting, LGBT issues, etc.: ³⁰

NEO is an intermediary that doesn’t have its own assets for grantmaking. Money comes in the door from funders and goes out the door to social justice groups. As a go-between, NEO is able to talk to both grantmakers and grantees with unusual candor.

. . .

What NEO did, over eight years, was to organize disparate efforts through a national donor collaborative that ultimately gave $34 million in grants to 140 groups. This collaborative wasn’t just a clearinghouse for cutting checks; it was, says NEO, a movement-building effort that sought to empower the parents and community residents most affected by education reform. It drew in some name brand funders, but also a great many smaller, more obscure funders who were able to hook into a sophisticated grantmaking operation.

Beyond providing money, CPER sought to build the infrastructure of an “educational justice movement” in a variety of ways, including connecting up different players, helping them work together through convening and facilitating, and ensuring that best practices were shared.

Initiatives

NEO Philanthropy primarily exists to provide fiscal sponsorship to center-left projects. The group notes that it has hosted some 60 such projects. ³¹

“Funder Collaboratives”

NEO’s largest projects are what it calls “funder collaboratives,” each of which focuses on an area interest to left-of-center donors.

The Four Freedoms Fund is directed toward supporting the political interests and welfare of illegal immigrants. The Just and Fair Schools Fund seeks to ease school discipline. The State Infrastructure Fund engages in voter registration and opposes conservative electoral reform legislation. ³² The Sunrise Initiative for Human Rights in the U.S. opposes immigration law enforcement activities. ³³

In the electoral area, NEO Philanthropy also operates the Shelby Response Fund, dedicated to opposing voting laws in states affected by changes to the Voting Rights Act ordered by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder. ³⁴ That fund was managed by Karen Narasaki, an attorney with ties to numerous liberal nonprofits who was appointed by then-President Barack Obama to serve on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. ³⁵ According to leaked documents reported on by the Washington Free Beacon, the Open Society Foundations funded by left-wing financier George Soros is a principal funder of the Shelby Response Fund, with liberal voter registration practices such as expanded same-day registration and early voting on the Fund’s agenda. ³⁶

NEO is also involved in efforts to change criminal justice. The MacArthur Foundation gave NEO $18 million for juvenile justice projects aimed at preventing juveniles from entering the adult justice system. ³⁷

NEO supports projects in the feminist and pro-abortion spheres. The group was the charitable partner for the producers of the controversial campus sexual assault documentary The Hunting Ground. (Reason magazine described the film as “a work of activist propaganda,”³⁸ and, ironically, it was distributed by The Weinstein Company of alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein. ³⁹) NEO Philanthropy is also the fiscal sponsor of Shout Your Abortion, an aggressive pro-abortion messaging campaign seeking to normalize the practice. ⁴⁰

Funders Committee for Civic Participation

Also see Funders Committee for Civic Participation (Nonprofit)

NEO fiscally sponsors the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP), a membership organization of left-wing donors including the Democracy Alliance, the AFL-CIO, the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and numerous other donors that focuses on voter registration and liberal-backed changes to election systems. ⁴¹

The FCCP is formally nonpartisan, but critics have noted that the organization’s election-related efforts are funded by liberal foundations and support strategies which help Democrats get elected. ⁴²

Federal Agencies Project

The Federal Agencies Project (FAP) was created by NEO Philanthropy to encourage “U.S. government agencies to be more responsive to LGBT needs.” ⁴³

The campaign primarily targets federal agencies to push for expanded domestic partnership benefits for gay couples. FAP is managed by Civitas Public Affairs Group, a consultancy created by left-wing activists from the gay marriage groups Gill Foundation, Freedom to Marry, and now-defunct Gill Action Fund; FAP itself has received grants from the Gill Foundation, an LGBT interest funder, including $965,000 in 2015. ^{44 45 46}

New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice

New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice is a left-wing immigration advocacy project of NEO Philanthropy. ⁴⁷

The group purchased numerous Facebook advertisements in 2018 and 2019, some of which solicited donations that went to NEO Philanthropy. ⁴⁸ Other Facebook advertisements criticized Republican legislators in New Jersey: ⁴⁹

NJ GOP legislators started a petition today against expanding access to drivers licenses using Trump rhetoric to create fear & an us vs. them mentality. We won’t fall for it.

Let’s show every legislators there’s no reason to hesitate on voting yes on expanding access to drivers licenses for all, regardless of status. Call leadership & sign petition to show your support now.

Safety Donor Services Project

Safety Donor Services Project is a project fiscally sponsored by NEO Philanthropy that supports organizations focused on “frontline social justice work” by addressing any threats to these organizations. In 2022 Ford Foundation, one of the top liberal foundations in the U.S., donated $615,569 to NEO Philanthropy for the Safety Donor Services Project “to address threats to organizations that are engaging in frontline social justice work.”⁵⁰

Past Projects

Past NEO projects include the incubation of Inside Climate News, an environmentalist media outfit. NEO Philanthropy, then still named Public Interest Projects, reportedly served as the fiscal sponsor for Inside Climate and its associated public relations firm, Science First, from 2010 through 2014. ⁵¹

NEO also managed the center-left projects National Campaign to Reform State Juvenile Justice Systems, Define American, and Colorado Communities for Public Education Reform. ^{52 53}

The National Campaign to Reform State Juvenile Justice Systems was a NEO Philanthropy project in operation between 2011 and 2014. The project was launched in 2010 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in order to “accelerate policy reforms to juvenile justice systems throughout the country,” with a particular focus on state legislatures. According to NEO, funders of the campaign included the George Gund Foundation, Interact Foundation for Health, MacArthur Foundation, Edward Moore Foundation, New York Community Trust, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Sapelo Foundation. NEO hired the services of M&R Strategic Services to run the campaign, the firm run by NEO Philanthropy founder Donald K. Ross. ⁵⁴

Define American is an illegal immigration advocacy group incubated by NEO Philanthropy. The group aims to discourage the use of the term “illegal alien” to describe non-citizens living the United States illegally in favor of the term “undocumented immigrant.” Define American encourages illegal immigrants to advertise their status as non-citizens living illegally in the country. ⁵⁵

Political Activities

2000 San Diego School Board Election

In 2015, the San Diego Reader revealed that NEO Philanthropy (under the name Public Interest Projects) was one major contributor to a $720,000 advertisement campaign in a 2000 San Diego, California school board election managed by a group called the Partnership for Student Achievement. When pressed by journalists, the group revealed its two top donors: “Essential Information, Inc., of Washington, D.C., gave $100,000. Public Interest Projects of New York City gave $57,000.” Essential Information is a left-wing nonprofit founded by Russell Mokhiber, a professional activist who worked for Ralph Nader’s various groups, including Corporate Crime Reporter, a legal weekly. ⁵⁶

Facebook Advertisements

NEO Philanthropy has purchased advertisements on the social networking site Facebook for at least two other groups.

NEO Philanthropy paid for multiple Facebook advertisements supporting abortion-on-demand and criticizing legislation passed in Alabama in May a “monstrosity.” While NEO paid for the advertisements, the ads themselves were released by Lady Parts Justice, a left-wing agitation group and a project of the “pop-up” group sponsor Sixteen Thirty Fund; Lady Parts Justice calls itself “a coven of hilarious badass feminists who use humor and pop culture to expose haters fighting to end abortion access.” ⁵⁷

New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, a left-wing immigration project of NEO Philanthropy, paid for multiple Facebook advertisements in 2018 and 2019 soliciting donations. Donations to the group went to NEO Philanthropy, the group’s fiscal sponsor. ⁵⁸

Funding

A table of NEO Philanthropy’s total revenues between 2010 and 2018 is available below: ⁵⁹

A table of NEO Philanthropy’s total expenditures between 2010 and 2018 is available below: ⁶⁰

Donors to NEO Philanthropy

NEO Philanthropy serves as a philanthropic intermediary, similar to a donor-advised fund (which NEO reportedly operates). Reports indicate that NEO partners with upwards of 100 left-wing funding groups. ⁶¹ NEO Philanthropy reportedly does not typically raise funds from the general public, though it began to do so as part of its association with the film The Hunting Ground. ⁶²

Foundations provide the backbone of NEO Philanthropy’s funding. In 2014, NEO Philanthropy reported $51.7 million in total revenue; grants to NEO Philanthropy from foundations in 2014 totaled over $37 million. ⁶³ Other left-wing nonprofits have provided funds to NEO: Tax records show grants from New Venture Fund, The Energy Foundation, Greenpeace, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey in recent years. ⁶⁴

Atlantic Philanthropies, a Bermuda-based foundation consortium formerly headed by Democracy Alliance chief Gara LaMarche, granted NEO-associated entities more than $14.3 million from 2010 until Atlantic expended all its funds in 2016. ⁶⁵

Between 2005 and 2010, the left-of-center Knight Foundation granted $4 million to NEO Philanthropy to establish the American Dream Fund, “which will provide flexible funding to immigrant-serving organizations in Knight communities,” according to the grant description. ⁶⁶

In 2012, the Gates Foundation granted NEO $40,000 to run the project Colorado Communities for Public Education Reform. ⁶⁷

A list of foundations that have given grants to NEO Philanthropy between 2013 and 2017 is available here: ⁶⁸

Donors to NEO Philanthropy Projects

A number of grants from the left-of-center Bauman Family Foundation to specific NEO Philanthropy projects have been identified: ⁶⁹

Consulting and Independent Contractor Fees

NEO Philanthropy has hired M+R Strategic Services (MRSS), the firm co-founded by NEO Philanthropy founder Donald Ross, for “project management” services multiple times. Since 2002, NEO has paid MRSS $24,399,042 in contractor fees. ⁷⁰ According to a 2012 NEO report, the group hired MRSS “to help design, staff and manage state campaigns” for its project National Campaign to Reform State Juvenile Justice Systems. ⁷¹

A full list of NEO Philanthropy’s independent contractor payments between 2002 and 2017 is available below: ⁷²

Financial Documents

NEO Philanthropy’s IRS Form 990 filings for 2014 through 2021 are available here:

• 2014 Form 990
• 2015 Form 990
• 2016 Form 990
• 2017 Form 990
• 2018 Form 990
• 2019 Form 990
• 2020 Form 990
• 2021 Form 990

NEO Philanthropy Action Fund

NEO Philanthropy’s 501(c)(4) advocacy arm, NEO Philanthropy Action Fund (formerly Public Interest Projects Action Fund), received $21,993,000 from Atlantic Philanthropies between 2009 and 2010. ⁷³ In 2011, Atlantic Philanthropies’s Atlantic Advocacy Fund gave the Action fund $2,197,500; in 2012, it gave the Action Fund another $1,802,500. ⁷⁴

The Action Fund has given at least $100,000 from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund since 2009. ⁷⁵

Grant Recipients

NEO reported approximately $46.9 million in total expenditures for 2014 and reported more than $32.1 million in grants to domestic organizations. ⁷⁶ In 2015, those numbers were $39.7 million and $22.7 million, respectively. ⁷⁷ Since 2003, NEO has granted more than $176 million to likeminded left-of-center organizations. ⁷⁸

Grantees for 2015 include branches of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Tides Center, Border Action Network, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation, Citizen Engagement Lab Education Fund, Chinese Progressive Association, Center for American Progress, and UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), among others. ⁷⁹

Lobbying

In 2012, the left-wing New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) reported that NEO Philanthropy (Public Interest Projects) had spent $90,707 lobbying in New York state in 2010. ⁸⁰

Leadership

Until 2015, NEO Philanthropy had two co-presidents, Michele Lord and Berta Colón. Since Colón’s departure in 2015, Lord has worked as the group’s sole president.

President

Michele Lord is president of both NEO Philanthropy and NEO Philanthropy Action Fund, a position she assumed in 2015 after working as co-president alongside Berta Colón. Lord simultaneously works as director of the Ottinger Foundation, a foundation that “supports work in the areas of economic justice, civic participation and environmental justice.” She was previously director of the Norman Foundation for six years, and “has overseen program evaluations” with the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Open Society Foundations (formerly Institute). ⁸¹ In 2017, Lord was paid $276,025 in total compensation. ⁸²

Lord has a background in Democratic electoral politics. She also worked as director for the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues from 1984 to 1988. She later worked in the New York City Mayor’s Office 1990 to 1993 under then-Mayor David Dinkins (D). ⁸³

From 2002 to 2015, Berta Colón was co-president of NEO Philanthropy alongside Michele Lord. After leaving NEO, Colón was briefly deputy director of El Museo del Barrio, a Latino cultural museum in New York City; she was fired from her position in May 2017 after less than a year’s time with the museum for “performance reasons” related to its $800,000 deficit. ⁸⁴

NEO Philanthropy founder Donald Ross was president of the group from its creation in 1983 until he left in 2003. ⁸⁵

Senior Staff

NEO Philanthropy’s senior operational staff consists of the following individuals: ⁸⁶

Erin Ballard is chief operating officer of NEO Philanthropy.

Robert Bray is director of communications for NEO Philanthropy.

Sue Lim is chief financial officer for NEO Philanthropy.

Sarah Motola is NEO’s managing director of fiscal sponsorship.

Program Staff

In addition to its senior staff, NEO Philanthropy has three program directors who manage its individual funds. ⁸⁷

Lisa Versaci is director of NEO’s State Infrastructure Fund. Versaci is also a consultant to the Democracy Alliance and is the former managing director of the Committee on States, the Democracy Alliance’s state-level counterpart.

Anita Khashu is director of NEO’s Four Freedoms Fund, a position she assumed in December 2014. Khashu previously worked as founding director of the Vera Institute for Justice’s Center on Immigration and Justice.⁸⁸

Gratienne Baskin is director of NEO’s Anti-Trafficking Fund. Baskin previously worked for the Urban Justice Center as an Equal Justice Works Fellow.

Past Staff

Margarita Rubalcava was director of immigration for NEO Philanthropy from 2006 to 2014 as well as the director of the Four Freedoms Fund. Rubalcava is currently president of the left-of-center funder Borealis Philanthropy. ⁸⁹

Lisa Guide was a key employee of NEO Philanthropy from 2003 to 2006. ⁹⁰ Since 2003, Guide has also been associate director of the Rockefeller Family Fund. ⁹¹

Board of Directors

NEO Philanthropy’s board of directors in 2019 consisted of ten individuals: John Gilroy, director of the U.S. Public Lands program for Pew Charitable Trusts; Christopher Meyer, chief of staff for the Rockefeller Foundation project 100 Resilient Cities; Glenn Harris, president of Race Forward (formerly Applied Research Center); Cathy Albisa, co-founder of National Economic and Social Rights Initiative; Kristen Ruff, senior vice president of member services for Philanthropy New York; Darren Sandow, executive director of the Hagedorn Foundation; Kerrien Suarez, director of Equity in the Center (a project of ProInspire); Christina Schatz, a financial adviser; Sean Thomas-Breitfield, co-director of Building Movement Project; and Ben Wyskida, chief executive officer of Fenton Communications, a public affairs firm that caters to left-wing clients. ⁹²

Board chair John Gilroy is a former campaign staffer for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), a position he held from 1980 to 1984 during the tenure of NYPIRG director and NEO Philanthropy founder Donald Ross. ⁹³ From 2013 to 2017, Gilroy was NEO’s board chair.

Past Board Members

NEO Philanthropy founder Donald Ross was president of the group and a board member from its creation in 1983 until he left in 2003. Ross’s wife, Helen Klein Ross, was also a board member during that period. ⁹⁴

Patricia Bauman was a NEO board member from 2012 to 2017. Bauman is president of the Bauman Family Foundation and a major donor to left-wing causes. She is a board member of the Democracy Alliance, a network of top-ranking left-wing funders and influencers. ⁹⁵

Susan Stamler was a board member from at least 2001 to 2011. Stamler was vice president of Malkin & Ross from 2010 to 2015, the firm owned by Donald Ross. ⁹⁶

Madeline Janis was a NEO board member from 2012 to 2013. Janis is co-founder and executive director of Jobs to Move America. ⁹⁷

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64. See New Venture Fund, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2014, Schedule I Part II; The Energy Foundation, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2011, Schedule I Part II; Greenpeace Inc., Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2014, Schedule I Part II; United States Public Interest Research Group Inc., Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2009, Schedule I Part II; United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2013, Schedule I Part II.
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76. NEO Philanthropy, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2014, Part IX
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