Western Values Project Action (WVPA) is a project associated with the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a left-of-center funding and fiscal sponsorship organization managed by the Washington, D.C.-based consultancy Arabella Advisors. ¹ It is the lobbying and electoral advocacy arm of the Western Values Project, a project run by the New Venture Fund (NVF), the charitable advocacy sister organization to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.

In January 2020, Western Values Project became a project of Accountable.US, a former project of New Venture Fund project), with Accountable.US claiming it was “in the process of transitioning from the New Venture Fund” into a standalone nonprofit; it has since become an independent nonprofit. A lack of online activity indicates WVPA might have been absorbed into Accountable.US as well. ²

History

Western Values Project Action is a trade name for a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which is itself part of the Arabella Advisors-managed network of center-left nonprofits. District of Columbia records indicate that the trade name will expire in April of 2020. ³ WVPA is listed as a trade name in the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 2017 tax filings but not its 2016 filings. ^{4 5}

WVPA is the 501(c)(4) sister organization to the environmentalist advocacy project Western Values Project, which is itself a trade name registered under the 501(c)(3) New Venture Fund, which is also a member of the Arabella Advisors-managed network of advocacy groups. ⁶

As of 2024, a lack of activity makes it appear that WVPA may have been absorbed into Accountable.US as a project around the same time its sister organization, Western Values Project, became a project of the organization as well. ⁷

Activities

Western Values Project Action runs television advertisements targeting members of Congress and encouraging the public to support its environmentalist agenda. In 2018, the group spent over $1 million pressuring U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) over two public lands bills. ⁸ In 2019, the group spent a six-figure sum targeting U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) for supporting Trump administration nominee for Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. ⁹

Leadership

The executive director of Western Values Project Action is Chris Saeger. ¹⁰ He has previously worked as the communications director of the Montana Democratic Party, the Service Employees International Union in Arizona and Colorado, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. ¹¹

Amy Kurtz is president and former executive director of the Sixteen Thirty Fund ¹² Prior to joining Sixteen Thirty Fund, she was a senior advisor for America Votes, a left-wing get-out-the-vote nonprofit heavily funded by Sixteen Thirty Fund and other Arabella-run nonprofits. She has also worked as an associate director at the National Education Association, as a project manager at Defenders of Wildlife, and as a campaign director for the League of Conservation Voters. ¹³

Eric Kessler is the former president and chair of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, as well as the founder and senior managing director of Arabella Advisors, until he resigned in 2021. ¹⁴ Kessler also previously served on the board of the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s sister organization, New Venture Fund. ^{15 16 17}

Funding

Because WVPA is not an independent nonprofit, but rather a trade name used by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, no specific funding under the auspices of WVPA are identified. However, in 2017, the Sixteen Thirty Fund reported spending $7,310,149 as a “fund to support organizations working to advance clean energy and climate solutions.” ¹⁸

1. “Sixteen Thirty Fund.” OpenCorporates. Accessed August 17, 2019. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_2696217.
2. “Donate.” Accountable.US. Accessed January 23, 2020. Original URL: https://www.accountable.us/donate/. Archived URL: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/01/Accountable.US-Donate.-New-Venture-Fund-Project.-01.2020.pdf
3. “Sixteen Thirty Fund.” OpenCorporates. Accessed August 17, 2019. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_2696217.
4. Sixteen Thirty Fund, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Schedule O
5. Sixteen Thirty Fund, IRS (Form 990), 2016, Schedule O
6. “Fiscal Sponsorship.” Arabella Advisors. Accessed August 17, 2019. https://www.arabellaadvisors.com/expertise/fiscal-sponsorship/
7. “Donate.” Accountable.US. Accessed January 23, 2020. Original URL: https://www.accountable.us/donate/. Archived URL: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/01/Accountable.US-Donate.-New-Venture-Fund-Project.-01.2020.pdf
8. Sword, Katy. “Western Values Calls out Herrera Beutler Once Again.” All Politics is Local, February 8, 2018. https://blogs.columbian.com/all-politics-is-local/western-values-calls-out-herrera-beutler-once-again/.
9. Tamborrino, Kelsey. “Trump to Unveil Pipeline Push.” POLITICO, April 10, 2019. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2019/04/10/trump-to-unveil-pipeline-push-423333.
10. “Six-Figure Ad Campaign Launched Telling Senator Heinrich to Reject Trump’s Conflict-Ridden Interior Secretary Nominee.” Western Values Project, April 9, 2019. https://westernvaluesproject.org/six-figure-ad-campaign-launched-telling-senator-heinrich-to-reject-trumps-conflict-ridden-interior-secretary-nominee/.
11. “Chris Saeger.” WesternValuesProject.org. Accessed August 14, 2019. https://westernvaluesproject.org/staff/chris-saeger/#more-109
12. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Sixteen Thirty Fund. 2019-2020. Part VII, Section A.
13. “Amy Kurtz – Executive Director – Sixteen Thirty Fund …” Accessed November 18, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-kurtz-a56a294.
14. “Our People.” Arabella Advisors. Accessed April 20, 2017. https://www.arabellaadvisors.com/company/our-people/
15. Sixteen Thirty Fund, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Part VII
16. Profile: Eric Kessler. Arabella Advisors. Accessed August 18, 2019. https://www.arabellaadvisors.com/directory/eric-kessler/
17. “Board of Directors.” New Venture Fund. Accessed April 20, 2017. http://www.newventurefund.org/about-nvf/board-of-directors/.
18. Sixteen Thirty Fund, IRS (Form 990), 2017, Part III