Arnold Ventures is a for-profit philanthropy. For more information, see the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (Nonprofit)

Arnold Ventures is a center-left philanthropy founded in early 2019 by liberal donors Laura and John Arnold. Arnold Ventures is a for-profit limited liability company (LLC) and its creation represents a departure from their other philanthropy, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which makes regular grants to center-left nonprofits.

Background

In January 2019, John and Laura Arnold announced that they would form a limited-liability company called Arnold Ventures LLC, designed to more proactively achieve “social change.” The new organization was intended to replace three existing Arnold-funded grantmaking groups: the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, a separate donor-advised fund associated with the Arnolds, and a 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit called the Action Now Initiative. As a private company, Arnold Ventures does not file IRS Form 990 reports and faces fewer restrictions on political activity; as such, it has greater flexibility in where it can spend along with greater secrecy for its donors. According to a 2019 Chronicle of Philanthropy article, the Arnold Foundation’s president, Kelli Rhee, was to have some role within the firm, focusing particularly on “criminal justice, health, public education, and public finance.¹

Criticism

Circumventing Institutions

Conservative philanthropy expert William Schambra criticized Arnold Ventures for “circumvent[ing] the array of institutions through which Americans have traditionally pursued change” by shifting the Arnolds’ $2 billion wealth from an array of nonprofits, which have a high degree of public disclosure and transparency, to a private entity that is not required to publicly disclose its finances. Schambra wrote: ²

Classifications like (c)(3) and (c)(4) only get in the way of our appetite, with their niggling and constraining guidelines and regulations. Rather than play by the rules others must follow—possibly because their appetite for change isn’t matched by their treasure—let’s just go directly for what we want, and let our lawyers and accountants sort out the billing after the fact.

As much as I share her [Laura Arnold’s] disdain for bureaucratic strictures, in this instance, she displays something of a “laws are made for little people” attitude. The rules governing activities that can be legally pursued by (c)(3), (c)(4), and other tax entities exist because they are ways we’ve chosen, as a democracy, to encourage and channel charitable giving and political activism. The legal reporting required for these categories, as annoying as it is, is how our democracy ensures that giving and political activity remain visible and accountable to the public. (It’s also the way politics and charity are meant to be kept separate and distinct, by the way.) Insofar as the LLC form allows donors to treat the categories as just so many rooms for a tiresome accounting game of hide-and-seek—the view that Arnold seems to take here—we may come to regret the growing popularity of that form among those with the largest appetites for change.

Funding Campaigns to Combat “Disinformation”

According to reporting by the Washington Examiner, John Arnold, Arnold Ventures, had previously donated $13.7 million in grants to several organizations that pursued combating “disinformation” and “misinformation.” ³

Between 2019 and 2021, Arnold Ventures gave $9.7 million in grants to the American Journalism Project, an initiative dedicated to funding nonprofit local news outlets and fight against “misinformation,” ^{4 5} which had also received $4.2 million in grants between 2018 and 2021 from Pierre Omidyar-founded public policy foundation Democracy Fund. ^{6 7}

Between 2018 and 2022 Arnold Ventures had donated $1.5 million to independent nonprofit Social Science Research Council(SSRC), which was partially used to help fund the SSRC’s Social Media and Democracy Research Grants, a project to study the impact of social media on democratic elections and was also funded by Omidyar’s Democracy Fund. ^{8 9}

Between 2013 and 2019, Arnold Ventures donated over $1.1 million in grants to nonprofit group MapLight, which had also accepted a $300,000 grant from George Soros-linked Open Society Foundation in 2018 in order to, “advance effective solutions to deceptive digital politics and safeguard democratic institutions.” ^{10 11} However, MapLight president Daniel Newman told the Washington Examiner, “MapLight no longer works in the disinformation area, having shifted our focus to data and technology projects…Arnold Ventures is not currently a funder of MapLight. None of their past grants to MapLight have gone toward our disinformation initiatives.” ¹²

Between 2021 and 2022, Arnold Ventures gave $500,000 to Philadelphia-based local news nonprofit Lenfest Institute for Journalism that published stories primarily pertaining to “misinformation and disinformation.” ¹³

In 2020, Arnold Ventures donated $500,000 to California-based environmental nonprofit Global Witness, which is part of a network of nonprofits that includes London-based group Global Witness Limited. The London-based organization had published a study in October 2022 regarding “election disinformation within the United States” and had previously received over $17.6 million in donations from Soros-linked Open Society Network. ^{14 15}

Funding

Causes that Arnold Ventures have donated to include the coronavirus-oriented Fast Grants initiative, which is operated by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. ¹⁶

Between 2016 and 2020, Arnold Ventures has donated over $13.5 million in grants to Arabella-linked nonprofit organization New Venture Fund ¹⁷

Arnold Ventures have given grants to a number of climate change and environmentalist initiatives. ¹⁸ These include:

Biden Community Violence Intervention Collaborative

In June 2021, the Biden administration announced a program to combat rising gun violence and violent crime using a collaborative composed of government and nonprofit organizations funding community violence intervention (CVI) measures. Arnold Ventures was one of the only for-profit contributors to the collaborative. Other funders include California Endowment, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation. Foundations that also fund the initiative include the Kresge Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Emerson Collective, the Heising-Simons Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. CVI strategies “act as an alternative to heavy-handed policing” by focusing its efforts on the minority of citizens who are perpetrators or targets of violent crime. CVI treats violence as a communicable disease rather than a violent crime and attempts to stop the “spread” of violence. ¹⁹

Indiana Criminal Justice Overhaul

Between 2018 and 2019, Arnold Ventures donated roughly $175,000 to the Indianapolis Bail Project, a local initiative that pays the bail for those arrested within the state. According to Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), in 2021 the Project paid for the bail of two men previously arrested, and once released they committed murder. ²⁰ This eventually led to the Indiana state House passing a bill restricting the ability of similar charity groups from posting the bail of those arrested. ²¹

In 2019, Arnold Ventures paid a $2.5 million grant to advocacy group Research Foundation of the City University of New York to help, “develop, launch, and manage” ²² the Reducing Revocations Challenge, an initiative meant to, “transform probation supervision and reduce prison populations.” ²³ Monroe County of Indiana was one of 10 jurisdictions to participate in the Challange in 2021, with the Indiana University receiving over $198,000 from the grant. According to Arnold Ventures, the initiatives for the Challenge included, “non-punitive warrant service,” launching a type of court to process “technical” probation violations…removing payment of fines and fees as a “standard condition” of probation…[and] called for probation officers to be trained on “racial equity and implicit bias.” ²⁴ However according to Charles Stimson, manager of Heritage Foundation’s National Security Law Program and former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “A “technical” court would result in crime cycles repeating and be expensive for the government.” ²⁵ In 2021, Arnold Ventures donated another $3.1 million grant to the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, which resulted in a second “phase” of the Reducing Revocations Challenge with $128,000 being donated to Indiana University, while another $170,000 was “subgranted” to the Monroe County probation department. As of January 2023, this “phase” is still ongoing in Monroe County. ²⁶

In 2022, Arnold Ventures donated another $603,000 in grants to the Indiana University to fund the dubbed “Promoting Racial Justice and Transparency in Indiana” project, an initiative meant to study “prosecutorial discretion in traffic and misdemeanor cases” within Monroe County and Lake County, Indiana. The grant is part of $7.4 million donated by Arnold Ventures to 19 total states for the purpose of “prosecution research” from 2022-2025. ²⁷ The lead of the project, Indiana University criminal justice professor Tri Keah Henry, previously released a tweet in 2020 supporting the 2020 George Floyd riots and defunding the police, stating, “Defunding the police isn’t as deep as some of you are making it out to be. We defund/reallocate money all the time for other programs/institutions. It is a reasonable conversation to have.” ^{28 29}

1. Gose, Ben. “John and Laura Arnold Join Other Billionaires in Move Away From Traditional Philanthropy.” The Chronicle of Philanthropy. January 28, 2019. Accessed January 30, 2019. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/JohnLaura-Arnold-Join/245557?cid=pw&utm_source=pw&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=3746a4e54a4f41f3b66fdf6ab3a8668f&elq=9af8f9b3e3854e37867a88ead5c70d7a&elqaid=22092&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=10827.
2. William A. Schambra. “Laura Arnold adds to institutional philanthropy’s promotion of progressivism.” Philanthropy Daily. February 3, 2020. Accessed June 23, 2020. https://www.philanthropydaily.com/laura-arnold-adds-to-institutional-philanthropys-promotion-of-progressivism/
3. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
4. “Why Local News.” American Journalism Project, Accessed December 29, 2022. https://www.theajp.org/why-local-news/
5. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
6. “Grants Database.” Democracy Fund, Accessed December 29, 2022. https://democracyfund.org/for-partners/grants-database/?fwp_grants_search=American%20Journalism%20Project[
7. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
8. “Social Media and Democracy Research Grants.” Social Science Research Council, Accessed December 29, 2022. https://www.ssrc.org/programs/social-data-initiative/social-media-and-democracy-research-grants/
9. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
10. “Grants: MapLight.” Arnold Ventures, Accessed December 29, 2022. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants-search?q=maplight
11. “Awarded Grants: MapLight.” Open Society Foundation, Accessed December 29, 2022. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?grant_id=OR2018-44171
12. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
13. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
14. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire quietly steered millions toward groups linked to ‘disinformation’ censorship operations.” The Washington Examiner, December 21, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-arnold-billionaire-disinformation-millions-groups-texas-enron
15. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Soros donated millions to charity demanding Big Tech censor ‘election disinformation.'” Washington Examiner, November 5, 2022. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/soros-charity-big-tech-censor-midterms
16. Buck, Stuart. “How Philanthropy Could Embrace More High-Risk, High-Reward Projects.” Inside Philanthropy, September 9, 2020. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/9/9/how-philanthropy-could-embrace-more-high-risk-high-reward-projects.
17. “Grants: New Venture Fund.” Arnold Ventures, Accessed December 29, 2022. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants-search?q=new%2520venture%2520fund&sort=years%253Adesc
18. “Grants Search.” Arnold Foundation. Accessed February 15, 2021. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants-search/?topics=Climate%2520and%2520Clean%2520Energy&years=2019.
19. Rojc, Philip. “Backing Up Biden: Grantmakers Get Behind a New Federal Anti-Violence Collaborative.” Inside Philanthropy. Inside Philanthropy, July 6, 2021. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2021/7/1/backing-up-biden-grantmakers-get-behind-a-new-federal-anti-violence-collaborative?utm_source=Funding%2BNews%2B%26%2BTips&utm_campaign=f22df871f4-newsletterdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c776dbf0df-f22df871f4-95098585.
20. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
21. “House Bill 1300.” Indiana General Assembly 2022, Accessed February 1, 2023. https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2022/bills/house/1300#digest-heading
22. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
23. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
24. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
25. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
26. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
27. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
28. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Texas billionaire John Arnold bankrolls efforts to overhaul Indiana’s criminal justice system.” The Washington Examiner, January 25, 2023. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news-john-arnold-has-poured-millions-into-overhauling-indianas-criminal-justice-system
29. Keah, Tri (itsDr_Henry). “”Defunding the police isn’t as deep as some of you are making it out to be. We defund/reallocate money all the time for other programs/institutions. It is a reasonable conversation to have.” Twitter, June 10, 2020. https://twitter.com/itsDr_Henry/status/1270705001971802112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw