For-profit

Mountain Philanthropies

Website:

www.mountainphilanthropies.org/

Location:

Washington, DC

Executive Director:

Michael Madnick

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Mountain Philanthropies is a funding collective focused on a variety of election policy, left-or-center social policy, and environmentalist projects. Managed by the large left-leaning consulting company Arabella Advisors, it is organized as a limited liability company. 1

“Dark Money” Connections

Mountain Philanthropies is part of a collective of left-leaning “dark money” funders, both non-profit and private, managed by the philanthropic consulting company Arabella Advisors, with which it shares offices in Washington, D.C. 2 Other members of this collective, such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund, poured $141 million into the 2018 midterm elections to support Democratic candidates; oppose the Trump administration’s judicial nominees, including the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh; and revise state redistricting laws. Sixteen Thirty Fund was criticized by Politico for unleashing “an unprecedented gusher of secret money.” 3

Current Activities

Because Mountain Philanthropies is a limited liability company, it is not required to disclose either its funders or grantees.

Mountain Philanthropies has environmentalist programs in climate change and sustainability; pushes increased leniency in criminal justice; backs liberal policies related to voting, redistricting, and civic participation; and supports immigration and at-risk populations. 4

The group’s major environmentalist program is “Mission Control Earth.” The initiative funds the Climate Modelling Alliance, a partnership between Caltech, MIT, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create new computer modelling systems to predict the effects of climate change. 5

Mountain Philanthropies has partnered with the group Power to Decide to a create a “contraceptive access fund” that supports access to birth control for low-income women. 6

Mountain Philanthropies is a partner organization of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which organizes an annual meeting of global political, economic, and philanthropic leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The group has partnered with WEF on its “Mission Possible Platform,” which advocates for reducing carbon emissions from heavy industry and the transportation sectors to zero by 2050. 7

People

The chief Executive officer of Mountain Philanthropies is Michael Madnick, who has previously worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and CNN founder Ted Turner’s United Nations Foundation. Madnick was previously the treasurer of the Sixteen Thirty Fund. 8

References

  1. “Mountain Philanthropies.” Mountain Philanthropies. Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.mountainphilanthropies.org/
  2. “Michael Madnick.” Global Philanthropy Forum. Accessed February 13, 2020. https://philanthropyforum.org/people/michael-madnick/
  3. Scott Bland and Maggie Severns. “Documents reveal massive ‘dark-money’ group boosted Democrats in 2018.” Politico. November 19, 2019. Accessed February 16, 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/19/dark-money-democrats-midterm-071725
  4. “Initiatives.” Mountain Philanthropies. Accessed February 16, 2020. https://www.mountainphilanthropies.org/initiatives/
  5. “New climate model to be built from the ground up.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. December 13, 2018. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-12/miot-ncm121218.php
  6. “Power to Decide Proudly Announces Contraceptive Access Fund.” Power To Decide. December 3, 2019. February 16, 2020. https://powertodecide.org/about-us/newsroom/power-decide-proudly-announces-contraceptive-access-fund
  7. “Mission Possible Platform.” World Economic Forum. Accessed February 13, 2020. https://www.weforum.org/projects/mission-possible-platform
  8. “Michael Madnick.” Global Philanthropy Forum. Accessed February 13, 2020. https://philanthropyforum.org/people/michael-madnick/

Directors, Employees & Supporters

  1. Michael Madnick
    Chief Executive Officer
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Mountain Philanthropies

1201 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC