Advocacy Action Fund (AAF)

Activity

During the 2024 election cycle, the Advocacy Action Fund and its employees donated $8,334,600 to ten organizations: the Progressive Turnout Project ($2 million), the Worker Power PAC ($2 million), the One for All Committee ($1,520,000), Planned Parenthood Votes ($1,250,000), Future Forward USA Action ($1,100,000), the Project 218 PAC ($270,000), the DNC Services Corp ($41,300), the State Democracy Defenders PAC ($25,000), Indivisible Arizona Action ($20,000), and the Democratic Party of Wisconsin ($15,000). ²

In 2023, AAF donated $25,639,559 to nonprofit organizations. The largest grant was for $3 million to left-of-center environmental advocacy group Green Advocacy Project. Other grant recipients included California Environmental Voters, the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Earthjustice, Earthjustice Action, the Environmental Defense Action Fund, the Environmental Working Group, Evergreen Action, GreenLatinos, the NRDC Action Fund, the Pipeline Safety Trust. ³

From 2021 to 2024, AAF donated $7,750,000 to six state-level advocacy groups. ⁴ The largest recipient was Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights (MSRR), a campaign in support of Montana CI-128, a ballot initiative to create a state amendment guaranteeing a right to abortion. The initiative passed with 58% of the vote. In 2024, the AAF donated $3 million to MSRR. ^{5 6 4}

In addition to MSRR, the AAF donated to four other abortion-access advocacy campaigns: Ohioans Securing Reproductive Rights, Protect Kentucky Access, Floridians Protecting Freedoms, and Arizona for Abortion Access. The AAF also donated $1 million to One Person One Vote, a campaign opposing 2023 State Issue 1 in Ohio, a constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult to pass statement amendments. State Issue 1 failed to pass. ^{4 7}

In 2023, the AAF also donated $500,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, a campaign against an effort to overturn a California law that bans oil drilling within half a mile of schools and hospitals. Eric Schmidt, the ex-CEO of Google, and his wife, Wendy Schmidt, had given $500,000 to the AAF. ⁸

Leadership

According to the Advocacy Action Fund’s (AAF) 2023 tax form, Michael Kieschnick is listed as the organization’s president. Kieschnick has been the president of the Carbon Advocacy Project since 2022, and the president of the Green Advocacy Project since 2017, in which he also co-founded the Real Justice PAC. From 2015 to 2016, Kieschnick was the national campaign manager of NextGen Climate. From 2010 to 2014, Kieschnick worked as the chief executive officer of CREDO Mobile. ^{3 9}

The 2023 tax form listed Jason Berkenfeld as secretary and director of the AAF. Berkenfeld is the founder and president of Bluespark Partners, a left-of-center nonprofit consulting firm. ^{10 3 11}

Anne Yamamoto is listed as a director of the AAF in 2023. Yamamoto is the research operations manager of the Public Policy Institute of California. Yamamoto previously worked for Alliance for CHANGE, Open Door Legal, Jubilee Immigration Advocates, and Anderson Political. ^{3 12}