Movement Voter Project (MVP), formally known as the All Hands on Deck Network, is a clearinghouse for Democratic donors to contribute to Democratic-aligned political groups. Run by veteran Democratic operatives, MVP directs donor money to hundreds of small-scale political groups while prioritizing key battleground states and districts.

Blue Tent, a nonprofit that rates left-wing political and advocacy groups, has stated that the MVP “fills a valuable niche in the ecosystem” by identifying and promoting efficient smaller advocacy groups. Blue Tent “highly [recommends]” the MVP to donors. ¹

The MVP has two sister-groups, the Movement Voter PAC, founded in 2019, and the Movement Voter Fund, founded in 2021.

History

The Movement Voter Project was founded in 2015 as Movement 2016 by Billy Wimsatt, a veteran Democratic operative who had worked for the New Organizing Institute, Rock the Vote, Green for All, the Solidaire Network, Rebuild the Dream, and the Movement Strategy Center and founded Generational Alliance. Throughout his career, Wimsatt found that political spending tended to be inefficient because most donor money was spent on advertising, when he would rather it be spent on small-scale organizations that generate a better return for donations both in the short and long term. He argued that if funds are donated to a political candidate who loses, the funds are essentially wasted, but if the funds are donated to an organization which campaigns for a candidate, even if the candidate loses, the organization gains experience and may become more effective in the next election cycle. Wimsatt founded the Movement 2016 as a clearinghouse to direct donor funds to these ends. ^{2 3 4}

In 2018, “Movement 2016” was renamed “the Movement Voter Project.” ⁵

Impact

During the 2022 cycle, the Movement Voter Project attracted 10,000 donors, channeled funds to 352 organizations in 42 states, claimed to help win 25 close elections, trained 340 workers from 119 organizations, and reached tens of millions of voters most of whom were young voters and ethnic or racial minority voters. ⁶

Among the close elections the MVP claimed to help win were those of U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ). ⁷

Vetting Process

The Movement Voter Project identifies recipient groups through a vetting process that emphasizes year-round political work, youth leadership, racial-minority leadership (“MVP’s list of groups skews heavily toward those run by people of color and those that work to organize communities of color” ⁸), battleground states and districts, and financial need. As of May 2023, the MVP has a network of 557 recipient groups. ^{9 10} As of 2022, the MVP has recipient groups in every state but Wyoming. ¹¹

The MVP maintains a “state tier” list that it updates each election cycle that ranks the prioritization for funding groups by the competitiveness of each state. There are four tiers, ranked from most to least important. As of 2023, the Tier 1 states are Wisconsin, Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, and Florida. ¹²

Recipient groups must prepare reports for the MVP after each election cycle that includes budgets, goals, and staffing needs. Groups that receive more than $100,000 are required to communicate with the MVP at least monthly, or even weekly if requested. ¹³

Funding and Financials

The Movement Voter Project funds its administrative and overhead costs through a group of dedicated large donors. 100 percent of all other donations are passed to recipient organizations, with the exception of a 3.95 percent transaction fee for donations made by credit card through ActBlue. ¹⁴

Donors to the MVP can either donate to funds organized by the MVP, like the “Georgia Fund,” or to specific recipient groups presented by the MVP. ¹⁵

From 2012 to 2017, the MVP received yearly revenues of less than $1 million, but in 2018, the organization increased dramatically in size, earning a revenue of about $8.5 million. ¹⁶ In 2019, the organization’s revenue was over $9.7 million. ¹⁷

The organization receives a significant portion of its funding from the Tides Foundation, which contributed $1,205,000 in 2019, and roughly $760,000 in 2018. ¹⁸

According to its 2021 990 form, MVP recorded $18,889,938 in revenue, $12,343,697 in expenses, and $11,215,684 in total assets during the fiscal year 2021. ¹⁹

Operations

During the 2020 election cycle, the Movement Voter Project gave over $100 million to recipient groups, according to liberal nonprofit activism group Blue Tent. ²⁰

The MVP emphasizes that it moves money between donors and recipient groups quickly to maximize speed and impact: a vice president was quoted by Blue Tent as saying, “Donors don’t want their money to sit in a bank account for six months […] they want it to go to the field where it can have an impact immediately.” ²¹

Blue Tent has commented that MVP’s spending lacks transparency: “MVP doesn’t lay out exactly how much it plans to give to individual groups, and its outlays might change based on shifting conditions. It also doesn’t highlight that in some circumstances, it stops supporting groups, if, for instance, they stop responding to MVP or collapse due to leadership crises. The sprawling nature of MVP’s funding makes it a bit of a black box.” ²²

Leadership

Billy Wimsatt is the founder and president of MVP as of 2023 as well as the founder of its sister organization Movement Voter Fund (MVF). Prior to founding MVP and MVF, Wismatt helped found several voter advocacy organizations including Gamechanger Networks, League of Young Voters, Generational Alliance, Ready for Warren, Solidaire Network, Student Power, and Rebuild the Dream. In addition, he performed consulting work for political organizations including the Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign, MoveOn.org, Rock the Vote, the Ohio state Democratic Party, and Green For All. ²³

1. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
2. “Billy Wimsatt.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/billy-wimsatt-813b65b/.
3. “How did MVP begin?” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/how-did-mvp-begin/.
4. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
5. ^[1] “How did MVP begin?” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/how-did-mvp-begin/.
6. “How We Defied the Odds.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/2022-report/#byTheNumbers.
7. “How We Defied the Odds.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/2022-report/#byTheNumbers.
8. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
9. “Our Vetting Process.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/vetting-process/.
10. “Browse Groups.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/groups/.
11. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
12. “MVP State Tiers.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/state-tiers/.
13. “How does MVP ensure accountability for the groups we support?.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/how-does-mvp-ensure-accountability-for-the-groups-we-support/.
14. “How much of my donation goes toward MVP’s overhead?.” Movement Voter Project. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://movement.vote/how-much-of-my-donation-goes-toward-mvps-overhead/.
15. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
16. Return of Tax Exempt Organization. Form 990. All Hands on Deck Network. 2019. Part VII. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371697474/202141769349301039/full.
17. Return of Tax Exempt Organization. Form 990. All Hands on Deck Network. 2019. Part 1. Line 8. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371697474/202141769349301039/full.
18. Return of Tax Exempt Organization. Form 990.Tides Foundation. 2019. Schedule I. Line 49. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/510198509/202043149349304239/IRS990ScheduleI
19. Return of Tax Exempt Organization. Form 990.All Hands on Deck, Inc. 2021. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371697474/202330179349301413/full
20. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
21. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
22. “Movement Voter Project: What Donors Need to Know.” Blue Tent. February 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://bluetent.us/organization/movement-voter-project/.
23. “Billy Wimsatt.” Movement Voter Project, Accessed December 1, 2023. https://movement.vote/team/billy-wimsatt/