American Future Fund

It has been funded by the Koch-backed 501(c)(4) organization American Encore, formerly known as the Center for Patients’ Rights. ³ Nick Ryan, a longtime adviser to former U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA), founded the American Future Fund in 2007. Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter provided “seed money” for the organization. ¹

Background

American Future Fund is a nonprofit that promotes conservative free-market principles. ⁴ The AFF says it is a multi-state issues advocacy group “designed to effectively communicate conservative and free market ideals.”  ⁵

The organization educates and advocates for conservative and free market ideas by providing the Americans a means to communicate with lawmakers and advocate on priority issues.  ⁴

The organization generates materials for public distribution, participates in forums, and analyzes legislation through national and local media. AFF also educates the public on the issues of taxes, responsible budgeting, energy security and independence, health care, and choice in education.  ⁴

Financial Information

The American Future Fund does not disclose its donors and is not required to do so by law. Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, a co-founder and the chief executive of one of the nation’s larger ethanol companies, Hawkeye Energy Holdings, helped provide the money to found the organization. He did not disclose how much he donated. When Ryan started the American Future Fund, Rastetter provided “seed money.” His attorney said Rastetter gave less than five percent of the organization’s founding revenue. Since it raised $7.5 million for the 2008 election cycle, that would be less than $374,025. Public records show he gave the maximum $5,000 to the American Future Fund’s political action committee (PAC) in late 2009. ⁶

The Arizona-based Center to Protect Patient Rights, now known as American Encore, provided more than half of the AFF’s funding in the early going. ³ The Arizona group was launched in 2009 by Republican operative Sean Noble, who has ties to the Koch family. The center gave about $14 million to the AFF in its first three years, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Noble was previously chief of staff for former Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ). The center also gave millions to the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity. ¹

The Center for Public Integrity reported the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, also known as PhRMA, gave $300,000 to the American Future Fund in 2010.  ⁷

Issue One has reported that past donors who gave at least $1 million or more to the American Future Fund have been American Encore, formerly known as the Center to Protect Patient Rights; the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce; the American Justice Partnership; the Judicial Crisis Network; the Wellspring Committee; Crossroads GPS; and Conservative Solutions Project. ³

From its founding in 2007 through the 2012 election cycle, the American Future Fund spent $35 million on political ads, according to the Center for Public Integrity. ¹ In 2012, the AFF also spent $4 million advocating for Proposition 32, a campaign finance reform ballot measure in California. ¹

The AFF donated $10,000 to Empower Iowa Fund in 2024. ⁴

The AFF contributed $8,500 to the Patriots Foundation in 2024.  ⁴

History

Nick Ryan, a former adviser to former U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA) and to former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), founded the American Future Fund in 2007. After the founding, the AFF reportedly paid Ryan’s firm, Concordia Enterprises, for consulting services. Ryan previously founded the pro-Santorum PAC Red, White and Blue Fund.  ^{1  7}

The first president of the AFF was Nicole Schlinger, a former finance director of the Iowa Republican Party. Later, former Iowa State Sen. Sandra Greiner (R) took the position. Greiner was a former Iowa chairwoman of the American Legislative Exchange Council. ¹

The American Future Fund gained tax exempt status in 2008. It said it would spend 70 percent to “educate the public on policy issues” and 30 percent to “influence legislation through grassroots advocacy.” Later the Internal Revenue Service inquired why the AAF advertisements “appear to be more partisan than nonpartisan.” AFF attorney Karen Blackistone responded the efforts were “strictly issued-based and nonpartisan.”  ¹

Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter provided “seed money” for the organization, according to a New York Times report in 2010. Ryan previously represented four of Rastetter’s companies as a lobbyist, including the ethanol firm Hawkeye Energy Holdings. ¹

The organization supported the unsuccessful re-election campaign of former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), the co-chairman of the Senate Biofuels Caucus, in 2008. Also, in 2008, the AFF ran an ad critical of the Indy Racing League for buying sugar-based ethanol from Brazil instead of corn-based ethanol American producers. The New York Times suggested these targets appeared to support the interests of Rastetter and the American ethanol industry.  ⁶

The Center for Responsive Politics determined that the AFF ranked third among “social welfare” groups for spending on the 2012 election cycle, trailing only Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity. The group spent $19 million in 2012 aimed at defeating President Barack Obama’s reelection. It spent millions opposing Democrats in Congress and on two state attorney general races in Missouri and West Virginia. After the election, in 2013, the organization spent money on ads opposing then-President Obama’s nomination of former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) for Secretary of Defense.  ¹

The group raised $67.9 million in 2012, but it raised just $6.4 million in 2013. It spent $7 million, far less than the $66.9 million it reported spending in 2012. ⁸

During the 2016 contest for the Republican presidential nomination, AFF ran ads in Iowa and South Carolina against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). The ads claimed Cruz was soft on immigration enforcement and weak on national security. The ads also tied Cruz to then-President Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). ⁹

The AFF also ran attack ads against Donald Trump in 2016 that portrayed the defunct Trump University as a scam and used former students talking about their bad experience. ¹⁰

Policy Focus

The American Future Fund focuses on the issues of agriculture, education, government spending, energy, health care, jobs and the economy, and national security. ²

Regarding agriculture, the group supports legislation that empowers farmers and ranchers to produce the best meat, grains, fruits and vegetables, and to ensure they are able to compete in the world market.  ²

The AFF wants the education system to prepare and educate children with knowledge to succeed. The group says both public and private schools “need proper investment and support to develop young leaders of tomorrow.”  ²

The AFF says American must achieve energy independence through lifting burdensome regulations on energy production and tapping into our country’s own resources. The AFF supports an “all of the above” energy approach.  ²

The group says government spending is out of control and calls for eliminating inefficient programs.  ²

On health care, the group says the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is a disaster. The group says doctors and patients should make decisions instead of federal bureaucrats.  ²

The organization says government debt and spending, taxes, and regulation harm the economy.  ²

The group says it is vital for America to have strong national security that secures our borders, and defends the land and people from terrorist threats. ²

Controversies

In 2010, Public Citizen, the Center for Media and Democracy and Protect Our Citizens filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission asking for an investigate into whether the American Future Fund should be required to register as a political action committee and follow the same disclosure rules.  ⁷

In 2011, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal advocacy group, filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against the American Future Fund, alleging the spending in the 2010 campaign could violate tax exempt rules.  ⁷

In 2013, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee discovered in its investigation of the IRS targeting scandal that officials from the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service communicated about targeting the tax status of the American Future Fund. The committee discovered an email between William Powers, an FEC official in the Office of the General Counsel, and Lois Lerner, then-Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division on Feb. 3, 2009. In a letter to the two agencies, then-House Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), asked for additional communications between the FEC and the IRS during the Obama administration. ¹¹

In July 2016, the FEC fined three organizations, American Future Fund, the 60 Plus Association, and Americans for Job Security, a total of $233,000 based on the complaint from CREW two years earlier. ¹²

In October 2025, the American Future Fund wanted to run ads warning about the rise of socialism in New York City without mentioning any candidate’s name. AFF was concerned this would be construed as a violation of a broad and vague New York state campaign finance law that requires any organization that engages in issue advertisements to register with the New York State and New York City Board of Elections and disclose its donors if the ads touch on issues that are distinctive to any candidate running for public office in New York. The American Future Fund filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York challenging New York’s regulations under the First Amendment. ¹³