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Civic Engagement Fund

Website:

civicengagementfund.org
Type:

Fiscal Sponsorship Group
Project of:

New Venture Fund

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The Civic Engagement Fund is a left-of-center advocacy organization headquartered in Washington D.C. which works as an incubator, creating other left of center organizations to advocate on a wide variety of topics. It is supported and funded by the New Venture Fund, a left-of-center advocacy philanthropy initiative managed by the consultancy Arabella Advisors, known for concealing the sources of its funding. 1

The Civic Engagement Fund also supports research and analysis work in support of its overall left-of-center political mission, having commissioned and published a report on young third-party voters.

Purpose

The Civic Engagement Fund is a left-of-center advocacy organization, and project of the New Venture Fund, a of left-of-center grant-making organization which has been accused of serving as a “dark money” fund for concealing the identities of its donors. 2 3 The Civic Engagement Fund serves as an incubator for other left-wing and left-of-center organizations, such as Only Through Us, a left-wing advocacy group focused on supporting left-wing national security policies like closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and expanding immigration. 4 5

The Civic Engagement Fund provides grants to “start-up” left-of-center organizations through several avenues. It provides workspace, similar to private sector incubators, from which their fledgling advocacy groups can operate. 6 It also offers direct funding through grants, offered to left-of-center advocacy groups. 7 It also recruits volunteers for work with them and their subsidiary organizations. 8

Outside of the incubator role, Civic Engagement Fund also works to provide survey data and accompanying analysis for use by left-of-center and left-wing advocacy groups. 9 In 2017, it published a report on youth who voted for third-party candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. 10 The report aims to help Democratic Party candidates and activists target young, possible-swing voters. Alongside presenting data suggesting lack of youth enthusiasm for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the report also included interviews and profiles from third-party youth voters.

Key Individuals

Andrea Hailey

Andrea Hailey, a board member for abortion-rights advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America, heads the Civic Engagement Fund. 11 As head of the Civic Engagement Fund she has worked to provide support left-of-center causes.

Karen Finney

A former spokeswoman for the Democratic National Convention and current commentator for CNN, Karen Finney also currently holds a senior position at NARAL, as the vice chair of its board. 12 She also was a senior spokesperson for Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign, where she worked to defend the candidate during her email scandal. 13

Meighan Stone

Meighan Stone is a board member for the Civic Engagement Fund. She also works as a senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. 14 She sits on the board of Indivisible, a left-of-center advocacy group co-founded by Ezra Levin, author of Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda. 15

Andy Kim

U.S. Representative Andy Kim (D-NJ) acts as an advisor to the Civic Engagement Fund. 16 Kim helped found RISE Stronger, a “Trump resistance” organization with far-left members. 17 18 He is listed as its founder on the Civic Engagement Fund website. 19

References

  1. “Only Through US (Job Posting).” Idealist. Accessed February 22, 2019. Original URL: https://www.idealist.org/es/gobierno/f07082de106040f39fad8ae873905b0a-only-through-us-washington;

    Also available here: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2019/02/civic-engagement-fund-project-only-through-us.png

  2. Markay, Lachlan. “Over 100 Left-Wing Groups Sourced to DC Dark Money Outfit.” Washington Free Beacon. Washington Free Beacon, October 22, 2015. https://freebeacon.com/issues/over-100-left-wing-groups-sourced-to-d-c-dark-money-outfit/.
  3. “Only Through US.” Idealist. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://www.idealist.org/es/gobierno/f07082de106040f39fad8ae873905b0a-only-through-us-washington.
  4. “Only Through US.” Only Through US. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://www.onlythroughus.org/.
  5. “Only Through US.” Idealist. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://www.idealist.org/es/gobierno/f07082de106040f39fad8ae873905b0a-only-through-us-washington.
  6. “Join.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/join.
  7. “Join.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/join.
  8. “Join.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/join.
  9. “Home Page.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/.
  10. “Home Page.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/.
  11. “Board of Directors.” NARAL Pro-Choice America. Accessed January 5, 2020.  https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/about/board-of-directors/.
  12. “Karen Finney.” GW School of Media & Public Affairs. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://smpa.gwu.edu/karen-finney.
  13. Easton, Nina. “Meet the Woman Who Speaks for Hillary Clinton.” Fortune. Fortune, July 9, 2015. https://fortune.com/2015/05/27/karen-finney-hillary-clinton/.
  14. “Meighan Stone.” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://www.cfr.org/expert/meighan-stone.
  15. Tolan, Casey. “Meet the Husband-Wife Duo Who Are Sparking a Liberal Tea Party Movement.” The Mercury News. The Mercury News, May 18, 2017. https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/13/anti-trump-indivisible-tea-party/.
  16. “About CEF.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/read-me.
  17. Catalini, Mike. “GOP Rep. MacArthur, Dem Challenger Kim Face off in Forum.” AP NEWS. Associated Press, July 31, 2018. https://apnews.com/7c722b7d005d4ed38d385a9f994025d8.
  18. Levinsky, David. “The Facts behind Some of the Advertising in the MacArthur-Kim Contest.” Burlington County Times. Burlington County Times, October 21, 2018. https://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/news/20181022/facts-behind-some-of-advertising-in-macarthur-kim-contest.
  19. “About CEF.” Civic Engagement Fund. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://civicengagementfund.org/read-me.
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