Established in 2015, Fund for a Better Future is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that primarily sponsors lobbying and social welfare nonprofits in the United States. The group’s funding priorities include anti-Republican Party advocacy groups, abortion activists, and left-of-center environmentalists. ¹

Background

Formed in 2015, Fund for a Better Future is a left-wing 501(c)(4) grantmaking nonprofit funded by anonymous donors. ²

Grant Areas

Anti-Republican Advocacy

Fund for a Better Future is a substantial supporter of The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP), giving the anti-Trump group more than $2 million in 2017 alone. ³ An advocacy organization with ties to controversial political research firm Fusion GPS, TDIP has been shrouded in secrecy. ³ According to reporting by the Daily Caller News Foundation, TDIP’s founder described the group as a “shadow media organization helping the government,” and that TDIP had been the mastermind behind a number of anti-Trump stories circulating in the press. ³

Fund for a Better Future has also backed the lobbying organization Priorities USA Action. The group was the Fund’s largest grantee in 2017, receiving a $4 million grant from Fund for a Better Future. ¹

Abortion

Fund for a Better Future is also a donor to the national lobbying arm of Planned Parenthood, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, giving the group $1 million during 2017. ¹

Environment

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Fund for a Better Future spent $35,000 lobbying U.S. policymakers to green light an environmentalist project, known as the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Phase III Act of 2016. ⁴ The following year, Fund for a Better Future dedicated a $500,000 grant to the liberal environmentalist group League of Conservation Voters. ¹

Funding

Fund for a Better Future is funded by donations from individuals and organizations, where donors get to select which issues their contributions will go to support. In 2017, the four biggest donors accounted for 84 percent of total grants and contributions received by the group. ⁵ In the group’s 2017 tax year, Fund for a Better Future contributed a total of $8,889,649 to support left-wing organizations. ¹

Affiliated Organizations

Resources Legacy Fund is the 501(c)(3) parent organization of the Fund for a Better Future. ⁶ In addition to covering its administrative expenses, Resources Legacy Fund provides Fund for a Better Future with the staff and office space it needs to operate. ¹

Leadership

Resources Legacy Fund president and founder Michael Mantell is the current president and secretary of Fund for a Better Future. ^{7 1} Board members include the organization’s treasurer Jason Burnett, who also serves as the trustee of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Christopher Elliman, CEO of the Open Space Institute; Corridor Partners principal Kathleen Welch; environmentalist activist Martha Kongsgaard; and Mantell. ²

1. Fund for a Better Future Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2017.
2. “Protecting the Environment, Ensuring Healthy Communities, and Advancing Equal Rights for All.” Fund for A Better Future, n.d. https://fundforabetterfuture.org/.
3. Ross, Chuck. “Dark Money Org Gave $2 Million To Group Working with Fusion GPS, Steele.” The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller, March 11, 2019. https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/10/dark-money-fusion-steele-soros/.
4. “Bills Lobbied, 2016.” OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics, n.d. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientbills.php?id=F201483&year=2016.
5. Author’s calculations from Fund for a Better Future Inc, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2017, Part I Line 8 and Schedule B
6. “Partner Organizations.” Resources Legacy Fund, n.d. https://resourceslegacyfund.org/related-organizations.
7. Resources Legacy Fund, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2017.