The Movement Voter Fund, an independent fund of the Tides Foundation, is a left-of-center grantmaking organization, umbrella network, and donor-advised fund provider. Its sister organizations include the Movement Voter Project and Movement Voter PAC.

Background

The Movement Voter Fund was founded in 2016 by William “Billy” Wimsatt as a fund of the Tides Foundation, a major left-wing grantmaking organization and pass-through funder based in San Fransisco, California. In late 2021, the organization was registered as an independent 501(c)(3) organization in Northampton, Massachusetts. However, as of June 2024, the organization continues to advise a fund at the Tides Foundation and directs donors interested in supporting its work to donate to it through the Tides Foundation. ^{1 2}

Activity

The Movement Voter Fund hosts donor-advised funds and disburses grants to partner organizations; conducts research on local issues-based organizations and coalitions; and offers extensive technical assistance, programmatic support, training, and coaching services to its partner organizations. ²

Policy

The Movement Voter Fund supports a wide range of left-of-center political objectives. For instance, in the organization’s 2022 report to its funders, the Movement Voter Fund noted that it had focused on issue campaigns with its partner organizations supporting left-of-center aims with regard to the expansion of voting eligibility, the regulation of firms that produce secondary effects on the environments, childcare, higher education, the minimum wage, and abortion. In that vein the organization also noted in its 2022 report that it invested with partner organizations in both Arizona and West Virginia to “ensure” that U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) “heard loud and clear from their constituents.” ^{3 2}

Partners Organizations

Partner organizations of the Movement Voter Fund include the Arizona Center for Empowerment, One Arizona, the Aliento Education Fund, the Arizona Coalition for Change, the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Florida Rising Together, Faith in Florida, the Emgage Foundation, Pennsylvania Voice, the New Pennsylvania Project Education Fund, CASA, 1Hood Media, and the Hometown Organizing Project. ⁴

Movement Voter Project

The Movement Voter Fund’s 501(c)(4) sister organization, also founded by William “Billy” Wimsatt, is the Movement Voter Project, which provides legal support to aligned organizations managing and establishing independent 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations. ³

Leadership

William “Billy” Wimsatt is the founder of the Movement Voter Fund as well as its sister organization, the Movement Voter Project, as well as the treasurer of its board of directors. Previously, Wimsatt founded similarly aligned left-of-center organizations including the League of Young Voters, Generational Alliance, the Solidaire Network, Student Power, and Rebuild the Dream. He has also acted as a consultant to organizations including Rock the Vote and Green For All. ^{2 5}

Jodeen Olguin-Tayler is the president of the Movement Voter Fund’s board of directors. Previously, Olguin-Tayler was the campaigns director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, campaigns director at Caring Across Generations, vice president at Demos, program officer at the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the head of the Investing in Racial Equity and Democracy Initiative at the Amalgamated Foundation. Additionally, Olguin-Tayler is on the board of directors for organizations including the National Institute on Money in State Politics, the Chicana Empowerment and Climate Justice Fund, B Local Colorado, GALvanize, the Community Power-Building Fund, Business for America, and the Southwest Abortion Fund. ^{2 5}

Taj James is the secretary of the Movement Voter Fund’s board of directors, as well as a founding partner of Full Spectrum Capital Partners, founder and board president of the Movement Strategy Center, and co-founder of The Good Life Pledge. ^{2 5}

1. “Movement Voter Fund.” ProPublica. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863534872
2. “About Movement Voter Fund.” The Movement Voter Fund. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://movementvoterfund.org/about/
3. “2022 Report to Funders.” The Movement Voter Fund. 2022. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cp2JsnrNecBHyNO0S3xS-upgNch_yXR9/view
4. “State Victories: Voting Rights & Funding Breakthroughs.” The Movement Voter Fund. September 28, 2023. Accessed June 17, 2024. https://movementvoterfund.org/blog/state-victories-voting-rights-public-funding-breakthroughs/
5. Movement Voter Fund. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax. (Form 990), 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863534872/202313199349208266/full