The New Venture Fund (NVF) is a 501(c)(3) funding and fiscal sponsorship nonprofit that makes grants to left-of-center advocacy and organizing projects and provides incubation serves for other left-of-center organizations. The fund focuses primarily on social and environmental change, issuing grants for a variety of projects that include conservation, global health, disaster recovery, education, and the arts. ¹ It is the largest 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the network of five nonprofits created and managed by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based philanthropy consulting company that caters to major foundations and organizations on the political Left. A January 2020 profile of Arabella Advisors’ network by Inside Philanthropy noted that the company “handles over $400 million in philanthropic investments and advises on several billion dollars in overall resources.” ²

In 2021, the New Venture Fund posted total revenues of $964 million and total expenditures of $553 million. It paid out $329.5 million in grants to other nonprofits, largely on the political Left. ³

In 2020, the New Venture Fund reported total revenues of $975 million, a single-year increase of 111 percent over its 2019 revenues ($461 million) and bringing its lifetime revenues to $3.3 billion. In that time, the fund paid out $1.37 billion in grants to (largely left-of-center) nonprofits, many of them politically active. ⁴

Critics, including the New York Times, argue that New Venture Fund is a “dark money” organization, serving as a way for left-leaning foundations and donors to anonymously funnel money toward various political advocacy issues, such as attacking vulnerable Republicans or pushing environmental restrictions. ⁵ In April 2021, the New York Times criticized Arabella’s “system of political financing, which often obscures the identities of donors,” as “dark money,” calling the network “a leading vehicle for it on the Left.” ⁶ However, NVF also sponsors a number of “philanthropic projects” that engage in charitable causes. ⁷

NVF often operates alongside its 501(c)(4) “sister” nonprofit Sixteen Thirty Fund, which provides similar funding and fiscal sponsorship services to center-left advocacy organizations. Both groups are administered by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based philanthropy consulting firm that caters to left-leaning clients. New Venture Fund’s board of directors has historically included officers from Arabella Advisors, including Arabella founder and senior managing partner Eric Kessler. In exchange, New Venture Fund and its “sisters” pay the company annual consulting fees to “manage” its finances and grantmaking operations; in 2020, NVF paid Arabella nearly $27 million this way. ⁸

The New Venture Fund is the wing of the Arabella network most closely associated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Reports claim that the Gates Foundation is the largest single donor to the New Venture Fund, and that it provided seed-funding for the group by committing $8.6 million to the New Venture Fund in 2008. ⁹ Reports indicate that between 2009 and 2021 the New Venture Fund has received over $250 million from the Gates Foundation, roughly 10% of the organization’s total funding during that period, though the actual total is over $304 million. ¹⁰

The 501(c)(3) Hopewell Fund, 501(c)(3) Windward Fund, and 501(c)(4) North Fund are also nonprofits managed by Arabella Advisors that work closely with NVF and Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Background

Creation

Also see Eric Kessler

The New Venture Fund was created on October 25, 2006 in the District of Columbia as the Arabella Legacy Fund; the 501(c)(3) nonprofit received IRS recognition of its tax exemption in January 2007. In October 2009, the Arabella Legacy Fund was officially renamed the New Venture Fund. ¹¹

At the time of its formation, Eric Kessler served as president of the Fund. Kessler is the founder and senior managing partner of Arabella Advisors, a philanthropy consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Fund’s founding board of directors in 2006-2007 consisted of Kessler, then-Illinois Nature Conservancy executive director Bruce Boyd, and then-Western Conservation Foundation executive director Adam Eichberg. ¹²

NVF was created with grants from an unknown source totaling $3.725 million. From the start, it also had an administrative services agreement with Arabella Advisors (then Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors) to provide management and consulting services to the NVF. According to its description of activities, the NVF was created to pursue two purposes: ¹³

[F]irst, it will engage in a program dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment from the detrimental effects of off-road vehicle use; second, it will engage in a program dedicated to the American Christian Evangelical environmental community, building a grassroots movement of Evangelicals and educating the American public regarding the Evangelical environmental message.

The NVF’s founding document further quotes three Psalms from the Bible in support of advancing an environmentalist agenda. The NVF also explained in the document its intent to provide an “Environmental Toolkit for Pastors”: ¹⁴

The Environmental Toolkit for Pastors will be designed to enable Pastors to integrate creation-care teaching into their ministry. An important part of [the] Pastor’s toolkit will be materials for worship services that will celebrate all of God’s creation and explore how mankind can be better stewards of the His [sic] creation, including suggestions for hymns (including processional, worship and offertory hymns and hymns of commitment), invocations, New and Old Testament lessons, responsive readings and sermon outlines (or “seeds” whereby Pastors can create their own sermons).

Worship materials will be created for various topics, including global warming, air and water pollution, endangered species and the environment’s effect on human health . . . . In addition, the Pastor’s toolkit will include materials . . . to educate Pastors regarding creation care’s basis in Scripture, as well as fact sheets for Pastors and their congregations on various environmental topics and suggestions for how congregations can take action to care for God’s creation.

“Fake” Groups

The New Venture Fund, like all four nonprofits managed by the for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors, primarily exists to sponsor a number of “fake” groups: websites designed to look like standalone nonprofits. These “fake” groups rarely become fully-fledged nonprofits; instead, they typically exist to effect an issue advocacy campaign pushing left-wing policies and may disappear after the campaign is finished. The New Venture Fund the oldest of Arabella’s four nonprofits, and was founded as the Arabella Legacy Fund in 2006. The groups it sponsors encompass a wide range of issues and policy areas. ¹⁵

The New Venture Fund describes its mission as “dedicated to supporting innovative and effective public interest projects” through fiscal sponsorship and grants. ¹⁶ According to its 2018 IRS Form 990 filing (archived here), NVF identified three program areas in which it spent money:

In 2018, NVF spent $90,387,850 on “civil rights, social action, and advocacy,” of which $44,453,476 was spent in grants to other nonprofits: ¹⁷

NVF’s civil rights, social action, and advocacy portfolio spans a broad spectrum of projects, including those which seek to protect the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality; inspire and implement new ideas and processes for the betterment of society; and foster public participation in the debate on important social issues to ensure that communities have a voice in public policies that impact their lives.

In 2018, NVF spent $87,959,941 on “environmental programs,” of which $60,616,035 was spent in grants to other nonprofits: ¹⁸

NVF’s environmental programs focus on a range of conservation, climate, river conservation, alternative energy sources and reduction of fossil fuels, protection of ocean life, wildlands conservation, ecological agriculture, and habitat restoration. Activities among these projects include grantmaking, communications, coordination among stakeholders, civic and media engagement, and public awareness campaigns.

In 2018, NVF spent $66,008,606 on “youth development and education-focused projects,” of which $36,037,962 was spent in grants to other nonprofits: ¹⁹

NVF operates a variety of youth development and education-focused projects. These projects work in a range of areas to support the development of youth and improvement of education in the U.S., such as early learning in vulnerable populations, literacy, connected learning, support to teachers and other educational professionals, and advocacy for effective teaching practices and education reform. Our work primarily includes grantmaking, convenings, and strategic communications support.

In addition, NVF spent $108,608,263 on unnamed program services, of which $64,243,743 was paid out in grants to other groups. ²⁰

The New Venture Fund claims it has sponsored over 280 projects since its inception in 2006 touching a broad range of center-left issues. ²¹ The following are a handful of known NVF-sponsored projects or areas funded by the nonprofit; more of its projects are listed at the bottom of this profile (under “Child Organizations”).

Known New Venture Fund Projects

List also includes former NVF projects that have since become standalone nonprofits

• 2020 Census Project, The
• Abortion On Our Own Terms
• Accountable.US (former NVF project)
• All Above All
• Allied Progress
• Americans for Affordable Birth Control
• Avon Breast Cancer Crusade
• Black Civic Engagement Fund (Democracy Alliance)
• Center for Secure and Modern Elections
• Civic Engagement Fund
• Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund
• Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF)
• Conservative Leaders for Education
• Constitutional Responsibility Education Project
• Demand Justice Initiative
• Demand Progress Education Fund
• Climate Fund (Democracy Alliance)
• Democracy Fund (Democracy Alliance)
• Democracy Is Good for Business
• Effective Voter Project
• Election Integrity Fund
• Election Security Project
• Employment Technology Fund
• Evergreen Collaborative
• Fix the Court (FTC)
• Fund for a Safer Future
• Governing for Impact
• Healthy Voting Project
• Hope and Heal Fund
• The Hub Education and Engagement Fund
• Inclusive Economy Fund (Democracy Alliance)
• Keep Birth Control Copay Free
• Latino Engagement Fund (Democracy Alliance)
• Latino Victory Fund
• Make It Work Campaign
• Media Democracy Fund (MDF) (former project of Proteus Fund)
• National Network of State Teachers of the Year
• New American Majority Fund (Democracy Alliance)
• PACENation
• Pluribus Project
• ProsperUS
• Redistricting Reform Project
• Research Collaborative Fund
• Restore Public Trust (RPT)
• SAGE Fund
• SalmonState
• Save My Care
• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
• Science Philanthropy Alliance
• Secure Elections for America Now (SEAN)
• Summit Community Institute
• The Enough Project
• TheDream.US
• True Friends of Coal
• UnRestrict Minnesota
• UpStream USA (former NVF project)
• Voter Engagement Fund
• Voter Rights Action
• We Can Vote
• We Mean Business Coalition
• Western Values Project
• Wild Rivers Project
• Women’s Equality Center
• Youth First Initiative
• Youth Engagement Fund (Democracy Alliance)

Allied Progress

Also see Allied Progress (Nonprofit)

In 2015, Allied Progress was formed using money from New Venture Fund to push for Congress not to overturn the country’s ban on crude oil exports. Allied Progress ran an advertisement campaign in Colorado, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, and New Mexico, urging voters to tell their senators they wanted to keep the ban. ²² Allied Progress Action is the sister to Allied Progress and a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Campaign for Accountability

Also see Campaign for Accountability (Nonprofit)

SiliconBeat reported that New Venture Fund was behind Campaign for Accountability, which did extensive research into Google’s relationship with the Obama White House and created the Google Accountability Project, a website that pointed out the tech giant’s heavy influence with the Obama administration. ²³ The publication noted that New Venture Fund has received financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($94 million between 2014 and 2016) and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ($17 million during that period.)²⁴

Education

New Venture Fund gave about $4 million to a failed Mississippi initiative in 2015 that would have given state judges power over school issues, including increased education spending. ²⁵

In a report over the National Education Association’s $138 million in spending in the 2016 fiscal year, Dropout Nation, an education reform website, pointed out the national teachers union gave $62,657 to New Venture Fund and $550,000 to Sixteen Thirty Fund, an endowment developed by Arabella Advisors. ²⁶ Eric Kessler, the president and board chairman of New Venture Fund, also founded Arabella Advisors. ²⁷

Controversies and Criticism

Unlawful Private Funding of Elections Lawsuit (2020)

Also see Center for Secure and Modern Elections (Nonprofit) and Center for Tech and Civic Life (Nonprofit)

On October 2, 2021, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry sued the New Venture Fund (as the parent organization of the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, or CSME), the Center for Technology and Civic Life (an allied organization), and the consulting firm Full Circle Strategies (which represented both organizations locally) “to prevent the injection of unregulated private money into the Louisiana election system and to protect the integrity of elections in the State by ensuring against the corrosive influence of outside money on Louisiana election officials.” According to the lawsuit, “private contributions to local election officials are unlawful and contrary to the methods for election funding established by law in the State of Louisiana”; the Attorney General sought to have CTCL’s funding declared illegal and be permanently enjoined. ²⁸

The lawsuit alleged that CTCL and New Venture Fund (under the name “Center for Secure and Modern Elections”) had unlawfully “targeted 13 parishes” for elections grants, some of which exceeded $500,000, requiring local registrar’s offices to provide “detailed information about [their] operations, conduct, and expenses” in turn. These transactions were allegedly facilitated by Dawn Maisel Cole, the principal for Full Circle Strategies, who “directly solicited registrars and clerks of court to accept contributions from CTCL and New Venture for the operation of their respective offices.” Besides breaking state law, the Attorney General’s office argued that private funding of elections is barred by the Louisiana state legislature and U.S. Congress for “obvious” reasons: ²⁹

1. The influence that would inevitably accompany private financial contributions to local elections officials;
2. Outside donations to local election officials sow distrust in the administration of the election system;
3. Private contributions would inevitably spawn competition for party and corporate control over local election funding and would lead to bidding for election favor by party and private interests;
4. Private contributors are likely to be political parties or large corporations that have partisan and/or economic objectives to foster with their contributions to election officials;
5. Private interests, as in this instance, fund particular parishes and particular aspects of the election that they believe advance their election goals and objectives;
6. Should registrars and clerks become reliant upon private funding of their governmental activities, they may well be compelled to respond to the objectives of those providing the funding in order to ensure that the funding continues;
7. Such private funding, washed through non-profit organizations, invites the potential for contributions from foreign governments to the Louisiana system and its election officials;
8. Private contributions open the door to election suits and contests based upon perceived or actual influence on the part of local election officials in the conduct of an election.

A state judge ruled against the state on October 26, 2020, on the grounds that the Attorney General’s office had “no cause of action” for the lawsuit and it was dismissed. ³⁰ In March 2022, however, the Louisiana appeals court reversed the decision, allowing the Attorney General’s lawsuit to continue. ³¹ The Louisiana appeals court called the lower court’s ruling “legally incorrect” and stated that the Attorney General’s lawsuit “has stated a course of action to protect an interest of the state by preventing the funding of elections with private money.” ^{32 33}

After the appeals court reinstated the Attorney General’s lawsuit, CTCL, NVF, CSME, and Full Circle Strategies again sought a dismissal of the case, requesting that the state Supreme Court review the appeals court decision. On June 28, 2022, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Attorney General in a 4-3 decision, allowing the lawsuit to proceed. Speaking about the decision, Erick Kaaral, special counsel of the right-of-center Thomas More Society which has advocated extensively against CTCL, CSME, and “zuckbucks” said, “I’m optimistic that Louisiana courts will find that the CTCL intervention is not legally authorized,” and that “… Our election system was ambushed by billionaires, and they’ve had a huge influence.” ³⁴

Illegal Election Intervention Complaint (2021)

On May 15, 2021, the right-leaning watchdog Americans for Public Trust (APT) filed a complaint (archived here) with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which oversees political groups’ spending, alleging violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act by Hansjorg Wyss, the Wyss Foundation, the Berger Action Fund, the New Venture Fund (in its capacity as the parent of the Hub Project), and Sixteen Thirty Fund. ³⁵ According to APT, “Mr. Wyss indirectly funded federal electoral advocacy through his nonprofit organizations,” failing to set them up as political action committees (PACs), and “the intended recipient of these funds was ultimately a variety of organizations whose primary purpose is to engage in electoral advocacy.”

Organizations which receive contributions in excess of $1,000 or makes contributions in excess of $1,000 in a calendar year is considered a PAC for the major purpose of influencing elections. PACs are subject to strict financial reporting requirements that 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) nonprofits are not. ³⁶ The complaint points out that the Wyss Foundation, Berger Action Fund, and New Venture Fund, which are all 501(c) nonprofits, have failed to file a statement of organization with the FEC, despite Wyss contributing at least $56.5 million from the Wyss Foundation to the New Venture Fund and another $135 from the Berger Action Fund to the Sixteen Thirty Fund. The 501(c)(4) Sixteen Thirty Fund spent $30 million influencing the 2018 midterm elections in order to favor Democratic candidates, “thereby triggering classification as a political committee,” according to APT.

U.S. law strictly prohibits foreign nationals from making direct or indirect contributions to political action committees. ³⁷ Wyss, who was born in Switzerland, resides in the U.S. under an “E-2 VISA” (which is intended for foreign investors who live and work in the country) and “is not a permanent resident of the U.S. under a ‘green card,'” according to his attorney. ³⁸ The complaint cites $41,000 in illegal federal campaign contributions Wyss paid between 1998 and 2003, claiming that, “Since that time, [Wyss] has made indirect contributions and expenditures by means of an intricate network of organizations in a scheme to obscure his role as the source of these funds.” ³⁹

APT alleges that Wyss established the Hub Project, a front for the “dark money” funder New Venture Fund and the recipient of significant funding from the Wyss Foundation, in order “to avoid any connection with the sizeable election activities carried out by the Hub Project and Change Now,” a super PAC associated with the Hub Project. “Operating since 2015
without the requisite FEC filing,” APT writes, “the Hub Project has been immune to any oversight and accountability despite significant spending in federal election.” It adds:

The Hub Project has served as a vehicle for the political spending of Mr. Wyss. This is demonstrated by the fact that Mr. Wyss has not publicly disclosed his role in founding the Hub Project. Neither his influence nor his financial support can be found anywhere on the group’s website. Rather, information regarding his involvement with the Hub Project was the result of “interviews with five people with knowledge of The Hub Project, an internal memo from another liberal group that was obtained by The New York Times.”

“Dark Money” Criticism

For more information, see Arabella Advisors (For-Profit) and Sixteen Thirty Fund (Nonprofit)

The New Venture Fund has been criticized by right- and left-leaning observers for its role as the largest member of a multi-billion-dollar nonprofit network of pass-through funders administered by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consultancy in Washington, DC. Arabella and its nonprofit network have been criticized as “dark money” funders both for channeling hundreds of millions of dollars to left-wing organizations and for hosting hundreds of “pop-up groups”—websites designed to look like standalone nonprofits that are really projects of an Arabella-run nonprofit. ^{40 41}

In April 2021, the New York Times criticized Arabella’s “system of political financing, which often obscures the identities of donors,” as “dark money,” calling the network “a leading vehicle for it on the Left.” ⁴² In May 2021, the New York Times criticized New Venture’s 501(c)(4) “sister” nonprofit, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, for its close ties to and funding from the foreign-funded Wyss Foundation, calling Sixteen Thirty Fund one of the “leading dark money spenders on the Left” responsible for distributing more than $63 million in super PAC donations that hurt Republicans and aided Democrats in the 2020 election, as well for “help[ing] create and fund dozens of groups, including some that worked to block Mr. Trump’s nominees and push progressive appointments by Mr. Biden.” ⁴³

In November 2019, Politico criticized the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the 501(c)(4) advocacy wing of Arabella’s nonprofit network, as a “little-known,” “massive ‘dark money’ group [that] boosted Democrats” in the 2018 midterm elections with $140 million. “The money contributed to efforts ranging from fighting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other Trump judicial nominees to boosting ballot measures raising the minimum wage and changing laws on voting and redistricting in numerous states,” the left-leaning website reported. Politico also noted that Sixteen Thirty Fund’s biggest single donation (made anonymously) was for $51.7 million, “more than the group had ever raised before in an entire year before President Donald Trump was elected,” adding that “the group’s 2018 fundraising surpassed any amount ever raised by a left-leaning political nonprofit.” ⁴⁴ However, Politico failed to tie the Sixteen Thirty Fund to Arabella Advisors and its other three nonprofits.

The left-leaning Washington Post further criticized Arabella’s Sixteen Thirty Fund as a “big campaign donor” in a November 24, 2019 opinion by the editorial board, which called on Congress to change nonprofit disclosure laws, noting in particular a $26.7 million anonymous donation to the Fund. ⁴⁵ However, the Post also failed to connect the Sixteen Thirty Fund to Arabella Advisors and its other three nonprofits.

In a November 24, 2019 letter to the editor published by the Washington Post, Capital Research Center president Scott Walter identified the $26.7 million donation as originating with the New Venture Fund, the largest of Arabella’s in-house nonprofits, and confirmed Politico’s suspicion that the Sixteen Thirty Fund is “part of a larger network of dark money.” ⁴⁶

Hiding Political Agenda Behind “Fake News Sites”

The nonprofit watchdog OpenSecrets (published by the Center for Responsive Politics) reported in May 2020 on Arabella’s involvement in numerous “fake news sites,” pouring millions of untraceable dollars into advertisements and other digital content “masquerading as news coverage to influence the 2020 election.” ⁴⁷

OpenSecrets identified five Facebook pages (Colorado Chronicle, Daily CO, Nevada News Now, Silver State Sentinel, Verified Virginia) that “gave the impression of multiple free-standing local news outlets,” but are in fact “merely fictitious names used by the Sixteen Thirty Fund,” Arabella’s 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit. ⁴⁸ These pages published Facebook political advertisements that favored Democrats and left-wing causes during the 2020 election. After the report was published a number of these pages were deleted.

States Newsroom, which runs another network of left-wing “fake news” websites, was originally created as “Newsroom Network,” a project of the Arabella-run 501(c)(3) Hopewell Fund. In June 2019, States Newsroom was spun off as an independent nonprofit with its own 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, but a number of its local affiliates are used by the Hopewell Fund as its own legal aliases. ⁴⁹

While States Newsroom does not disclose its donors (and is not required to by the IRS), ⁵⁰

IRS application records obtained by OpenSecrets show the States Newsroom was offered a $1 million donation from the Wyss Foundation, a private foundation primarily funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who made his fortune as CEO of a controversial medical device manufacturer called Synthes.

A financial statement in the IRS records obtained by OpenSecrets shows that the States Newsroom plans to bring in more than $27 million in contributions before the end of 2021.

And in 2018 the Hopewell Fund gave $1.72 million to News for Democracy, which OpenSecrets points out “was at the crux of a network of seemingly independent Facebook pages disguised as news outlets that started spending on digital ads in 2018,” with backing from the Sixteen Thirty Fund and Investing in US, an investment vehicle funded by LinkedIn founder and liberal billionaire Reid Hoffman. ⁵¹

Also among these “dark money” groups was ACRONYM, which raised $9.4 million from “secret donors” through April 2019, including $250,000 from Arabella’s 501(c)(3) New Venture Fund. ACRONYM is affiliated with a super PAC, PACRONYM, which spent close to $18 million aiding Democrats and hurting Republicans through independent expenditures in the 2020 election. ⁵² ACRONYM also owns and operates Courier Newsroom, which in turn manages a network of left-wing websites that present themselves as local news outlets while spreading “hyperlocal partisan propaganda,” according to the centrist watchdog Newsguard. ⁵³ Courier Newsroom spent at least $20,000 in digital advertising campaigns on Facebook between March 2019 and May 2020; its total spending in Facebook ads as of June 2021 is nearly $1.4 million. ^{54 55}

The Atlantic: Arabella’s Political Activism Masked as Philanthropy

Arabella’s increasing prominence as the head of a large and influential network of political groups has earned the company attention from both left- and right-leaning media, which respectively praise or criticize Arabella’s political activism as it exists in the guise of “philanthropy.”

InsidePhilanthropy, a left-leaning website that examines trends in charitable giving, praised Arabella Advisors founder Eric Kessler in July 2021 as one of the 100 “most powerful players in philanthropy” for aiding “progressive causes” through his nonprofit network: ⁵⁶

Since he founded Arabella Advisors in 2005, Kessler has built a complex network of nonprofit funds and pass-through entities that now channel hundreds of millions toward progressive causes annually—giving that soared under Trump.

Arabella Advisors maintains that its nonprofit network primarily serves philanthropic, not political, causes. A November 2021 interview with the Atlantic observed that “Arabella hates [the] narrative” that it controls a set of “innocuous-sounding . . . and promiscuously spawn[ed] mini-organizations” engaged in political causes. In its interview with Arabella CEO Sampriti Ganguli, the Atlantic wrote: ⁵⁷

The organization’s CEO, Sampriti Ganguli, insisted to me that she runs a relatively small business-services organization that does HR, legal compliance, accounting, etc., for clients such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Ganguli comes from a consultant background, and she talks like it: Arabella’s mission is to make philanthropy more efficient, effective, and equitable, she told me.

Of Arabella’s political spending, the Atlantic wrote: ⁵⁸

Do you feel good that you’re the Left’s equivalent of the Koch brothers?

Ganguli: Yeah.

. . .

[Interviewer]: Okay. You guys have a narrative around you, which associates you with dark-money spending in America. I want to give you a clean opportunity to explain why you think that narrative is wrong.

Ganguli: I’m super surprised at the attention that Arabella Advisors gets. We’re a pretty small professional-services business. We make sure things get done on time, that the checks go where they need to go. We help donors figure out how to maximize their effectiveness. I struggle to fully diagnose the narrative.

What I will say is, on the work of the Sixteen Thirty Fund in particular, the narrative is often spun by a set of actors and agents who benefit equally, if not more, from the same legal structure. One of the reasons we don’t engage in this narrative is that it’s not at all the bulk of what Arabella Advisors does. Whenever organizations are looking to profile the work of philanthropy, we’re super excited to talk about that. But it has been my observation that the slog of day-to-day change doesn’t warrant headlines in a 24/7 media cycle.

[Interviewer]: Look, I take your point. But just to give you insight into the reporter brain: In 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund was the second-largest giver to super PACs in the entire country. The first was One Nation, a right-wing organization. The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $61 million to super PACs. They’ve scaled up at a speed that is unprecedented. Your organization’s structure has even prompted people on the [R]ight to say, “Hey, I love what you’re doing. I’m going to reorganize in order to mirror you.”

I don’t think it’s that reporters don’t have a taste for covering long, slow, hard work. This political spending is newsworthy. And Arabella shares an address, resources, legal services, HR services, and all kinds of other things with the Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Ganguli: I don’t dispute your wanting to ask the question. I just worry that you’re asking the question to the wrong person.

The Atlantic attributed Arabella’s vast political influence to “the rush of panicked political giving on the Left during the Trump years” but added that “Arabella, as a mission-driven, progressive organization, is caught in a major tension on the [L]eft: How can progressive groups justify using billionaires’ money to influence American politics and civic life while earnestly advocating for a wealth tax or political-spending reforms?” ⁵⁹

Lawsuit Against Voting Rights Lab

On October 28, 2022, Sarah Walker, former executive director and vice president of advocacy for Secure Democracy, filed a lawsuit against Secure Democracy, Secure Democracy USA, and the New Venture Fund, as the fiscal sponsor of the Voting Rights Lab, seeking damages for alleged discrimination, civil rights violations, and wrongful termination.^{60 61} According to the lawsuit, Secure Democracy worked closely with NVF’s Voting Rights Lab, and was “established in 2018 . . . in order to work with Republicans on voting rights issues and to maintain a distance from the Democratic Party–affiliated work of VRL [Voting Rights Lab].” Walker claimed that both Secure Democracy and the New Venture Fund had discriminated against female employees of color by paying them less than their white counterparts, denying them equal opportunity for advancement, and denying them equal access to benefits.” According to Walker, Secure Democracy and Voting Rights lab leadership “constantly reminded [Walker] of her racial identity,” were obsessed with  “race and racial dynamics.”⁶²

The lawsuit also alleged that Secure Democracy and the New Venture Fund had engaged in unethical advocacy practices that “jeopardiz[ed] their tax exempt status” and “intentional tax violations” by “unlawfully subsidizing”  Secure Democracy’s 501(c)(4) operations with funds from the 501(c)(3) Voting Rights Lab. After Walker brought concerns about the inappropriate use of funds and discrimination to her employer, the New Venture Fund and Secure Democracy allegedly retaliated against her by placing her on administrative leave until she was ultimately fired. In her lawsuit, Walker claimed that Secure Democracy and the Voting Rights Lab were “simply unconcerned about following the law.”⁶³

Secret Emails to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee (2022)

Background

In June 2017, Arabella Advisors senior managing director Bruce Boyd and New Venture Fund president Lee Bodner pitched the Arabella network’s fiscal sponsorship services to the office of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), offering to administer and connect donors to the U.S. Climate Alliance. The alliance is a coalition of governors formed in 2017 who support greenhouse gas reduction policies in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, both in their states and at the federal level. Boyd and Bodner were introduced to Chris Davis, then Inslee’s senior climate staffer, by Matt Steuerwalt, a consultant for the Seattle lobbying firm Insight Strategy Partners and then a policy director for the Inslee administration. ⁶⁴

Steuerwalt previously worked as a climate policy advisor for Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D); his firm is also led by Gregoire’s ex-chief of staff, Marty Loesch. ⁶⁵ Another Inslee staffer, Sam Ricketts, was also present in the email correspondence and refers to Arabella: “I know some Arabella Advisors folks . . . good group.” Ricketts is now a senior fellow for energy and environment at the Center for American Progress whose biography notes that he helped “Gov. Inslee to establish the U.S. Climate Alliance.” ⁶⁶

Bodner notes that New Venture Fund is “a $350 million/year 501c3 that serves as a platform to 200+ projects. About 30% of our work is on the environment. We help donors, individuals, and governments quickly mobilize resources to get projects up and running quickly (we can hire staff, and have deep advocacy expertise, for example) and we facilitate multi-stakeholder coalitions.”

“On climate, along with our partners at Arabella Advisors,” he adds:

We manage the philanthropy for a Midwest funder that supported efforts to ensure vulnerable populations had strong representation in both country-level planning and the negotiations in Paris. Since then, we’ve supported implementation of the Paris targets by funding work to develop 100 percent clean energy plans in nearly 50 countries most vulnerable to climate change.

We have been the lead consultant on the divest-invest campaign, a global effort to encourage individuals and foundations to divest from fossil fuel stocks and invest in clean energy alternatives [emphasis added].

Bodner also refers to Arabella Advisors senior managing director Bruce Boyd and Arabella senior director Ryan Strode as “my colleagues” who “lead our collective work on climate policy and advocacy.”

In regards to fundraising for the U.S. Climate Alliance, Bodner writes:

As the memo indicates, we have a number of donors (on the NVF side) and clients (on the Arabella side) who we expect to be interested in your work. We would certainly facilitate introductions to these funders as you needed.

We also have relationships with fundraising consultants who have deep experience on international climate work. We can help you source these consultants as necessary.

In these ways, we could make sure that you are connected both within and beyond our network to help marshal the resources you need to make this successful [emphasis added].

The Arabella Memo

The Inslee emails also contain a memorandum offering services to the U.S. Climate Alliance on joint Arabella Advisors-New Venture Fund letterhead, signed by both Lee Bodner and Bruce Boyd. Although the fiscal sponsorship services would be handled by New Venture Fund, the memo routinely refers to both the company and the nonprofit as virtually the same organization: “Arabella.” ⁶⁷

Arabella’s climate team also has the expertise and networks in United States and global climate policy necessary to build strong connections with private sector and civil society leaders. For example, Arabella is working with several climate funders across the United States to advance ambitious clean energy policies at the state and municipal level.

We currently manage grants to advance 100 percent clean energy campaigns in key states such as New York, California, Florida, and Washington. We also supported a post-Paris convening of global climate leaders in partnership with Climate Action Network International to craft country-level plans to meet the goals established in the agreement [emphasis added].

“The New Venture Fund (NVF) and Arabella Advisors would be thrilled to partner with you to quickly and efficiently formalize and grow the Alliance,” Bodner and Boyd write, adding:

Together the New Venture Fund and its consulting partner Arabella Advisors are uniquely positioned to help you quickly secure and deploy resources for the Alliance while making connections to influential climate leaders. . . . We can draw on a wealth of experience forming and hosting similarly complex new initiatives . . . [to] secure fundraising and communications support for the Alliance [emphasis added].

For example, the New Venture Fund helped the We Mean Business coalition to launch a global coalition of thousands of the world’s most influential corporations to advocate for a transition to a low carbon economy. As the We Mean Business fiscal sponsor[,] NVF is supporting the executive committee, applying for grants, and managing contracts.

. . .

NVF is playing a similar role on the Shine campaign, an ambitious global effort to end energy poverty by 2030. . . . Working in partnership with the United Nation’s [sic] Sustainable Energy for All initiative, Arabella is recruiting and facilitating the Shine Secretariat—which will include global climate leaders such as [ex-Irish president] Mary Robinson—and helping to devise the campaign’s initial strategy.

Bodner also writes that ““Arabella is helping to recruit, organize, and facilitate and leadership group that will drive the [Shine] campaign forward” while “working closely with the United Nations’ Sustainable Energy for All initiative.”

The memo continues:

• “Arabella can coordinate early Alliance partners . . . [and] NVF can serve as a platform to hire dedicated staff and manage any contractors needed to advance the work.
• “[W]e will work with state leaders to translate commitments made into meaningful action . . . [to enact] emissions reductions in the Paris Agreement.
• “Arabella can provide timely support for outreach, helping to manage and track communications, prioritize target states, and connect with in-state partners.
• “[W]e will drive outreach to funders and private sector allies. . . . We will draw on NVF and Arabella’s expansive networks with climate funders, corporate leaders, and investors to identify critical partners for the Alliance and support the Secretariat’s outreach.
• “NVF can quickly contract with trusted fundraising and communications specialists to support the Secretariat.
• “NVF can secure and deploy Alliance resources . . . and meet all financial reporting and compliance needs.”

The memo’s concluding paragraph stresses that Arabella Advisors, not New Venture Fund, would lead the U.S. Climate Alliance plan: “Arabella developed the program strategy, identifies grantees, makes funding recommendations, and executes all grant-making.” It adds: “We look forward to continuing our discussion about how Arabella can best support the US Climate Alliance going forward.” ⁶⁸

Accusations of Hypocrisy

The secret emails were originally obtained via public records request in September 2019 by the right-leaning watchdog Government Accountability & Oversight, before knowledge of the Arabella network’s political activities was widespread. ⁶⁹ In October 2022, the Capital Research Center (which publishes InfluenceWatch) identified the correspondence and noted that, whereas Arabella Advisors hypocritically threatened legal action against Judicial Crisis Network in 2021 for failing to properly distinguish between the company and its nonprofit client New Venture Fund (see: Judicial Crisis Network Advertisement), Arabella makes no such distinction in these private emails and instead treats the nonprofits and company as a single entity: ⁷⁰

The Elias Law Group’s letter threatening TV stations that run JCN [Judicial Crisis Network] ads claimed that Arabella Advisors merely provides “administrative and operational support services” to nonprofits and “neither controls nor directs” spending by its nonprofit “clients.”

Yet the 2017 Inslee emails show that, when approaching potential clients, Arabella Advisors and its nonprofit network make little to no distinction between themselves. In fact, when selling their services, they’re eager to present a united front—one that puts the company squarely in the political space.

In response to a September 29, 2022, Wall Street Journal letter to the editor from Arabella Advisors president Rick Cruz asserting that Arabella Advisors is not “a partisan organization” or in control of its clients, Capital Research Center countered with a separate letter to the editor: ^{71 72}

In a letter (Sept. 29), Arabella Advisors claims it’s a little lamb, not the “dark money” titan everyone knows it is. Its president, Rick Cruz, insists his for-profit firm provides its “client” nonprofits with “operational support” for “human resources, compliance and accounting.” Actually, Arabella’s biggest “clients” are in-house nonprofits like the Sixteen Thirty Fund (“the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money,” per the Atlantic). Arabella’s pet nonprofits share offices plus interlocking board members and leaders with it—how many companies create their own “clients”?

Mr. Cruz claims Arabella isn’t “partisan” or a counterpart to Leonard Leo’s conservative nonprofits. That last is somewhat true. Mr. Leo famously received a one-time donation of $1.65 billion, whereas Arabella’s left-wing network took in over $1.7 billion in 2020 alone.

As for partisanship, consider Arabella’s effort to force TV stations to drop ads criticizing it during the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation battle. Arabella had the stations send threatening letters from the Elias Law Group, whose leader insists that if you don’t help Democrats win, “we are not the law firm for you.”

More proof Arabella doesn’t operate as it claims appears in emails unearthed by Government Accountability and Oversight and analyzed by Capital Research Center. Seeking business from Gov. Jay Inslee (D., Wash.), the head of an Arabella “client” copied “my colleagues Bruce Boyd and Ryan Strode from Arabella. They lead our collective work on climate policy and advocacy.” Elsewhere, Arabella and “client” promise to “secure fundraising.” A four-page memo has Arabella’s logo before its client’s and often describes Arabella as acting alone. For instance, “Arabella developed the program strategy, identifies grantees, makes funding recommendations, and executes all grant-making.” It concludes, “We look forward to continuing our discussion about how Arabella can best support the US Climate Alliance going forward.”

Why won’t Arabella proudly admit its success in building a multibillion-dollar empire that’s a pillar of the Democratic Party?

Hayden Ludwig
Capital Research Center
Washington

Leadership

President

Lee Bodner is president of New Venture Fund and is a former managing director for Arabella Advisors. He is also president and board chair of the Hopewell Fund and Windward Fund, both NVF “sister” groups run by Arabella Advisors. ⁷³ He was founding executive director of ecoAmerica, a nonprofit focusing on educating the American public on conservation issues. While there, Bodner helped launch the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which brought the climate change issue front and center in higher education. ⁷⁴ Bodner received total compensation from NVF of $349,432 in 2020. ⁷⁵

Eric Kessler is a former New Venture Fund board chairman and founding president until 2015. ⁷⁶He founded and works as senior managing director of Arabella Advisors, a left-leaning consultancy in Washington, DC, that manages New Venture Fund and its three “sister” nonprofit in exchange for annual fees. ⁷⁷ Kessler helped manage conservation issues around the globe for the Clinton administration. ⁷⁸

Board of Directors

New Venture Fund’s 2020 board of directors consisted of the following: ^{79 80}

Adam Eichberg (board chair): Environmental consultant for the Denver-based Headwater Strategies, which focuses on environmentalist issues. Also a former board member (through 2019) for the Arabella-run Windward Fund, which primarily funds and incubates environmental groups.

Katherine Miller (board treasurer and vice-chair): Senior director of food policy advocacy for the James Beard Foundation, the former managing director of Hattaway Communications (whose president, Douglas Hattaway, is a Sixteen Thirty Fund board member), and a NARAL Pro-Choice America board member.

Thomas “Tom” Gibian: (board secretary since Sept. 2019): Head of school for Sandy Spring Friends School (in Sandy Spring, Maryland) and former COO for the AIG African Infrastructure Fund.

Daryn Dodson: Managing director for the private equity firm Illumen Capital and board director for ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s.

Harry Drucker: President of the real estate advisory firm Revere Corporation and a trustee for the Nature Conservancy.

Vatsala Pathy: Owner of the healthcare consultancy Rootstock Solutions, former State Innovation Model director for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D).

New Venture Fund officers (not on the board) in 2021 included: ⁸¹

Lee Bodner (president): Former Arabella Advisors managing director. His total compensation in 2021 was $439,102.

Andrew Schulz (general counsel): Also general counsel Arabella Advisors. His total compensation from NVF in 2021 was $347,175.

Shannon Scott (chief financial officer as of June 2020): Former senior staffer for Greater Washington Community Foundation, former CFO for National Housing Trust and Council on Foundations. Her total compensation in 2021 was $278,645.

Former Board Members and Officers:

The following are former New Venture Fund board members: ^{82 83}

• Eric Kessler (2017 board chair; board secretary through August 2019), founder and senior managing director of Arabella Advisors.
• Wilbur Priester (former CFO through Sept. 2019): Arabella Advisors chief financial officer.
• Yanique Redwood (through January 2019; listed as Yanique Gibian in NVF’s 2017 Form 990), president and CEO of the Consumer Health Foundation and a former senior associate for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. ⁸⁴

Key Staff

New Venture Fund reported spending $88 in 2021 on employee salaries and compensation and $74 million on the same in 2020. The following were key staffers for the NVF in 2020: ⁸⁵

Rakesh Rajani (project director). Total compensation in 2021: $452,007.

Pamela O. Foster (project director). Total compensation in 2021: $451,650. Chief operating officer for the NVF social advocacy project Co-Impact and a former managing director for the Rockefeller Foundation. ⁸⁶ Foster was NVF’s highest-paid staffer in 2019 at $460,610.

Heather Joseph (project director unlisted in 2021 Form 990). Total compensation in 2020: $337,428. Head of the NVF project SPARC.

Candy Marshall (project director unlisted in 2021 Form 990). Total compensation in 2020: $332,673. President of TheDream.US, an NVF-run pro-illegal immigration group.

Fran Seegull (project director). Total compensation in 2021: $446,168. President of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.

The New Venture Fund’s highest-paid staffer in 2018 was Marc Kastner (total compensation: $354,197), an NVF project director and president of the Science Philanthropy Alliance (an NVF project).

Arkadi Gerney is an NVF project director and head of the Hub Project (an NVF project) unlisted in NVF’s 2019 Form 990. In 2018, he received total compensation of $339,517.

Valerie Conn (former project director through March 2021). Total compensation in 2021: $331,820. Former executive director of the NVF-run Science Philanthropy Alliance from 2015 to 2021.

Lobbying

Between 2009 and 2019 (Quarter 3), the New Venture Fund spent $9.3 million in lobbying expenditures in the U.S. Congress (a version containing the bills lobbied for is available here): ⁸⁷

Funding

Financial Overview

The New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In 2021, NVF reported total revenues of $964 million, total expenditures of $553 million (including grants paid totaling $329.5 million), and net assets of $1.1 billion. ⁸⁸

An overview of NVF’s total revenues (including a percentage change from year to year), total expenditures, grants paid, and net assets from 2006 to 2021 is provided below: ⁸⁹

Donors to New Venture Fund

Between 2007 and 2021, the New Venture Fund received nearly $4.3 billion in revenues, the vast majority of it from grants from other 501(c)(3) public charities and private foundations. ^{90 91}

The following chart denotes grants made to the New Venture Fund over that period: ⁹²

2021 Donors

While the IRS does not require NVF to report its donors, it is required to report its donation sums. In 2021, NVF’s biggest donations were: ⁹³

• $119,641,500
• $103,400,000
• $89,472,320
• $77,060,137
• $47,685,593
• $36,501,606
• $26,170,000
• $20,575,000
• $20,080,000

2020 Donors

While the IRS does not require NVF to report its donors, it is required to report its donation sums. In 2020, NVF’s biggest donations were: ⁹⁴

• $105,322,214
• $101,963,584
• $85,184,686 (in “publicly traded securities” received 9/14/2020)
• $45,895,123
• $43,000,000
• $36,196,475
• $27,375,000
• $25,833,212
• $12,931,135 (in “publicly traded securities” received 11/18/2020)

Identified New Venture Fund donors in 2020 include:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: $126,754,593 ⁹⁵
• Ford Foundation: $24,005,170 ⁹⁶
• Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: $19,529,757 ⁹⁷
• Rockefeller Foundation: $12,467,594 ⁹⁸
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: $11,475,000 ⁹⁹
• Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation: $9,349,130 ¹⁰⁰
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation: $8,645,200 ¹⁰¹
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: $7,783,749 ¹⁰²
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation: $1,866,030 ¹⁰³
• David and Lucile Packard Foundation: $950,000 ¹⁰⁴

2019 Donors

In 2019, NVF’s biggest donations were: ¹⁰⁵

• $83,125,033
• $26,836,198
• $19,601,000
• $14,878,561
• $13,315,000
• $11,155,000
• $10,948,000
• $10,479,396
• $10,239,000
• $10,148,500
• $9,531,566
• $9,500,000
• $9,471,456
• $9,150,000

2018 Donors

In 2018, NVF’s biggest donations were for $63 million, $34 million, $24 million, $21 million, $18 million, $14 million, $11 million, $8.6 million, and $8.5 million. ¹⁰⁶

In 2018, Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) donated $6,838,000 to New Venture Fund for “general nonprofit support.” ¹⁰⁷ In 2019, SVCF gave $9,817,396 for “general nonprofit support” to NVF. ¹⁰⁸

The Wyss Foundation, a grantmaking foundation funded by Swiss billionaire and retired biomedicine entrepreneur Hansjorg Wyss, is a major donor to New Venture Fund. Between 2007 and 2018, the Wyss Foundation donated $37,712,600 to NVF. It isn’t clear how that money was spent since the grant descriptions do not provide specific details about which NVF projects they supported. ¹⁰⁹ Part of this sum came from the HJW Foundation (as in “Hansjorg Wyss”), a separate foundation associated with Hansjorg Wyss that was folded into the Wyss Foundation in 2013. ¹¹⁰

Other Donors

In 2014, the Ford Foundation gave $250,000 to the New Venture Fund in order to “foster collaboration.” The donation was listed as a transaction, and not a grant. ¹¹¹

Donors to NVF Projects

Many donors to New Venture Fund projects have been identified, largely via grant descriptions. However, many donors to NVF do not publicly identify specific projects in their grant descriptions, making it virtually impossible to trace particular grants to individual projects.

The following are examples of known grants from major left-of-center grantmakers to specific NVF projects: ¹¹²

Grants from New Venture Fund

The New Venture Fund paid out in $329 million in grants to other nonprofits in 2021, $447 million in grants 2020, $243 million in grants in 2019, $205,351,216 in grants in 2018, and $154,740,778 in grants in 2017. ¹¹⁴

It has consistently made grants to (unnamed) groups outside of the United States, including Central America and the Caribbean; South America; Sub-Saharan Africa; East Asia and the Pacific; Western Europe; Russia and Eastern Europe; and Mexico and Canada. These grants included support for, among other things, “advocacy,” “social action,” “civil rights,” and “environmental programs.” In 2018, NVF paid out $37,756,628 in foreign grants. ¹¹⁵

In 2018, NVF reported that it paid out $14,566,321 in grants to other organizations that was used for lobbying purposes. ¹¹⁶

Between 2007 and 2021, the New Venture Fund paid out $1.7 billion in grants to other organizations. ¹¹⁷

Note: Due to its large file size, NVF’s grants have been split into three separate lists.

2020-2021 Grants: