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 four 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]

Critics, including the New York Times, argue that New Venture Fund is a “dark money” organization, serving as a way for left-leaning groups to anonymously funnel money toward various political advocacy issues, such as attacking vulnerable Republicans or pushing environmental restrictions. ^[3] 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.” ^[4] However, NVF also sponsors a number of “philanthropic projects” that engage in charitable causes. ^[5]

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 includes officers from Arabella Advisors, including the firm’s principal Eric Kessler.

The Hopewell Fund and Windward Fund are also 501(c)(3) 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. ^[6]

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. ^[7]

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: ^[8]

[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”: ^[9]

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. ^[10]

The New Venture Fund describes its mission as “dedicated to supporting innovative and effective public interest projects” through fiscal sponsorship and grants. ^[11] 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: ^[12]

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: ^[13]

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: ^[14]

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. ^[15]

The New Venture Fund claims it has sponsored over 280 projects since its inception in 2006 touching a broad range of center-left issues. ^[16] 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
• 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)
• Effective Voter Project
• Election Security Project
• Employment Technology Fund
• Evergreen Collaborative
• Fix the Court (FTC)
• Fund for a Safer Future
• 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
• 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)
• The Enough Project
• TheDream.US
• UnRestrict Minnesota
• UpStream USA (former NVF project)
• Voter Engagement Fund
• Voter Rights Action
• 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. ^[17] 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. ^[18] 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.)^[19]

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. ^[20]

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. ^[21] Eric Kessler, the president and board chairman of New Venture Fund, also founded Arabella Advisors. ^[22]

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. ^[23]

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: ^[24]

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. ^[25]

“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. ^{[26] [27]}

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.” ^[28] 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.” ^[29]

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.” ^[30] 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. ^[31] 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.” ^[32]

Leadership

President

Lee Bodner is president of New Venture Fund and is a former managing director for Arabella Advisors. ^[33] 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. ^[34] Bodner received total compensation of $384,144 in 2019. ^[35]

Eric Kessler serves as chairman of the board of directors. He founded and serves as senior managing director of Arabella Advisors, a social venture firm working to increase the effectiveness of philanthropy that works in conjunction with New Venture Fund. ^[36] Kessler helped manage conservation issues around the globe for the Clinton administration. ^[37] Kessler was founding president of the NVF from 2006 to 2015. ^[38]

Board of Directors

The New Venture Fund’s board of directors consists of (including former board members): ^{[39] [40]}

• Eric Kessler (2017 board chair; board secretary through August 2019), founder and managing director of Arabella Advisors
• Thomas Gibian (board secretary since September 2019), head of school for Sandy Spring Friends School (in Sandy Spring, Maryland) and former COO for the AIG African Infrastructure Fund
• 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, and a NARAL Pro-Choice America board member
• Adam Eichberg (2018 board chair), a Windward Fund board member and environmentalist consultant running the Denver based Headwater Strategies, a legislative advocacy organization that focuses mainly on environmental issues;
• Wilbur Priester, Arabella Advisors chief financial officer
• Andrew Schulz, Arabella Advisors general counsel, who received compensation from NVF totaling $25,965 in 2018
• Daryn Dodson, managing director for the private equity firm Illumen Capital and board director for 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)
• Yanique Redwood (former board member, 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; ^[41]

Key Staff

In 2019, NVF reported spending $59.3 million in employee salaries and compensation. The following were key staffers for the NVF in 2019: ^[42]

Andrew Schulz is general counsel for New Venture Fund, as well as Arabella Advisors and its three “sister” nonprofits. In 2019, his total compensation from NVF was $24,528.

Wilbur Priester was chief financial officer for NVF through September 2019; he received no compensation from the group that year.

The New Venture Fund’s highest-paid staffer in 2019 was Pamela O. Foster (total compensation: $460,610), chief operating officer for the NVF social advocacy project Co-Impact and a former managing director for the Rockefeller Foundation. ^[43]

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).

Valerie Conn is an NVF project director and executive director of the Science Philanthropy Alliance; in 2019, she received total compensation of $379,734.

Heather Joseph is an NVF project director and head of SPARC (an NVF project); in 2019, she received total compensation of $362,639.

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.

Candy Marshall is an NVF project director and president of TheDream.US (an NVF illegal immigration project) unlisted in NVF’s 2019 Form 990. In 2018, she received total compensation of $317,073.

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): ^[44]

Funding

Financial Overview

The New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In 2019, NVF reported total revenues of $461 million, total expenditures of $421 million (including grants paid totaling $243 million), and net assets of $407 million. ^[45]

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 2019 is provided below: ^[46]

Donors to New Venture Fund

Between 2007 and 2018, the New Venture Fund received approximately $842 million in grants from 501(c)(3) public charities and private foundations. ^[47]

While the IRS does not require NVF to report its donors, it is required to report its donation sums. 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. ^[48]

In 2019, NVF’s biggest donations were: ^[49]

• $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

In 2018, Silicon Valley Communications Fund donated $6,838,000 to New Venture Fund for general nonprofit support. ^[50]

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, but it isn’t clear how that money was spent since the grant descriptions do not provide specific details about which NVF projects they supported. ^[51] 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. ^[52]

The following chart denotes grants made to the New Venture Fund over that period: ^[53]

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: ^[54]

Grants from New Venture Fund

The New Venture Fund paid out $243 million in grants to other nonprofits in 2019, $205,351,216 in grants in 2018, and $154,740,778 in grants in 2017. ^[56]

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. ^[57]

In 2018, NVF reported that it paid out $14,566,321 in grants to other organizations that was used for lobbying purposes. ^[58]

Between 2007 and 2019, the New Venture Fund paid out $926 million in grants to other organizations: ^[59]