Restore Trust Action is a left-wing advocacy organization and a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a left-of-center advocacy nonprofit managed by the for-profit consulting firm Arabella Advisors. The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a “dark money” conduit that allows left-of-center donors to fund advocacy organizations anonymously. ¹

The organization does not appear to be active beyond having a trade name registered in the District of Columbia. A similarly named organization that was established by Sixteen Thirty sister organization New Venture Fund established and ran an organization named Restore Public Trust. RTA may have been intended to be the advocacy affiliate of Restore Public Trust.

“Pop Up” Organizations

The Sixteen Thirty Fund is the advocacy arm of the Arabella network. Usually a Sixteen Thirty Fund organization works with a New Venture Fund organization. The organizations frequently collaborate on advocacy campaigns with the New Venture Fund-sponsored organization offering tax-deductible perks for donors while the Sixteen Thirty Fund conducts electoral-influencing advocacy. ²

The “pop up” organizations often have little more than a website with no distinct paid staff, office, or assets. The organizations do not file any independent public disclosures because they are little more than a trade name filed in the District of Columbia. The organization, like Restore Trust Action, remains a fully integrated part of the Sixteen Thirty Fund. RTA has no paid staff, no office outside of the Washington, D.C. office managed by Arabella Advisors, and no assets. ³

One of the purposes of the “pop up” campaign is for the Arabella network to hide the identity of donors to the various campaigns. Whenever a donor makes a donation to a Sixteen Thirty Fund campaign, that money often does not go to the specific campaign. Instead, it goes to the Sixteen Thirty Fund in general. Since the Sixteen Thirty Fund is a lobbying organization that does not have to disclose its donors, it allows a large-money donor to make a donation to the Sixteen Thirty Fund and RTA without having his or her identity revealed. ⁴

Restore Public Trust

Restore Trust Action is set up as an advocacy organization. The organization was setup in the mold of other Sixteen Thirty Fund organizations as a lobbying and advocacy organization designed to target Republicans and conservatives. However, the organization appears to have never advanced beyond having a trade name filed with the District of Columbia. There is no evidence of the organization even setting up a website or launching a campaign. ⁵

It appears that the organization was likely intended to be the unofficial advocacy arm of Restore Public Trust, the New Venture Fund organization that was established in 2018 to attack congressional Republicans and allies of President Donald Trump. Restore Public Trust has later moved over to Accountable.US, an organization that it co-established in 2020. As of late 2020, it appears Restore Public Trust has ceased operations in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. ⁶

1. Hayden R. Ludwig. “Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar ‘Dark Money’ Network.” Capital Research Center (DarkMoneyATM.org). https://darkmoneyatm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money_small.pdf
2.         Hayden R. Ludwig. “Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar ‘Dark Money’ Network.” Capital Research Center (DarkMoneyATM.org). https://darkmoneyatm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money_small.pdf
3. Hayden R. Ludwig. “Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar ‘Dark Money’ Network.” Capital Research Center (DarkMoneyATM.org). https://darkmoneyatm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money_small.pdf
4. Hayden R. Ludwig. “Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar ‘Dark Money’ Network.” Capital Research Center (DarkMoneyATM.org). https://darkmoneyatm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money_small.pdf
5. “Sixteen Thirty Fund: Trade Name Listing.” District of Columbia, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Accessed November 21, 2019. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6555491-Sixteen-Thirty-Fund-Incorporation-Records.html ^
6. Harsh, Jonathan. 2020. “Accountable.US’S Unaccountable “Dark Money” Roots”. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/accountable-uss-unaccountable-dark-money-roots/.