Non-profit

The Partnership Funds

Formation:

2013

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The Partnership Funds is a nonprofit funding collaborative made up of several prominent left-of-center funding groups and mega-donors that works to promote liberal economic policy across the United States. Most of the group’s activism concerns promoting environmentalist climate policy by funding environmentalist groups.

Background

The Partnership Funds was founded in 2013 and was billed as the first left-leaning funding collective to be focused on multi-issue and multi-ethnic issues. The founding executive director of the Funds was Steven Cole-Schwartz, a seasoned veteran of left-wing funding and organizing. Cole-Schwartz previously worked for the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and the Tides Foundation. 1

Cole-Schwartz left his post at the Partnership Funds in 2019 and relocated from Washington, D.C. to Seattle to found his own firm. Cole-Schwartz currently co-chairs the Funders Committee for Civic Participation, a partner of the Partnership Funds. 2

Funders Committee Involvement

The Partnership Funds is affiliated with the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP), an affinity group organized for left-leaning mega donors, which is a project of NEO Philanthropy and operates as a network of over 90 left-leaning funding organizations. 3

Advocacy Arm

The group also operates the Partnership Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) funding group that funds left-wing political activity by many of the nation’s most notable left-leaning environmentalist organizations, including the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Wildlife Federation, among others. 4

References

  1. “Steven Cole-Schwartz”. Linkedin. Accessed January 21, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-cole-schwartz-0471424/
  2. “Steven Cole-Schwartz”. Funders Committee for Civic Participation. Accessed January 21, 2020.   https://funderscommittee.org/staff-board/steven-cole-schwartz-co-chair/
  3. “About”. Funders Committee for Civic Participation. Accessed January 21, 2020.  https://funderscommittee.org/about/
  4. “The Partnership Action Fund” Open Secrets. Accessed January 21, 2020. http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/nonprof_contrib.php?id=810606786

Directors, Employees & Supporters

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