Together Wisconsin Acts, Inc. (TWA)

Its largest funder is the left-of-center donor collaborative Democracy Alliance’s Strategic Victory Fund political advocacy group, which is funded in turn by labor unions and major left-of-center donors.  ^{4  2  5  6}

History and Leadership

Together Wisconsin Acts (TWA) was founded in 2015 by Democratic Party-aligned campaign operatives and fundraisers.  ² Its founding board of directors included former Brico Fund executive director and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin vice president of development Anne Summers; political operative Mitch Williams, who would later work on the campaigns of Gov.  Tony Evers (D); and Democratic Party political consultant Jorna Taylor. ^{7  8  9}

In 2018, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Wisconsin lobbyist John Grabel joined TWA’s board, as did former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign staffer Sarah Godlewski. Godlewski would later be elected Wisconsin State Treasurer in 2018, appointed Wisconsin Secretary of State by Gov. Evers in 2023, and become the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor in the 2026 election.  ^{2  10  11}

As of 2024, AFSCME lobbyist Grabel was TWA’s board president and chair, while technology entrepreneur and University of Wisconsin board president Kyle Weatherly was secretary-treasurer, and National Education Association executive committee member and former Wisconsin Education Association Council state teachers’ union president Ronald “Duff” Martin was its other member. ^{12  13  2  10}

As of 2024, TWA executive director Eric Couto was also listed as a board member of Democratic Party-aligned candidate training group Wisconsin Progress. ¹⁴

In 2019, TWA provided $250,000 in startup funding for A Better Wisconsin Together (ABWT), an advocacy group for left-of-center issues and advocacy in Wisconsin that merged with One Wisconsin Now and became a ProgressNow affiliate.  ^{2  15} TWA reported $8,907,000 in grants to  ABWT between 2020 and 2024; it reported a further $1,367,000 to the associated A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund, $1,000,000 to A Better Wisconsin Together Action, and $33,858 to A Better Wisconsin Initiative over that span.  ²

Political Activism and Advocacy

Together Wisconsin Acts’ (TWA) primary role is to receive and redistribute funds to allied organizations, pollsters, consultants, and other groups that are engaged on behalf of Democratic Party-aligned candidates in Wisconsin elections.  ² TWA does not have a website, or social media accounts.  ² It also operates Together Wisconsin Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit that makes grants to left-of-center organizations in Wisconsin. ¹⁶

In 2020, TWA spent a reported $742,155 on “public education to increase public awareness of the process of selecting Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Supreme Court justice” ahead of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election in which Democratic-aligned candidate Jill Karofsky defeated Republican-aligned Daniel Kelly. $594,500 of this spending was in the form of grants to other organizations, with $557,000 to A Better Wisconsin Together and $37,500 to the Leaders Igniting Transformation Action Fund youth advocacy group.  ^{1  17}

While no Wisconsin Supreme Court elections were held in 2021 or 2022, TWA spent heavily on state Supreme Court-related advocacy in those years ahead of the April 2023 election in which Democrat-aligned Janet Claire Protasiewicz defeated Republican-aligned Daniel Kelly.  ^{1  17}

TWA reported spending $2,306,775 on advocacy in 2021, making $2,050,000 in grants including $1,600,000 to A Better Wisconsin Together; $400,000 to the For Our Future Action Fund associated with environmental activist Tom Steyer, Steyer’s environmentalist advocacy group NextGen Climate, and the AFL-CIO; and $50,000 to Democratic Party-aligned candidate training group Wisconsin Progress.  ^{2  18}

In 2022, TWA spent $10,015,195 on advocacy, making a total of $9,829,604 in grants.  ¹  These included $6,475,858 to A Better Wisconsin Together and its affiliated groups; $1,750,000 to the Democratic Governors Association’s Alliance for Common Sense political action committee; $752,500 to the Badger State Research polling firm; $510,000 to Project 72 Wisconsin, Inc.; $150,000 to Project Democracy; $70,800 to Democratic political consulting firm Civitas Public Affairs Group; and $30,000 to the Power to the Polls Action Fund.  ¹

TWA also made a $360,000 grant in 2022 to The Wisconsin Initiative, an advocacy group that spent an estimated $1.7 million on advertising in that election cycle. ^{19  20}

In 2024, Together Wisconsin Acts reported spending $5,696,532 on education and advocacy ahead of the April 2025 state Supreme Court election in which Democratic Party-aligned candidate Susan Crawford defeated Republican Party-aligned Brad Schimel. ^{21  17} This included $5,333,200 in grants to other left-of-center organizations, with $7,200 to Democratic political consulting firm Civitas Public Affairs Group; $967,000 to the Badger State Research polling firm; $1,390,000 to The Wisco Project youth organizing group; ²² $1,644,000 to Project 72 Wisconsin Inc; $325,000 to A Better Wisconsin Together; $500,000 to A Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund; and $500,000 to A Better Wisconsin Together Action. ²³

Funders

Together Wisconsin Acts’ largest donor is the Strategic Victory Fund, a political advocacy group started by the left-of-center Democracy Alliance in 2020 that has received funding from the National Education Association,  American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBC), and other labor unions, as well as from major left-of-center donors such as philanthropist Amy Goldman Fowler and billionaire financier George Soros’s Democracy PAC. ^{24  25  26  6  27}

The Strategic Victory Fund began funding TWA in 2020 with a $250,000 grant. ⁴ This grew to $500,000 in 2021, then ballooned in 2022 as the Strategic Victory Fund made donations totaling $5,685,000 and $810,000 in itemized political payments to Together Wisconsin Acts, as well as another $450,000 to TWA’s affiliated Together Wisconsin, Inc. charitable nonprofit. ²⁸

In 2023, TWA received $1,890,000 in grants and $220,000 in political campaign/lobbying funding from the Strategic Victory Fund. ⁴ In 2024, State Victory Fund made $2,714,000 in grants to TWA.  ⁴

Other major TWA donors include the Democratic donor clearinghouse Movement Voter Project (formerly All Hands on Deck Network), the Democracy Alliance-affiliated Committee on States donor conglomerate, and State Engagement Fund National Democratic Redistricting Committee PAC led by former Obama administration U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and heavily funded by billionaire financier and left-of-center philanthropist George Soros,  ²⁹ major left-of-center “dark money” organizations Sixteen Thirty Fund and Tides Foundation, Beyond Impact, the State Democracy Action Fund, and the Wisconsin Opportunity Coalition. ³⁰