The Trusted Elections Fund is a funding collaborative for center-left donors to coordinate grants to advocacy nonprofits ahead of the 2020 election. The Fund is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created and managed by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, DC-based for-profit consultancy that caters to major left-of-center foundations and donors. ¹

The Trusted Elections Fund is a funding collaborative that allows left-of-center donors to funnel money to organizations ahead of the 2020 election. It is billed as a way for the donors to respond to “election crises.”

The fund is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is run by the for profit Arabella Advisors in Washington, D.C. Arabella Advisors caters to center-left donors, foundations, and causes.

Organization Structure

The fund was established in 2020 in order to provide support to organizations in order to address “election crises.” The fund cited such things as foreign interference, viral misinformation, right-of-center “fear-mongering,” or contested election results as things the fund would address. ²

The fund is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is run by the for profit philanthropic consultancy Arabella Advisors in Washington, D.C. The New Venture Fund is seen as a “dark money” conduit for left-wing donors to give money anonymously. ³

The fund has a steering committee consisting of the Democracy Fund, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the Spitzer Charitable Trust. ⁴ The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is another conduit of “dark money” which allows hedge fund billionaires to donate money through a network of shell companies and consultancies to support left-wing causes. ⁵

Organization Purpose

The fund is a collective of left-wing donors to funnel money to 2020 election-related efforts. The fund brings together “philanthropic partners and funders who want to ensure free and fair elections and pool resources to mitigate the disruption of COVID-19 in November,” said the Democracy Fund’s Adam Ambrogi. The plan is to make rapid funding in support of “election crises” that may arise in the 2020 election. ⁶

The fund’s purpose is to increase the resources and capacity of organizations to address any emergencies that may arise in the elections. It also identified various crises such as a natural disaster, foreign interference, contested the results, and election violence. ⁷

Funding

According to a prospectus, the fund has commitments of $2 million. The fund is shooting to have at least $5 million by the end of May, with a goal to raise $8-10 million. ⁸

On June 8, 2020, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided the New Venture Fund with a $1,000,000 grant to support the Trusted Elections Fund. The grant is dedicated to “address[ing] election-related emergencies” in “crisis areas” regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. ⁹

Leadership

According to a two-page prospectus (archived here), the Trusted Elections Fund is directed by Jennifer Flanagan, a former deputy secretary of state for Colorado and a former vice president for the left-wing voter litigation group Common Cause. ¹⁰

The Fund’s steering committee is composed of representatives from the following left-wing organizations:

• Democracy Fund
• Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
• Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust

1. “Trusted Elections Fund Two Pager.” Accessed April 15, 2020.

   Original link to Trusted Elections Fund two-pager (see very bottom): https://tpw.force.com/s/covid-19-funding-opportunities

   Original URL of two-pager: https://tpwwest.app.box.com/s/hni429kpgto1caacpdgbpkk49546zd0e.

   Two-pager archived: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Trusted-Elections-Fund-Two-Pager.-04.15.20.pdf

   Note that the two-pager is undated and was retrieved in April 2020 from a philanthropic Coronavirus relief website, possibly dating the document to early 2020.

2. Trusted Elections Fund. 2020. Ebook. https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Trusted-Elections-Fund-Two-Pager.-04.15.20.pdf.
3.       Ludwig, Hayden. 2019. Big Money In Dark Shadows. Ebook. Washington D.C.: Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/CRC_Arabella-Advisors-Dark-Money.pdf.
4. Trusted Elections Fund. 2020. Ebook. https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Trusted-Elections-Fund-Two-Pager.-04.15.20.pdf.
5. Ludwig, Hayden. 2019. “Wellspring Philanthropic: The Heart Of “Dark Money””. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/wellspring-part-2/.
6.        Rojc, Philip. 2020. “Virus-Proofing The Vote: Democracy Funders Respond To COVID-19”. Inside Philanthropy. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2020/4/1/virus-proofing-the-vote-democracy-funders-respond-to-covid-19.
7. Trusted Elections Fund. 2020. Ebook. https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Trusted-Elections-Fund-Two-Pager.-04.15.20.pdf.
8. Trusted Elections Fund. 2020. Ebook. https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/04/Trusted-Elections-Fund-Two-Pager.-04.15.20.pdf.
9. “New Venture Fund – for Support of Trusted Elections Fund.” Hewlett Foundation, June 18, 2020. https://hewlett.org/grants/new-venture-fund-for-support-of-trusted-elections-fund/.
10. Lois Bartels. “Colo. Co. Clerks winter conference.” LA Junta Tribune-Democrat. February 2, 2020. Accessed April 23, 2020. https://www.lajuntatribunedemocrat.com/news/20200202/colo-co-clerks-winter-conference.

    Flanagan announced her resignation in late January 2020, but appears to have actually resigned in early March 2020. She is listed as Deputy Secretary of State as of March 6, 2020, here: https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/newsRoom/pressReleases/2020/PR20200306BallotsReturned.html.