The Voter Project Fund is a left-of-center get-out-the-vote (GOTV) organization that claims to promote increased vote-by-mail and voter registration in the state of Pennsylvania to ensure that “all PA voters can cast a ballot in a safe, secure and convenient way.” ¹ According to its 2022 tax filing, the group “combats efforts to disenfranchise and intimidate voters […] especially those who have been historically disenfranchised.” ² The group appears to have worked in conjunction with 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization The Voter Project. ³

Background

The Voter Project Fund was established in the wake of the 2019 passage of Act 77, which expanded mail-in voting in Pennsylvania. Act 77 created “no excuse” mail-in voting and was first used in the 2020 presidential election. The left-of-center 501(c)(4) advocacy group The Voter Project established the Voter Project Fund as its sister group. ⁴

The Voter Project and the Voter Project Fund were both fiscally sponsored projects of the Keystone Research Center, a labor union associated left-of-center group. ⁵

In 2021, the Voter Project Fund became a stand-alone group filing its own tax returns. ⁶

Activities

According to its 2022 tax return, the Voter Project Fund spent about $1,383,976 on starting a vote-by-mail voter registration effort that year that worked towards registering “BIPOC, historically disadvantaged and low-propensity voters” within the city of Philadelphia. ⁷

According to the Voter Project Fund’s 2023 tax returns, the group spent $910,539 on a designed vote by mail recruitment effort focused on “BIPOC, historically disadvantaged, and low-propensity voters.” The group spent $325,619 on a campaign to inform Pennsylvanians on how to vote by mail to reduce “disenfranchisement” by reminding voters the date by which ballots must be returned, and the campaign reminds voters that ballots must be returned with a signature and with the proper envelope. The group spent $150,734 fighting what it called voter disenfranchisement and intimidation. The group spent the money on planning on how to ensure what it called “historically disenfranchised” voters cast a ballot in a safe, secure, and convenient way. ⁶

The group paid $1,190,935 to Democratic political consulting firm Deliver Strategies for direct mail and consulting in 2023. ⁶

Leadership

According to its 2023 tax return, Jessica Walls-Lavelle was the board chair for the Voter Project Fund at the time. Other reported members of the board included Abass Kamara as the board secretary and Sam Gehler as the board treasurer. ⁶

Jessica Walls-Lavelle had worked as the board chair of the group since it became an independent standalone group in 2021. Previously, she worked as a staffer for then-Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D) and as a liaison to then-Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar (D). In October 2021, the right-of-center website Broad + Liberty claimed that Walls-Lavelle and Boockvar knew about private 2020 election grants from the Chicago-based left-of-center group Center for Tech and Civic Life and selectively invited counties which voted Democratic in the 2016 presidential election to apply for them. Walls-Lavelle frequently included in her emails Kevin Mack, a partner at the Democratic political consulting firm Deliver Strategies, and Gwen Camp, a former Obama for America and former U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) staffer. Mack was the lead strategist for The Voter Project, the sister group of the Voter Project Fund, and Camp worked for the group as a contractor. Before joining the Wolf administration, Walls-Lavelle was the treasurer of the left-of-center polling and research nonprofit Project Keystone and one of her fellow board members was a partner at Deliver Strategies. ⁸

Abass Kamara is a political consultant and lobbyist. ⁹

As of 2025, Sam Gehler was the executive director of Project Keystone and previously worked as Pennsylvania political and field director for the left-of-center voter-activation coalition America Votes and as the political director of Equality Pennsylvania. ¹⁰

Funding and Financials

According to its 2022 990 form, the organization reported $3,149,968 in revenue, $3,081,446 in expenses, and $70,325 in total assets. ¹ The form also reported that it donated a grant of $875,000 to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization The Voter Project in 2022. ³

According to the Voter Project Fund’s 2023 tax return, the group had $1,619,044 in revenue, $1,496,369 in expenses, and $189,400 in net assets. The group paid $14,750 to chair Jessica Walls-Lavelle’s company JWL Consulting for consulting services. ⁶

The Pennsylvania Alliance Foundation, which is the sister group of left-of-center advocacy group Pennsylvania Alliance Action, helps the group raise money, along with Way To Win. ⁴ The foundation gave the group $230,000 in 2023. ¹¹ Way To Win’s sister group, Way To Rise, gave the group $100,000 in 2023. ¹²

1. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Voter Project Fund. 2022. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863082391/202303189349304155/full
2. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Voter Project Fund. 2022. Part III, 4a. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863082391/202303189349304155/full
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Voter Project Fund. 2022. Schedule I, Part II. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863082391/202303189349304155/full
4. “The Voter Project Fund.” Giving Compass. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://givingcompass.org/fund/the-voter-project-fund.
5.  “#POWERTHEPOLLSPA – Become a Paid Poll Worker!” The Voter Project, September 29, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201004062504/https:/www.thevoterproject.com/.
6. “Voter Project Fund, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863082391/202403189349309445/full.
7. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Voter Project Fund. 2022. Part III. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/863082391/202303189349304155/full
8.  Shepherd, Todd. “Former SEC. of State Boockvar and Gov. Wolf Staffer Helped Selectively Invite Counties for Election Grants.” Broad + Liberty, October 19, 2021. https://broadandliberty.com/2021/10/19/former-sec-of-state-boockvar-and-gov-wolf-staffer-helped-selectively-invite-counties-for-election-grants/.
9. “Abass B. Kamara – Shell.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/abass-b-kamara-4197421/.
10. “Sam Gehler.” LinkedIn. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-gehler-86626911/.
11. “PA Alliance Foundation, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/823717563/202413199349304476/full.
12. “Way to Rise, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed July 7, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/883300694/202432489349301828/full.