Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

Between 2001 and 2017, Wellspring provided grants primarily through the donor-advised funds Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund and Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program. Of the over $1.1 billion donated by the Foundation during that period, nearly $990 million (or 87.4 percent) were reportedly spent through the two DAFs. Starting in 2017, Wellspring began making direct grants to named nonprofits and organizations.  ³

Background

According to its articles of incorporation, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund was incorporated in 1999 in Roseland, New Jersey as the “Matan B’Seter Foundation,”a 501(c)(3) private foundation (though the group considers its formation year 2001). ⁴ In 2016, the group adopted the Wellspring name. ⁵

From the start, Wellspring was one arm of an elaborate and secretive network of corporations and charities funded by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor. “Matan B’Seter” is a Hebrew phrase meaning “anonymous gift,” according to the Algemeiner, a journal serving the Jewish community. The Algemeiner noted at least two of the three billionaires (Gelbaum and Shechtel) are Jewish, and that other subsidiaries within their network (such as one named “Shekel Funding”) bore “Hebrew or Israeli-related names.” ⁶

The three men were partners in the hedge fund TGS Management; C. Frederick Taylor is specifically listed as the firm’s co-founder beginning in 1989. ⁷ Sometime in or around 2000 they created what Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a “byzantine” network involving “layers of company subsidiaries” in various states which allowed them to “disguise” their donations and “avoid almost all public scrutiny of their activities.” ⁸

The network and its donors remained mostly hidden from public view until exposed by a May 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek report: “The $13 Billion Mystery Angels.” ⁹ At the time of this report the total assets of the philanthropic entities within the network (of which Matan B’Seter was one arm) was valued at $9.7 billion. If the total network had been considered as a single foundation, it would have ranked as the fourth-largest, behind only the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Getty Foundation. A lawyer with expertise in the tax-exempt sector characterized the secretive nature of the funding network as in keeping with the letter of the law for charitable foundations, though perhaps not the spirit, saying “most of us who practice in the tax-exempt arena would regard setting up a private foundation as a full-disclosure vehicle.” ⁸

According to Federal Election Commission records, Andrew Shechtel has been a frequent donor to numerous Republican congressional candidates, such as a $2,500 donation toward the reelection of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the 2018 election cycle. ¹⁰ The most active reported funding role by him in the philanthropic network was as a major supporter of medical research aimed at a cure for Huntington’s disease. ^{8 11}

David Gelbaum retired from TGS in or around 2014, leaving Shechtel and Taylor to manage it. He and his wife reportedly ceased their philanthropic giving in 2013. According to Gelbaum’s lawyer, as reported by the Algemeiner, he “lost more than he thought he could possibly lose” during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. ⁶

FEC records show that a “Fred Taylor” living in California and reporting the investment firm “TGS Management” as his employer is a reliable donor to Democratic candidates, giving $55,000 to the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012. ¹² Along with two of his brothers, C. Frederick Taylor created Wellspring Advisors, which Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a “consulting firm for anonymous donors.” ⁸ Sometime after 2014 the name of the Matan B’Seter Foundation was changed to the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. ¹³ And according to an announcement purportedly from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (preserved by the website of the Global Philanthropy Project), Wellspring Advisors “shifted to become Wellspring Philanthropic Fund” on January 1, 2018. ¹⁴

Wind-Down and Sequoia Climate Foundation

For More Information, see Sequoia Climate Foundation

In August 2024, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund’s board of trustees announced it would begin winding down operations with plans to sunset grantmaking functions by end of 2028.  ¹⁵

Following the announcement, Wellspring founder and donor C. Frederick Taylor moved a majority of his grantmaking efforts to the Sequoia Climate Foundation, a nonprofit that began as a spinoff from Wellspring until becoming independent.  ¹⁶

Funding

Financial Overview

IRS records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 (available here) filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B’Seter Foundation) show all new money put into the fund coming from five corporate sources: Twenty-One Holdings, Rubik Enterprises, BLTN Holdings, Shackleton Company and MBS Funding. ¹⁷ Media reports regarding Wellspring Advisors, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the close connection of both with C. Frederick Taylor raise the strong suspicion that he is the main donor behind the five entities that have contributed to Wellspring/Matan B’Seter. ^{8 18}

The following charts Wellspring’s total revenues, total expenditures, grants paid, and net assets for the years 2001 to 2017: ¹⁹

Payments to Wellspring Advisors

For more information, see Wellspring Advisors (For-Profit)

IRS records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B’Seter Foundation) show the consulting firm Wellspring Advisors receiving $142 million in fees from the foundation. ²⁰ It’s also a grantor to the left-leaning Public Policy of California (PPIC); Wellspring co-funded the group’s Research Collaborative Fund alongside Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund and the Ford Foundation. The Research Collaborative Fund is a project of the Arabella Advisors-run New Venture Fund. ²¹

Wellspring is a funding member of Philanthropy Advancing Women’s Human Rights (PAWHR), a project of the pass-through funder Proteus Fund. ²² It’s also funded the LGBTQ Poverty Initiative, a research and advocacy group. ²³

For most of 2001 through most of 2017 the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B’Seter Foundation) gave grants totaling nearly $900 million, with 88.3 percent of this money – nearly $795 million – going to two recipients: the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ²⁴

Left-of-Center Voter Engagement

Between 2016 and 2017, Wellspring made grants to several organizations which advocated in favor of “voter engagement” activities and policy. ²⁵ These included Deepak Bhargava’s Center for Community Change, which received $300,000 for a “community engagement research project”; NEO Philanthropy, which received three grants totaling $1,175,000 for an “independent civic engagement report,” “support for non-partisan civic engagement,” and “non-partisan civic engagement by Asian-American Pacific Islander communities”; the New Venture Fund, which received four grants totaling $2 million for “non-partisan election system reform efforts,” “supporting an accurate 2020 Census,” and “non-partisan civic engagement”; Demos, which received two grants totaling $450,000 for a “freedom to vote elections systems reform project” and general operating support; and the Analyst Institute, which received $300,000 for a “civic engagement research hub project.” ²⁵

Leadership

Founders

Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor are listed as the founders of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (then-called Matan B’Seter Foundation during its initial founding). According to 2019 filings with the District of Columbia, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund was governed by a board consisting of president John Taylor, vice president William Myles Taylor, Raymond Eng, and Adam Barber. ^{26 18}

Myles Taylor (full name William Myles Taylor) is called a “consultant” to Wellspring Advisors. John Taylor is listed as a “Pennsylvania lawyer.” C. Frederick Taylor (often called Frederick Taylor) is identified as a hedge fund investor. ²⁷ He is also an alumnus of Haverford College, in Pennsylvania. ²⁸ Frederick Taylor reportedly worked at Princeton-Newport Partners, an early investment management company until it was liquidated following an investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in the 1990s. It’s unclear when Taylor worked for the company. ⁷ The five partners of Princeton-Newport Partners were “indicted on racketeering and tax-fraud charges,” but all charges were eventually dropped. ²⁹

In June 2017, a report in the school-run business paper Princeton Info identified the firm TGS as the “secretive successor” to the failed firm Princeton-Newport Partners. The firm, TGS, is reportedly an acronym named for Wellspring founders Taylor, Gelbaum, and Shechtel. ²⁸ None of the three men were charged with crimes following federal raids.

Andrew Shechtel is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University and graduated with a degree in math and political economy at the age of 19. Shechtel attended Harvard Business School and reportedly “worked on Wall Street” before joining Princeton-Newport Partners in the 1980s. ²⁸

David Gelbaum is an alumnus of the University of California, Irvine who was reportedly hired by hedge fund manager and blackjack researcher Edward O. Thorpe, author of the book Beat the Dealer, which proved that a casino’s house advantage could be overcome by counting cards. ²⁸

Other Key Staff

According to 2024 tax forms, John R. Taylor was listed as president of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, Kristen Gurdin was listed as both chief executive officer (CEO) and chief legal officer, and Mitsuko Ogawa was listed as the grants manager. ^{30 31}