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Person

Megan Hull

Photo by Jocelyn Augustino
Nationality:

American
Occupation:

Philanthropist

Consultant

Board member, Hull Family Foundation
Family:

Blair Hull (father)

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Megan Hull is a left-of-center activist and political donor who regularly contributes to Democratic candidates and left-of-center advocacy causes. Her father is Blair Hull, a billionaire investor and founder of the left-of-center grantmaking nonprofit the Hull Family Foundation. Megan Hull sits on the board of the Hull Family Foundation, which funds a variety of left-of-center advocacy groups including NARAL, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In her personal capacity, Hull has donated thousands to Democratic candidates and left-of-center advocacy groups, and founded the now-defunct Secretary of State Project in the mid-2000s. 1 2 3

Background and Career

Megan Hull is the daughter of Blair Hull, a Chicago-based investor who was a member of a “card-counting” group of blackjack players in the 1970s. Partially with his winnings from gambling, Hull launched the Hull Trading Company, which he would later sell to Goldman Sachs for $531 million. Hull later used this money to found the Hull Family Foundation and to self-fund a campaign in the 2004 U.S. Senate election in Illinois, coming in third place in the Democratic primary with 10 percent of the vote, losing to future President Barack Obama. 4

Blair Hull’s four children, Megan, Kristin, Courtney, and Jeff, at one point all sat on the Hull Family Foundation board. Megan, Courtney, and Jeff were still on the foundation board as of 2023. 5 6

In 2006, Megan Hull co-founded the Secretary of State Project, an effort sponsored by members of the Democracy Alliance and the personal fortune of left-of-center donor and businessman George Soros, to elect senior state elections officials, typically state secretaries of state, from the Democratic Party. The Secretary of State Project lost five of the seven races it targeted in 2010, with the only victories coming from incumbents in California and Minnesota. 7

According to her biography on the now-defunct organization’s website, in 2004, prior to her work at the Secretary of State Project, she “was a Project Director for Democracy Reform at the Center for Civic Participation” and “in 2004, she was a Co-Director of the coalition that investigated polling place problems and vote counting irregularities in Ohio and New Mexico.” 8

Federal Election Commission donation filings list Hull as a self-employed consultant in Washington, D.C. 9

Political Contributions

Like the rest of her family, Megan Hull likely benefits from the profits generated by Hull Investments, LLC, the investment company that was created out of the $531 million sale of her father’s Hull Trading Company to Goldman Sachs. As of mid-2025, Blair Hull was worth an estimated $1.1 billion according to Forbes. 10

She donates hundreds of thousands each year to Democratic candidates and political committees, with many of her contributions going to candidate committees and local Democratic parties and ranging from $250 to $1,500. She also makes six-figure contributions to political action committees. Since 2018, she has contributed in between $100,000 and $300,000 annually to Be A Hero PAC, $300,000 to GenBlue PAC, $250,000 to Retire Career Politicians, and $100,000 to the Harris Victory Fund supporting the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris. 9

References

  1. Hull family Foundation, IRS (Form 990 PF), 2017, Part I and II. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260170419/03_2019_prefixes_25-27%2F260170419_201712_990PF_2019032616193090
  2. Hull family Foundation, IRS (Form 990 PF), 2017, Attachment 10.  https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/260170419/03_2019_prefixes_25-27%2F260170419_201712_990PF_2019032616193090
  3. “About.” Hull Family Foundation (archived). Accessed August 8, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20160326053639/http://www.hullfamilyfoundation.org/about.asp
  4. “Goldman Sachs to Acquire Electronic Trading Concern.” New York Times, July 13, 1999. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/13/business/goldman-sachs-to-acquire-electronic-trading-concern.html
  5. Hull Family Foundation. IRS (Form 990-PF), 2022. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260170419/202443199349106304/full
  6. Vadum, Matthew. “Soros-Supported ‘Secretary of State Project’ Dealt Blow in Midterm Elections.” The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller, November 9, 2010. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://dailycaller.com/2010/11/09/soros-supported-secretary-of-state-project-dealt-blow-in-midterm-elections/.
  7. “About the Secretary of State Project.” Secretary of State Project (archived). May 11, 2011. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20110511095923/http://www.secstateproject.org/about/
  8. “Internet Archive: About the Secretary of State Project.” Secretary of State Project, May 11, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110511095923/http://www.secstateproject.org/about/.
  9. “Megan Hull Individual Contributions.” FEC.gov. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Megan+Hull.
  10. “Blair Hull.” Forbes. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://www.forbes.com/profile/blair-hull/
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