(Photo by Xu Jinbai/VCG via Getty Images)
Tax records reveal even more money flowed to liberal dark money groups in the leadup to the 2020 election as their secretive networks funneled millions of dollars into political contributions and spending, a new OpenSecrets analysis finds.
Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal dark money group that functions as a hub for sponsoring left-leaning projects, was not only one of the top donors to super PACs during the 2020 election cycle, it was also the biggest funder of other dark money groups steering funds to super PACs spending on 2020 elections. Over the course of the election cycle, Sixteen Thirty Fund routed around $60 million into political committees boosting Democrats in federal races and more than $200 million to other 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that either spent directly on elections or gave to super PACs during the 2020 election cycle.
Overall, Sixteen Thirty Fund raised nearly $528 million in the two-year election cycle, according to tax returns reviewed by OpenSecrets and first reported by Politico. Its 2020 haul was more than double its prior year fundraising, and more than a hundred times its 2015 revenue of just $5.6 million prior to former President Donald Trump winning the 2016 election.
More than $86.2 million of Sixteen Thirty Funds windfall came from its sister 501(c)(3) group, New Venture Fund, which tax documents show raised over $965 million nearly $1 billion in 2020 from a myriad of anonymous sources.
Since New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, individual donors can write off their contributions as tax-deductible even though some of the nonprofits money is given to more politically active groups. Both New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund give to an array of groups and causes with a wide range of levels of political activity.
New tax records reviewed by OpenSecrets reveal that New Venture Fund was primarily funded by multimillion dollar donations in 2020 with just eight anonymous donors giving tens of millions of dollars each in 2020 making up the bulk of its fundraising. Two donors gave over $100 million each.
While Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund do not voluntarily disclose donors, some funders have been made public by foundations and other groups giving grants to them. Donors have included nonprofits linked to Swiss billionaire Hansjrg Wyss, Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar and liberal mega-donor George Soros.
As the networks revenue continued to balloon in 2020, so did payments from the network to Arabella Advisors, which runs the groups administration and management.
Arabella Advisors netted more than $45.6 million in 2020 from Sixteen Thirty Fund, New Venture Fund, Hopewell Fund and Windward Fund the four groups at the core of the liberal dark money network. The firm has taken in around $158 million from the four nonprofits since 2015.
More than $113 million of that was routed through New Venture Fund, the highest grossing nonprofit. New Venture Funds payments to Arabella Advisors rose from around $13 million in 2015 and 2016 to nearly $27 million in 2020. Arabella Advisors consistently received more payments from New Venture Fund than any of the networks other nodes, but Sixteen Thirty Funds revenue and contract payments have grown at a much faster rate that its sister 501(c)(3) funds.
The first year Trump was in office was the first year Sixteen Thirty Funds payments to Arabella reached seven figures with $2 million in payments for the year. The following year, Arabellas annual management fees climbed to more than $3.4 million before jumping to $9 million in 2020. Thats up from less than $240,000 in 2015.
Arabella Advisors also received large payments from other groups the firm helps manage.
The North Fund which received more than $20 million in grants from Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund in 2020 paid more than $941,000 to Arabella Advisors in 2020 after reporting no more than $100,000 in payments to any contractor in 2018 or 2019.
While the 501(c)(3) nodes of the network are prohibited from directly engaging in partisan political activity, they can still steer significant sums to 501(c)(4) nonprofits which can become top spenders in their own right, or pass pass millions to super PACs spending on candidates.
New tax returns covering 2020 reveal that the Hopewell Fund gave more than $8 million to Acronym, a liberal dark money group with an affiliated super PAC called PACRONYM. The $8 million grant marks the largest contribution Acronym has received from the dark money network and its first contribution from the Hopewell Fund.
The tax records also show the Hopewell Fund gave another $1 million to Vote Forward, a 501(c)(4) that coordinated 17.6 million handwritten letters sent to voters in 21 states. A study by the Center for Open Science found that campaign boosted targeted voters turnout by 0.8 percentage points, reportedly translating to about 126,000 votes in 21 states.
Hopewell was not the only group in the network to ramp up its giving to groups focused on boosting voter turnout.
Nearly $129 million of Sixteen Thirty Funds 2020 grants went to America Votes, mostly during the final months of the 2020 election.
America Votes brought in $64.7 million during their 2018-2019 fiscal year, which spans from July through June, but raised just $29.4 million from July 2019 through June 2020 according to their most recent tax filings obtained by OpenSecrets indicating that Sixteen Thirty Fund poured at least $100 million into the group after June 2020.
Sixteen Thirty Fund also poured money into politically active dark money groups.
In 2020, Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $10 million to Defending Democracy Together, the top-spending 501(c)(4) dark money group that reported spending to the Federal Election Commission during the 2020 election cycle with more than $15.4 million in spending boosting President Joe Biden or opposing Trump.
Democratic dark money group Future Forward USA Action got more than $15 million in 2020 from Sixteen Thirty Fund. In addition to funding Future Forward USA Action, Sixteen Thirty Fund gave another $7.5 million to the hybrid super PAC affiliated with, and financed by, the dark money group. The hybrid PAC, Future Forward USA, poured around $100 million into ads backing Biden in the final months of the 2020 presidential race as it took $61 million from its dark money arm.
Also in 2020, Sixteen Thirty fund gave $1.5 million to Priorities USAs dark money group and another $4.5 million to the Priorities USA Action super PAC funded by the dark money group. The super PAC and dark money group both spent heavily during the 2020 election cycle.
Majority Forward, a dark money group aligned with Democratic Senate leadership that Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $3 million in 2020, poured around $85 million into ads mentioning candidates during the 2020 election cycle and poured millions more into seeding other top 2020 election spenders.
The Democratic leadership-aligned dark money group gave more than $51 million to Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC aligned with Senate Democratic leadership that shares the dark money groups staff and resources, along with millions more to various pop-up groups.
Sixteen Thirty Fund also continued to support a network of pop-up dark money groups that aired issue ads attacking Senate Republicans in swing states throughout 2019 and 2020. During the 2020 election cycle, Sixteen Thirty Fund gave more than $8.7 million to Piedmont Rising in North Carolina, $3.9 million to Advancing AZ in Arizona, $5.8 million to Maine Momentum, $5.6 million to Rocky Mountain Values in Colorado and more than $4.1 million to Iowa Forward.
The North Carolina-based Piedmont Rising received nearly all of its funding through Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2019. And $7 million of its $8 million haul in 2020 came through the fund, new tax returns obtained by OpenSecrets show.
During the 2020 election cycle, Sixteen Thirty Fund also gave $4.9 million to Environment America, which gave about $2.5 million to its affiliated super PAC.
Sixteen Thirty Fund also gave $1 million to the Environmental Defense Action Fund, which gave $6 million to the affiliated EDF Action Votes super PAC during the 2020 election cycle.
The network has also steered $3.2 million to the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Center for American Progress 501(c)(4) arm, a significant increase from just $750,000 in 2019.
At least 66 CAP alumni went on to work in the Biden administration, Business Insider reported, earning it a reputation of being part of Bidens administration in waiting along with WestExec Advisors and providing a route for wealthy donors to quietly steer millions of dollars to an organization that effectively functioned as a feeder for the Biden administration.
CAPs 501(c)(4) action fund brought in a total of $27 million in 2020, its biggest haul yet, OpenSecrets analysis of new tax returns found. Four years earlier in 2016, it raised just $7.7 million.
Its 501(c)(3) arm got another $1 million from the network and outraised its prior year with a total annual haul of $50.7 million, slightly less than its all-time high revenue of nearly $51.8 million in 2017, the year Trump took office.
Unlike many politically active nonprofits, CAP partially discloses its donors by posting the names of corporate funders and some individuals on its website. At least four donors giving over $1 million chose to remain anonymous in 2020. And while CAP discloses some of its direct donors, accepting money from Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund hides the ultimate source of funding.
CAP and its action fund did not spend directly on 2020 elections but did steer $4.5 million to the League of Conservation Voters, a 501(c)(4) that gave $15 million to its affiliated LCV Victory Fund super PAC during the 2020 election cycle. Over the course of the two-year 2020 cycle, Sixteen Thirty Fund steered another $7 million to the League of Conservation Voters.
The new tax records also show that Sixteen Thirty was the secret funder behind WorkMoney, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit created in 2020, first reported by Politico.
The union-linked dark money group received nearly $4.7 million from Sixteen Thirty Fund and another $1 million from New Venture Fund in 2020, according to OpenSecrets review of their most recent tax records.
WorkMoney reported around $262,000 in spending on the presidential race and Georgias Senate race but most of its spending during the 2020 election cycle was not disclosed to the FEC.
From March 2020 through the end of that year, WorkMoney spent more than $2.9 million on Facebook ads, mostly targeting swing states.
WorkMoney continued spending millions after the 2020 election cycle, announcing a $2 million digital ad campaign in May 2021 targeting incumbents to promote Democrats social spending bill and Bidens agenda in Congress. The dark money group has spent more than $4.2 million into Facebook ads in 2021, online ads data shows.
In August 2019, OpenSecrets received a $40,000 grant from Media Democracy Fund, which is sponsored by New Venture Fund. The grant helped fund OpenSecrets online political ad databases.
Support Accountability Journalism
OpenSecrets is participating in Newsmatch 2021! Through December 31st, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $1,000, thanks to our friends at Newsmatch. Support independent journalism today!
At OpenSecrets.org we offer in-depth, money-in-politics stories in the public interest. Whether youre reading about 2020 presidential fundraising, conflicts of interest or dark money influence, we produce this content with a small, but dedicated team. Every donation we receive from users like you goes directly into promoting high-quality data analysis and investigative journalism that you can trust.
Anna is OpenSecrets' investigative researcher. She researches foreign influence as part of the Foreign Lobby Watch Project, tracks political ad data, and investigates "dark money." She holds degrees in political science and psychology from North Carolina State University and a J.D. from the University of the District of Columbia School of Law.
The rest is here:
Liberal 'dark money' groups' revenue soared ahead of 2020 elections - Center for Responsive Politics
- Where Have All the Liberals Gone? - The New York Times - May 15th, 2022
- Liberals Should Be Worried About the Conservative Comedy Scene - POLITICO - May 15th, 2022
- Bill Maher Laments About A Liberal World That Seems To Be Going Mad In Real Time Takes - Deadline - May 15th, 2022
- The Looming End to Abortion Rights Gives Liberal Democrats a Spark - The New York Times - May 15th, 2022
- Ontario Liberals accuse PCs of favouring own party in government appointments - Global News - May 15th, 2022
- GUNTER: Yet more Liberal falsehoods surrounding the convoy have been debunked - Toronto Sun - May 15th, 2022
- Danger for the Liberal Party coming from the right as well as the teals - Sydney Morning Herald - May 15th, 2022
- What Labor and Liberal Facebook ad spend tells us about where the election campaign is heading - ABC News - May 15th, 2022
- Lib Dems already campaigning for Tiverton and Honiton byelection - The Guardian - May 15th, 2022
- Is AARP too liberal? That's what its right-leaning rivals say - Newsday - May 15th, 2022
- Can Doug Fords nephew topple the NDP incumbent in a Liberal riding? - Toronto Star - May 15th, 2022
- Utting Research Perth seat polls and Liberal Party briefing wars The Poll Bludger - The Poll Bludger - May 15th, 2022
- Liberal Party unveils one weird political ad to rule them all - Mumbrella - May 15th, 2022
- Scottish Water condemned by Liberal Democrats for bonuses as sewage is released into rivers - STV News - May 15th, 2022
- Liberal Party 'warms up' with final countdown underway - The Transcontinental - May 15th, 2022
- Abortion leak: Is the Supreme Court conservative or liberal? | Opinion - Deseret News - May 15th, 2022
- Will Orban Be Remembered as a Liberal? - The American Conservative - May 11th, 2022
- Francis Fukuyama Predicted the End of History. Its Back (Again). - The New York Times - May 11th, 2022
- Better med care, more say over immigration among Liberal promises to northern Ontario - Sudbury.com - May 11th, 2022
- Abortion laws in Colombia are now among the most liberal in the Americas : Goats and Soda - NPR - May 11th, 2022
- Former Australian of the Year says Liberal MP Fiona Martin selectively quoted him in political endorsement without his knowledge - ABC News - May 11th, 2022
- College Students Shouldnt Have To Choose Between Career Skills And Liberal Arts - Chief Executive - May 11th, 2022
- Globe editorial: The Liberals are eager to talk about regulating speech online but wisely reluctant to actually do it - The Globe and Mail - May 11th, 2022
- GUNTER: The Liberals have sneakily brought back the gun registry - Toronto Sun - May 11th, 2022
- Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Liberals announce Oliver Jacob as their 2022 provincial candidate - Pembroke Observer - May 11th, 2022
- Frydenberg: if he loses, the Liberal Party would be changed dramatically - Crikey - May 11th, 2022
- Jesse Watters: Liberal protests at homes of Supreme Court justices are just a warning shot - Fox News - May 11th, 2022
- Federal Labor and Liberal parties pledge additional funding for CIT accommodation, Canberra's Home of Football - ABC News - May 11th, 2022
- The White Card review the liberal art worlds blindness to privilege - The Guardian - May 11th, 2022
- Liberal MP doubles down on comments that raped women should be denied abortions - The Age - May 11th, 2022
- UPES School of Liberal Studies Wants Students To Be Critical Thinkers - The Quint - May 11th, 2022
- CU Denver - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - May 3rd, 2022
- Roe v. Wade and an End to the Liberal Romance With Courts - New York Magazine - May 3rd, 2022
- Liberal dark money group with Biden admin ties capitalizes on SCOTUS leak to push court-packing agenda - Fox News - May 3rd, 2022
- I was deputy leader of the Liberals. The party I served has lost its way - Sydney Morning Herald - May 3rd, 2022
- Red stock, blue stock --- MAGA Republicans and liberal Democrats are taking their politics to Wall Street - MarketWatch - May 3rd, 2022
- There are pros and cons to the Liberal plan for $1 transit fares, experts say - CBC.ca - May 3rd, 2022
- Liberal and Elkhart Baseball Split on Wind Blown Day - KSCB News.net - May 3rd, 2022
- Why teal independents are seeking Liberal voters and spooking Liberal MPs - The Conversation - May 3rd, 2022
- N.S. Liberal Party recovered $195K related to internal theft - CBC.ca - May 3rd, 2022
- Kevin Falcon eyes Liberal party renewal with his seat in the house secured - Vancouver Sun - May 3rd, 2022
- Council elections in Scotland: What are the Liberal Democrats for? Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP - Edinburgh News - May 3rd, 2022
- FIRST READING: Liberal voices starting to warn Pierre Poilievre could be their undoing - National Post - May 3rd, 2022
- Will the standard Liberal tactics of accusing Conservatives of being pro-gun and anti-abortion work on Pierre Poilievre? - The Globe and Mail - May 3rd, 2022
- FIRST READING: Another Liberal gun policy that neatly ignores where the guns come from - National Post - May 3rd, 2022
- Liberal Protestants and the Polarization of the US - Religion & Politics - April 20th, 2022
- Preregistration is the Enemy of Liberal Education | Opinion - Harvard Crimson - April 20th, 2022
- Rachel Williams named dean of the Division of Liberal Arts at UNCSA - UNCSA - UNCSA - April 20th, 2022
- The Liberal Party wants us to 'look at the facts'. But just whose facts? - Crikey - April 20th, 2022
- Ari Fleischer writes new book on why the liberal media keeps getting the news wrong - Fox News - April 20th, 2022
- Do No Harm aims to keep liberal ideology out of healthcare: Physicians are being pushed to discriminate - Fox News - April 20th, 2022
- Josh Frydenberg could be the next Liberal Party leader. So who is he? - The New Daily - April 20th, 2022
- What the Liberal Democrats plan to do for Cardiff if they get into power - Wales Online - April 20th, 2022
- Why the Liberals face a fight for survival in battleground WA - WAtoday - April 20th, 2022
- The rise of the liberal groomer - UnHerd - April 15th, 2022
- Scott Jennings: Is Andy Beshear becoming a liberal culture warrior taking on trans rights? - Courier Journal - April 15th, 2022
- Justin Trudeau's Liberals Are Returning to the Miserable Status Quo - Jacobin magazine - April 15th, 2022
- France's liberal base is aging fast. Macron now needs to win over angry younger voters - CNBC - April 15th, 2022
- The liberal arts core makes SU students multifaceted. It should be expanded. - The Daily Orange - April 15th, 2022
- Green groundswell in Boothby could end 70-year Liberal run - The Australian Financial Review - April 15th, 2022
- When will Fauci and liberal leaders apologize for the millions of lives damaged with pointless COVID restrictions? - New York Post - April 15th, 2022
- Pike Liberal Arts School officially joins the AHSAA - The Troy Messenger - Troy Messenger - April 15th, 2022
- Float it and see: Outgoing Liberal calls for imperfect federal integrity commission - Sydney Morning Herald - April 15th, 2022
- Matthew Camenzuli ordered to pay costs in legal battle over NSW Liberal preselections - ABC News - April 15th, 2022
- Opportunistic hustle: Liberals, Labor accused of data harvesting with mailed-out postal vote registration forms - The New Daily - April 15th, 2022
- Southampton Green Party and Liberal Democrats unite ahead of election - Southern Daily Echo - April 15th, 2022
- Record number of NSW Liberal members quit amid war over preselections - Sydney Morning Herald - April 15th, 2022
- Liberal MP says shes being targeted by conservatives, urges end to infighting - Sydney Morning Herald - April 15th, 2022
- A Country of Their Own: Liberalism Needs the Nation - Foreign Affairs Magazine - April 2nd, 2022
- NP View: The Liberal plan to smother the energy industry - National Post - April 2nd, 2022
- Pike Liberal Arts and LBW host welding expo - The Troy Messenger - Troy Messenger - April 2nd, 2022
- How Tony Abbott Went Rogue and Helped Blow Up NSWs Liberal Party - VICE - April 2nd, 2022
- How Liberalism Ruined Sex And Degraded Women - The Federalist - April 2nd, 2022
- Putins brutal attack on Ukraine has helped revive the West, but the homegrown threats to liberal democracy fester under a veneer of solidarity -... - April 2nd, 2022
- Liberal Democrats' election promise of cash for Aberdeen road and schools - The Press & Journal - April 2nd, 2022
- Students explore liberal arts with Exploring Transfer Program The Miscellany News - Miscellany News - April 2nd, 2022
- Debt Clock rolls into Ottawa to 'sound the alarm' on Liberal spending - Western Standard - April 2nd, 2022
- Evening Standard Comment: Vladimir Putins invasion is an assault on liberal values - Evening Standard - April 2nd, 2022
- What the Liberal-NDP co-operation pact could mean for tax changes in the budget - The Globe and Mail - April 2nd, 2022
- SATIRE | Penn State to remove College of the Liberal Arts - The Daily Collegian Online - April 2nd, 2022