Commentary: The Dark Money Network Secretly Transforming America

Scott Walker

To the outside observer, Arabella Advisors is nothing more than an accounting and human resources firm that helps charities get things done, not a billion-dollar political influence operation helping leftists remain in power.

But, in fact, it is the latter–although you’d never know it from the website. The organization certainly does not publicly hint that they run the largest political influence operation in America. Those who visit their site will be met with a simple slogan: “We help changemakers create a better world.” And who would impugn a noble goal like that?

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Influential Liberal Donor Organizes Massive Coalition to Throw Cash Behind Voter Mobilization

Pierre Omidyar

An influential left-of-center donor’s charity launched an initiative compelling other philanthropies to pour money into voter mobilization efforts ahead of the 2024 elections.

Democracy Fund, which was founded and is funded by liberal philanthropist Pierre Omidyar, has rallied a group of 174 organizations and individuals pledging to expedite their disbursement of grants related to efforts including get-out-the-vote operations. The pledge calls on its signatories to either make the bulk of their election-related donations by the end of April, to “move up” disbursements scheduled for later in the year or to streamline their grant approval processes.

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Liberal ‘Dark Money’ Groups Gave Millions to SCOTUS Watchdogs Targeting Alito, Thomas, Docs Show

Nonprofit organizations managed by the liberal “dark money” consulting firm Arabella Advisors gave millions of dollars to “nonpartisan” Supreme Court watchdogs, new documents show, after a campaign was launched earlier this year targeting conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito for not fully disclosing their finances.

Former Clinton appointee Eric Kessler founded Arabella Advisors in 2005, and its subsidiaries include the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Hopewell Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Windward Fund and the North Fund. 

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American Express, Visa Plow Millions in Grants to Far-Left Groups Through Corporate Foundations

Charitable foundations funded by credit card companies and managed by their executives are pouring millions of dollars into liberal advocacy organizations, tax filings show.

The American Express Foundation and the Visa Foundation, philanthropic arms of two of the largest credit card companies in the world, gave grants to several major left-wing groups between 2019 and 2021. Executives from Visa and American Express sit on the boards of their respective foundations, both of which have taken millions from the corporations that established them.

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Founder of Major Democratic Dark Money Network Accused of Self-Enrichment

A complaint filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alleges that the founder of the largest Democratic dark money network in the country is using its operations for his own financial benefit.

Fox News reports that the complaint was filed on Tuesday by Americans for Public Trust (APT), and targets any entities that are affiliated with Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm based out of Washington D.C. which manages numerous nonprofits serving as fiscal sponsors for left-wing dark money groups.

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Leahy and Carmichael Discuss the Vast Donor Group Funding Far-Left Causes Across America and Right Here in Tennessee

Original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael and host Michael Patrick Leahy discuss the origins and activities of arguably the largest donor group actively funding far-Left causes throughout the U.S. and Tennessee on Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.  TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: 6:50 AM broadcasting from our studios on Music Row, Nashville, Tennessee. Crom Carmichael in-studio. Crom, you know, in 1630, John Winthrop – who became a Puritan leader – and this was when Massachusetts Bay Colony was just being started. He became the first and most prominent governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. He arrived from England on a ship called the Arabella. Twenty years ago a wealthy Leftist started a group called Arabella Advisors to try to kind of co-op this concept of America. And Winthrop actually wrote a letter while he was about to disembark from the Arabella back in 1630 saying we’re trying to build a ‘shining city on the hill’ phrasing that has been used, of course, by Ronald Reagan. So the Left is co-opting that. You sent me this fascinating article. I’ve been familiar with this group for some time. Headline: ‘Documents provide rare glimpse into how Arabella Advisors exerts…

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Government Unions, Progressive Donors Finance Assault on Pennsylvania’s Charter Schools

Liberal groups aligned with the Washington consulting firm Arabella Advisors have spent over $1 million to support attacks on school choice in Pennsylvania, joining public employee unions that have pumped tens of thousands of dollars into targeting charter schools.

An organization called Education Voters of Pennsylvania has published a series of articles and reports critical of the state Legislature’s funding of charter schools in general and so-called cybercharter schools in particular.

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Democratic Dark Money Juggernaut Called Security on Watchdog Instead of Releasing Their Tax Information

The leader of a conservative watchdog group said Arabella Advisors, a Democratic dark money juggernaut, had security remove her from their office on Monday morning after she made an in-person request for nonprofit tax documents Arabella is legally required to provide.

Arabella has been called the “mothership” behind a network of Democratic dark money nonprofit groups that have raised a combined $3 billion from mostly anonymous donors as of 2019. Arabella’s dark money network includes the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which funneled millions into a left-wing effort to stop Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation in 2018, and the New Venture Fund, which helped bankroll a group that launched a local news network in 2019 that, according to Bloomberg, functions as “political instruments designed to get them [readers] to vote for Democrats.”

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Inside the Dark Money Dem Group Using an Umbrella Network to Flay Trump Over His Virus Response

by Chris White   Two left-leaning large super pac groups that kickstarted a digital ad campaign targeting President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response have ties to a wealthy, shadowy dark money network. American Bridge 21st Century and Pacronym are reportedly cutting ads thrashing Trump’s handling of the virus and becoming two of the first super pacs to go after the president on the health crisis. Both groups also have ties to two large nonprofit groups — New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund — connected to a massive left-leaning consulting group. NVF gave one of Pacronym’s nonprofit — ACRONYM — $250,000 while providing American Bridge $40,000 in 2018, according to NVF’s 2018 IRS documents. IRS records also indicate American Bridge pulled in $200,000 in 2018 from nonprofit Sixteen Thirty Fund, which reportedly spent $141 million on various left-leaning causes during the midterm election year. Sixteen Thirty Fund and nonprofit NVF are tied into the same sprawling network, according to an analysis by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Arabella Advisors, a philanthropic consulting company based in Washington, D.C., manages four nonprofits, including the NVF, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund and the Windward Fund. Sixteen Thirty Fund has not responded to the DCNF’s request for comment, while NVF…

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