An expansive network of “shadowy”
dark money donors has grown to rival the influence of the conservative Koch brothers -- pumping
millions into left-wing causes ranging from health care to climate change to abortion -- all while flying well under the radar of public scrutiny, according to an explosive new report obtained by Fox News.
The report,
by conservative watchdog Capital Research Center, describes a band of nonprofits operating under the banner of Washington-based philanthropy company Arabella Advisors. Those “pop up groups” are housed in four Arabella-controlled “sister” nonprofits, according to the report: the New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund and Windward Fund.
“Together, these groups form an interlocking network of 'dark money' pop-up groups and other fiscally sponsored projects, all afloat in a half-billion-dollar ocean of cash,” the report says. “The real puppeteer, though, is Arabella Advisors, which has managed to largely conceal its role in coordinating so much of the professional Left’s infrastructure under a mask of ‘philanthropy.’”
The report says the "hydra-like" network brought in $1.6 billion between 2013 and 2017 "to advance the political policies desired by wealthy left-wing interests," as the network’s revenues grew by 392 percent. The four Arabella-controlled “sister” groups brought in $582 million in 2017 alone, according to the report. If the four groups were a single entity, it would make them the 22nd largest public charity in America, with higher revenues than the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood or the Clinton Foundation.
“The size and scope of the Arabella network of funds demonstrates far more ‘dark money’ exists on the left side of the political spectrum than has been previously admitted,” the report says.
Politico identified 12 groups set up through the Sixteen Thirty Fund on health care alone. By serving as those groups’ “fiscal sponsor,” Sixteen Thirty Fund manages the money and aggregates their financial activities in its tax filings --
making it hard to work out how much money was spent by the different groups and where.
