Loud Light's connections to dark money sources and George Soros' nonprofits
Loud Light has grown net assets to be over $1.3 million
Updated with some additional financial details
This article gives a brief history of Loud Light, and Loud Light Civic Action, and then jumps into its financial details from its IRS 990 tax filings.
The article concludes with a summary of nonprofit donations to Loud Light/Civic Action found in IRS 990s filed by other progressive nonprofits.
Loud Light president Davis Hammet is building huge political capital in these two organizations. Reports from 2013 show combined net assets growing to over $1.3 million.
Brief History
Davis Hammet, founder of Loud Light, drove from Florida to Kansas in 2013 to protest Westboro Baptist Church and its pastor, Fred Phelps in Topeka.
By Dec. 2015 Davis Hammet incorporated Loud Light in the State of Florida for his political activism in Kansas. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
2018
In a Nov. 2018 Washington Post op-ed Davis Hammet describes his journey to Kansas and early involvement in Kansas politics.
Hammet said he “decided to leave LGBTQ activism to create a nonprofit, Loud Light, and devote myself to voter registration and turnout.” Hammet’s Washington Post op-ed was a perfect ad to solicit funds from national progressive donors for work in Kansas.
The op-ed says Hammet connected in 2018 with Brian McClendon, the Democratic candidate for Kansas Secretary of State, to build “a digital form that bypasses the obstacles and makes [voter] registration easy.”
The new KSvote.org web page allows anyone to bypass the Kansas voter registration form and use the federal form to avoid questions like “Date Residence Established” and “Driver’s License Number.”
Hammet now has dozens of progressive groups linking to KSvote.org for voter registrations, which allows collection of person information before forwarding the applications to county election officials.
In the 2018 WaPo story Hammet described making connections with newly elected LGBTQ Democratic officials in Kansas, including Sharice Davids in Congress KS-03, and Brandon Woodard and Susan Ruiz in the Kansas legislature.
In Sharice Davids’ press release in Feb. 2018 announcing her run for Congress she plugged the KSVote.org web site for voter registrations.
2020
To work outside 501(c)(3) restrictions, Loud Light Civic Action was incorporated in Florida by Hammet in May 2020.
The Swing Left Impact Report gave details about how Hammet used his new 501(c)(4) nonprofit for the 2020 election.
2021
Loud Light launched New Frontiers “to build economic, social, and political power through culturally relevant grassroots organizing and local issue advocacy in Southwest Kansas; the youngest and most diverse region in the state.”
2022
Value Them Both Primary Election
Loud Light introduced their “Vote Neigh” project used on social media to oppose the VTB constitutional amendment with help from other Kansas progressive groups.
The 2022 Impact Report from the Rural Democracy Initiative, which was funded by dark money Arabella Advisors’ Windward Funds (aka Heartland Fund) and the Sixteen Thirty Fund (aka Rural Victory Fund), highlighted the Vote Neigh pro-abortion project.
General Election
Loud Light used interns, observers and volunteers across the state in 2022 to push for Democratic candidates in Kansas.
Loud Light carefully tracks voter turnout in Kansas by age.
2023
In May 2023 Loud Light unionized to become Loud Light Workers United SEIU Local 513.
Loud Light’s New Frontiers project promoted LGBTQ+ books for children in the Dodge City Library.
2024
Nonprofit Tax Filings
Summary of IRS 990 tax filings for Loud Light and Loud Light Action:
Loud Light: 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Loud Light Civic Action: 501(c)(4) nonprofit
Both nonprofits end each year with gradually increasing net assets. Together the nonprofits have over $1.3 million in net assets.
Known Donors to Loud Light
Alliance for Youth Organizing Donor
Loud Light’s largest donor, Alliance for Youth Organizing, has significant ties to George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society and dark money sources including Arabella Funds (New Venture Fund; Telescope Fund and Windward Fund), NEO Philanthropy and Tides Foundation.
The $495,000 from Soros’ nonprofit was combined by Alliance for Youth Organizing with money from other dark money sources for payments to Loud Light.
The $755,085 in payments from Alliance for Youth Organizing to Loud Light from 2020 through 2024 can be seen via links to the IRS 990s, Schedule I forms by year available online from ProPublica: [years can be confusing since reporting calendar years and fiscal years are sometimes mixed]
Dark money and other donors
Loud Light received funds directly from dark money sources Tides Foundation ($302,500) and Arabella’s Windward Fund ($250,000) and New Venture Fund ($75,000).
The Kansas Health Foundation and the Health Forward Foundation gave Loud Light a total of $400,000 for KHF’s “integrated voter engagement” project.
Known Donors to Loud Light Action
All donors to Loud Light Action have connections to George Soros’ nonprofits, directly or indirectly.
Alliance for Youth Action Donor
Loud Light Action’s largest donor, Alliance for Youth Action, has significant ties to George Soros’ nonprofits, Open Society Acton Fund and Open Society Policy Center, and dark money sources including Arabella Funds (New Venture Fund; Telescope Fund and Windward Fund), NEO Philanthropy and Tides Foundation.
The following table shows money from George Soros’ nonprofits to Alliance for Youth Action:
The $2,625,000 from two Soros’ nonprofits was combined by Alliance for Youth Action with funds from other dark money sources for payments to Loud Light Action.
The $267,490 in payments from Alliance for Youth Action to Loud Light from 2020 through 2024 can be seen via links to the IRS 990s, Schedule I forms by year available online from ProPublica: [fiscal years and reporting years can be mixed]
Related
Loud Light and other Kansas nonprofits are part of the “Rural Democracy Initiative” started by the Arabella Advisor’s Windward Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund.
George Soros gives huge amounts to “dark money” donor-advised funds that then give the money to progressive recipients. A lot of money from these “dark money” funds came from Soros.
Davis Hammet and Loud Light were instrumental in pressuring Gov. Laura Kelly to mail 277,000 voter registration forms to public assistance recipients in 2020.
Kansas open record requests to learn more about how this happened have been stonewalled by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Department of Children and Families. KORA complaints to the Kansas Attorney General’s office about this matter are still under review.
You have got to be an idiot. George Soros!???!???
ROFL!!!!!!!
DO BETTER RESEARCH HONEY