Over $6 Million in Arabella Advisors' "Dark Money" Sent to Kansas Nonprofits to Impact Elections from 2020-2022
About a dozen Kansas nonprofits receive funds
Updated to include links to related IRS 990 filings.
Updated to show connections to fiscally-sponsored Rural Democracy Initiative projects. Jan. 23.
A Capital Research Center report by Hayden Ludwig, Big Money in Dark Shadows, is a great resource to learn about the national impact of progressive “dark money” nonprofits managed by the Arabella Advisors.
This report shows the impact of the Arabella Advisors “dark money” on Kansas through the nonprofits they are funding. These funds are building election infrastructure for progressive causes.
2020-2022
Here is a complete summary of funds sent by the five Arabella-managed nonprofits (New Venture, Sixteen Thirty, Hopewell, Windward, and North) to a dozen Kansas nonprofits from 2020 through 2022.
All numbers are taken from their IRS 990 filings.
Several of the Kansas nonprofits receiving funds are big players in elections.
Over half of the Arabella dark money was spent to support abortions in Kansas.
Dark money spent to oppose the Value Them Both referendum in the Aug. 2022 primary was about $3 million. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom received about $2 million and the Trust Women Foundation Foundation received nearly $1 million. Kansans for Constitution Freedom shared a street address with Planned Parenthood in Overland Park.
Since 2012 nonprofit Kansas Values Institute has helped elect progressive candidates in Kansas, mostly gubernatorial and legislative candidates. KVI spent about $5 million on Kansas elections from 2012-2018.
KVI’s largest known donors are teacher unions, abortion-related organizations, “dark money” New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the Democratic Governors Association.
Loud Light and Loud Light Civic action are involved with “transforming Kansas: voter registration, informative videos, coalition building, civic engagement, youth voter turnout.”
Funds sent to Kansas nonprofits are dwarfed by the Arabella spending nationally. Kansas is relatively cheap to influence compared to more populous states.
In their IRS 990s from 2020, the five funds spent about $50 million on elections, about $185 million on voter registration, and nearly $14 million on progressive “journalism.”
Breakdown by Year
2020
2021
2022
Arabella sent grants to Kansas nonprofits in 2022 to impact both the Aug. primary and Nov. general elections. The money sent to Kansans for Constitutional Freedom for the Aug. primary was described above.
Half a million was directed to Keep Kansas Courts Impartial to retain all Supreme Court justices facing a retention election in Nov. 2022.
In 2022 Kansas Values Institute received $100,000 from the 501(c)(3) New Venture Fund. That was “small potatoes” compared with KVI spending that year.
KVI admitted to spending about $17.5 million to re-elect Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat. As of this writing, KVI has delayed filing its 2022 IRS 990 so no specifics of their money is known yet.
An additional $368,230 was paid by an Arabella Advisor nonprofit to support Sharice Davids before the August 2022 primary election in which Davids was unopposed.
TV stations in the KC area broadcast 560 thirty-second “spots” from April through June 2022 to bolster Sharice Davids for Congress in the third congressional district in Kansas.
Because of contradictory information in FCC reports, the exact source of “dark money” funds for these ads is not known, but it is either New Venture Fund (as fiscally-sponsored project) or Sixteen Thirty Fund (a trade name).
Fiscally-sponsored Rural Democracy Initiative Projects
Accounting can be confusing with Arabella Advisors “fiscally-sponsored” projects.
Arabella Advisors Impact Reports from 2020, 2021, and 2022 show amounts spent on their Rural Democracy Initiative, which is not mentioned in any of the above tables based on IRS 990s.
That’s because “fiscally-sponsored” project amounts are buried in with their “host” fund in the IRS 990 reporting.
The Heartland Fund “project” grants were recorded in IRS 990s as the Windward Fund. Likewise, Rural Victory Fund “project” grants were recorded as part of the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
For 2020-2022 all the Heartland Fund (Windward Fund) grant recipients received equal amounts when the Impact Reports group recipients together. For example, in 2022, Kansas Interfaith Action, Loud Light, and the Neighboring Movement each received $50,000 from Windward for a total of $150,000 in the Impact Report for the Heartland Fund.
In 2022 Loud LIght Civic Action received $25,000 from the the Sixteen Thirty Fund for their part of the Rural Victory Fund project.
The $40,000 in 2020 given by Sixteen Thirty Fund to their Rural Victory Fund project appears to be buried in their IRS 990 in the $565,000 given to RuralOrganizing.org in Columbus, OH.
The 2022 Impact Report connects Loud Light to the “Vote Neigh” campaign to defeat Value Them Both in the 2022 August Primary as part of the Rural Democracy Initiative.
Links to IRS 990s
Study the IRS 990 filings yourself …
Related
Largest known KVI $ donors are teacher unions, abortion-related organizations, “dark money,” and the Democratic Governors Association
TV commercials advocating “vote no” on the Value Them Both Kansas constitutional amendment are paid for by the group Kansans for Constitutional Freedom.
