Soros Foundations Gave Tens Of Millions To Dark Money Groups In 2020
Newly released information viewed by PolitiFi gives a much clearer picture of Democrat megadonor George Soros’ political spending during the 2020 election year. According to a recent update to the Open Society Foundation’s online grant database, Soros’s nonprofit network spent tens of millions of dollars funding “progressive” and center-left political groups during the 2020 presidential election year, some of which had a major impact on the funding of pro-Democrat Super PACs and advertising campaigns, as well as anti-Republican advertising campaigns.
According to the data, Open Society Foundations gave nearly $17 million to one of the most prominent dark money groups of the cycle, Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty Fund. Sixteen Thirty Fund spent nearly $60 million funding mostly pro-Biden Super PACs such as Future Forward USA PAC, American Bridge, Unite The Country, PACRONYM, and others who blanketed the airwaves with political ads down the stretch of the election. Soros’ foundations also donated heavily to two other Arabella nonprofits, with nearly $25 million going to Sixteen Thirty’s “parent” organization (and primary funder), New Venture Fund, as well as just over $5.2 million to the Hopewell Fund, and $1 million to the Windward Fund. The full extent of Arabella’s network’s 2020 financials is not yet known. Soros also donated over $3 million to the North Fund, another opaque organization whose entire budget was funded by Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2019.
Soros’ most prominent avenue for influencing the 2020 election may have come in the form of his Democracy PAC—a hybrid PAC designed to transfer large sums from his "Fund For Policy Reform” dark money group over to other political groups, mostly Super PACs. His investment in Democracy PAC was one of the largest he made last year, coming in at over $75,000,000. To that end, Democracy PAC spent over $63 million funding dozens of PACs such as SMP (Senate Majority PAC), Priorities USA, American Bridge, Future Forward, Win Justice, House Majority PAC, and several others.
Open Society gave $7 million to America Votes, another liberal dark money initiative that would wind up spending tens of millions funding smaller groups during the 2020 cycle. According to America Votes’ most recent tax returns, the group raised just under $30 million from July 2019 through June 2020, and would go on the be a top five dark money spender in the 2020 election by spending roughly $50 million dollars on funding a myriad of smaller groups and Super PACs. Records show that for its 2020 fiscal year, over a third of America Votes’ funding came from an anonymous donor who contributed over $12 million.
Soros’ reach would extend to “progressive” organizations as well. Open Society foundations gave $9 million to the Working Families Organization, the nonprofit arm of the Working Families Party, whose Super PAC raised over $7 million in 2020 (and whose largest donor was Soros’ Democracy PAC, which gave $1 million). Working Families Party’s independent expenditure committee spent $1.9 million on ads supporting Joe Biden, Raphael Warnock, and John Ossoff, as well as smaller buys supporting Justice Democrats Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Working Families Organization was also the sole funder of another Super PAC, The 9, to the tune of $1 million. The 9 would spend over $450,000 on anti-Trump ads down the stretch of the election.
One of the most prominent “progressive” political groups to receive funding from Open Society was Sunrise Movement, who was given $1 million during the year. Sunrise would go on to spend thousands on election advertising, pushing Justice Democrat linked politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders in the early part of the cycle, before swapping over to supporting Biden during the general. Most of its spending was through its Super PAC, whose largest outside donor was the aforementioned Sixteen Thirty Fund ($500,000), followed by Soros’ Democracy PAC, who chipped in another $250,000. Sunrise Movement has received at least $1.5 million from Open Society Foundations since 2019, making Soros’ network their largest donor yet to be identified.
People’s Action, another “progressive” branded group, received roughly $900,000 from Open Society, and would go on to spend approximately as much funding political groups during the election, mostly their Super PAC, through which they spent $1 million on in-kind contributions to Joe Biden, Raphael Warnock, and John Ossoff, in the form of staff time and canvassing initiatives. Likewise, Center For Popular Democracy received $720,000 while their 501c4, CPD Action would get over $600,000. The latter would fund their in-house Super PAC to the tune of approximately $900,000, and after starting the cycle endorsing Bernie Sanders for President, the group would go on to campaign for Biden down the stretch. Center For Popular Democracy has a long history with Democracy Alliance, a secretive billionaire collective focused on funding political groups, which was cofounded by Soros. That said, Center For Popular Democracy receives a large portion of its funds anonymously through donor advised funds, such as Fidelity Charitable.
Other notable domestic political organizations to get substantial grants from Open Society nonprofits in 2020 include Color Of Change ($3 million), Center For American Progress ($2.3 million), Demos ($1.5 million), and Make The Road New York ($480,000). Soros also donated $15 million to The Barack Obama Foundation “to support the Foundation’s efforts to scale up their international programs and in particular, Obama Foundation Leaders, Scholars and Fellows programs”, according the grant description. Though this list is non exhaustive, you can view the newly updated Open Society grant database here.