Top Liberal Dark Money Group Boosted By Anonymous $5M In Facebook Stock
Future Forward USA Action, whose Super PAC spent over $140 million supporting Democratic candidates in 2020, jumpstarted their election with help from an anonymous wealthy benefactor
Tax documents first obtained by PolitiFi show Future Forward USA Action, the Silicon Valley-based, liberal ‘dark money’ organization whose Super PAC spent over $140,000,000 electing Democrats in 2020—was completely funded during their 2019 fiscal year by an anonymous donation of 27,500 shares of Facebook stock worth $5,096,300.
According to the organization’s form 990, the donation in question was received on 05/24/20—hinting that the group’s fiscal year ended in June (there is no date on the form we reviewed). Further review of Future Forward’s only previous tax filing (for 2018) showed the group had a similar experience in the prior year—one anonymous donor giving $6,942,885 in an unspecified publicly traded security funded the entirety of the group’s endeavors.
As mentioned, Future Forward’s Super PAC—simply called FF PAC—was one of the top overall spending groups of the entire 2020 election cycle, with a vast majority of the PAC’s raising and spending occurring in the final months before election day. Despite its tax documents showing the organization with $5,300,000 in assets going into July, Future Forward was the largest donor to their in house initiative to the tune of roughly $60,000,000—making Future Forward one of the largest dark money spenders of the election. However, with the timing of most of Future Forward’s transactions being after the end of its 2019 fiscal year, the full extent of where the group accumulated the money to go on such a spending spree—and where else they donated, if any—won’t be made public until late 2022, on the group’s next tax filing.
While the donor behind the $5 million in Facebook stock remains a mystery, it is worth noting that the second largest donor to Future Forward’s Super PAC is one Dustin Moskovitz—the billionaire Facebook cofounder who, along with wife Cari Tuna, have not only become major players in the Silicon Valley philanthropy circuit, but also blazed their own trail as a new brand of Democratic megadonors. Moskovitz carried a large burden of FF PAC’s funding, giving nearly $46 million to the group over the cycle, most of which coming down the stretch as the group rolled out a $100 million ad blitz aimed at boosting then Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. As to whether Moskovitz is the donor behind the donation of Facebook shares, PolitiFi is attempting to obtain a comment.
Future Forward did not make any grants to any other nonprofits or political groups during its 2019 fiscal year, save for the approximately $440,000 given to its aforementioned Super PAC. The group accrued $3,353,022 in expenses for the period, paying for expenses described as conducting “quantitative and qualitative research on issues of national importance then ran media campaigns informed by that research”. Of that total, roughly $1,900,000 went to advertising buys, while $154,000 was earmarked for veteran pollster David Binder. While another prominent pollster, David Shor, has been linked to Future Forward, the documents do not detail any monetary relationship (though there are two contractors whose details are not listed on the form). Shor was listed as Future Forward’s Director of Political and Data Science for a speaking engagement he gave at the University of Michigan last year, and his business partner for his data firm, OpenLabs (which shares an address with Future Forward) is Future Forward’s Aaron Strauss. FF’s president and founder, Chauncey McLean, was paid $180,000, according to the filing.
This story will be updated with any additional comments or information should it become available.