Read CRC’s Letter to the Editor in the Washington Post

This letter originally appeared in the Washington Post on November 24, 2019.

The Nov. 22 editorial “Dark money on the left” asked which donor gave $26.7 million to the Sixteen Thirty Fund. My investigative think tank, Capital Research Center, can answer that question. In its 2018 Internal Revenue Service Form 990, a related nonprofit, New Venture Fund, showed a $26.7 million grant to the Sixteen Thirty Fund for “capacity building.”

The editorial also asked if Sixteen Thirty’s donors are “part of a larger network of dark money.” CRC has that answer, too. The Sixteen Thirty Fund is managed by Arabella Advisors, as is New Venture Fund and two more politically active nonprofits. To see their interlocking nature, note that Sixteen Thirty Fund claims zero employees on Page 1 of its 2018 Form 990. On Page 59, a footnote reveals “New Venture Fund (NVF) is the paymaster for Sixteen Thirty Fund payroll. NVF pays the salary and immediately invoices Sixteen Thirty Fund, which reimburses the full amount.”

An April CRC report showed that in 2018 the four nonprofit entities Arabella Advisors operates spent $635 million and operated hundreds of front groups on the left.

Scott Walter, Washington

The writer is president of the Capital Research Center.