An organization spending millions on swing state ads ahead of November’s election brands itself as “non-partisan” despite extensive ties to a major Democrat-aligned dark money network, according to the Washington Examiner.
Science Moms, which calls itself a “nonpartisan group of scientists” working to fight climate change, has a parent organization that is extensively bankrolled by the Windward Fund, a grant-making organization in a sprawling multi-billion dollar network of nonprofits aligned with the Democratic Party and managed by the for-profit consulting firm Arabella Advisors, the Examiner reported. The $2.5 million advertising campaign funded by Science Moms will target the states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia, according to Scientific American.
“If you knew this was your last, best chance to protect all the places you love, what would you do?” the advertisement’s narrator asks. The ad is titled “climate change is taking the places we love.”
Despite Science Moms putting forward a nonpartisan and grassroots image, it began its life as a part of the Arabella Advisors’ dark money network. Science Moms is part of a larger group called the Potential Energy Coalition (PEC) which, until October 2020, was a fiscally sponsored project of the Windward Fund, according to the Examiner.
Fiscal sponsorship is a tax arrangement that allows an established nonprofit, like the Windward Fund, to process tax-deductible donations for an allied group without that organization being required to register with the Internal Revenue Service, according to the American Bar Association. Often, these projects are not distinct legal entities from the organization providing sponsorship services.
Arabella’s network spent nearly $1 billion in 2022, with much of that going into causes aimed at bolstering Democrats, according to tax forms. Among the hundreds of millions of dollars Arabella-managed nonprofits pumped into liberal groups in 2022 was a more than $13 million grant to PEC from the Windward Fund, tax forms show.
The Windward Fund dolled out an additional $4.5 million to PEC in 2021, according to tax filings.
PEC describes itself as “an innovative, fast-growing startup that brings the very best marketing talent in the world to bear on the climate challenge” by “leveraging deep analytics and creative storytelling,” according to the group’s LinkedIn page.
PEC, and by extension Science Moms, have deeper connections to the Arabella Network than funding and past sponsorships as PEC disclosed in 2020 that its board secretary and chairman were employed by the Windward Fund, the Examiner reported. Windward also paid PEC roughly $2 million between 2020 and 2021 for “independent contractor” work.
“Any group with ties to Arabella Advisors is no grassroots organization,” Republican strategist Alec Sears told the Examiner. “Dark money ad buys in swing states are a strategy designed purely to drive the political agenda of the billionaires behind Arabella and its funds.”
The Windward Fund has spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting left-of-center environmental causes, organizations that seek to expand abortion access and anti-Trump groups, according to Influence Watch. The Soros family’s Open Society Foundations have also given millions to the Windward Fund, according to its grant database.
“Windward Fund is a nonpartisan fiscal sponsor to a number of organizations, not a funder, which means we provide administrative support including payroll and HR to new nonprofit projects, many of which later become fully independent organizations,” the Windward Fund told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
PEC and Science Moms did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
(Featured image credit: Flickr/Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
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