Gabe Kaminsky on Billionaire-Funded Democratic 'Resistance' Groups

The 'Families Over Billionaires' Initiative

• 💡 A new organization, Families Over Billionaires, launched with an eight-figure war chest to push back against Republican tax cuts for the wealthy.
• 💰 Despite portraying itself as grassroots, the group does not accept public donations and is legally a trade name of two nonprofit organizations: the 1630 Fund and the Hopewell Fund.
• 🎯 These nonprofits are part of a dark money network overseen by Arabella Advisers, bankrolled by wealthy donors including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Reid Hoffman.

Arabella Advisers and Dark Money Networks

• 🔍 Arabella Advisers is a Washington D.C.-based consulting firm that manages administrative functions for several nonprofit organizations, charging substantial fees.
• 📊 These nonprofits, such as the New Venture Fund and 1630 Fund, sponsor hundreds of trade groups across the U.S. through fiscal sponsorship, making their financial funding difficult to track as they don't file IRS financial disclosures.
• 💸 In the past year, groups managed by Arabella Advisers reportedly distributed $1.4 billion, funding a wide range of causes on the left, including environmentalism, healthcare, and social justice.

Grassroots vs. Billionaire Funding

• 🧐 The piece highlights how groups like Families Over Billionaires, which appear grassroots, are legally tied to powerful, billionaire-funded entities, contrasting with their public image.
• ⚖️ This mirrors tactics seen on the right, such as conservative networks shaped by Leonard Leo, which also use nonprofit structures to fund activism and legal challenges.
• 🗣️ The report emphasizes the importance of transparency when groups claim to represent ordinary Americans while being funded by wealthy individuals and networks.

Allegations and Political Clashes

• ⚠️ A complaint was filed by Americans for Public Trust (part of the Leonard Leo network) alleging that Arabella Advisers and its founder, Eric Kessler, unlawfully enriched themselves through management fees.
• ⚔️ This situation reflects an ongoing political clash between the Arabella Advisers network and conservative networks affiliated with CRC Advisors and Leonard Leo.
• 📈 The sheer volume of untraceable money distributed by Arabella Advisers ($1.4 billion last year) underscores the significant, often hidden, influence of wealthy donors in politics.