by Robert Schmad
The nation’s most prolific left-wing dark money behemoth quietly added a new organization to its network of nonprofits, newly surfaced documents reveal.
The Telescope Fund became the seventh organization managed by the shadowy for-profit firm Arabella Advisors in 2021, joining a network of organizations notable for pouring hundreds of millions of untraceable dollars into left-of-center political and advocacy groups, The Washington Free Beacon reported. The new nonprofit will offer donor-advised funds (DAFs), a type of charitable account that allows donors to obscure their giving by routing donations through a DAF.
DAFs distribute funds to organizations at the advice of the original donor and with the consent of the charity maintaining the fund. Donations are made in the name of the charity, effectively hiding the source of the funds.
Arabella’s network is one of the primary financial hubs for the American left. Groups it manages have poured hundreds of millions into voter mobilization efforts targeting pro-Democratic demographics, abortion advocacy groups, left-of-center political committees and other liberal causes.
The Free Beacon obtained documents confirming that Arabella Advisors is managing the Telescope Fund.
A spokesperson for Arabella Advisors confirmed the relationship between the firm and the Telescope Fund to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Arabella Advisors works for the Telescope Fund, not the other way around,” Steve Sampson, a spokesperson for Arabella Advisors, told the DCNF. “We are proud to provide administrative support and accounting services related to the fund’s grantmaking and operations.”
The Telescope Fund was first launched in 2021 as a subsidiary of the Arabella-managed New Venture Fund, according to the Free Beacon.
The District of Columbia attorney general is investigating New Venture Fund to determine whether it violated charity laws by working to help elect Democratic candidates. Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, like New Venture Fund, are barred from such activities.
The Telescope Fund moved to have the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) grant it independent 501(c)(3) status in 2022, according to the Free Beacon. The IRS approved the organization’s request in 2023, according to documents obtained by the Free Beacon.
The Telescope Fund’s founding documents project that it will be able to raise more than $200 million annually by 2025, the Free Beacon reported. The fund raised $30 million in 2022, most of which came from the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, another nonprofit that administers DAFs, tax documents show.
“The Telescope Fund is an independent 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to help donors expand their philanthropic giving by providing them with the tools needed to catalyze their visions for change,” a spokesperson for the charity told the DCNF.
The spokesperson confirmed that the Telescope fund began as “a supporting organization of New Venture Fund” and that it “contract[s] with Arabella Advisors to provide administrative and operational support services.”
Like other nonprofits in Arabella’s network, the Telescope Fund bankrolled voter mobilization organizations in 2022, the year of a contentious midterm election.
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Robert Schmad is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
