Nonprofit funded by billionaire George Soros to donate $140 million to political groups in 2021

A nonprofit funded by billionaire George Soros has quietly donated $140 million to advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives in 2021, as well as another $60 million to like-minded charities.

Soros, who personally donated $170 million to Democratic candidates and campaigns through the 2022 midterms, has spread additional generosity through the Open Society Policy Center – a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that Belongs to the Soros-funded Open Society. Foundation Network, according to a copy of its 2021 tax filing, which was obtained by CNBC and is the most recent data available. The Open Society Policy Center also donated $138 million to advocacy groups and causes in 2020. Soros’ two children sit on its board, tax filings and its website show.

The donations brought Soros’ contributions to political campaigns and causes to nearly half a billion dollars since January 2020, at least — much of it run through dark-money nonprofit groups and largely aligned with the Democratic Party. Gone were going towards political causes.

Soros’ non-profit donations don’t always go directly to political purposes. The money sometimes flows from one of his nonprofits to another before being spent on advertising, organizing and social media campaigns that reach voters directly.

Many of the 2021 donations to the Open Society Policy Center were not necessarily to help with the midterm elections, according to the foundation’s website. At the same time, Tom Watson, an editorial director at the Open Society Foundations, acknowledged in an email to CNBC that “there are certainly some OSPC grants that are meant to combat voter suppression, support voter registration, and expand civic participation.” went to labor organizations.” Those are all basic democratic principles.

According to foundation officials, the budget for the Open Society Policy Center in 2021 was funded by a $196 million donation from the Open Society Foundations network. An affiliated 501(c)(3) charitable group called the Open Society Institute received a donation of $1.78 billion in “QECL shares” from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, which was founded and funded by billionaire businessman,

In the US, the Open Society Policy Center donated to various politically active groups and causes since the start of the 2020 election cycle, including $4.5 million in September, according to data from nonpartisan watchdog OpenSecrets, Reproductive Freedom for All . Campaign Endorsed michigan successful ballot initiative called Proposition 3 implied abortion rights in the state constitution.

The group also gave $1 million in 2020 to a campaign that supported an Oklahoma prison sentence ballot measure titled Yes on 805. ballot initiative would have ended repeated sentencing for non-violent crimes in the state; it failed to pass during the 2020 elections.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, the majority of Soros’ personal donations during the 2022 cycle went to two super PACs: Democracy PAC and Democracy PAC II. Both of those groups are run by the billionaire’s son Alexander Soros who also sits on the boards of the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Policy Center. political man Reported That these PACs were meant to help Democratic candidates and groups in 2022 and in future election cycles.

Records show that Democracy PACs, which by law can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, donated millions of dollars in the midterms to organizations that actively helped Democrats run for office, including the Senate Majority PAC and the House Includes support of Majority PAC.

Other charities listed on The Open Society Policy Center’s 2021 990:

• America Votes: $16.9 million
  A voting rights group focused on educating people about how to vote by mail.
• Demand Justice: $4.5 million
  A liberal judicial advocacy group. According to tax returns, it recently dropped to less than $6 million. acquired by Politico. demand justice announced $1 million in ad buys this year supporting the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
• Equis Labs: $6.48 million
  A group dedicated to increasing Latino voting.
• Future Forward USA Action: $5.5 million
  This 501(c)(4) group donated more than $60 million to its sister PAC, Future Forward USA, during the 2020 election, which spent millions endorsing Joe BidenRunning for President. The Open Policy Center’s website says its 2021 donation was meant to “support policy advocacy on the Build Back Together legislative package and a global vaccine campaign.” An abbreviated version of the bill was renamed the Inflation Reduction Act; It passed and was signed into law in August.
• Sixteen Thirty Funds: $23.9 million
  The group serves as a “dark” money fund for “progressive changemakers” and groups that often align with the Democratic Party. It provides operational support like human resources and legal resources to the progressive candidates. It recently raised over $189 million and earned $107 million in grants.

Emerson Morrow, a spokesman for America Votes, told CNBC that funding from the Open Society Policy Center “has provided significant support for the America Votes mission.” The group says it has “addressed voter suppression and the inclusion of new and hard-to-reach voters” in 2021, focusing on increasing access to voting in the key states of Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin. The website of the Open Society Policy Center lists a single donation of $23.9 million to the group in 2021 to “support nonpartisan voter engagement in multiple states.”

America Votes, a 501(c)(4), raised more than $245 million from July 2020 to June 2021 and made more than $170 million in grants, according to its most recent tax disclosure. According to OpenSecrets, its top contributions include a $14 million donation to Family Friendly Action PAC, a super PAC that spent $7.2 million supporting Democratic candidates running for Congress during the 2022 election cycle. It also donated $9.7 million to the Black PAC, a super PAC that spent $9.5 million during the recent midterms supporting Democrats.