Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consultancy that previously managed one of the left’s premier dark money networks, has restructured amid scrutiny from the Right. Much of Arabella’s activity will be taken over by Sunflower Services, a public benefit corporation controlled by a trio of nonprofits it previously managed. Public benefit corporations, unlike charities, are permitted to turn a profit but must perform demonstrable social goods.
Conservative observers suspect the reshuffle is an attempt to distance the network from Arabella’s now controversial branding and, potentially, to erect greater legal separation between its 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) arms. Before the reshuffle, Arabella managed the New Venture, Windward, Hopewell, Sixteen Thirty, North, Telescope, and Impetus Funds — the first three of which Sunflower Services will take over.
Clinton administration alumnus Eric Kessler founded Arabella Advisors in 2005 as a philanthropic consulting firm and quickly grew it into what the Atlantic described as the “mothership” of the liberal financial world by managing a network of nonprofit groups that push out hundreds of millions of dollars every year to left-of-center causes, encompassing local media operations, get-out-the-vote campaigns, ballot initiatives, and even Democrat-aligned super PACs.
Arabella’s operations flew largely under the radar after its founding but came to light following its immense spending during the first Trump administration. Conservative watchdogs have since uncovered documents they say demonstrate that Arabella Advisors directly controlled the network of nonprofit groups — blurring the separation between its political and purportedly apolitical arms — and have alleged that the firm took advantage of non-competitive contracts to enrich its owners.
All of this has created a name for Arabella that some in the conservative movement have described as “toxic,” building a reputation approaching that of George Soros in some conservative circles.
“I can’t read minds, but it is certainly conceivable that all of this scrutiny of the sector makes them nervous,” Capital Research Center president Scott Walter told the Washington Examiner. “They are desperately trying to obscure how they actually operate, and this is just further obscurantism … They change the stationery and the logos, and there is, obviously, some legal reorganization, but they always had a complicated structure. Now they have a more complicated structure, but it’s the same people doing the same things as far as anybody can see.”
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on Tuesday that 243 Arabella staffers would join Sunflower Services as part of the restructuring, signaling a high degree of continuity, as suggested by Walter. This includes Arabella senior vice president Allan Williams, who will serve as the inaugural CEO of Sunflower Services.
Walter was skeptical that the rebrand would result in any meaningful change regarding the efforts the network of nonprofits directs their resources toward.
“I think they rebranded like any company rebrands because they think it’s going to help their business, not because they’re necessarily going to change very much,” he said. Walter pointed out that, since the network of nonprofit organizations will now be managed by a public benefit corporation owned by a trio of 501(c)(3)s, that could be used to disarm claims of politicization or self-dealing — even if nothing meaningful changes in terms of who gets paid for what.
Indeed, Bill Gates, who has disbursed or pledged nearly half a billion dollars to Arabella-managed organizations over the years, announced in August that he would be cutting off financial support to the network amid a broader effort to depoliticize his charitable giving. The press release announcing Sunflower Services’ creation notes that it will manage the New Venture, Windward, and Hopewell Funds — all 501(c)(3)s — as well as “several other nonprofit projects and organizations.” The 501(3)(4)s previously managed by Arabella — the Sixteen Thirty, North, and Impetus Funds — went unnamed in the press release, signaling a possible split.
“The fact that all of the named investors in Sunflower Services are 501(c)(3) nonprofits suggests a potential division between the 501(c)(3) side of Arabella Advisors’ former clients and the more directly political 501(c)(4) side,” Tyler O’Neil, an expert on left-wing nonprofit organizations and author of two books on the subject, told the Washington Examiner. “This separation hints at a potential reason behind the change: a focus on bringing the nonprofits closer into alignment with IRS regulations.”
Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with the IRS against Arabella in August 2023, arguing that it had misled authorities, as New Venture Fund claimed in 2006 that its management by Arabella was “anticipated to be temporary and, indeed, only has a one-year term.” The D.C. attorney general also opened an investigation into Arabella in September 2023 following reports that the New Venture Fund illegally used charitable donations to push GOP lawmakers and voters to support expanded mail-in voting, though the case was eventually dropped.
“It’s no surprise that the Arabella brand turned toxic after Americans for Public Trust worked to expose the vast web of radical Leftwing groups they created and funded,” Caitlin Sutherland, the group’s executive director, said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner. “Now, right after we obtained the network’s 2024 tax filings — which show a record $1.55 billion in spending — Arabella has announced it will restructure and rebrand. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to continue to operate in the shadows and act as a conduit for foreign dark money to influence our politics.”
“While it sounds innocuous, the newly announced Sunflower Services will continue Arabella’s legacy of advancing a far-left agenda,” she added. “APT will continue to expose their foreign-funded efforts and hold them accountable to the American people.”
As alluded to by Sutherland, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has faced scrutiny for taking large amounts of funds from Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss while also spending almost all of its money working to influence American politics through ballot measures and activism broadly.
The apparent separation between the political and philanthropic arms of the former Arabella network may be an effort to lull donors like Gates back into the fold. New Venture Fund President Lee Bodner claimed the restructuring wasn’t done specifically to appease Gates, but that they would certainly be glad to accept his money again in the future.
Regardless, Walter maintains that the move will help the liberal dark money network muddy the waters surrounding its operations.
“Let’s say they’re still working hand-in-glove with the 501(c)(3)s and the 501(c)(4)s, but you’ve got the operation separated into two different legal entities,” he told the Washington Examiner. “That makes the story much harder, and to the extent that we’ve succeeded in making Arabella well-known, now we have to make Sunflower and Vital Impact well-known.”
USAID FEEDS ALUMNI TO LEFT-WING ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS
Vital Impact is the firm that will be taking over the remainder of Arabella’s operations not acquired by Sunflower Services. This could include the Sixteen Thirty Fund, though it is currently unknown. Himesh Bhise, who previously served as Arabella’s CEO, will take over as CEO of Vital Impact.
Despite the rebrand, Republicans are not letting up on their scrutiny.
The Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee sent a letter to Sunflower Services on Tuesday demanding answers about the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s Chorus Creator Incubator Program, which provided online content creators with payments to boost liberal messaging on social media. If nothing else, the Sunflower Services’s response to the letter could reveal whether they still control the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
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