he Sixteen Thirty Fund spent $410 million electing Democrats in 2020—more money than the Democratic National Committee spent that cycle. The same organization appears in the Trump administration’s “Riot Inc.” investigation as a major funder of protest networks. IRS filings document how Sixteen Thirty channeled $60 million to the most prominent pro-Biden super PACs while simultaneously funding groups that coordinated nationwide demonstrations. The Atlantic called it “the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money.” Government Accountability Institute researchers named it in their October 2025 White House briefing on protest funding infrastructure.
Seven-figure grants flowed to Future Forward USA, Priorities USA, Unite The Country, and American Bridge during the 2020 cycle. Attack ads against Trump and vulnerable Republican senators carried Sixteen Thirty’s money. Opposition to Trump’s Supreme Court nominees drew Sixteen Thirty funding. State ballot measures advancing Democratic policy goals received Sixteen Thirty grants. By 2022, the group was spending $196 million “protecting abortion rights and helping Democrats in the 2022 elections.” Half of its 2020 funding—$195 million—came from just four anonymous donors whose identities remain hidden behind the fiscal sponsorship structure that shields Sixteen Thirty from disclosure requirements.
This structure extends beyond one organization. Sixteen Thirty operates within the Arabella Advisors network, a constellation of nonprofits that collectively raised $1.67 billion in 2020 and $1.6 billion in 2021. The network’s flagship, New Venture Fund, moved $86 million to Sixteen Thirty in 2020 while funding protest organizations through separate grants. New Venture’s 2021 tax filing shows $631 million in revenue, with its largest anonymous donor contributing $120 million and seven others giving at least $10 million each. Among the recipients: $7.1 million to America Votes for progressive get-out-the-vote operations, $2.1 million to Tides Foundation and Tides Center—organizations GAI researchers also identified in the “Riot Inc.” presentation.
One Arabella project makes the coordination explicit. The Hub Project, housed within New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund, exists to “shape media coverage to help Democratic causes” and “help Democrats be more effective at conveying their arguments.” Its stated goal: “dramatically shift the public debate and policy positions of core decision makers.” The group ran paid advertising campaigns against Republican congressional candidates in 2018. Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss’s foundation provided $56.5 million to the Hub Project between 2007 and 2020. Wyss has given $245 million to Sixteen Thirty and New Venture since 2016. Nebraska’s Attorney General sued in November 2025, alleging Wyss—a foreign national—illegally funneled money to ballot initiatives. After Ohio banned foreign spending on ballot campaigns, Sixteen Thirty abruptly stopped spending in the state.
Three mega-donors dominate the funding. George Soros’s Open Society Foundations gave Arabella entities $153.5 million between 2018 and 2022, including $36 million to New Venture Fund in 2021 alone. The Democracy Alliance, which Soros co-founded, recommends that donors give generously to Sixteen Thirty Fund. Bill Gates’s foundation contributed $180.4 million to Arabella entities between 2018 and 2023, and more than $250 million to New Venture Fund since 2009—accounting for nearly a quarter of New Venture’s early funding. Then in August 2025, Gates ceased all Arabella grants with no public explanation. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative gave $83.3 million to Arabella entities between 2018 and 2023.
Where the money flows becomes visible in specific cases. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights organized the Los Angeles anti-ICE protests in June 2025 that Trump administration officials cited as evidence of coordinated networks. CHIRLA’s government funding jumped from $12 million to $34 million in a single year. During the same period, CHIRLA endorsed Democratic candidates including Adam Schiff’s Senate campaign and appeared alongside Democratic politicians at events. CHIRLA Action Fund makes candidate endorsements through progressive voter guides. The organization processes donations through ActBlue, the platform that has raised more than $16 billion for Democratic causes since 2004.
Black Lives Matter donations reveal how ActBlue connects the networks. Donors gave to BlackLivesMatter.org through ActBlue, which processed $78.8 million to Tides Foundation in 2020 based on the 3.95 percent fee ActBlue reported to the IRS. Tides held the money as fiscal sponsor for BLM Global Network Foundation. BLM previously operated under Thousand Currents, whose board included Susan Rosenberg—the Weather Underground terrorist President Clinton pardoned in 2001. After media coverage of Rosenberg’s role, BLM switched from Thousand Currents to Tides in July 2020.
ActBlue operates as three entities: a PAC processing donations for Democratic candidates, ActBlue Charities for 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and ActBlue Civics for 501(c)(4) advocacy organizations. The PAC alone processed $4.2 billion in 2020. ActBlue Civics reported accepting $45.8 million in contributions for 649 organizations in 2018 but did not disclose the recipient list on its IRS Form 990. ActBlue Charities uses the same non-disclosure practice. Trump directed the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue in April 2025. Multiple state attorneys general opened parallel investigations.
Taxpayer money flows into the same structure. Tides received $170 million in federal grants and $187 million from California, but USASpending.gov shows only $34 million in federal awards—a $105 million gap with no accounting. CHIRLA received $450,000 in federal funding while organizing anti-ICE protests. GAI researchers documented that more than $100 million in taxpayer funding reached these networks, with at least $4 million going directly to protest organizations.
The entities fund each other in circular patterns. New Venture Fund gave $2.1 million to Tides in 2021. Hopewell Fund, which raised $248 million in 2021, gave $3.5 million to New Venture and $3.1 million to Sixteen Thirty that year. Hopewell sent $105,989 to Perkins Coie, the Democratic law firm that hired Fusion GPS. Groups operating under fiscal sponsorship avoid filing their own tax returns, bundling their finances into the sponsor’s reports and hiding ultimate grant recipients.
In Colorado, Sixteen Thirty spent nearly $11 million in 2018 elections on ballot measures, lobbying, and Democratic super PACs. The group gave $250,000 to Coloradans Creating Opportunities, which backed House Democrats, and $1.25 million to Leading Colorado Forward for Senate Democrats. In June 2020, Sixteen Thirty added another $75,000 to Coloradans Creating Opportunities. State legislative campaigns and national protest networks drew funding from the same source.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced in January 2026 that the bureau would investigate organizations funding anti-ICE protest networks. The organizations he’s investigating share financial infrastructure with the operation that outspent the Democratic National Committee in 2020. Soros, Gates, and Wyss bankrolled Biden’s campaign and the protests against Trump’s second term. The money trail runs through IRS filings, federal grant databases, and campaign finance records. The protesters may not have known, but their organizations and the Democratic Party drew from the same accounts.
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