A nonprofit group funded by Republican megadonor Peter Thiel appears to have donated $3 million to a group that has financed some left-leaning organizations and aligned with progressive elements of the Democratic Party, according to tax documents first reviewed by CNBC.
The Thiel Foundation, a 501(c)(3) which the tech investor founded and funds entirely himself, gave the sum to the New Venture Fund in 2021, according to 990 tax forms.
The New Venture Fund is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) group that for years has acted as a major funder for some groups aligned with the Democratic Party. It’s also known as a so-called “dark money” organization since it does not publicly disclose the names of its donors. The New Venture Fund raised over $950 million in 2021, according to the group’s records.
The listed donation to the New Venture Fund coincided with Thiel helping Republican candidates during the 2022 midterms. He gave more than $35 million toward GOP causes throughout the two-year election cycle, according to data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets. Thiel has since said he does not plan to financially support individual Republican candidates running for office during the 2024 elections.
Thiel’s listed donation to the New Venture Fund could have been earmarked for a less partisan organization that the fund helps finance, according Anna Massoglia of OpenSecrets, who reviewed the documents.
Massoglia suggested another scenario: that accountants for the Thiel Foundation may have filled out the forms incorrectly.
“While some of New Venture Fund’s grantees are left-leaning, others do not have a prominent ideological leaning,” Massoglia, an editorial and investigations manager at OpenSecrets, said in an email. “Some nonprofits also use New Venture Fund as a passthrough to fund other groups so it is not outside of the realm of possibility that Thiel’s foundation was funding a specific group through it.”
“I would also leave open the possibility that the accountant or lawyer who filled out the tax form might have looked up the wrong organization as well,” Massoglia said.
The New York Times reported in 2022 that Thiel was among a group of donors working to combat the advantage Democrats have had within the “dark money” battle. Thiel has an estimated net worth of over $9 billion.
OpenSecrets reported that such organizations spent and donated over $295 million during the 2022 midterm elections. One Nation, a 501(c)(4) group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., poured more than $120 million into the 2022 midterms.
The Thiel Foundation’s $3 million listed donation to the New Venture Fund represents the second-largest contribution it made in 2021. The biggest donation, over $4 million, went to the Donors Trust, a 501(c)(3) donor advisory fund that allow givers to send money to the nonprofit and then that contribution is funneled to a group of their choice. The Donors Trust often acts as a major funder for conservative leaning nonprofit groups. It raised over $1 billion in 2021, according to tax documents.
“You typically don’t see grants to Donors Trust and the New Venture Fund on the same 990,” Brendan Fischer, a deputy executive director at the watchdog Documented, told CNBC after reviewing the tax form. “And based on the address, the recipient of the $3 million Thiel Foundation grant does appear to be the same New Venture Fund that supports progressive causes.”
The address for the New Venture Fund donation on the Thiel’s foundation forms is listed as 21828 L Street NW Suite 300-A Washington D.C., 20036. The New Venture Fund’s 2021 tax form lists a similar address of 1828 L Street NW Suite 300-A Washington D.C., 20036. A search on Google Maps provided no results for 21828 L Street NW in Washington D.C.
Tax records since 2013 show the Thiel Foundation hadn’t donated to the New Venture Fund before 2021. The records do not say what the donation to the New Venture Fund was meant for. A spokesman for Thiel and the foundation did not return a request for comment. The accountant listed on the Thiel Foundation’s forms did not return a request for comment.
A representative for the New Venture Fund did not return a request for comment.
During the same year as the Thiel donation, the New Venture Fund donated over $7 million to America Votes, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit voting rights group focused on educating people on how to vote by mail, according to other tax records. A nonprofit financed by billionaire and Democratic megadonor George Soros gave over $16 million to America Votes over that same time period.
The New Venture Fund is part of a network of left-leaning nonprofits guided by philanthropic advisory firm Arabella Advisors. The firm was paid just under $30 million in 2021 by the New Venture Fund for administration, operations and management services, according to the nonprofit’s tax forms.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization with an almost identical address as the New Venture Fund, paid Arabella Advisors $5 million for their services in 2021, according to other tax records. The Sixteen Thirty Fund received a grant of just over $27 million from the New Venture Fund that year, records show. The group raised over $180 million in 2021, according to the records.
Just like the New Venture Fund and the Donors Trust, the Sixteen Thirty Fund does not publicly disclose its donors.