The Sixteen Thirty Fund: a conduit of outside money into North Carolina politics

• The Sixteen Thirty Fund, “the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money,” spends hundreds of millions of dollars to advance left-wing causes
• The fund has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign money into American elections and politics
• The Sixteen Thirty fund has targeted North Carolina for several years

On May 5, the John Locke Foundation profiled Arabella Advisors, the “godfather of the left’s dark money.” One of the largest organizations in the Arabella network is the Sixteen Thirty Fund. What is the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and how does it use dark money, including foreign funds, to push progressive politics in North Carolina and nationwide?

What is the Sixteen Thirty Fund?

The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a left-wing 501(c)(4) organization that acts as a funding conduit “empowering progressive changemakers” by directing funds through several advocacy tranches.

It is a young organization, having been founded in 2009 with seed money from several left-wing organizations, including the dark money group Americans United for Change and ACORN, a leftist advocacy organization that later dissolved after its voter registration fraud and other illegal activities were discovered.

The organization’s relationship with Arabella Advisors and other funders quickly made it an influential political player, however. It churns through hundreds of millions of dollars in anonymous donations for leftist causes, making it the “indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money.”

As seen in the chart below, the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s revenue soared after President Donald  Trump’s election in 2016, reaching a peak of $390 million during the 2020 election year. It brought in $181 million in 2023, the last year for which records are available, and there is little doubt that it experienced another peak in funding in 2024.

Data source: The Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 990 reports filed with the IRS, cataloged by ProPublica

With that money comes influence through lobbying and funding left-wing candidates and causes. Amy Kurtz, the president of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, wrote in a 2021 editorial that, while the fund spent more across the board, its “largest increase was in voting mobilization,” targeting “communities of color and among traditionally disenfranchised people” out of the belief that they are more likely to support Democrats and progressive causes.

The fund also spent nearly $44 million on state-level progressive political groups in 2020. That amount included $9.5 million spent on North Carolina-based groups, the most of any state.

A conduit of foreign money for influencing American politics

The Sixteen Thirty Fund also funnels foreign money to influence American politics. Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, testified before a congressional committee on how Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss used organizations like Sixteen Thirty to “pump almost half a billion dollars into the U.S. political system”:

So, how exactly, in his own words, does he exert an influence? According to the New York Times, Mr. Wyss’ “political activism is channeled through a daisy chain of opaque organizations that mask the ultimate recipients of his money.” The most opaque of those organizations is a little-known group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which according to Bloomberg, serves as “a [clearinghouse] for the left,” and has also received $243 million from Mr. Wyss. [Links added.]

Sutherland pointed out in her testimony that Wyss, who currently lives in Wyoming, once told a Swiss newspaper that he “never felt the need to become an American” despite living in the country for several decades. (Here is a video of Sutherland’s statement.)

While foreign money is critical for maintaining Sixteen Thirty’s power over progressive politics, it is also a potential weakness in states with effective bans on foreign money in local elections. Ohio was able to turn the tables on the fund’s foreign money arrangement in 2024:

In 2023, the Sixteen Thirty Fund spent more than $14 million bankrolling ballot issue campaigns in the state. That massive influx of foreign-tied cash prompted lawmakers to act, and in May of this year, Gov. Mike DeWine called them into a special session to ban foreign funding. …

Once Ohio’s foreign funding ban was enacted and went into effect, though, Sixteen Thirty Fund abruptly stopped spending in the state — a powerful admission that foreign funding taints the group’s entire operation.

Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Tennessee, and Wyoming have enacted similar bans on foreign funding of ballot measure campaigns so far in 2025.

Pushing out-of-state (and out-of-country) money in North Carolina

Every nonprofit organization, including 501(c)(4) organizations like the Sixteen Thirty Fund, must file 990 forms with the Internal Revenue Service. Eventually, those 990 forms become public, giving a glimpse of how those organizations spend their money.

A review of the Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 990s from 2013 through 2023 (the last available year) revealed that it has funneled over $12 million into organizations with North Carolina addresses.

Nevertheless, that $12 million is just a portion of the money the Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent in North Carolina. It does not include funds given to national organizations that operate in multiple states. Nor does it include funds sent through fake North Carolina groups like Piedmont Rising. While Piedmont Rising listed a Raleigh address on a form filed with the Secretary of State’s office, it was really an out-of-state conduit pumping Sixteen Thirty Fund money into North Carolina:

Piedmont Rising is a classic example of astroturf activism — a Philadelphia-based, DC-funded group created to elect Democrats in North Carolina, mostly by running attack ads on health care issues. …

In 2020, Piedmont Rising spent $1.2 million attacking Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who defeated Democrat Cal Cunningham by over 95,000 votes. Sixteen Thirty Fund gifted the group $7 million in 2020 and $1.75 million the year before — its entire budget for 2019. According to the group’s Form 990 filing, it has no employees, meaning it exists solely to spend Sixteen Thirty Fund’s money — a fact that isn’t disclosed anywhere on the group’s website.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 2020 990 form indicated that it sent $7,005,000 to Piedmont Rising at 1401 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund does not use its funds just for candidate races. It has spent over $100 million on ballot measures since 2016, including $3.5 million opposing six North Carolina constitutional amendments in 2018. Despite that, North Carolina voters approved four of those amendments, including voter ID.

After the stinging rebuke of President Trump’s reelection, we can expect the Sixteen Thirty Fund to redouble its efforts to push North Carolina and the rest of the nation leftward. Will North Carolinians be able to continue largely resisting them and their out-of-state money?

The post The Sixteen Thirty Fund: a conduit of outside money into North Carolina politics first appeared on John Locke Foundation.