Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
Name	Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
Former name	Matan B'Seter Foundation
Founded	Certificate of incorporation (1999-11-24, New Jersey  |  local copy)
Operational	2001
Cofounders	David Gelbaum Andrew Jay Shechtel C. Frederick "Fred/Freddy" Taylor John Reid Taylor  |  local copy, 2021-08-31  |  John Reid Taylor William Myles Taylor
President	John Reid Taylor  |  local copy, 2021-08-31  |  Managing Partner, Wellspring Advisors
Vice-President	William Myles Taylor
Executives	William Myles Taylor, Vice President Jeanne Haws, Chief Operating Officer Jackie Williams Kaye, Chief Learning & Evaluation Officer
Initiative of	Wellspring Philanthropies
Managed by	Wellspring Advisors
Type	501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
EIN (Tax ID)	22-3692921
Location	New York, New York, USA
Key staff	Joyce Malombe, Senior Program Officer, International Children's Education Rebecca Fox, Senior Program Officer, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Program Lesley Carson, Director, International Human Rights Program; board member, SAGE Fund Cassandra McKee, Program Officer Laura Katzive, Senior Program Officer Ilona Prucha, Program Officer Jodeen Olguin-Tayler, Program Officer  |  local copy, 2021-08-31
Revenue	2019: $305,752,749 2018: $289,224,841 2017: $253,505,642 2016: $216,332,067 2015: $193,040,139
Expenses	2019: $281,520,924 2018: $257,887,586 2017: $205,480,974 2016: $217,150,420 2015: $203,678,000
Assets	2019: $105,641,216 2018: $79,227,350 2017: $47,890,095 2016: $5,505,562 2015: $6,323,915
Description	"The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund opened its doors in 2001 with a mission to effectively and strategically improve the realization of human rights and social and economic justice for all people."
Known for	Secrecy (dark money) Large-scale funding: 100s of million dollars
Associations	Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP)  |  local copy, 2021-08-31 Left-of-center voter engagement Connections to the left SAGE fund
Affiliations	Wellspring Advisors (for-profit organization)
Website	WPFund.org/

Historical Background

Edward Oakley "Ed" Thorp

Princeton Newport Partners was founded in 1969 by mathematics genius Edward Oakley "Ed" Thorp, best known for developing sophisticated card-counting gambling techniques using probability theory - a skill he put to use in the stock market.  [source]

Edward Oakley "Ed" Thorp (born August 14, 1932; personal webpage) is an American mathematics professor who developed and applied effective hedge fund techniques in the financial markets. Since the late 1960s, Edward Thorp has used his knowledge of probability and statistics in the stock market by discovering and exploiting a number of pricing anomalies in the securities markets and has made a significant fortune.

Princeton Newport Partners

Convertible Hedge Associates was an early alternative investment management company founded by Edward O. Thorp and a partner, Jay Regan, in November 1969. Based in Long Beach, California, Convertible Hedge Associates was said by Thorp to have been the first market-neutral hedge fund. In 1974 it was renamed as Andrew Shechtel: Princeton Newport Partners.

Founded in 1974, Princeton Newport Partners was stated by its founder - mathematics professor Edward O. Thorp - to be the world's first market neutral hedge fund. Princeton Newport Partners was a pioneer in quantitative trading techniques, profiting from mispricings in derivatives, and later statistical arbitrage, which involved trading a large number of stocks for short-term returns. Princeton Newport Partners achieved an annualized rate of return of 20 percent after fees for over two decades, without a single down quarter, until becoming embroiled in the junk bond schemes of Michael Milken's circle at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Thorp and other principals at Princeton Newport Partners were eventually cleared of wrongdoing, but the financial burdens imposed by the ensuing Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act investigation forced Princeton Newport Partners to liquidate. Edward Thorp's circle of associates later regrouped as TGS Management, with focus on statistical arbitrage.

Edward Thorp's first hedge fund was Princeton Newport Partners, which operated from 1969 to 1989, and was based on market neutral derivatives hedging. Princeton Newport Partners, one of the first investment firms to use mathematical formulas to price stocks and derivatives.

Princeton Newport Partners was liquidated in 1989, following an investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and the indictment of its five partners on racketeering and tax-fraud charges. An appellate court later overturned the executives' convictions; however, the financial burdens imposed by the RICO investigation forced the liquidation of Princeton Newport Partners. Edward Thorp's circle of associates later regrouped as the TGS Management Company, with focus on statistical arbitrage.

TGS Management Company, LLC

In June 2017, a report in the school-run business paper Princeton Info identified TGS Management Company, LLC  [company website] (TGS) as the "secretive successor" to the failed firm Princeton Newport Partners.

Under RICO law federal prosecutors had the power to seize the assets of Princeton Newport Partners. So after the raid the firm was dissolved and several of the traders who had not been charged created their own hedge firm, which to this day operates in the former Princeton Newport Partners space at 33 Witherspoon Street [Princeton, New Jersey], with a computer operation based in California.

That firm is called TGS, named after partners C. Frederick Taylor, a Haverford College alumnus; David Gelbaum, a mathematics major from the University of California-Irvine and one of Ed Thorp's earliest hires; and Andrew Jay Shechtel, who had been a trader in the Princeton, New Jersey office when the federal raid occurred.

"TGS" is reportedly an acronym named for Wellspring cofounders C. Frederick Taylor, David Gelbaum, and Andrew Jay Shechtel. [None of the three men were charged with crimes following federal RICO raids on Princeton Newport Partners.] C. Frederick Taylor is listed as a cofounder of TGS.

TGS Management: A "Byzantine" Network

Sometime in or around 2000 Wellspring's founders created what Philanthropy News Digest  [a daily news service of the Foundation Center, which in 2019 merged with GuideStar to form a new organization, Candid]  characterized  [local copy] as a "byzantine" (i.e., labyrinthine) network involving "layers of company subsidiaries" in various states which allowed them to "disguise" their donations and "avoid almost all public scrutiny of their activities." The network [TGS Management] and its donors remained mostly hidden from public view until exposed by a May 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek report: "The $13 Billion Mystery Angels"  [local copy].

David Gelbaum retired from TGS Management Company in or around 2014, leaving Andrew Jay Shechtel and C. Frederick Taylor to manage it. David Gelbaum and his wife reportedly ceased their philanthropic giving in 2013. According to Gelbaum's lawyer - as reported by the Algemeiner Journal - David Gelbaum "lost more than he thought he could possibly lose" during the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

Background

The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, formerly known as the Matan B'Seter Foundation, was created in 2001 as part of an elaborate and secretive network of grantmaking organizations funded by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Jay Shechtel,   David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor. Philanthropy News Digest described their intent as to "disguise" donations and "avoid almost all public scrutiny." "Matan B'Seter" is a Hebrew phrase meaning "anonymous gift."

According to its articles of incorporation  [local copy], the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund was incorporated in 1999 in Roseland, New Jersey as the "Matan B'Seter Foundation," a 501(c)(3) private foundation (though the group considers its formation year 2001). In 2016, the group adopted its current name, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

From the start, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund was one arm of an elaborate and secretive network of corporations and charities funded by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Jay Shechtel,   David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor. "Matan B'Seter" is a Hebrew phrase meaning "anonymous gift," according to the Algemeiner Journal, a journal serving the Jewish community. The Algemeiner Journal noted at least two of the three billionaires (Gelbaum and Shechtel) are Jewish, and that other subsidiaries within their network (such as one named "Shekel Funding") bore "Hebrew or Israeli-related names."

The three men were partners in the hedge fund TGS Management Company, LLC;   C. Frederick Taylor is specifically listed as the firm's co-founder beginning in 1989. Sometime in or around 2000 they created what Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a "byzantine" network involving "layers of company subsidiaries" in various states which allowed them to "disguise" their donations and "avoid almost all public scrutiny of their activities."

The individual hedge fund billionaire most closely affiliated with the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund / Matan B'Seter arm of the network is C. Frederick Taylor, a committed donor to Democratic Party politicians and causes.

The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and its donors remained mostly hidden from public view, until exposed by a May 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek report: "The $13 Billion Mystery Angels"  [local copy]. At the time of this report the total assets of the philanthropic entities within the network (of which Matan B'Seter was one arm) was valued at $9.7 billion. If the total network had been considered as a single foundation, it would have ranked as the fourth-largest, behind only the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Getty Foundation. A lawyer with expertise in the tax-exempt sector characterized the secretive nature of the funding network as in keeping with the letter of the law for charitable foundations, though perhaps not the spirit, saying "most of us who practice in the tax-exempt arena would regard setting up a private foundation as a full-disclosure vehicle."

According to Federal Election Commission records, Andrew Jay Shechtel has been a frequent donor to numerous Republican Party congressional candidates, such as a $2,500 donation toward the reelection of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the 2018 election cycle. The most active reported funding role by him in the philanthropic network was as a major supporter of medical research aimed at a cure for Huntington's disease.

Federal Election Commission records show that a "Fred Taylor" living in California and reporting the investment firm "TGS Management" as his employer is a reliable donor to Democratic Party candidates, giving $55,000 to the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012. Along with two of his brothers [John Reid Taylor;   Myles Taylor], https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama created Wellspring Advisors, which Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a "consulting firm for anonymous donors." Sometime after 2014 the name of the Matan B'Seter Foundation was changed to the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. And according to an announcement purportedly from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (preserved by the website of the Global Philanthropy Project), Wellspring Advisors "shifted to become Wellspring Philanthropic Fund" on January 1, 2018.

For most of 2001 through most of 2017 the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund / Matan B'Seter Foundation gave grants totaling nearly $900 million. The final recipients for $795 million (88.3 percent) of this funding are not known; through 2015, Wellspring gave nearly all annual grants to two of the nation's largest donor-advised fund providers that are not required to disclose how individual donors direct them to give the money away.

In 2017, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund began selectively donating directly to some organizations, allowing a window into its ideological priorities, and $28.5 million (11.6 percent of the 2017 total) was given to 56 left-of-center advocacy organizations. At least $4 million of these grants referenced voter engagement and outreach projects at left-of-center organizations such as NEO Philanthropy and New Venture Fund  [Arabella Advisors]. "DC Leaks," a group suspected by the United States Government of being a front for Russian intelligence,released a memo hacked from the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations in 2016 that portrays the Open Society Foundations as one participant in a $65.4 million left-of-center voter engagement effort that allegedly occurred prior to the 2012 election, with Wellspring as a $10 million contributor.

Criticism

In 2014, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund founders Andrew Jay Shechtel,   John Reid Taylor, and C. Frederick Taylor were criticized by a writer for Nonprofit Quarterly for "promoting enhanced charitable deductions" for major donors which otherwise would have been collected as tax dollars by the government. Nonprofit Quarterly also explained that that the founders have generally promoted greater deductions for donors to specific causes, such as "programs targeting rare diseases."

Founders: Overview

Andrew Jay Shechtel,   David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor are the founders of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund  (then Matan B'Seter Foundation). As of July 2019 the website of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund lists "John Taylor" as the group's president, "Myles Taylor" as its vice president, and identifies them as brothers who co-founded the fund in 2000. No mention was made of C. Frederick Taylor on the website's pages.

According to its latest filings with the District of Columbia, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is governed by a board consisting of president John Taylor, vice president William Myles Taylor, Raymond Eng, and Adam Barber  [local copy, 2021-09-01].

The three Taylors are listed as brothers in multiple online reports. Myles Taylor (full name William Myles Taylor) is called a "consultant" to Wellspring Advisors. John Reid Taylor is listed as a "Pennsylvania lawyer." C. Frederick Taylor (often called Frederick Taylor, or Fred Taylor) is identified as a hedge fund investor. C. Frederick Taylor is also an alumnus of Haverford College, in Pennsylvania.

Key Leaders

David Gelbaum, Cofounder

It was probably while teaching at the University of California, Irvine in the early 1970s that Edward Oakley Thorp met the first of Wellspring's three future founders, David Gelbaum (above). After graduating, Gelbaum joined Thorp's new hedge fund, along with two more future Wellspring founders: Andrew Jay Shechtel, and C. Frederick Taylor.  [source]

David Gelbaum (c. 1950 - September 2018) was an American businessman and primarily green technology investor and environmental philanthropist.

Beginning in 2002, David Gelbaum invested up to $500 million in clean-tech companies through his Quercus Trust, with a portfolio of businesses involved in nearly every aspect of the emerging green economy, be it renewable energy, smart electric grids, sustainable agriculture, electric cars or biological remediation of oil spills. David Gelbaum was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Entech Solar, a company he co-founded with Mark O'Neill.

David Gelbaum: Career

David Gelbaum was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the second of four sons. David Gelbaum studied at University of California, Berkeley and Humboldt State University in Northern California before graduating with a B.A. in mathematics from University of California, Irvine. After graduating, David Gelbaum worked for a math professor, Edward O. Thorp, whose theories led to the establishment of what became Princeton Newport Partners, one of the first investment firms to use mathematical formulas to price stocks and derivatives. Princeton Newport Partners collapsed in 1989, following the indictment of five executives in connection with a scheme to create illegal tax losses. Mr. Thorp and Mr. Gelbaum were not implicated, and an appellate court later overturned the other executives' convictions.

From 1972 to 1989, David Gelbaum worked at Princeton Newport Partners, performing quantitative modeling for stock price returns and derivative securities. David Gelbaum moved to TGS Management with a similar capacity until 2002.

David Gelbaum is an alumnus of the University of California, Irvine who was reportedly hired by hedge fund manager and blackjack researcher Edward O. Thorpe, author of the book Beat the Dealer, which proved that a casino's house advantage could be overcome by counting cards.

David Gelbaum investment focus was on the environmental technology and renewable energy industries having served on various public company boards in these industries, including the boards of Solar Enertech Corp.,  ThermoEnergy Corporation,  Clean Power Technologies,  Graphene Energy,  Advanced Hydro, Inc.,  Gravity Power,  Aerofarms, and Energy Focus, Inc.

David Gelbaum: Philanthropy

David Gelbaum gave $200 million to the Sierra Club, and $250 million to the Wildlands Conservancy - a land trust Gelbaum co-founded that has acquired and preserved 1,200 square miles of land in California, including more than a half million acres of the Mojave Desert. David Gelbaum notably gave $93 million to the American Civil Liberties Union. Some of his biggest donations, around $250 million, has gone to aid American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through a charity he founded, the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund (IADIF).

David Gelbaum signed the The Giving Pledge in 2013.

It was revealed in a Bloomberg exposé that David Gelbaum, along with two other partners of investment firm TGS Management, had quietly given over $13 billion to charitable causes over the previous two decades, using a web of trusts and private companies to hide their identities.

Andrew Jay Shechtel, Cofounder

Andrew Shechtel is a hedge fund manager and a co-founder of the major center-left funder Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (formerly "Matan B'Seter Foundation").

Andrew Shechtel: Early Life and Career

Andrew Shechtel: Princeton Newport Partners

Andrew Shechtel lived in 1975-1976, in Bowie, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States.  [source]

Andrew Jay Shechtel is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University  [local copy] and graduated with a degree in math and political economy at the age of 19. Shechtel attended Harvard Business School and reportedly "worked on Wall Street" and joined Princeton Newport Partners in the 1980s, an early investment management firm. Andrew Shechtel was an employee of the firm when it was raided in the 1990s by federal officials investigating alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Shechtel was not charged. The five partners of Princeton Newport Partners were "indicted on racketeering and tax-fraud charges," but all charges were eventually dropped.

Andrew Shechtel: TGS Management

The three founders of Wellspring were partners in the hedge fund TGS Management; C. Frederick Taylor is specifically listed as the firm's co-founder beginning in 1989. TGS is reportedly an acronym named for Wellspring founders Frederick Taylor, David Gelbaum, and Andrew Shechtel.

In June 2017, a report in the school-run business paper Princeton Info identified TGS as the "secretive successor" to the failed firm Princeton Newport Partners.

Andrew Shechtel: Personal Life and Philanthropy

A 2015 report in the school-run business paper Princeton Info noted that Andrew Shechtel and his wife, Raquel, live in New Jersey. In 2015, he was reportedly the 3rd-wealthiest resident of New Jersey, with an estimated net worth of $5 billion; during a "multi-year period," Shechtel gave away nearly $5 billion, leaving his resulting net worth at $125 million.

Shechtel's philanthropy is the Ricky and Andrew Jay Shechtel Philanthropic Fund, which largely funds the Jewish Community Youth Foundation, a project of the Jewish Family & Children's Service of Greater Mercer County (in New Jersey). The Shechtel Fund is maintained at the Jewish Communal Fund, a major donor-advised fund (DAF) provider.

C. Frederick Taylor, Cofounder

C. Frederick "Fred/Freddy" Taylor, Co-Founder, Partner, TGS Management Company LLC  [company website].  [Source]

C. Frederick "Fred/Freddy" Taylor reportedly worked at Princeton Newport Partners, until it was liquidated following an investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in the 1990s. It's unclear when Taylor worked for the company.

Fred Taylor founded a quant hedge fund with partners David Gelbaum and Andrew Jay Shechtel in 1989. Develops quantitative trading systems software. Founders have funneled billions to charity. Personally gives to human rights, education, Africa. Has been on Business Journal OC's Wealthiest list with estimated wealth of $1 billion. Offices in Irvine and Princeton, N.J.

John Reid Taylor, Cofounder, President

Wellspring's website lists John Taylor as president of the foundation and managing partner of Wellspring Advisors. A professional litigator from 1986 to 2000. He was a board member for a number of left-wing nonprofits, including the Planned Parenthood Foundation [Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.],  Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Lesbian & Gay Civil Rights Equality Advocates Pennsylvania (now Equality Pennsylvania, a Pennsylvania-based gay advocacy group)  [source]

John Reid Taylor (President) co-founded the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund in 2000 with his brother William Myles Taylor, and currently manages the New York City office.

Prior to Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, John Taylor was a litigator with the Philadelphia law firms of Dechert, Price & Rhoads (1986-1989) [now Dechert LLP], Berger Montague (1989-1997), and Sandals, Langer & Taylor, LLP (1997-2000) [now Sandals & Langer, LLP].

John Taylor has served on the boards of directors of the Center for Lesbian & Gay Civil Rights [now: Equality Advocates Pennsylvania  |  see also >> website >> Equality Pennsylvania], the Attic Youth Center, the Planned Parenthood Foundation [Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.],  Survivor Corps [formerly: Landmine Survivors Network], Human Rights Watch,  Haverford College, Nine Dots Learning Center [9 Dots  |  see also], and The Little Market. John Taylor has also served on the Steering Committee of the International Human Rights Funders Group [now: Human Rights Funders Network  |  internet archive snapshot, 2016-03-04], and the advisory committee of Peripheral Vision International  [webpage].

William Myles Taylor, Cofounder, Vice President

William Myles Taylor (Vice President) co-founded the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund in 2000 with his brother John Taylor, and currently manages the Washington, D.C., office.

Prior to Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, Myles Taylor worked for 20 years in Washington's commercial real estate industry. Myles Taylor has served on the boards of directors for the Audubon Society of the Mid-Atlantic, and the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, where he also served as president.

Jeanne Haws, Chief Operating Officer

Jeanne Haws provides (Chief Operating Officer) leadership and management of the administrative operations at the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, consisting of the legal, financial, human resources, internal/external communications, administrative, information technology, and grants management functions.

Prior to joining Wellspring Philanthropic Fund in April 2009, Jeanne Haws served for 3 years (2006-2009) as the Associate Dean for Operations at the Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. For 19 years prior to that, Jeanne Haws worked in various capacities at EngenderHealth, an international women's health organization, ending her tenure as Vice President for Operations.

In addition, Jeanne Haws served on the board of trustees of World Neighbors, in Oklahoma City, from 2000 to 2007 and was a board member of InsideNGO from 2005 to 2010 [in 2017 InsideNGO merged with LINGOs, and Mango to form Humentum]. Jeanne Haws joined Philanthropy New York in 2009; she was a board member from 2015-2021 (serving as Treasurer from 2018-2021), and was co-chair of its Foundation Administrator's Network in 2011.

Jackie Williams Kaye, Chief Learning & Evaluation Officer

Jackie Williams Kaye (Chief Learning & Evaluation Officer) joined the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund in October 2010. Jackie Williams Kaye currently supports Wellspring leadership, program staff, and grantees in implementing useful evaluation and research methodologies to inform and learn from grantmaking strategies.

Jackie Williams Kaye spent the first phase of her career as a researcher and program evaluator focused on public health, education, and other human service areas. In recent years, Jackie Williams Kaye has helped lead an effort within philanthropy to improve evaluation of the effectiveness of advocacy and policy change work.

Prior to joining Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, Jackie Williams Kaye spent 10 years integrating evaluation and learning into grantmaking at The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and then at The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Board of Trustees

The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's articles of incorporation from 1999 list three Trustees: Allen B. Levithan, George J. Mazin, and Kenneth J. Slutsky [Partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLP].

• Allen B. Levithan, the incorporator, is faculty with Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. Allen B. Levithan is also listed as Of Counsel for the law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP.  [Update: deceased, 2019.]

• George J. Mazin is a retired partner with Dechert LLP, an investment management firm.

• Kenneth J. Slutsky  [local copy, 2021-09-01] is a New Jersey-based partner with Lowenstein Sandler LLP, a law firm that filed Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's initial articles of incorporation.  |  Kenneth J. Slutsky is also the President and Treasurer of the CHDI Foundation, a United States-based non-profit biomedical foundation that aims to "rapidly discover and develop drugs that delay or slow the progression of Huntington's disease",[4] a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline.

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's most recent Internal Revenue Service filing covering 2017 lists Allen Levithan and Kenneth Slutsky as Trustees, as well as John L. Berger  [local copy, 2021-09-01]. John Berger is a New Jersey-based Partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLP.

Adam Barber  [local copy, 2021-09-01] was Controller of Wellspring Advisors, the for-profit firm associated with the foundation, from 2010 to 2017. Adam Barber is a financial analyst who previously worked for the David Lynch Foundation and Deloitte & Touche, among others.

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Key Staff

As of August 2019, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund has approximately 68 staffers, advisers, and consultants. Employee profiles strongly suggest that Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the foundation, shares staffers with its associated for-profit consulting firm, Wellspring Advisors. Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's Internal Revenue Service filing for 2017 reports paying nothing ($0) in employee salaries, benefits, or other compensation.

In addition, Wellspring has posted a number of positions stressing "social justice, including racial and gender equity as an organizational operating principle," as qualifications.

Ilona Prucha  [local copy, 2021-08-31] is a senior program officer for Wellspring. Prior to that, she was a program associate for Wellspring beginning in 2009 and was a U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate staffer.

Laura Katzive  [local copy, 2021-08-31] is a senior program officer for Wellspring, and has worked for the foundation since 2010. Prior to that, Katzive was a staffer for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a left-wing abortion advocacy group, from 1999 to 2010.

Cassandra McKee  [local copy, 2021-08-31] is a Wellspring Program Officer, a position she has held since 2014. From 2012 to 2014, McKee was managing director of Fair Share, a left-wing advocacy group. From 2002 to 2012, she was a senior staffer for the advocacy group USAction. In 1997-1998, McKee was a staffer for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG).

Lesley Carson  [local copy, 2021-08-31] is Director of Wellspring's International Human Rights Program. Carson is a former co-chair of the left-wing Human Rights Funders Network, founder of the advocacy training group Forefront, advisory board member for the SAGE Fund (a project of the New Venture Fund - itself incubated by and affiliated with Arabella Advisors), an ex-staffer for Amnesty International, and an ex-staffer for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Lesley Carson, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund; Advisory Board, SAGE Fund.  [Source]

Rebecca Fox  [local copy, 2021-08-31] is a Senior Program Officer for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) program at Wellspring. Fox is a board member for Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, a left-wing grantmaking group. She is an alumnus of the Selah program at Bend the Arc, a left-of-center Jewish funding group.

Joyce Malombe  [local copy, 2021-08-31] is a Senior Program Officer for Wellspring's International Children's Education program, a position she's held since 2012. Prior to that, she was an independent nonprofit development consultant. She also worked for the Ford Foundation, the ELMA Foundation, and World Bank. Joyce Malombe is a member of the advisory board for the Education Support program of George Soros'   Open Society Foundations.

Affiliations & Associations

Wellspring Advisors

Contemporaneous with the creation of Matan B'Seter, Taylor and two of his brothers established Wellspring Advisors, which Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a "consulting firm for anonymous donors." For most of 2001 through most of 2017 Wellspring Advisors received $124.2 million in fees from the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (a.k.a. Matan B'Seter), 13 percent of total contributions put into the fund during that period. In January 2018, Wellspring Advisors became an arm of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

Wellspring Advisors
Source
Founded	2001
Location	New York, New York, USA
Type	For profit Limited liability company (LLC)
Manages	Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (client)
Key staff	Managing Partner: John Reid Taylor Cofounder: Andrew Jay Shechtel (TGS Management Company, LLC) Senior Program Officer, International Children's Education: Joyce Malombe Program Officer: Rebecca Fox

Wellspring Advisors is a for-profit limited liability company (LLC) created to manage Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a major center-left funding nonprofit. It's been described by Philanthropy News Digest as a "consulting firm for anonymous donors." The company has also been described as a "private philanthropic advisory firm."

Wellspring Advisors was created in Delaware in May 2001; its closely associated private foundation, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, was incorporated in New Jersey in in 1999 (though the group considers its formation year 2001).

Relationship with Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

According to its Internal Revenue Service filing for 2016, Wellspring Advisors:

... provides operational, programmatic, administrative and grantmaking support to the foundation Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. Wellspring Advisors administers the foundation's grantmaking program and interfaces with the foundation's donor-advised fund grantees ... Wellspring staff members develop the foundation's grantmaking strategy and programs, research potential recipients of advised grants from the foundation's donor-advised fund accounts, and monitor the usage of grants advised by the foundation through its donor-advised fund accounts and performance of such grantees. Wellspring also manages and supports capacity building, convenings and other similar activities to support the effectiveness of the donor-advised fund grantees.

Wellspring Advisors: Funding

Wellspring Advisors: Payments from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

From 2001 to 2017, Wellspring Advisors received approximately $142 million in contractor fees from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (a.k.a. Matan B'Seter Foundation). In January 2018, Wellspring Advisors became an arm of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

Payments to Wellspring Advisors
Source
2017	$18,954,000
2016	$18,450,385
2015	$16,078,000
2014	$15,522,000
2013	$13,886,000
2012	$12,988,000
2011	$11,433,854
2010	$8,182,396
2009	$7,830,000
2008	$5,354,167
2007	$4,108,333
2006	$3,409,302
2005	$2,103,656
2004	$1,816,534
2003	$1,232,944
2002	$880,519
2001	$426,241
Total	$142,656,331

Wellspring Advisors: Leadership

John Reid Taylor is the managing partner of Wellspring Advisors and founder of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. Business profiles online suggest Taylor previously worked for Berger & Montague P.C. from 1989-1997 and as a litigator for Dechert LLP from 1986 to 1989.

Wellspring Advisors: Board of Directors

According to filings with the District of Columbia, Wellspring Advisors is managed by four Governors: Adam Barber  [local copy, 2021-09-01], John Reid Taylor,  William Myles Taylor, and Raymond Eng.

• Based on location and expertise, "Raymond Eng" perhaps is Dr. Raymond Eng, an advisor to the Academic Team   [local copy, 2021-09-01] at High Technology High School  [faculty page  |  see also].


Dr. Raymond Eng  [source]

• [AMStat.org, 2011-02-01] Contest Helps High-School Students Find Solutions to Real-World Issues  |  local copy]

Wellspring Advisors: Key Staff

Employee profiles strongly suggest that the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the foundation, shares staffers with its associated for-profit consulting firm, Wellspring Advisors.  Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's Internal Revenue Service filing for 2017 reports paying nothing ($0) in employee salaries, benefits, or other compensation. As of August 2019, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund has approximately 68 staffers, advisers, and consultants.

Funders Committee for Civic Participation

In addition, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is a member of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation  [local copy] (a project of the pass-through funder NEO Philanthropy), a donors' roundtable for major left-wing funders interested in affecting the 2020 United States census, redistricting efforts, and get-out-the-vote activities.

Left-of-Center Voter Engagement

During August 2016 DC Leaks, a hacker organization widely assumed to have been a project of a Russian intelligence agency, released a trove of documents from the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations (OSG). One of the documents is a memo to George Soros and his Open Society Foundations "U.S. Programs Board" from [now former] Service Employees International Union president Andrew L. "Andy" Stern [current President, 2021-09-01, Mary Kay Henry), and Deepak Bhargava, executive director [2012-2018] of the Center for Community Change.

The eight-page memo  [local copy], titled "New Thinking on 2012 Election and Beyond," refers to a $65.4 million effort to dramatically increase voter turnout (what the document refers to with terms such as "voter engagement" and "civic engagement") among groups the two men argue will strongly support left-of-center policies. The purpose of this project proposal is identified with phrases such as "creating a long-term independent political force that can hold elected leaders of all parties accountable to open society values and priorities both before and after Election Day."

The project is presented as an ongoing collaboration of eight large left-of-center organizational donors, including Open Society Foundations (OSG), Wellspring Advisors, the Ford Foundation, Carnegie (likely the Carnegie Corporation of New York), the Stoneman Foundation (possibly the Stoneman Family Foundation), the Democracy Alliance [seeks to increase voter engagement among people of color, women, and young people], and the Committee on States. In the memo, Andy Stern and Deepak Bhargava ask George Soros and his board to increase their contribution from $7.3 million to $16.3 million.

The anticipated contribution from Wellspring Advisors to the project is listed at $10 million. (This is presumably meant as a reference to what was then the Matan B'Seter Foundation, then paying Wellspring Advisors millions of dollars each year to manage the giving hidden behind donor-advised funds). The memo also reports on a 2011 collaboration between the Open Society Foundations and Wellspring involving "highest quality voter lists" that had achieved a "tremendous, positive impact" in the realm of "voter engagement," "voter registration," and "getting out the vote in the all-important 2012 election" [2012 United States elections].

[Source]

The involvement of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (a.k.a. Matan B'Seter Foundation) in these 2011 and 2012 projects cannot be verified because of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's habit of concealing donations behind donor-advised funds. However, subsequent and specific late-2016 and 2017 grants reported by Wellspring Philanthropic Fund to the Internal Revenue Service reveal millions of dollars donated to left-of-center advocacy organizations for "voter engagement" and related areas.

Some of the larger examples included:

Connections to the Left

Representatives from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund have appeared at various events and functions alongside representatives from other major left-of-center foundations. In February 2018, Wellspring Program Director Dr. Michael Gibbons  [Scholar in Residence at the School of Education for 2020-2022 at American University  |  local copy, 2021-09-02] spoke at an event hosted by the Global Partnership for Education in Dakar, Senegal alongside George Soros' Open Society Foundations, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

At least one Wellspring program associate, Caroline Brazill  [in 2017: Program Assistant, Atrocities Prevention & Response Program, Wellspring Advisors, LLC   source  |  position description  |  local copy  |  American University alumnus  |  local copy], has facilitated workshops for the Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG), a donors collaborative associated with the left-wing   501(c)(3) foundation that pools contributions from individuals, families and foundations." href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploughshares_Fund">Ploughshares Fund.

Funding

Financial Overview

Internal Revenue Service records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B'Seter Foundation) show all new money put into the fund coming from five corporate sources:

• Twenty-One Holdings, LLC, c/o Lowenstein Sandler LLP. Twenty-One Holdings, LLC company Number: 5081539  |  Incorporation date: 2011-12-16  |  Company type: limited liability company  |  Jurisdiction: Delaware, USA. Note: one of numerous variations of this company (multiple states, jurisdictions ...).

• Rubik Enterprises, LLC, c/o Lowenstein Sandler LLP

• BLTN Holdings, LLC, c/o Lowenstein Sandler LLP

• Shackleton Company, and

• MBS Funding.


Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Revenues and Grants (2001-2017)
[Source: Capital Research Center  (Issue 7, 2019, pp. 19-24)  |  local copy (pp. 19-24 extracted).]

[From the article cited in the graphic caption, above]

... Since 2001, all of the $1.2 billion in contributions to Wellspring Philanthropic Fund have come from five privately held limited liability companies (LLC) with obscure names like BLTN Holdings, and MBS Funding.

Between 2001 and 2017, Wellspring's contributions grew from nearly $2.1 million to $254 million - an annual increase of 12,000 percent in 16 years.

Almost no information about these LLCs is publicly available. From 2001 to 2017, they consistently gave Wellspring large sums of cash. In 2011 BLTN Holdings donated a whopping $32 million in New York Stock Exchange-listed equity securities and in 2017 gave it another $9.4 million in Facebook and Netflix shares.

It's a reasonable assumption that these five companies are shell corporations created to mask the identities of Wellspring's true contributors - Andrew Jay Shechtel, Taylor, and David Gelbaum - since the companies were formed in Roseland [New Jersey] around the same time as Wellspring itself. None appear to have any websites or employees. This also means it's impossible to determine how much each of the men gave to Wellspring.

Complicating things further, prior to 2017 Wellspring only made grants through donor-advised fund (DAF) providers - specifically two associated with major investment firms, Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund  ["Fidelity Charitable"], and Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program. (Fidelity Charitable is the largest DAF provider in the United States.)

A DAF is a kind of charitable savings account run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donors - individuals, for-profits, or other nonprofits - gift money to the provider, which manages the funds until directed by the donor to grant it to another 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It's a useful tool for many modest philanthropists to maximize their charity, with the added benefit of withholding their identity from public disclosure, since the money passes through a third party (the provider). Donor-advised funds have been criticized - particularly by those on the Left - as the "black boxes of philanthropy."

If that's true, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is the ultimate "dark money" machine in America. ...

Media reports regarding Wellspring Advisors, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the close connection of both with C. Frederick Taylor raise the strong suspicion that Frederick Taylor is the main donor behind the five entities that have contributed to Wellspring / Matan B'Seter.

Wellspring's Donors

The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's list of donors from 2001 to 2017 is available below.

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Grantors (2001-2017).
a Indicates non-cash gift
	BLTN Holdings	MBS Funding	Shackelton Company	Rubik Enterprises	Twenty-One Holdings	Annual Total
2017	$9,352,027	---	---	$118,126,414	$118,126,414	$245,604,855
2016	$10,000,000	---	---	$103,063,173	$103,063,173	$216,126,346
2015	$10,000,000	---	---	$91,517,907	$91,517,902	$193,035,809
2014	$12,000,000	---	---	$86,501,255	---	$98,501,255
2013	$10,000,000	---	---	$78,926,839	---	$88,926,839
2012	---	---	---	$72,782,818	---	$72,782,818
2011	$31,770,900 a	---	$90,000,000	---	---	$121,770,900
2010	---	---	$75,000,000	---	---	$75,000,000
2009	---	---	---	---	---	---
2008	---	$35,000,000	---	---	---	$35,000,000
2007	---	---	---	---	---	---
2006	---	---	---	---	---	---
2005	$34,500,000	---	---	---	---	$34,500,000
2004	$4,500,000	---	---	---	---	$4,500,000
2003	---	---	---	---	---	---
2002	$13,897,000	---	---	---	---	$13,897,000
2001	---	---	---	---	---	---
Total	$136,019,927	$35,000,000	$165,000,000	$550,918,406	$312,707,489
Grand Total:						$1,199,645,822

Nonprofit Information

The following charts Wellspring's total revenues, total expenditures, grants paid, and net assets for the years 2001 to 2019:

Table 1. Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Financial Overview
a Payments to Wellspring Advisors. IRS records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B'Seter Foundation)    show the consulting firm Wellspring Advisors receiving $142 million in fees from the foundation. For more information, see Wellspring Advisors.
b Consulting fee payments from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund to Wellspring Advisors have either either substantially decreased in 2018 and 2019, or are reported differently than in previous years.    Prior to 2018, the amounts entered at line 16c in Form 990-PF matched most or all of the amount given to Wellspring Advisors (based on descriptions elsewhere in those forms).    While line 16c amounts remain substantial in 2018 ($6,531,977) and 2019 ($7,127,140), those amounts can no longer be interpreted as payments to Wellspring Advisors.
c Includes $3.7 million to the Proteus Fund, a donor-advised fund (DAF).
Sources: InfluenceWatch.org  |  Nonprofit Explorer (ProPublica.org).
				Grants to Donor-Advised Funds:
Year	Revenues	Expenditures	Net Assets	Payments to Wellspring Advisors a, b	Fidelity Charitable	Vanguard Charitable	Grants Paid Annual Total	% of Total Annual Grants
2019	$305,752,749	$281,520,924	$105,641,216	---	$22,650,000	$20,000	$253,591,986	9%
2018	$289,224,841	$257,887,586	$79,227,350	$556,883	$46,406,837	---	$236,057,307	20%
2017	$253,505,642	$205,480,974	$47,890,095	$18,954,000	$79,400,000	---	$184,054,917	53%
2016	$216,332,067	$217,150,420	$5,505,562	$18,450,385	$83,690,000	$111,310,000	$198,700,000 c	100%
2015	$193,040,139	$203,678,000	$6,323,915	$16,078,000	$126,000,000	$61,600,000	$187,600,000	100%
2014	$98,524,149	$90,522,915	$16,961,776	$15,522,000	$60,000,000	$15,000,000	$75,000,000	100%
2013	$88,945,627	$83,886,070	$8,960,542	$13,886,000	$42,000,000	$28,000,000	$70,000,000	100%
2012	$72,786,294	$77,488,000	$3,900,985	$12,988,000	$29,500,000	$35,000,000	$64,500,000	100%
2011	$90,003,223	$146,079,554	$8,602,691	$11,433,854	---	$134,645,700	$134,645,700	100%
2010	$74,963,792	$54,882,396	$32,033,322	$8,182,396	---	$46,700,000	$46,700,000	100%
2009	$159,398	$34,080,000	$11,951,926	$7,830,000	---	$26,250,000	$26,250,000	100%
2008	$36,280,391	$30,387,772	$45,972,063	$5,354,167	---	$25,000,000	$25,000,000	100%
2007	$2,430,169	$51,523,375	$40,079,444	$4,108,333	---	$47,415,000	$47,415,000	100%
2006	$2,651,950	$3,441,050	$56,816,903	$3,409,302	---	---	$0	---
2005	$36,312,706	$17,227,977	$57,856,168	$2,103,656	---	$15,000,000	$15,000,000	100%
2004	$5,082,303	$1,964,967	$38,771,439	$1,816,534	---	$140,000	$0	---
2003	$912,377	$15,141,671	$35,851,463	$1,232,944	$10,407,600	$3,398,400	$13,806,000	100%
2002	$1,461,700	$8,445,876	$36,274,757	$880,519	---	$7,500,000	$7,500,000	100%
2001	$2,077,964	$2,495,629	$43,258,933	$426,241	---	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	100%
Total	$1,770,447,481	$1,783,285,156	---	$143,213,214	$500,054,437	$558,979,100

IRS Form 990-PF Filings

• 2019 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2018-12-01 ending 2019-11-30]
• 2018 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2017-12-01 ending 2018-11-30]
• 2017 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2016-12-01 ending 2017-11-30]
• 2016 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2015-12-01 ending 2016-11-30]
• 2015 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2014-12-01 ending 2015-11-30]
• 2014 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2013-12-01 ending 2014-11-30]
• 2013 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2012-12-01 ending 2013-11-30]
• 2012 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2011-12-01 ending 2012-11-30]
• 2011 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2010-12-01 ending 2011-11-30]
• 2010 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2009-12-01 ending 2010-11-30]
• 2009 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2008-12-01 ending 2009-11-30]
• 2008 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2007-12-01 ending 2008-11-30]
• 2007 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2006-12-01 ending 2007-11-30]
• 2006 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2005-12-01 ending 2006-11-30]
• 2005 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2004-12-01 ending 2005-11-30]
• 2004 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2003-12-01 ending 2004-11-30]
• 2003 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2002-12-01 ending 2003-11-30]
• 2002 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2001-12-01 ending 2002-11-30]
• 2001 Form 990-PF  |  local copy [starting 2000-12-01 ending 2001-11-30]

Payments to Wellspring Advisors

Internal Revenue Service records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B'Seter Foundation) show the consulting firm Wellspring Advisors receiving approximately $142 million in consulting fees from the foundation.

Hidden Donations

The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund has provided funding to a number of left-wing groups.

Wellspring is listed as a founding grantor to the Heartland Fund, an environmentalist donors collaborative and a project of the Windward Fund (managed by the for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors). Other Wellspring grant recipients include the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and the Wallace Global Fund  [another project of Arabella Advisors]. Wellspring is also a grantor to the left-leaning Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC); Wellspring co-funded PPIC's Research Collaborative Fund, alongside Pierre Omidyar's  Democracy Fund, and the Ford Foundation. PPIC's Research Collaborative Fund is a project of the Arabella Advisors-run New Venture Fund.

Wellspring is a funding member of Philanthropy Advancing Women's Human Rights (PAWHR), a project of the pass-through funder Proteus Fund. It's also funded the LGBTQ Poverty Initiative, a research and advocacy group.

For most of 2001 through most of 2017 the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B'Seter Foundation) gave grants totaling nearly $900 million, with 88.3 percent of this money - nearly $795 million - going to two recipients: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.

These very large donor-advised fund (DAF) provider invest the contributions they receive in accordance with the wishes of those giving the money. A DAF provider is not required to disclose how its donors directed the DAF to give the money away. As such the final recipients of nearly $795 million given away by Wellspring / Matan B'Seter are unknown. Prior to 2017, and with the single exception of a small in-kind gift in 2004, 100 percent what Wellspring / Matan B'Seter reports giving through 2015 - more than $715 million - was hidden behind transfers to the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, and Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program DAFs.

A listing Wellspring's grants to donor-advised fund providers from 2001-2017 is provided in Table 1, above.

2017 Grant Recipients

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund's tax returns covering late-2016 and most of 2017 show direct donations to some final recipients. However, this increase in transparency is only partial, as 32 percent ($79.4 million) of the $245.7 million granted during the period still went into the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund DAF.

Of the named grant recipients for 2017, at least $28.5 million (11.6 percent) was given to 56 left-of-center advocacy organizations.

2017 Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Grant Recipients
Grant Recipient	Amount
New Venture Fund	$6,796,500
Proteus Fund	$2,150,000
NEO Philanthropy	$2,120,000
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA)	$1,951,387
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice	$1,100,000
Analyst Institute	$1,000,000
Advocates for Youth (AFY)	$925,000
Borealis Philanthropy	$775,000
Every Child Matters Education Fund	$750,000
Alliance for Justice (AFJ)	$550,000
State Voices	$519,000
Faith In Action	$485,000
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)	$450,000
Demos	$450,000
Tides Foundation	$430,000
Center for Popular Democracy (CPD)	$420,000
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health	$400,000
Hopewell Fund	$381,875
Center for American Progress (CAP)	$370,000
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)	$350,000
Forward Together	$350,000
National Women's Law Center	$350,000
Center for Community Change (CCC)	$300,000
Coalition on Human Needs	$300,000
Tides Center	$300,000
Colorofchange.org Education Fund	$250,000
Community Catalyst	$250,000
MomsRising Education Fund	$250,000
Project On Government Oversight (POGO)	$250,000
Population Council	$220,000
American Constitution Society for Law and Policy	$200,000
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)	$200,000
Center for Public Integrity	$200,000
Groundswell Fund	$200,000
Public Citizen Foundation	$200,000
Ms. Foundation for Women/td>	$197,695
Campaign Legal Center	$150,000
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)	$150,000
Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis	$150,000
Government Accountability Project (GAP)	$150,000
Guttmacher Institute	$150,000
LGBTQ Victory Institute	$150,000
Bus Federation Civic Fund (i.e. Alliance for Youth Organizing)	$100,000
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)	$100,000
People's Action Institute	$100,000
Political Research Associates (PRA)	$100,000
Population Action International	$100,000
Protect Democracy Project (PDP)	$100,000
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility	$100,000
Ballot Initiative Strategy Center	$50,000
Chicken & Egg Pictures	$39,450
Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable	$25,000
Grand Total	$28,105,907

Donation Recipients

David Gelbaum - Funding - Sierra Club and Immigration

Immigration was historically among the most divisive issues within the Sierra Club. In 1996, after years of debate, the Sierra Club adopted a neutral position on immigration levels. As the club has shifted to the left over the years, this position was amended in 2013 to support "an equitable path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants".

Although the position of the Sierra Club has generally been favorable towards immigration, some critics of the Sierra Club have charged that the efforts of some club members to restrain immigration, are a continuation of aspects of human population control, and the eugenics movement. In 1969, the Sierra Club published Paul R. Ehrlich's book, The Population Bomb, in which he said that population growth was responsible for environmental decline and advocated coercive measures to reduce it. Some observers have argued that the book had a "racial dimension" in the tradition of the Eugenics movement, and that it "reiterated many of Osborn's   jeremiads."

During the 1980s, some Sierra Club members, including Paul Ehrlich's wife Anne Howland Ehrlich, wanted to take the Club into the contentious field of immigration to the United States. The club's position was that overpopulation was a significant factor in the degradation of the environment. Accordingly, the Club supported stabilizing and reducing U.S. and world population. Some members argued that, as a practical matter, U.S. population could not be stabilized, let alone reduced, at the then-current levels of immigration. They urged the club to support immigration reduction. The club had previously addressed the issue of "mass immigration", and in 1988, the organization's Population Committee and Conservation Coordinating Committee stated that immigration to the U.S. should be limited, so as to achieve population stabilization.

Other Sierra Club members thought that the immigration issue was too far from the club's core environmentalist mission, and were also concerned that involvement would impair the organization's political ability to pursue its other objectives. In the mid 1990s, the club began gradually stepping away from the immigration restrictionist position, culminating with the board adopting a neutral position on immigration policy in 1996. In 1998, 60.1% of Sierra Club voting members voted that the organization should remain neutral on America's immigration policies, while 39.2% supported a measure calling for stricter curbs on immigration to the United States.

After the 1996 board policy adoption, some members who were advocates of immigration reduction organized themselves as "SUSPS", a name originally derived from "Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization", which now stands for "Support U.S. Population Stabilization." SUSPS advocates a return to the Sierra Club's "traditional" (1970-1996) immigration policy stance. SUSPS has called for fully closing the borders of the United States, and for returning to immigration levels established by the Immigration Act of 1924, which includes strict ethnic quotas. David Brower also cited the club's position shift on immigration as one of the reasons for his resignation from the board in 2000. Supporters of immigration reduction within the club also charged that the board had abandoned the restrictionist position on immigration due to donations from investor David Gelbaum, who reportedly gave $200 million to the club between the mid 1990s and early 2000s and threatened Carl Pope in the mid 1990s to cease donations if they did not change their position on immigration adopted in 1988.

The controversy resurfaced when a group of three immigration reduction proponents ran in the 2004 Sierra Club Board of Directors election, hoping to move the club's position away from a neutral stance on immigration, and to restore the stance previously held. Groups outside of the Club became involved, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, and MoveOn. Of the three candidates, two (Frank Morris and David Pimentel), were on the board of the anti-immigration group Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America and two (Richard Lamm and Frank Morris) were on the board of directors or the board of advisors of the Federation for American Immigration Reform; both had also held leadership positions within the NAACP. Their candidacies were denounced by a fourth candidate, Morris Dees of the SPLC, as a "hostile takeover" attempt by "radical anti-immigrant activists." The immigration reduction proponents won 7% of all votes cast in the election. In 2005, members voted 102,455 to 19,898 against a proposed change to "recognize the need to adopt lower limits on migration to the United States."

With the increased number of progressive activists joining the club in recent years, the Sierra Club has dramatically shifted its stance on immigration further towards the affirmative. Today, the Sierra Club supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, opposes a border wall and works with immigrant groups to promote environmental justice.

David Gelbaum - Funding - Sierra Club and Immigration - Additional Reading

Since 1996, leaders of the Sierra Club have refused to admit that immigration driven, rapid U.S. population growth causes massive environmental problems. And they have refused to acknowledge the need to reduce U.S. immigration levels in order to stabilize the U.S. population and protect our natural resources. Their refusal to do what common sense says is best for the environment was a mystery for nearly a decade.

Then, on Oct. 27, 2004, the Los Angeles Times  [local copy] revealed the answer: David Gelbaum, a super rich donor, had demanded this position from the Sierra Club in return for huge donations. Kenneth Weiss, author of the LA Times article that broke the story, quoted what David Gelbaum said to Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope:

"I did tell Carl Pope in 1994 or 1995 that if they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never get a dollar from me."

In 1996 and again in 1998, the Club's leaders proved their loyalty to Gelbaum's position on immigration, first by enacting a policy of neutrality on immigration and then by aggressively opposing a referendum to overturn that policy. In 2000 and 2001, Gelbaum rewarded the Club with total donations to the Sierra Club Foundation exceeding $100 million. In 2004 and 2005, the Club's top leaders and management showed their gratitude for the donations by stifling dissent and vehemently opposing member efforts to enact an immigration reduction policy.

Mr. Gelbaum is entitled to restrict how his donations to the Sierra Club Foundation are spent. But he should NOT be permitted to influence how other members' dues or donations are spent or to dictate policy choices via the threat of withholding contributions. That is completely inappropriate.

Even worse, Sierra Club leaders accepted Gelbaum's conditions in secret and forced a modification of the Club's policy to conform to his wishes. Furthermore, Club leaders certainly shouldn't have misrepresented immigration reductionists as anti-immigrant or racist in order to guarantee Gelbaum's donations; there is nothing inherently racist or anti-immigrant about sustainable levels of immigration.

Worst of all, the U.S. population continues to grow by about 3 million people per year, of which nearly half are immigrants, and two-thirds of the growth is a result of immigration, if the children of immigrants are included. Our forests continue to be clearcut to provide construction materials, our groundwater is depleted to provide water for our growing population, we grow more and more dependent on foreign sources of oil, and we are unable to reduce our output of greenhouse gases, all thanks to our burgeoning population.

We don't like it when the oil, timber, coal, and nuclear power industries oppose environmental reform, yet we understand why they do it: for the love of money. Is it any better when the Sierra Club opposes environmental reform for the love of money?

Additional Reading

• [CapitalResearch.org, 2019-12-12] 1. An Ocean of "Dark Money" on the Left  |  local copy

• [CapitalResearch.org, 2019-12-12] 2. The Heart of "Dark Money"  |  local copy

• [CapitalResearch.org, 2019-12-12] 3. Wellspring Advisors"  |  local copy

• [CapitalResearch.org, 2019-12-12] 4. Dredging the Wellspring"  |  local copy

... Jay Regan is not your typical racketeer. And the arrest of him and four of his partners in Princeton Newport Partners, an investment trading firm at 33 Witherspoon Street [Princeton, New Jersey], was not the typical kind of case imagined when the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act became law in 1970. That 1987 raid, in which 50 armed federal agents stormed into Princeton Newport's offices, was blockbuster news at the time. The subsequent six-week trial in federal court in New York also put Regan and his codefendants in the headlines. And all that was topped off by a remarkable reversal in 1991, when a federal appeals court dropped charges and Regan and his colleagues were freed to get back to work or - more accurately - to rebuild a business that had been destroyed by the federal charges. ...

... The presence of mathematicians at Wall Street trading firms is a relatively recent phenomenon, and it can be traced back to single firm founded in 1969: Princeton Newport Partners. The spark came when a young man on Wall Street became interested in the work of a mathematician who had developed a system for beating blackjack and was using that system to pick stocks that would outperform the market averages. The mathematician is Ed Thorp, still active at age 84 and living in Newport, California. The Wall Street investor is Jay Regan, still active at age 74 and splitting his time between offices on Madison Avenue in Manhattan and Hulfish Street, overlooking the plaza in front of Mediterra in Princeton.

Princeton Newport Partners became the first quantitative hedge fund. Now there are hundreds of them, with computers armed to do split second research and execute lightning fast trades. ...


A system to beat the dealer at blackjack paved the way for Jay Regan's successful Princeton Newport Partners. Federal RICO charges brought the firm down, but after the convictions were thrown out, Regan got back to work - in for-profit and non-profit endeavors.  [Source]

Dr. and Mrs. David Kligman of Brooklyn have announced the engagement of their daughter Raquel Kligman to Andrew Jay Shechtel, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Shechtel of Bowie, MD. The wedding is planned for October [1984].

Miss Kligman, a vice president of Lory Roston Associates, a public- relations firm in New York, graduated from Barnard College. Her father is a family practitioner in Brooklyn, an investigator for the Chief Medical Examiner's Office of New York City and a medical inspector for the New York City Board of Education.

Mr. Shechtel is an investment banker in the new-product development group of Shearson Lehman / American Express in New York. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa  [local copy] , and received an M.B.A. degree from Harvard University. His father is a lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, where his mother, Rhoda Shechtel, is an environmental analyst with the Department of Energy.

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