By Greg Sarber
This article was originally published in “Seward’s Folly,” the author’s personal Substack, June 30, 2026.
NGOs have gotten involved in politics here in Alaska, and most voters do not understand what they are or how they try to influence you. I had personal contact with one last week when a representative of an Anchorage NGO visited me at my home. The woman was attacking Senator Dan Sullivan, and after the visit, I was wondering how it was legal for a non-profit to be politically active, so I dug a little deeper. Here is what I found.
First, you have to understand what a Non-Governmental Organization is and the rules that govern them to determine if they are doing something that might be improper.
NGOs go back to the original creation of the income tax in the Revenue Acts of 1913 and 1916. In addition to establishing the income tax for working Americans, those acts exempted certain organizations from paying tax by created two types of NGOs: 501(c)(3) charities, which focus on religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purposes, and 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations focusing on serving the broader community, such as chambers of commerce or business leagues. Most churches are organized as (c)(3)s; the American Red Cross is an example of a typical (c)(4).
The big difference between the two types of NGO is that donations to (c)(3) organizations are tax-deductible, but (c)(3)s are not supposed to get involved in political activity. Donations to (c)(4) organizations are not tax-deductible, but (c)(4) organizations are permitted to engage in limited political activity, as long as that is not their primary purpose. The IRS has never defined what “primary purpose” means, and since there are big financial advantages to operating with tax-exempt status, many political organizations push the limits of legality in an attempt to skirt campaign finance laws.
Besides operating tax-free, another big financial advantage is that, unlike Political Action Committees or individual political campaigns, which make monthly reports of the names and addresses of their donors to the FEC, 501(c)(4)s do not have to report who their donors are to the FEC or IRS. A (c)(4) NGO only files IRS Form 990 once a year, and it contains no such disclosure requirement. This creates the dark money funding path. One example is as follows;
A Wealthy donor gives money to -> NGO #1, which is a c3 charity.
NGO #1 donates money to -> NGO #2, which is a c4 political organization.
NGO #2 discloses NGO #1 as its donor on their annual 990 report to the IRS.
NGO #2 makes political actions aligned with the wealthy donor who remains anonymous, circumventing campaign laws, and getting a tax write-off for doing so.
In the example shown above, the IRS Form 990 for NGO #2 would not show the wealthy donor who was the source of their funding. This allows influential people or organizations to use 501(c)(4)s to funnel large sums of money anonymously to fund political objectives they favor. This lack of clarity is why the money spent by NGOs is called dark money; it is literally untraceable.
You might be wondering what the money trail is for the political activist who visited my front door last week. When asked, she told me that she works for the 907 Initiative, located in Anchorage, which is a 501(c)(4) organization that supports left-wing politics in Alaska. You can visit their website here.
The 907 Initiative reports on its IRS 990 Form that its most recent funding comes from grants provided by the three other NGOs. Those NGOs are as follows;
The Tides Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) pass-through organization that funds other non-profit NGOs. The Tides Foundation is understood to receive its funding from George Soros.
NEO Philanthropy, which is also a 501(c)(3) pass-through organization that funds local groups favorable to left-wing causes. It also receives funding from George Soros, along with left-of-center organizations like the MacArthur Foundation, the Gill Foundation, the Pew Trusts, and the Carnegie Corporation.
The Western Futures Fund – is a 501(c)(4) and is also a pass-through organization that funds left-of-center groups. They receive their funding from Arabella Advisors Network, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, Warren Buffett, and, of course, George Soros again.
So, the bottom line to all of this is that when I was visited by the young political activist last week, she wasn’t just some friendly liberal from my local community. She was a paid political operative who was the tip of the spear in a huge lobbying organization funded by very wealthy individuals living outside Alaska. Some are not even citizens of this country. These individuals do not have our best interests at heart. They are attempting to steal an election for Democrat Mary Peltola, and by doing so, advance left-wing politics back in Washington DC. Meaning Mary Peltola is the beneficiary of a despicable left-wing political machine trying to corrupt politics in Alaska.
The 907 Initiative is skirting legality under current law by supporting the Peltola campaign, and is certainly operating in an unethical manner. Don’t be fooled if they arrive at your door and attempt to sway you while pushing the political agenda of left-wing ideologues like George Soros.
Greg Sarber is a lifelong Alaskan. He is a petroleum engineer who spent his career working on Alaska’s North Slope. Now retired, he lives with his family in Homer, Alaska. Greg is a former board member of Alaska Gold Communications, Inc., the publisher of Must Read Alaska.
