By SUZANNE DOWNING
It should come as no surprise that Outside nonprofit groups have an oversized interest in controlling Alaska. With our vast oil reserves, strategic Arctic location, and undeniable influence on national resource policy, Alaska is prime real estate for those who want to push a political agenda. What is surprising, however, is just how tangled and well-financed these efforts have become.
An important new report from Defending Education reveals that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have funneled more than $40 million into progressive causes. Read about it at this Must Read Alaska report:
But that is just one corner of a much larger web. A sprawling network of “dark money” outfits are tied to Arabella Advisors, groups that include the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Hopewell Fund, the Telescope Fund, the Windward Fund, the Impetus Fund, and the North Fund. These nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors, yet they wield enormous power.
In 2022 alone, Arabella’s empire raised more than $1.3 billion, with money from megadonors like George Soros, Hansjörg Wyss, and Warren Buffett. The Sixteen Thirty Fund alone spent $141 million during the 2018 midterms to influence the Supreme Court, launch “grassroots” campaigns against Republicans, and bankroll ballot measures across the country. Arabella has become such a political juggernaut that even the Gates Foundation has recently distanced itself, even after having donated $450 million to Arabella-administered nonprofit funds over the past 16 years.
Alaska has become a proving ground for nonprofit activist groups. The Sixteen Thirty Fund poured $35,000 into “Building a Stronger Anchorage,” a failed bid to elect Forrest Dunbar as mayor.
In 2022, it teamed up with the NEA to spend $1.4 million opposing a constitutional convention—more than doubling the opposition’s war chest. The following year, it bankrolled over $800,000 for the “Better Jobs for Alaska” initiative to raise the minimum wage, plus $65,000 to the Alaska AFL-CIO.
This pattern isn’t just a coincidence. Arabella’s web of nonprofits has a clear goal: to reshape Alaska’s politics and economy in ways that align with the national left. They have systematically funded anti-development initiatives—chief among them the 2018 “Stand for Salmon” ballot measure, designed to tie up oil, gas, and infrastructure projects in new red tape. The New Venture Fund contributed more than $263,000 in in-kind support to that campaign.
The New Venture Fund itself is a financial powerhouse, reporting $669 million in revenue and $895 million in spending in 2023, with nearly $593 million handed out in grants. Much of that money fuels Alaska’s environmental and political movements.
For example, the New Venture Fund bankrolled early efforts to change Alaska’s voting system—pouring more than half a million dollars into automatic voter registration, without proof of citizenship required. It also channels millions each year into local-sounding fronts like SalmonState and the Alaska Venture Fund.
SalmonState alone takes in about $2 million annually, supported by heavy-hitter foundations like Gordon and Betty Moore, Hewlett, Wilburforce, and the Wild Salmon Center. The Alaska Venture Fund was seeded in 2021 with $10 million from Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund.
Not one of these funders is based in Alaska. They are Outside billionaires and foundations with left-wing priorities—abortion expansion, anti-fossil fuel activism, and election reforms that benefit Democrats. By laundering their money through local-branded groups, they make it appear as though these are grassroots Alaskan efforts. They are not.
The strategy is clear: Arabella’s New Venture Fund and its affiliates bankroll environmental lawsuits, anti-oil and gas campaigns, and election rule changes. Each one of these “investments” chips away at Alaska’s economic future while cementing a progressive political infrastructure.
The revelations about teachers’ unions pouring dues into these networks are only the latest reminder. Alaskans should be asking hard questions—not just about who is funding these campaigns, but about what the endgame is. At stake is nothing less than Alaska’s sovereignty over its resources, its economy, and its future.
Outside billionaires should not be allowed to dictate what happens in Alaska. And yet, they’ve been doing so unchecked for decades.
Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of Must Read Alaska.
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