New Venture Fund is a Washington, D.C.âbased public charity that has become one of the largest fiscal sponsors in U.S. philanthropy since its founding in 2006. It is registered as a 501(c)(3) and lists its office on L Street NW in downtown Washington.
Created in response to demand from large donors for an âefficient, cost-effective, and time-saving platformâ to launch publicâinterest projects, the fund works behind the scenes: it houses projects, manages their staff and operations, and distributes grants on their behalf in areas such as conservation, education, youth development, global health, public policy, global development, disaster recovery, and the arts.
According to its own impact reports, New Venture Fund has helped launch close to 500 philanthropic projects since 2006 and works with a donor base that includes more than half of the 50 largest U.S. grantâmaking foundations, including eight of the top 10. In 2018, IRS filings cited by outside researchers show hundreds of millions of dollars in annual program spending, with large sums directed to civil rights, advocacy, and education.
The organization is overseen by an independent board but outsources many dayâtoâday services to Arabella Advisors, a forâprofit philanthropy consulting firm also based in Washington. That arrangement has attracted scrutiny from watchdog groups and media outlets, which describe New Venture Fund as a central node in a Democraticâaligned âdark moneyâ network that allows major donors to support advocacyâoriented nonprofits and shortâterm campaigns with limited public visibility.
Current and recent projects span climate resilience, gunâviolence prevention, impactâinvesting collaboratives, and civicâengagement funds housed under the New Venture Fund umbrella.