hekate/attestation-findings
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions
attestation-findings/data/processed/nvf_990_findings.md
hekate 80431e7db1 Upload files to "/"
2026-03-14 05:57:07 +00:00

11 KiB
Raw Blame History

New Venture Fund (NVF) IRS 990 Findings

Research Summary

Organization: New Venture Fund EIN: 20-5806345 Address: 1828 L Street NW, Suite 300-A, Washington, DC 20036 Tax Status: 501(c)(3) public charity Year of Formation: 2006 (originally Arabella Legacy Fund, renamed 2009) Managed By: Arabella Advisors (for-profit management company) President: Lee Bodner Board Chair: Adam Eichberg

Filing Overview

ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer Filing Index

Tax Year Object ID Filed Date Revenue Assets
2024 202513159349305596 Nov 11, 2025 N/A N/A
2023 202433179349305393 Nov 12, 2024 $669.1M $768.5M
2022 202323149349302362 Nov 10, 2023 $755.6M $1.04B
2021 202243139349303999 Nov 9, 2022 $963.8M $1.24B
2020 202113169349310971 Nov 12, 2021 $975.5M $822.9M
2019 202043389349300039 Dec 3, 2020 $460.8M $490.8M

Key Financial Data (Tax Year 2023)

  • Total Revenue: $669,088,461
  • Total Functional Expenses: $894,839,728
  • Grants to Domestic Orgs (Part IX, Line 1): $502,043,679
  • Grants to Domestic Individuals (Part IX, Line 2): $37,995,641
  • Grants to Foreign Orgs/Individuals (Part IX, Line 3): $52,919,376
  • Total Grant Awards: 1,020 (2023); 1,187 (2022)
  • Domestic Grant Recipients on Schedule I: 823 different organizations (2023)
  • Total Grants Paid: $592,958,696 (2023)
  • Employees: 964
  • Volunteers: ~600

Program Service Areas (2023)

  1. Civil Rights, Social Action, and Advocacy - $273.6M expenses, $174.2M in grants
  2. International Development - $239.4M expenses, $223.9M in grants
  3. Youth Development and Education - $103.4M expenses, $59.2M in grants
  4. Other Program Services - $237.9M expenses, $135.7M in grants

Lobbying Activities (2023)

  • Total lobbying expenditures: $36,746,051
  • Topics: environmental, education, health, foreign aid, tax reform, and other issues
  • Media advertisements: $198,884
  • Direct contact with legislators: $2,709,047
  • Grants to other organizations for lobbying: $31,165,652

Schedule I Analysis: Domestic Grant Recipients

Data Access Status

The NVF 2023 Form 990 is publicly available:

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Schedule I contains 823 domestic grant recipients across many pages. The NVF website PDF is 636KB but appears to be a truncated version; the full filing with all Schedule I continuation sheets would be much larger. The ProPublica XML files contain the complete machine-readable data. We were unable to programmatically parse the XML due to tool access restrictions but have identified the exact data sources.

What Schedule I Contains

Per IRS requirements, Schedule I lists every domestic organization that received more than $5,000 in grants, including:

  • Recipient organization name and EIN
  • City and state
  • Cash grant amount
  • Purpose of grant

Targeted Entity Search Results

1. ConnectSafely Inc

EIN: 47-3168168 Location: Palo Alto, CA Status: 501(c)(3), ruling date October 2015

Financial Profile:

Year Revenue Expenses Assets
2023 $653,869 $601,038 $1,615,591
2022 $938,843 $475,379 $1,563,617
2021 $411,714 $338,530 $1,106,421

Key Finding: ConnectSafely receives funding from Meta, Google, Amazon Kids, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, Roblox, Trend Micro, NCTA, Match Group, and ZEPETO. Meta specifically funds ConnectSafely's Safer Internet Day grant programs.

Connection to NVF: No direct evidence found of NVF grants to ConnectSafely in web-searchable sources. ConnectSafely appears to receive corporate sponsorship directly from tech companies rather than through NVF as an intermediary. Further analysis of the full Schedule I XML data would be needed to definitively confirm or rule out NVF grants.

ProPublica page: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/473168168

2. Digital Childhood Alliance

Status: 501(c)(4) nonprofit Executive Director: Casey Stefanski

Key Findings:

  • Meta is funding the Digital Childhood Alliance per Bloomberg reporting (July 2025) citing three anonymous sources familiar with the funding
  • The Alliance is a coalition of 100+ conservative parent advocacy and child safety organizations
  • Actively pushing App Store Accountability Act and state-level age verification legislation
  • Filed FTC complaints against Apple and Google
  • Laws backed by the Alliance have passed in Utah, Texas, and Louisiana; bills introduced in 20+ states
  • When questioned by Louisiana Senator Jay Morris about tech industry funding, Executive Director Casey Stefanski initially refused to answer, eventually admitted tech company funding but declined to name specific companies
  • Bloomberg investigative reporting confirmed Meta's involvement
  • The Alliance's founder's father was identified as its largest donor

Connection to NVF: No direct evidence found linking the Digital Childhood Alliance to the New Venture Fund or Arabella Advisors network. The Digital Childhood Alliance is a 501(c)(4) organization (NVF is 501(c)(3)), and its funding appears to flow directly from corporate sources and individual donors rather than through NVF. As a 501(c)(4), the Digital Childhood Alliance is not required to disclose its donors on its 990.

3. ICMEC (International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children)

EIN: 22-3630133 Location: Alexandria, VA

Key Findings:

  • ICMEC actively promotes the Digital Age Assurance Act (DAAA) for age verification
  • ICMEC collaborates with Meta, Internet Watch Foundation, and Child Helpline International on campaigns against child sexual abuse
  • ICMEC published detailed FAQs about the Digital Age Assurance Act (November 2024)

Connection to NVF: No direct evidence found in searchable sources. ICMEC is a well-established independent nonprofit. Would need to search the NVF Schedule I XML data to verify.

4. NCMEC (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

EIN: 52-1328557

Connection to NVF: No direct evidence found in web searches. Would need to check full Schedule I data.

5. CCME

Note: The search for "CCME" in connection with NVF grants returned results about CCME Foundation (health care), not child safety. The term may refer to a different entity. No match found.

6. Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI)

No direct evidence found of NVF grants to FOSI. Would need to check full Schedule I data.

Meta's Age Verification Strategy

Summary of Findings

Meta (formerly Facebook) is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy on child safety/age verification legislation:

  1. Direct Lobbying: Meta spent $24 million on lobbying in 2024
  2. Corporate Coalition: In April 2025, Meta teamed with Spotify and Match Group to launch a coalition to pressure Apple and Google on age verification
  3. Funding Advocacy Groups: Meta funds the Digital Childhood Alliance to push app-store-based age verification at state level
  4. Tech Partnership: Meta works with ICMEC, Internet Watch Foundation on child safety campaigns
  5. Sponsoring Research/Education: Meta funds ConnectSafely's Safer Internet Day programs and safety guides

Legislative Impact

The App Store Accountability Act and similar state laws push age verification responsibility onto app stores (Apple/Google) rather than individual platforms (Meta). This benefits Meta by:

  • Shifting compliance costs to competitors
  • Creating a uniform verification layer at the app store level
  • Avoiding platform-specific content moderation mandates

NVF's Role in the Ecosystem

What We Know

NVF is a fiscal sponsor and pass-through grantmaker in the Arabella Advisors network. Its 2023 Form 990 shows:

  • $592.9M in total grants
  • 1,020 grant awards
  • 823 named domestic grant recipients
  • $103.4M specifically for youth development and education programs
  • $59.2M in grants for youth development and education

What We Could Not Verify

Without parsing the full Schedule I (823 domestic grant recipients), we cannot confirm or deny whether NVF made grants to:

  • ConnectSafely
  • Digital Childhood Alliance (unlikely - it's a 501(c)(4), and NVF typically grants to 501(c)(3) organizations)
  • ICMEC
  • NCMEC
  • FOSI
  • Other child safety/age verification organizations

Recommended Next Steps

  1. Download and parse the 990 XML files from ProPublica:

    • 2023: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/download-xml?object_id=202433179349305393
    • 2022: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/download-xml?object_id=202323149349302362
    • 2024: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/download-xml?object_id=202513159349305596

  2. Parse Schedule I XML using Python/lxml to extract all RecipientTable entries from the IRS990ScheduleI section. Search for keywords: child, safety, youth, online, digital, ICMEC, NCMEC, ConnectSafely, FOSI, Thorn, age verification.

  3. Cross-reference ConnectSafely's Schedule B (contributors) to identify if NVF appears as a donor to ConnectSafely.

  4. Check the Digital Childhood Alliance's IRS filings (if available as a 501(c)(4) they would file Form 990 but would not need to disclose donors on Schedule B).

  5. Review the NVF 2022 filing (1,187 grants) which covers an earlier period before the age verification push intensified.

Key Sources

Research conducted: March 12, 2026 Data sources: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, IRS Form 990 public disclosures, news reporting