Ilona Prucha is a senior program officer for Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a major left-of-center grantmaking foundation that was created in 2001 as part of a secretive network of grantmaking organizations funded by three hedge fund billionaires[1] and has been described as “one of the best kept secrets in American philanthropy.” [2]
Prucha also has multiple affiliations with left-of-center groups such as the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP),[3] and the Truman National Security Project (TNSP). [4]
Background
Ilona Prucha attended a six-month internship at World Education, a Boston-based international non-profit that educates children and adults in 20 countries around the world. Prucha only attended the internship from January 2004 to June 2004. [5]
She also completed a five-month foreign relations internship in 2005 for the office of Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), a member of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. Senator from 1977 to 2007. She completed another six-month internship in 2006 for New England-based public relations and lobbying firm, O’Neill and Associates, before completing a five-month internship for the office of U.S. Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) between October 2007 and February 2008. [6] She also worked for Senator John Kerry‘s presidential campaign in his Boston field office. [7]
Affiliated Organizations
Ilona Prucha has worked for the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (WSF, formerly known as the Matan B’Seter Foundation) for over ten years. WSF was created in 2001 as part of a secretive network of grantmaking organizations funded by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor. [8] WSF has been called “one of the best kept secrets in American philanthropy” by Philanthropy News Digest which described the group’s intent as to “disguise” donations and “avoid almost all public scrutiny.” [9]
Prucha began her career at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund as a program associate in July 2009 before being promoted to a program officer in March 2014. She stayed in this position until May 2018 when she was promoted to the senior program officer of the civil society department at WSF, which she still holds now. [10]
Prucha is a partner of the Truman National Security Project (TNSP),[11] a left-of-center Washington D.C.-based think tank that which promotes liberal policies as part of the nation’s foreign policy. [12] She is also on the advisory board for the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP),[13] a donors’ affinity group for left-wing voter engagement advocacy that steers millions of dollars from left-wing funding entities to left-of-center nonprofits involved in voter activation and Census advocacy. [14] [15]
She is listed as a “donor collaborative” for the Youth Engagement Fund,[16] a voter mobilization group created by the Democracy Alliance, a network of highly influential funders within the Democratic Party and the political left. [17] Prucha is also listed as an “executing officer” and governor of the Voter Registration Project Education Fund[18] a left-of-center 501(c)(3) public charity focused on election issues and voter registration for “typically underrepresented” groups, which received $2.9 million from the Hopewell Fund in 2017. [19]