The Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, formerly known as the Matan B’Seter Foundation, was created in 2001 as part of an elaborate and secretive network of grantmaking organizations funded by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum and C. Frederick Taylor. [1][2] Philanthropy News Digest described their intent as to “disguise” donations and “avoid almost all public scrutiny.” [3] “Matan B’Seter” is a Hebrew phrase meaning “anonymous gift.” [4]
For most of 2001 through most of 2017 Wellspring/Matan B’Seter gave grants totaling nearly $900 million. The final recipients for $795 million (88.3 percent) of this funding are not known; through 2015, Wellspring gave nearly all annual grants to two of the nation’s largest donor-advised fund providers that are not required to disclose how individual donors direct them to give the money away. [5]
In 2017, Wellspring began selectively donating directly to some organizations, allowing a window into its ideological priorities, and $28.5 million (11.6 percent of the 2017 total) was given to 56 left-of-center advocacy organizations. At least $4 million of these grants referenced voter engagement and outreach projects at left-of-center organizations such as NEO Philanthropy and New Venture Fund. “DC Leaks,” a group suspected by the United States Government of being a front for Russian intelligence,[6] released a memo hacked from the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations in 2016 that portrays OSF as one participant in a $65.4 million left-of-center voter engagement effort that allegedly occurred prior to the 2012 election, with Wellspring as a $10 million contributor.[7] [8]
The individual hedge fund billionaire most closely affiliated with the Wellspring/Matan B’Seter arm of the network is C. Frederick Taylor, a committed donor to Democratic politicians and causes. [9]
Contemporaneous with the creation of Matan B’Seter, Taylor and two of his brothers established Wellspring Advisors, which Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a “consulting firm for anonymous donors.” [10] For most of 2001 through most of 2017 Wellspring Advisors received $124.2 million in fees from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (a.k.a. Matan B’Seter), 13 percent of total contributions put into the fund during that period. [11] In January 2018, Wellspring Advisors became an arm of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. [12]
In addition, Wellspring is a member of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (a project of the pass-through funder NEO Philanthropy), a donors’ roundtable for major left-wing funders interested in affecting the 2020 U.S. Census, redistricting efforts, and get-out-the-vote activities. [13]
Contents
Background
According to its articles of incorporation (available here), the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund was incorporated in 1999 in Roseland, New Jersey as the “Matan B’Seter Foundation,”a 501(c)(3) private foundation (though the group considers its formation year 2001). [14] In 2016, the group adopted its current name, Wellspring. [15]
From the start, Wellspring was one arm of an elaborate and secretive network of corporations and charities funded by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor. “Matan B’Seter” is a Hebrew phrase meaning “anonymous gift,” according to the Algemeiner, a journal serving the Jewish community. The Algemeiner noted at least two of the three billionaires (Gelbaum and Shechtel) are Jewish, and that other subsidiaries within their network (such as one named “Shekel Funding”) bore “Hebrew or Israeli-related names.” [16]
The three men were partners in the hedge fund TGS Management; C. Frederick Taylor is specifically listed as the firm’s co-founder beginning in 1989. [17] Sometime in or around 2000 they created what Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a “byzantine” network involving “layers of company subsidiaries” in various states which allowed them to “disguise” their donations and “avoid almost all public scrutiny of their activities.” [18]
The network and its donors remained mostly hidden from public view until exposed by a May 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek report: “The $13 Billion Mystery Angels.” [19] At the time of this report the total assets of the philanthropic entities within the network (of which Matan B’Seter was one arm) was valued at $9.7 billion. If the total network had been considered as a single foundation, it would have ranked as the fourth-largest, behind only the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Getty Foundation. A lawyer with expertise in the tax-exempt sector characterized the secretive nature of the funding network as in keeping with the letter of the law for charitable foundations, though perhaps not the spirit, saying “most of us who practice in the tax-exempt arena would regard setting up a private foundation as a full-disclosure vehicle.” [20]
According to Federal Election Commission records, Andrew Shechtel has been a frequent donor to numerous Republican congressional candidates, such as a $2,500 donation toward the reelection of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the 2018 election cycle. [21] The most active reported funding role by him in the philanthropic network was as a major supporter of medical research aimed at a cure for Huntington’s disease. [22] [23]
David Gelbaum retired from TGS in or around 2014, leaving Shechtel and Taylor to manage it. He and his wife reportedly ceased their philanthropic giving in 2013. According to Gelbaum’s lawyer, as reported by the Algemeiner, he “lost more than he thought he could possibly lose” during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. [24]
FEC records show that a “Fred Taylor” living in California and reporting the investment firm “TGS Management” as his employer is a reliable donor to Democratic candidates, giving $55,000 to the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012. [25] Along with two of his brothers, C. Frederick Taylor created Wellspring Advisors, which Philanthropy News Digest characterized as a “consulting firm for anonymous donors.” [26] Sometime after 2014 the name of the Matan B’Seter Foundation was changed to the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. [27] And according to an announcement purportedly from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (preserved by the website of the Global Philanthropy Project), Wellspring Advisors “shifted to become Wellspring Philanthropic Fund” on January 1, 2018. [28]
Criticism
In 2014, Wellspring founders Andrew Shechtel, John Taylor, and Frederick Taylor were criticized by a writer for Nonprofit Quarterly for “promoting enhanced charitable deductions” for major donors which otherwise would have been collected as tax dollars by the government. Nonprofit Quarterly also explained that that the founders have generally promoted greater deductions for donors to specific causes, such as “programs targeting rare diseases.” [29]
Funding
Financial Overview
IRS records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 (available here) filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B’Seter Foundation) show all new money put into the fund coming from five corporate sources: Twenty-One Holdings, Rubik Enterprises, BLTN Holdings, Shackleton Company and MBS Funding. [30] Media reports regarding Wellspring Advisors, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the close connection of both with C. Frederick Taylor raise the strong suspicion that he is the main donor behind the five entities that have contributed to Wellspring/Matan B’Seter. [31] [32]
The following charts Wellspring’s total revenues, total expenditures, grants paid, and net assets for the years 2001 to 2017: [33]
| Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Financial Overview | ||
|---|---|---|
| Revenues | Prior Year Change | |
| 2017 | $253,505,642 | 17% |
| 2016 | $216,332,067 | 12.1% |
| 2015 | $193,040,139 | 95.9% |
| 2014 | $98,524,149 | 10.8% |
| 2013 | $88,945,627 | 22% |
| 2012 | $72,786,294 | (19%) |
| 2011 | $90,003,223 | 20.1% |
| 2010 | $74,963,792 | 46,929% |
| 2009 | $159,398 | (99.6%) |
| 2008 | $36,280,391 | 1,392% |
| 2007 | $2,430,169 | (8.4%) |
| 2006 | $2,651,950 | (92.7%) |
| 2005 | $36,312,706 | 614% |
| 2004 | $5,082,303 | 457% |
| 2003 | $912,377 | (37.6%) |
| 2002 | $1,461,700 | (29.6%) |
| 2001 | $2,077,964 | |
| Total: | $1,175,469,891 | |
| Expenditures | Grants Paid | |
| 2017 | $205,480,974 | $184,054,917 |
| 2016 | $217,150,420 | $198,700,000 |
| 2015 | $203,678,000 | $187,600,000 |
| 2014 | $90,522,915 | $75,000,000 |
| 2013 | $83,886,070 | $70,000,000 |
| 2012 | $77,488,000 | $64,500,000 |
| 2011 | $146,079,554 | $134,645,700 |
| 2010 | $54,882,396 | $46,700,000 |
| 2009 | $34,080,000 | $26,250,000 |
| 2008 | $30,387,772 | $,5354,167 |
| 2007 | $51,523,375 | $47,415,000 |
| 2006 | $3,441,050 | $0 |
| 2005 | $17,227,977 | $15,000,000 |
| 2004 | $1,964,967 | $140,000 |
| 2003 | $15,141,671 | $13,806,000 |
| 2002 | $8,445,876 | $7,500,000 |
| 2001 | $2,495,629 | $2,000,000 |
| Total: | $1,243,876,646 | $1,078,665,784 |
| Net Assets | ||
| 2017 | $47,890,095 | |
| 2016 | $5,505,562 | |
| 2015 | $6,323,915 | |
| 2014 | $16,961,776 | |
| 2013 | $8,960,542 | |
| 2012 | $3,900,985 | |
| 2011 | $8,602,691 | |
| 2010 | $32,033,322 | |
| 2009 | $11,951,926 | |
| 2008 | $45,972,063 | |
| 2007 | $40,079,444 | |
| 2006 | $56,816,903 | |
| 2005 | $57,856,168 | |
| 2004 | $38,771,439 | |
| 2003 | $35,851,463 | |
| 2002 | $36,274,757 | |
| 2001 | $43,258,933 | |
Payments to Wellspring Advisors
For more information, see Wellspring Advisors (For-Profit)
IRS records representing most of 2001 through most of 2017 filed by the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B’Seter Foundation) show the consulting firm Wellspring Advisors receiving $142 million in fees from the foundation. [34]
| Payments to Wellspring Advisors | |
|---|---|
| 2017 | $18,954,000 |
| 2016 | $18,450,385 |
| 2015 | $16,078,000 |
| 2014 | $15,522,000 |
| 2013 | $13,886,000 |
| 2012 | $12,988,000 |
| 2011 | $11,433,854 |
| 2010 | $8,182,396 |
| 2009 | $7,830,000 |
| 2008 | $5,354,167 |
| 2007 | $4,108,333 |
| 2006 | $3,409,302 |
| 2005 | $2,103,656 |
| 2004 | $1,816,534 |
| 2003 | $1,232,944 |
| 2002 | $880,519 |
| 2001 | $426,241 |
| Grand Total: | $142,656,331 |
Hidden Donations
Wellspring Philanthropic Fund has provided funding to a number of left-wing groups.
Wellspring is listed as a founding grantor to the Heartland Fund, an environmentalist donors collaborative and a project of the Windward Fund (managed by the for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors). Other grant recipients include the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and the Wallace Global Fund. [35] It’s also a grantor to the left-leaning Public Policy of California (PPIC); Wellspring co-funded the group’s Research Collaborative Fund alongside Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund and the Ford Foundation. The Research Collaborative Fund is a project of the Arabella Advisors-run New Venture Fund. [36]
Wellspring is a funding member of Philanthropy Advancing Women’s Human Rights (PAWHR), a project of the pass-through funder Proteus Fund. [37] It’s also funded the LGBTQ Poverty Initiative, a research and advocacy group. [38]
For most of 2001 through most of 2017 the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (previously the Matan B’Seter Foundation) gave grants totaling nearly $900 million, with 88.3 percent of this money – nearly $795 million – going to two recipients: the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. [39]
These are very large donor-advised fund (DAFs) providers that invest the contributions they receive in accordance with the wishes of those giving the money. A DAF provider is not required to disclose how its donors directed the DAF to give the money away. As such the final recipients of nearly $795 million given away by Wellspring/Matan B’Seter are unknown. Prior to 2017, and with the single exception of a small in-kind gift in 2004, 100 percent what Wellspring/Matan B’Seter reports giving through 2015—more than $715 million—was hidden behind transfers to the Fidelity and Vanguard DAFs. [40]
A chart listing Wellspring’s grants to donor-advised fund providers from 2001-2017 is available below: [41]
| Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Grants to Donor-Advised Funds | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Fidelity Charitable | Vanguard Charitable | Annual Total | Percentage of Total Annual Grants |
| 2017 | $79,400,000 | - | - | 43% |
| 2016 | $83,690,000 | $111,310,000 | $198,700,000* | 100% |
| 2015 | $126,000,000 | $61,600,000 | $187,600,000 | 100% |
| 2014 | $60,000,000 | $15,000,000 | $75,000,000 | 100% |
| 2013 | $42,000,000 | $28,000,000 | $70,000,000 | 100% |
| 2012 | $29,500,000 | $35,000,000 | $64,500,000 | 100% |
| 2011 | - | $134,645,700 | $134,645,700 | 100% |
| 2010 | - | $46,700,000 | $46,700,000 | 100% |
| 2009 | - | $26,250,000 | $26,250,000 | 100% |
| 2008 | - | $25,000,000 | $25,000,000 | 100% |
| 2007 | - | $47,415,000 | $47,415,000 | 100% |
| 2006 | - | - | $0 | - |
| 2005 | - | $15,000,000 | $15,000,000 | 100% |
| 2004 | - | - | $0 | - |
| 2003 | $10,407,600 | $3,398,400 | $13,806,000 | 100% |
| 2002 | - | $7,500,000 | $7,500,000 | 100% |
| 2001 | - | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | 100% |
| Total | $430,997,600 | $558,819,100 | *Includes $3.7 million to Proteus Fund (DAF) | |
2017 Grant Recipients
Wellspring Philanthropic Fund’s tax returns covering late-2016 and most of 2017 show direct donations to some final recipients. However, this increase in transparency is only partial, as 32 percent ($79.4 million) of the $245.7 million granted during the period still went into the Fidelity Charitable Fund DAF. [42]
Of the named grant recipients for 2017, at least $28.5 million (11.6 percent) was given to 56 left-of-center advocacy organizations:[43]
| Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Grant Recipients (2017) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Advocates for Youth (AFY) | $925,000 |
| Alliance for Justice (AFJ) | $550,000 |
| American Constitution Society for Law and Policy | $200,000 |
| Analyst Institute | $1,000,000 |
| Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice | $1,100,000 |
| Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation | $50,000 |
| Borealis Philanthropy | $775,000 |
| Bus Federation Civic Fund | $100,000 |
| Campaign Legal Center | $150,000 |
| Center for American Progress (CAP) | $370,000 |
| Center for Community Change (CCC) | $300,000 |
| Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) | $450,000 |
| Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) | $200,000 |
| Center for Law and Social Policy | $350,000 |
| Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) | $420,000 |
| Center for Public Integrity | $200,000 |
| Chicken & Egg Pictures | $39,450 |
| Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) | $150,000 |
| Coalition on Human Needs | $300,000 |
| Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable | $25,000 |
| Colorofchange.org Education Fund | $250,000 |
| Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis | $150,000 |
| Community Catalyst | $250,000 |
| Demos | $450,000 |
| Every Child Matters Education Fund | $750,000 |
| Faith In Action | $485,000 |
| Forward Together | $350,000 |
| Government Accountability Project (GAP) | $150,000 |
| Groundswell Fund | $200,000 |
| Guttmacher Institute | $150,000 |
| Hopewell Fund | $381,875 |
| LGBTQ Victory Institute | $150,000 |
| MomsRising Education Fund | $250,000 |
| Ms. Foundation | $197,695 |
| National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) | $100,000 |
| National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health | $400,000 |
| National Women’s Law Center | $350,000 |
| NEO Philanthropy | $2,120,000 |
| New Venture Fund (NVF) | $6,796,500 |
| People’s Action Institute | $100,000 |
| Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) | $1,951,387 |
| Political Research Associates (PRA) | $100,000 |
| Population Action International | $100,000 |
| Population Council | $220,000 |
| Project On Government Oversight (POGO) | $250,000 |
| Protect Democracy Project (PDP) | $100,000 |
| Proteus Fund | $2,150,000 |
| Public Citizen Foundation | $200,000 |
| Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Inc | $100,000 |
| State Voices | $519,000 |
| Tides Center | $300,000 |
| Tides Foundation | $430,000 |
| Grand Total: | $28,105,907 |
Wellspring’s Donors
Wellspring Philanthropic Fund’s list of donors from 2001 to 2017 is available below: [44]
| Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Grantors (2001-2017) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLTN Holdings | MBS Funding LLC | Shackelton Company, LLC | Rubik Enterprises LLC | Twenty-One Holdings, LLC | Annual Total | |
| 2017 | $9,352,027 | - | - | $118,126,414 | $118,126,414 | $245,604,855 |
| 2016 | $10,000,000 | - | - | $103,063,173 | $103,063,173 | $216,126,346 |
| 2015 | $10,000,000 | - | - | $91,517,907 | $91,517,902 | $193,035,809 |
| 2014 | $12,000,000 | - | - | $86,501,255 | - | $98,501,255 |
| 2013 | $10,000,000 | - | - | $78,926,839 | - | $88,926,839 |
| 2012 | - | - | - | $72,782,818 | - | $72,782,818 |
| 2011 | $31,770,900* | - | $90,000,000 | - | - | $121,770,900 |
| 2010 | - | - | $75,000,000 | - | - | $75,000,000 |
| 2009 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2008 | - | $35,000,000 | - | - | - | $35,000,000 |
| 2007 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2006 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2005 | $34,500,000 | - | - | - | - | $34,500,000 |
| 2004 | $4,500,000 | - | - | - | - | $4,500,000 |
| 2003 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2002 | $13,897,000 | - | - | - | - | $13,897,000 |
| 2001 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total: | $136,019,927 | $35,000,000 | $165,000,000 | $550,918,406 | $312,707,489 | |
| *Indicates non-cash gift | Grand Total: | $1,199,645,822 | ||||
Financial Documents
Wellspring’s IRS Form 990 filings covering the years 2016 and 2017 are available here:
- 2016 Form 990 (covering 12/01/2016 to 11/30/2017)
- 2015 Form 990 (covering 12/01/2015 to 11/30/2016)
Wellspring’s certificate of incorporation was filed with the state of New Jersey on November 24, 1999, and is available here.
Left-of-Center Voter Engagement
During August 2016 “DC Leaks,” a hacker organization widely assumed to have been a project of a Russian intelligence agency, released a trove of documents from the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations. [45] One of the documents is a memo to Soros and his OSF “U.S. Programs Board” from former Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern and Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change. [46]
The eight-page memo, titled “New Thinking on 2012 Election and Beyond,” refers to a $65.4 million effort to dramatically increase voter turnout (what the document refers to with terms such as “voter engagement” and “civic engagement”) among groups the two men argue will strongly support left-of-center policies. The purpose of this project proposal is identified with phrases such as “creating a long-term independent political force that can hold elected leaders of all parties accountable to open society values and priorities both before and after Election Day.” [47]
The project is presented as an ongoing collaboration of eight large left-of-center organizational donors, including OSF, “Wellspring Advisors,” the Ford Foundation, “Carnegie” (likely the Carnegie Corporation of New York), the “Stoneman Foundation” (possibly the Stoneman Family Foundation), the Democracy Alliance, and the Committee on States. In the memo, Stern and Bhargava ask Soros and his board to increase their contribution from $7.3 million to $16.3 million. [48]
The anticipated contribution from “Wellspring Advisors” to the project is listed at $10 million. (This is presumably meant as a reference to what was then the Matan B’Seter Foundation, then paying Wellspring Advisors millions of dollars each year to manage the giving hidden behind donor-advised funds). The memo also reports on a 2011 collaboration between OSF and Wellspring involving “highest quality voter lists” that had achieved a “tremendous, positive impact” in the realm of “voter engagement,” “voter registration,” and “getting out the vote in the all-important 2012 election.” [49]
The involvement of Wellspring (a.k.a. Matan B’Seter) in these 2011 and 2012 projects cannot be verified because of Wellspring’s habit of concealing donations behind donor-advised funds. However, subsequent and specific late-2016 and 2017 grants reported by Wellspring to the IRS reveal millions of dollars donated to left-of-center advocacy organizations for “voter engagement” and related areas. [50]
Some of the larger examples included: [51]
- Bhargava’s Center for Community Change received $300,000 for a “community engagement research project.”
- NEO Philanthropy received three grants totaling $1,175,000 for a “independent civic engagement report,” “support for non-partisan civic engagement,” and “non-partisan civic engagement by Asian-American Pacific Islander communities.”
- The New Venture Fund received four grants totaling $2 million for “non-partisan election system reform efforts,” “supporting an accurate 2020 Census,” and “non-partisan civic engagement.”
- Demos received two grants totaling $450,000 for a “freedom to vote elections systems reform project” and general operating support.
- The Analyst Institute received $300,000 for a “civic engagement research hub project.”
Connections to the Left
Representatives from Wellspring Philanthropic Fund have appeared at various events and functions alongside representatives from other major left-of-center foundations. In February 2018, Wellspring program director Michael Gibbons spoke at an event hosted by the Global Partnership for Education in Dakar, Senegal alongside George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. [52]
At least one Wellspring program associate, Caroline Brazill, has facilitated workshops for the Peace and Security Funders Group (PSFG), a donors collaborative associated with the left-wing Ploughshares Fund. [53]
Leadership
Founders
Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum, and C. Frederick Taylor are the founders of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (then Matan B’Seter Foundation). As of July 2019 the website of the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund lists “John Taylor” as the group’s president, “Myles Taylor” as its vice president, and identifies them as brothers who co-founded the fund in 2000. No mention was made of C. Frederick Taylor on the website’s pages. [54]
According to its latest filings with the District of Columbia, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund is governed by a board consisting of president John Taylor, vice president William Myles Taylor, Raymond Eng, and Adam Barber. [55] [56]
The three Taylors are listed as brothers in multiple online reports. Myles Taylor (full name William Myles Taylor) is called a “consultant” to Wellspring Advisors. John Taylor is listed as a “Pennsylvania lawyer.” C. Frederick Taylor (often called Frederick Taylor) is identified as a hedge fund investor. [57] He is also an alumnus of Haverford College, in Pennsylvania. [58] Frederick Taylor reportedly worked at Princeton-Newport Partners, an early investment management company until it was liquidated following an investigation under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in the 1990s. It’s unclear when Taylor worked for the company. [59] The five partners of Princeton-Newport Partners were “indicted on racketeering and tax-fraud charges,” but all charges were eventually dropped. [60]
In June 2017, a report in the school-run business paper Princeton Info identified the firm TGS as the “secretive successor” to the failed firm Princeton-Newport Partners. The firm, TGS, is reportedly an acronym named for Wellspring founders Frederick Taylor, David Gelbaum, and Andrew Shechtel. [61] None of the three men were charged with crimes following federal raids.
Under RICO law federal prosecutors had the power to seize the assets of Princeton Newport Partners. So after the raid the firm was dissolved and several of the traders who had not been charged created their own hedge firm, which to this day operates in the former Princeton Newport space at 33 Witherspoon, with a computer operation based in California.
That firm is called TGS, named after partners C. Frederick Taylor, a Haverford alumnus; David Gelbaum, a mathematics major from the University of California-Irvine and one of Ed Thorp’s earliest hires; and Andrew Shechtel, who had been a trader in the Princeton office when the federal raid occurred.
Andrew Shechtel is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University and graduated with a degree in math and political economy at the age of 19. Shechtel attended Harvard Business School and reportedly “worked on Wall Street” and joined Princeton-Newport Partners in the 1980s. He was an employee of the firm when it was raided by federal officials. [62]
David Gelbaum is an alumnus of the University of California, Irvine who was reportedly hired by hedge fund manager and blackjack researcher Edward O. Thorpe, author of the book Beat the Dealer, which proved that a casino’s house advantage could be overcome by counting cards. [63]
Board of Trustees
Wellspring’s articles of incorporation from 1999 list three trustees: Allen B. Levithan, George J. Mazin, and Kenneth J. Slutsky. [64]
Levithan, the incorporator, is faculty with Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. He is also listed as Of Counsel for the law firm Lowenstein Sandler. [65] [66]
Mazin is a retired partner with Dechert LLP, an investment management firm. [67]
Slutsky is a New Jersey-based partner with Lowenstein Sandler, a law firm that filed Wellspring’s initial articles of incorporation. [68] [69]
Wellspring’s most recent IRS filing covering 2017 lists Slutsky and Levithan as trustees, as well as John L. Berger. [70] Berger is a New Jersey-based partner at Lowenstein Sandler. [71]
Adam Barber was controller of Wellspring Advisors, the for-profit firm associated with the foundation, from 2010 to 2017. Barber is a financial analyst who previously worked for the David Lynch Foundation and Deloitte & Touche, among others. [72]
Key Staff
As of August 2019, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund has approximately 68 staffers, advisers, and consultants. [73] Employee profiles strongly suggest that Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the foundation, shares staffers with its associated for-profit consulting firm, Wellspring Advisors. Wellspring Philanthropic Fund’s IRS filing for 2017 reports paying nothing ($0) in employee salaries, benefits, or other compensation. [74]
In addition, Wellspring has posted a number of positions stressing “social justice, including racial and gender equity as an organizational operating principle,” as qualifications. [75]
Ilona Prucha is a senior program officer for Wellspring. Prior to that, she was a program associate for Wellspring beginning in 2009 and was a U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate staffer. [76]
Laura Katzive is a senior program officer for Wellspring, and has worked for the foundation since 2010. Prior to that, Katzive was a staffer for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a left-wing abortion advocacy group, from 1999 to 2010. [77]
Cassandra McKee is a Wellspring program officer, a position she has held since 2014. From 2012 to 2014, McKee was managing director of Fair Share, a left-wing advocacy group. From 2002 to 2012, she was a senior staffer for the advocacy group USAction. In 1997-1998, McKee was a staffer for the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG). [78]
Lesley Carson is director of Wellspring’s International Human Rights Program. Carson is a former co-chair of the left-wing Human Rights Funders Network, founder of the advocacy training group Forefront, advisory board member for the SAGE Fund (a project of the New Venture Fund), an ex-staffer for Amnesty International, and an ex-staffer for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). [79]
Rebecca Fox is a senior program officer for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) program at Wellspring. Fox is a board member for Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, a left-wing grantmaking group. [80] She is an alumnus of the Selah program at Bend the Arc, a left-of-center Jewish funding group. [81]
Joyce Malombe is a senior program officer for Wellspring’s International Children’s Education program, a position she’s held since 2012. Prior to that, she was an independent nonprofit development consultant. [82] She also worked for the Ford Foundation, the ELMA Foundation, and World Bank. [83] Malombe is a member of the advisory board for the Education Support program of George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. [84]
