EXCLUSIVE: Watchdog Sounds Alarm On The Left’s Massive Foreign Money Pipeline

A government watchdog group is urging lawmakers to crack down on foreign money flowing into U.S. nonprofits that influence American politics and public policy, according to letters exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Americans for Public Trust (APT) is sending letters to all 50 governors and officials on six congressional committees directing them to its newly launched FollowForeignMoney.org database, which has cataloged a running total of more than $5 billion flowing from foreign governments, foreign nationals and foreign charities into U.S.-based nonprofits with records dating back to 2002. The group is calling on state and federal officials to examine whether existing laws adequately prevent foreign actors from indirectly influencing political outcomes.

“The information is available. The threat is real,” APT Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland wrote in the letters.

Federal law broadly prohibits foreign nationals from making contributions, donations, expenditures and disbursements in connection with U.S. elections, but foreign money can still finance certain activities through tax-exempt organizations, advocacy groups, voter registration efforts and other channels, according to APT.

The Senate could next take up the Stop Foreign Funds in Elections Act after the House approved the legislation in July. The bill would extend the federal prohibition on foreign-national contributions and donations to ballot initiatives and referenda.

Federal lobbying disclosures show Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog and democracy advocacy organization, and union powerhouse AFL-CIO have lobbied on the Stop Foreign Funds in Elections Act, though the filings do not indicate whether the organizations supported or opposed the legislation. The groups didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The foreign money comes from a collection of overseas foundations and foreign-linked philanthropic networks. An earlier APT analysis identified six major sources that it said had collectively directed more than $2.65 billion into U.S. advocacy groups.

Hansjörg Wyss is a Swiss billionaire who uses his massive wealth to fund liberal and progressive advocacy groups in the United States. Nonprofits associated with Wyss accounted for approximately $673 million, according to APT.

His Wyss Foundation, a private charitable foundation, and Berger Action Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group, have directed more than $372 million into nonprofits associated with the Arabella Advisors network, a group of major liberal nonprofit funding vehicles, including nearly $305 million from Berger Action Fund to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal nonprofit dark money group, according to APT’s database.

“Americans for Public Trust is a right-wing organization bought and paid for by Leonard Leo that has repeatedly targeted Sixteen Thirty Fund because of our support for progressive causes,” a Sixteen Thirty spokesperson told the DCNF. “If the group were genuinely concerned about our campaign finance system, it would join us in supporting meaningful reforms that would increase transparency rather than selectively attacking organizations it ideologically opposes. We are proud of our work and operate in full compliance with the laws and regulations governing 501(c)(4) organizations. We strictly follow legal requirements regarding use of foreign funding.”

The Wyss Foundation and Berger Action Fund did not respond to a request for comment.

Other climate activist groups, like British billionaire Christopher Hohn’s Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, accounted for about $638.2 million, according to APT. The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

APT’s materials identify several major climate and environmental organizations among the largest recipients of foreign funding. The database lists the ClimateWorks Foundation, a U.S.-based public charity that connects philanthropic funders with climate change initiatives around the world, as receiving $582 million, according to the database.

ClimateWorks has distributed more than $2 billion to over 850 grantees in 50 countries since 2008, its website says. The organization did not respond to a request for comment.

APT’s database also lists Energy Foundation China at $104 million from the U.K.-based Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Quadrature Climate Foundation, and the Swiss-based Oak Foundation. The California-registered grantmaking charity has operated in China since 1999 and says it supports research, policy development and international cooperation aimed at transforming China’s energy sector and achieving greenhouse gas emissions neutrality.

Energy Foundation China did not respond to a request for comment.

The money has flowed into a mix of political advocacy groups and major environmental organizations.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund, a nonprofit advocacy organization that backs left-wing causes ranging from voting access and health care to climate policy and racial equity, received $305 million from the Berger Action Fund, according to APT’s database.

The group also fiscally sponsors Chorus, a program that reportedly contacted dozens of Democratic-aligned social media influencers in June 2025 and offered participants up to $8,000 per month to promote left-wing messaging online. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer launched an investigation into the program on Nov. 19, 2025, seeking records on its contracts, funding and compliance practices amid concerns about the secrecy surrounding the payments.

The Berger Action Fund gave another $102 million to Fund for a Better Future, a social-welfare nonprofit that funds and fiscally sponsors projects involving elections, immigration, climate policy and other left-wing causes, according to the database.

The fund has also bankrolled Democratic-aligned advocacy, giving nearly $5.1 million to Building Back Together, which was founded by former Biden campaign staffers to promote the Biden administration’s agenda, between 2021 and 2023, according to InfluenceWatch. It also gave $1 million to Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Planned Parenthood’s political and lobbying arm, in 2017, InfluenceWatch data shows.

Fund for a Better Future did not respond to a request for comment.

The funding also extended deep into the environmental advocacy world. APT lists the Environmental Defense Fund, a global environmental nonprofit that uses scientific research, economic analysis, advocacy and litigation to advance climate and energy policies, as receiving a total of $48 million from multiple donors. The Environmental Defense Fund did not respond to a request for comment.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which employs lawyers, scientists and policy specialists to advocate and litigate on climate, energy, wildlife and public-health issues, received another $30 million, according to the database.

“NRDC is a U.S-based public interest organization that advocates for clean, American-made energy that can power the nation and address the climate crisis,” NRDC spokesperson Mark Drajem told the DCNF. “Our priorities and positions are set by our professional staff and our independent, U.S.-based board of trustees, and no one else. The funds highlighted in this database went to helping reduce pollution and protect wildlife in countries outside the United States.”

Some of those funding streams can be traced back to major overseas climate philanthropies.

Quadrature Climate Foundation, created by the founders of London-based hedge fund Quadrature Capital, has directed more than $568 million to U.S.-based organizations, according to the database. ClimateWorks alone received $148 million from Quadrature, including grants that APT says were designated for efforts to accelerate electric-vehicle adoption and push financial regulators to address climate-related risks. Quadrature Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

At the state level, APT pointed to Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio as states that have taken steps targeting foreign funding in ballot measure campaigns.

The congressional letter was addressed to the leadership of the House Administration, Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means committees; along with the Senate Judiciary, Rules and Administration and Finance committees.