The local branch of a national watchdog organization that investigates the use of charitable vehicles to influence public policy has filed a formal complaint with the Alaska Department of Law, urging the Attorney General to investigate the left-wing New Venture Fund regarding its solicitation efforts, contributions to ballot measure campaigns, and indefinite fiscal sponsorship of two hard-left organizations.

The petition was submitted by The Alaska Influence Pipeline, a project of the American Accountability Foundation (AAF). The filing alleges that a group called New Venture Fund has exploited its §501(c)(3) tax-exempt status through its fiscal sponsorships of Alaska Venture Fund and SalmonState to deceptively solicit funds from Alaskans, finance ballot measure campaigns, and obscure essential financial and operational details from the public and state regulators.

New Venture Fund essentially operates as a behind-the-scenes umbrella network that hatches and then funds progressive environmental and climate change initiatives across the nation.

In Alaska, its sponsorship of Alaska Venture Fund funnels money toward shaping social policy across the state. Similarly, it funds SalmonState, which works to undermine Alaska resource development, mining and other industrial projects, while coordinating with other left-wing social and political initiatives.

The Alaska Influence Pipeline is now arguing that Alaskans have a right to know who is funding efforts to reshape their elections and public policy.

“Fiscal sponsorship should not become a mechanism for obscuring political activity or shielding organizations from appropriate transparency requirements,” a June 23 notice from the group states, adding that the public must have “confidence that Alaska’s disclosure laws are being enforced fairly and consistently.”

The letter to Alaska’s attorney general alleges that New Venture Fund has potentially violated Alaska law.

 “An Alaska donor who gives to ‘SalmonState’ or the ‘Alaska Venture Fund’ reasonably understands that they are supporting an Alaska nonprofit of that name,” the letter explains. “The donor is not told that no such legal entity exists, that the contribution actually goes to an unregistered District of Columbia corporation, or that the project may be wound down, transferred, or discontinued at the sponsor’s discretion.”

AAF further argues that New Venture Fund’s activity in Alaska raises additional legal concerns about its “undisclosed presence” in Alaska across multiple election cycles.

The letter also questions why SalmonState continues to operate under New Venture Fund’s fiscal sponsorship despite its size and financial backing.

“Despite more than a decade of operation and a multi-million-dollar budget supported by major institutional donors, including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Wilburforce Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Campion Foundation, SalmonState remains a project of NVF,” the letter notes.

Additionally, the filing argues that Alaska Venture Fund’s fiscal sponsorship structure limits financial transparency because its funding flows through New Venture Fund, eliminating the need for separate federal tax returns or financial disclosures.

“If AVF has engaged in activity that would require AS 45.68 disclosure or APOC registration from an independent Alaska nonprofit, the sponsorship structure hides that activity from state investigators,” the letter emphasizes. “Where the aggregated activity includes politically sensitive Alaska expenditures, the consolidation functions as concealment.” 

 AAF is urging the attorney general to open an investigation into NVF’s charitable solicitation, investigate whether SalmonState has transacted business in Alaska after the group’s involuntary dissolution in 2018, examine the nature of NFV’s fiscal sponsorship arrangement, and require NVF to disclose a complete budget and programmatic activity of its fiscally sponsored projects in Alaska.

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