Koch Fleet of Organizations Invests More Than Ever in Expanding Its Influence
This article is crosspublished from the Center for Media and Democracy: Koch Fleet of Organizations Invests More Than Ever in Expanding Its Influence
Charles Koch’s fleet of organizations spent a combined net total of $833 million in 2023 to influence public policy, elections, and certain charitable causes — marking its highest spending total to date.
As with previous years, the vast majority of the Koch fleet’s spending came from organizations that are predominantly focused on politics and policy.
And as in the past, the lines between policy influence efforts and genuine philanthropy remain blurred. Charles Koch’s significant university funding fuels his political influence apparatus, while his charitable contributions share the same “Stand Together” branding as his policy-focused organizations.
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has conducted a comprehensive financial analysis of Charles Koch’s network of nonprofit and political organizations based on IRS tax records and U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings for the last six years available, 2018–23. Our most recent analysis for 2023 found:
Combined assets remained relatively flat in 2023, totaling $8.2 billion across 34 distinct organizations.
Total net revenue within the fleet dropped to a relative low of $624.3 million in 2023. This is largely due to the massive outlier transactions that took place in 2022, when Koch, Inc. (the company) transferred $4.3 billion in stock to the organization Believe in People, Inc.
With a swollen war chest from massive private stock transfers, the Koch fleet’s net expenditures have climbed steadily since 2018, increasing by over $370 million (net).
A total of $715 million circulated among 34 Koch-controlled organizations in 2023 — more than twice as much as the $331 million in intra-network spending in 2022.
This $715 million accounts for the vast difference between gross revenue ($1.3 billion) and net revenue ($624 million), and between gross expenditures ($1.5 billion) and net expenditures ($833 million).
Of the fleet’s combined gross expenditures, over 95% was spent by organizations that are predominantly focused on policy and politics.
The remaining 4.6% of gross expenditures was reported by predominantly charitable groups having relatively little overlap with Koch’s political and policy goals. This includes the organization Movement Musick (previously known as Music C4, Inc.), which is controlled by Charles’ son Chase Koch and has been renamed several times.
CMD’s analysis is based on the most recent IRS tax filings for 27 nonprofit organizations, in addition to the relevant disclosures of seven political action committees published by the FEC. The data builds upon similar investigations conducted in previous years and makes use of the same methodology previously disclosed.
Koch Begat Koch
While most of these organizations do not reveal their donors, grants that are disclosed show that the Koch fleet is relatively insular:
Of the $363 million spent by the Stand Together Chamber of Commerce in 2023, over $156 million was sent to Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and its affiliated super PAC. Another $88.8 million was spent on employee salaries and benefits, indicating the scale of the fleet’s internal staffing network. Almost $60 million of the Stand Together Chamber’s spending is ambiguously listed as “other” expenses.
More than $170 million of AFP’s $185 million budget -– 92% — came from two Koch-controlled organizations, the Stand Together Chamber of Commerce and Stand Together C4 Fund. All three groups operate out of the same office building in Arlington, VA.
Two more groups operating out of the same office building received a similar proportion of their budgets from within the Koch fleet. The 501(c)(4) Yes Every Kid received 92% of its $8.7 million budget from the Stand Together C4 Fund. Its sister organization, the 501(c)(3) Yes Every Kid Foundation, received 87% of its $4 million budget from the Stand Together Trust.
The Stand Together C4 Fund received 58% of its revenue from two large grants from other Koch-controlled groups: $213 million from Believe in People and $50 million from Key Change, which was previously named CCKC4.
Nine Koch-controlled groups disclosed Stand Together Communications, an in-house public relations firm, as a top contractor in 2023, exceeding $107 million in combined contracts. Since 2018, the firm has received over $345 million in contract payments from Koch-controlled organizations.
Another $20.5 million in 2023 contract payments were disclosed to i360, Koch’s AI-powered voter profiling and data company, which also conducts consulting services for many candidates and organizations outside of the Koch fleet.
On paper, 53% of the Koch fleet’s gross revenue came from other Koch-controlled groups. It is possible that additional funding ultimately came from Koch, Inc., or from wealthy business people and corporate heirs who coordinate their spending with the Koch family. The tax filings of key nonprofits do not disclose their donors, including the Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, which took in over $250 million in 2023, mostly from undisclosed sources.
Dark Money Grants
Koch continued to send millions of dollars to the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT), a multi-billion dollar donor-advised fund that serves to obscure the relationship between specific donors and grantees. A total of $3 million was granted to the trust in 2023 between two separate grants disclosed by the Stand Together Trust and the Knowledge & Progress Fund. Koch organizations have granted a total of $102.1 million to the NPT since 2019, representing 86% of Koch foundation grants to donor-advised funds in that timeframe.
Since 2005, Koch foundations have given a grand total of $138.2 million to donor-advised funds. 2019 was the first year the Koch fleet began passing grants through donor-advised funds like the NPT and the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund instead of DonorsTrust. Previously, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund received a combined $20.1 million from Koch foundations between 2005 and 2019.
Koch Grants to Universities
As with previous years, one of the larger net spenders within the Koch fleet was the Charles Koch Foundation, which focuses most of its grantmaking on higher education. In 2023 it granted $90.8 million to dozens of universities.
The Koch fleet has granted over $788 million to more than 500 universities since 2005, according to a recent analysis by CMD, in combination with older tax filing data. As CMD has previously reported, universities have long represented the foundation for Charles Koch’s overall policy influence strategy, prompting student and faculty resistance on many campuses.
The Mercatus Center and the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) at George Mason University -– two organizations that have been controlled for decades by Koch, Inc.’s top executives -– continue to be major spenders within the Koch fleet. Mercatus, founded by Charles Koch and Richard Fink, acts as a strategic bridge between Koch’s university investments and its larger policy influence strategy, often advocating against policies and regulations that Koch, Inc. and other Mercatus sponsors seek to dismantle. The IHS serves as a key recruitment and training hub for the “talent pipeline” that Koch continues to prioritize.
George Mason University, Mercatus, and IHS have received over $305 million from Koch foundations since 2005, in addition to tens of millions in grants to GMU, IHS and Mercatus dating back to the mid 1980s.
Americans for Prosperity Priorities
Koch-controlled organizations were busy advancing a number of priorities in the realms of policy, lawsuits, and social issues in 2023. Much of this was conducted through AFP and its affiliated 501(c)(3) foundation and super PAC, which spent a combined total of $207 million that year:
AFP Action, an FEC-registered super PAC, spent $30 million in 2023 as it warmed up for the 2024 elections, an effort that ultimately cost over $138 million during the two-year election cycle. The overwhelming majority of these funds were spent supporting Republican candidates and opposing Democrats.
AFP endorsed staunchly anti-environmental gubernatorial candidates such as West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey, Indiana’s Mike Braun, and Louisiana’s Jeff Landry, a climate change denier.
As the fleet’s hub for “grassroots” activism, AFP continually orchestrated statements, reports, petitions, and events blaming then-President Biden for inflation, which many economists dismissed.
AFP continued a long tradition of attacking worker’s unions. It encouraged Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis to “hold unions accountable,” fought against a repeal of the decade-old “right-to-work” anti-union law in Michigan, and condemned a strike by the United Auto Workers by unionized employees in Michigan and Ohio.
2023 was the busiest year in the anti-ESG (environmental, social, and governance investing) trend in the states, with 26 of the 48 total anti-ESG laws passed that year in 31 states. AFP, along with other heavily Koch-funded groups like the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), the Heritage Foundation, and the American Legislative Exchange Council, led a state and federal crusade against “ESG” risk assessments in investing as a means of shielding the fossil fuel industry from accountability for the investment risks posed by climate change and pollution.
AFP celebrated a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a small business that refused to serve gay people. The ruling was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The Koch-funded Alliance Defending Freedom -– an extreme Christian hate group known for its discrimination against the LGBTQ population -– represented the plaintiff in the case.
AFP released a statement praising Elon Musk’s “3 best changes” at X (Twitter), without noting the platform’s increased use by hate groups and its resulting drop in use and revenue. Koch has financed several organizations that are involved in a lobbying effort to shield big tech companies from antitrust laws.
AFP’s Pennsylvania chapter continued to attack the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) -– a regional cap-and-trade partnership designed to reduce carbon emissions -– while Koch Supply and Trading was participating in RGGI trades.
Stand Together Trust Grantmaking in 2023
Koch’s advocacy activity was complemented by grantmaking activity run out of the Stand Together Trust, which has become the fleet’s primary funder of external policy influence groups in recent years. The Stand Together Trust spent $157 million in 2023, most of which was granted to other Koch-controlled organizations, as well as external organizations like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the Cato Institute, and the TPFF. The trust also gave large grants to charitable organizations such as the Edward Charles Foundation -– which is itself a grantmaker -– and The Phoenix, an exercise-based drug rehab charity.
K–12 School Privatization
A combined $11.6 million was spent by Yes Every Kid (YEK) and the Yes Every Kid Foundation. YEK was founded on vague aspirations to “transform public education” by promoting school “choice,” evoking strong skepticism from teachers’ unions. YEK has a notable absence of educational professionals among its leadership, most of whom have backgrounds in politics, lobbying, and public relations.
Charles Koch has opposed unions of all kinds for decades, including teacher’s unions specifically. His fleet of organizations have long supported efforts to funnel money away from public to private schools. Some of Koch’s groups, such as the Bill of Rights Institute and Empowered (formerly “Youth Entrepreneurs”), work to inject controversial material into school curricula such as texts whitewashing the history of slavery in the U.S.
Philanthropy and Stand Together Music
While the fleet continued to focus spending on universities and policy influence groups, Charles and his son Chase Koch also cultivated social capital through their philanthropy in 2023.
Most of this nonpolitical philanthropy dates back to a questionable but successful public relations rebranding effort that began a decade ago and depends on the Stand Together Foundation as the primary grantmaker. The foundation spent over $62 million in 2023, most of which was on grants to organizations involved in relatively noncontroversial causes like youth mentorship and development, drug rehabilitation, and Christian charities.
With the increased leadership of Chase Koch, a guitarist in an active band, much of Koch’s philanthropic activity is focused on garnering partnerships with high-profile artists. Stand Together Music, a project brand operated by the Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, earned favorable media for its partnerships with big-name musicians including Machine Gun Kelly, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Pitbull, the Chainsmokers, and Aloe Blacc -– whose new album was named after Koch’s Stand Together brand. Favorable coverage of these collaborations runs in outlets funded by Stand Together, such as SPIN magazine.
Koch’s music-centered philanthropy received some critical coverage for its juxtapositional collaborations with politically progressive musicians like Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Killer Mike of Run the Jewels. Killer Mike has continued working with the Koch family after initially signaling he wasn’t aware of who was behind Stand Together Music.
