WASHINGTON (AP) — The Berger Action Fund is a nondescript name for a group with a fairly specific goal: to channel the wealth of Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire, into the world of American politics and policy.
As a foreigner, Wyss is prohibited from donating to candidates or political committees. But his influence is still widely felt through millions of dollars routed through a network of non-profit organizations that invest heavily in the democratic ecosystem. Such groups are not required to disclose the source of their funding – or many details about how they spend it.
Newly available tax documents show that his donations through the Berger Action Fund, which describes itself as an advocate for “solutions to some of our world’s biggest problems,” rose to $72 million by 2021, cementing Wyss’s status as a top the Democrat-aligned mega-donor confirmed.
Wyss representatives insist they abide by the laws governing gifting from foreigners and have implemented a strict policy limiting the use of donations to “advocacy” — not partisan election activity. But the fact that the money cannot be publicly traced highlights the difficulty of putting such claims to the test.
Those same groups have helped fund efforts to push President Joe Biden’s agenda to the next level and paid for TV ads promoting Democratic congressional candidates ahead of last year’s midterm elections.
An ad paid for by a group that had funded Wyss praised Sen. Maggie Hassan, DN.H., for helping pass a Biden-backed green energy bill. “Some politicians are just ignoring this crisis,” narrators said. “Maggie Hassan just did something about it.”
After criticizing Republicans for using dark money, Democratic-affiliated groups spent more of it in 2020.
“The entire system is currently structured on the premise that we can take this nonprofit at their word. The reality is that there really is no effective oversight to make sure a foreigner’s money doesn’t end up in electoral politics,” said Saurav Ghosh, a director of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based nonpartisan watchdog group.
Wyss, who lives in Wyoming, was born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1935. But as a young man, he fell in love with the US, drawn to the rugged beauty of the American West.
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Wyss worked in the textile industry and for automaker Chrysler. He later built a fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine last year at $5 billion, after founding the medical device manufacturer Synthes USA, which was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2012 for about $20 billion.
Now most associated with environmentalism, he founded the Wyss Foundation in 1998 “to ensure that the iconic Western landscapes that inspired him are protected for all.”
In 2007, he expanded his giving by founding the Berger Action Fund, which has donated $339 million to left-wing nonprofits since 2016, records show.
Wyss’s sister, Heidi Wyss, described her brother’s pursuit of political influence in a 2014 biography she wrote, “Hansjörg Wyss: My Brother.”
“What was important to him was learning that he could exert influence through his foundation,” wrote Heidi Wyss.
“During a single meeting, the board of directors quite often allocates several million dollars. Behind the scenes, for example, a Swiss plays an important role in American politics,” says another passage.
Of the $72.7 million donated by Wyss’s Berger Action Fund in 2021, $62.7 million went to two groups focused on building public support for Biden’s agenda, according to tax documents and a statement from the group.
“The Berger Action Fund and the Wyss Foundation are committed to complying with all regulations applicable to their activities and have established strict policies that prohibit their funds from being used for activities to cast votes, register voters or nominees to support or oppose political parties. parties,” the group said in a statement.
Between 1990 and 2006, he donated $119,000 directly to candidates and political committees, as previously reported by The New York Times. Wyss has not addressed the contributions. The statute of limitations for bringing charges has long expired and the Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign finance laws, declined to take action against him.
Since shifting his focus to nonprofits, two closely related organizations that play a role in Democratic politics have been among the largest recipients of Wyss’ money.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund — two organizations that share the same founder, address and management company — have collectively received $245 million donated by Wyss’s groups since 2016, tax records show.
The organizations were founded more than a decade ago by Eric Kessler, a former Clinton administration official and heir to a fortune in auto parts.
“Almost all donations we receive are for specific projects or purposes; many donations cannot be used for election activities; and each contribution is used in accordance with all guidelines, regulations and laws,” Amy Kurtz, the president of Sixteen Thirty Fund, said in a statement.
The New Venture Fund was created to focus on more traditional non-profit work, while the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has received $208 million from Wyss since 2016, focuses more explicitly on the political arena. Molly McUsic, the president of Wyss’ Berger Action Fund, is a former director of the Sixteen Thirty Fund.
Sixteen Thirty Fund gives directly to political committees, but it also donates to other non-profit organizations that give money to political committees or pay for TV ads supporting specific candidates or charities, tax returns, and campaign finance disclosures.
Last summer, FEC staff lawyers said Sixteen Thirty Fund should be required to register as a political committee, a distinction that would force more disclosure.
The recommendations were spurred by a complaint filed by a conservative group against Wyss, his nonprofits, the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund.
In a memorandum, five FEC attorneys noted that the groups refusing donations from Wyss’s nonprofits were being used for overt political activity, such as paying for advertising or electoral activity. But the groups also declined to give details of the practices they have in place to ensure the money is not used in that way, the memo states.
The commissioners eventually rejected the complaint, although two of them promised to increase their oversight of such groups.
Allegations included in two recent lawsuits filed against the New Venture Fund accuse the organization, which shares the same legal compliance firm as the Sixteen Thirty Fund, of misrepresenting information to donors or failing to comply with the strict controls it says he accepted.
A former contractor, Sarah Walker, alleged in a 2022 federal lawsuit that a New Venture Fund project, where she served as executive director, repeatedly used “deductible contributions” to subsidize the “overhead costs and pay compensation to numerous employees who most of their work” in the political arena Walker, who is black, also accuses the nonprofit of promoting a hostile work environment and racially discriminatory behavior.
Walker declined to comment on this story.
In a statement, Lee Bodner, president of the New Venture Fund, said the allegations are “baseless”.
“Furthermore, like any 501(c)(3) organization, we do not engage in partisan election activity,” Bodner said.
Wyss has also donated to another nonprofit, Fund For A Better Future, which has received $101 million since 2016. Called Climate Power, the group spearheaded a campaign that helped fund millions of dollars in ads supporting Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, records show.
The group also spent about $5.3 million on advertising in support of about 30 House Democrats in the closing months of the 2022 midterms, campaign finance revelations show.
“Fund for a Better Future carefully tracks and controls its income and expenditure to ensure we comply with legal limits and with all restrictions placed on the funds we receive from donors,” spokesperson Niki Woodard said in a statement.
