The Koch network stepped up funding for its own groups in 2014, but also served as something of an ATM for some of the most powerful groups on the right ― doling out millions in grants to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Club for Growth and National Rifle Association, among major backers of Republicans ― according to a tax filing publicly released Tuesday morning.

The filings were submitted to the Internal Revenue Service by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central group in the increasingly powerful network of conservative public policy and political groups helmed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.


The tax filings show that Freedom Partners, which was created in late 2011 to increase coordination within the Koch network, raised $162 million over the past two years ($36 million in 2013 and $126 million in 2014). The 2014 haul was almost entirely from six-figure membership dues of wealthy donors whom the Kochs convene twice a year for summits that highlight the virtues of fiscally conservative, small government policies ― and who raise money for groups and candidates who support those policies.

Freedom Partners and most of its grantees do not reveal their donors’ names because they are registered under a section of the tax code ― 501(c) ― that does not require them to do so.

The group’s impressive haul constitutes the lion’s share of the $290 million that the Koch network expected to spend in the run-up to the 2014 midterm elections. And its tax filings show that the group disseminated the majority of its cash to other groups, with the biggest donations going to a cluster groups that form the central core of the network.

Americans for Prosperity, the network's most politically aggressive group, received $22 million from Freedom Partners. Concerned Veterans for America, which seeks to engage veterans on fiscal issues, received $16 million. The LIBRE Initiative, which targets Latino voters, received $6.5 million. A group that disseminates money to reach evangelical voters received $6 million, while the American Energy Alliance, which opposes energy regulations, received $2 million.

But Freedom Partners also wrote grants to an array of groups that play key roles in the broader conservative coalition, but are not considered to be part of the network ― including some that have differed sharply with the Kochs’ public policy stances.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce received $2 million from Freedom Partners, despite lobbying for the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, a program vehemently opposed by the Koch network as market-skewing corporate welfare. The Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America ― which supported a 2013 government shutdown that the Koch network said it opposed ― received $1 million and $150,000, respectively.

Other grantees outside the Koch network included the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, which received $4.9 million, and a group called the Dr. Joseph Warren Institute, which spreads the message of medical professionals who oppose Obamacare. It received $300,000 from Freedom Partners.

Some grantees used Freedom Partners’ cash for highly specific campaigns that seemed to have at least the network's tacit endorsement. A $400,000 grant went to a group called Trees of Liberty, which, as POLITICO revealed last week, spent its cash attacking the leading rival of Koch-favorite Joni Ernst during her 2014 GOP primary campaign for the Iowa Senate seat she eventually won. Trees of Liberty was created in 2013 with the Kochs’ blessing to cultivate candidates who share their commitment to free-market conservatism.

The tax filings show that Freedom Partners paid Aegis Strategic $1.3 million in consulting fees. And Freedom Partners donated $693,000 to an affiliated super PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund, which last fall aired ads attacking Democratic Senate candidates, including Ernst’s general election opponent, then-Rep. Bruce Braley.

Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce’s tax filings reveal that the group is branching out beyond merely disseminating cash to other entities for political and public policy advocacy, and has built its own robust operation. Its staff, which numbered 60 employees in 2013, grew to 133 employees last year. They were paid a total of $13 million in salary and benefits, including $794,000 that went to the salary and benefits of the group’s president Marc Short.

That salary puts him well ahead of Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who made $153,000 last year, but far behind U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue, who was paid $4.9 million in 2011.

Freedom Partners also spent heavily on functions it used to delegate to grantees. It spent $1.9 million on focus groups and $1.2 million on advertising production. It paid $1.5 million to the firm of Frank Luntz, a regular guest at Koch donor seminars, and $1.4 million to the Utah-based direct mail firm Arena Communications.