Puppet Masters Part 3: Who [Really] Controls The News?
Omidyar Network's Partners List and Grants
If you haven’t read the previous parts of the series, here are the links:
Part 1: Weaponizing Philanthropy... Also Known As Impact Investing
Part 2: NewsTrust Communications Partners List
This is an overview of the grants distributed through Omidyar Network into NGO's, startups, grassroots organizations, media, projects, funds, and other organizations. If you want to find the strands in a spiderweb, just follow the money. Here we begin to do just that.
This part may seem a little drier than my usual content. I am usually more to the point. Just glance through. Skim the names. Look at the dollar amounts. It will make sense as to why I wanted to show this to you soon.
Let’s begin…
Following The Money
Omidyar Network's grants are broken down into 3 categories. These are the sums for their current grants.
Responsible Technology
We believe digital technology can and should have a positive impact on society.
$28,216,703Reimagining Capitalism
We believe capitalism can still be a powerful force for good.
$30,303,363Building Cultures of Belonging
We believe diverse societies must increase in equality, connection, and respect.
$8,220,000
I break these down into more detail below. Keep in mind that these are its current grants. Not previous ones.
Previous grants for the years 2004 to 2020 total $929,795,107.56. Here is a breakdown of that by year:
2004
$8,382,276.002005
$20,576,818.562006
$18,517,124.002007
$35,261,865.002008
$53,797,400.002009
$23,912,777.002010
$26,815,740.002011
$41,855,964.002012
$49,851,794.002013
$50,798,128.002014
$52,515,033.002015
$62,550,624.002016
$79,233,762.002017
$100,184,211.002018
$107,718,634.002019
$118,624,893.002020
$79,198,064.00
If you want to see past contributions for the years 2004 through 2021, you can find them here in their Form 990-PF.
The bottom line for the Omidyar Network's philanthropic giving is $996,535,173.56. Nearly a billion dollars.
Responsible Technology
According to Omidyar Network's website, this is what they have been investing their money into in regards to responsible technology:
Curbing Big Tech’s Harmful Influence
Fighting Disinformation and Dangerous Speech
Reshaping the Data Paradigm
Fostering a Healthy Tech Culture and Responsible Innovation
Omidyar Network works to stop the viral spread of conspiracy theories, destabilizing hoaxes, fake news, false claims, minority-targeting speech, and organized disinformation campaigns. To do so, we must make private messaging platforms safer and more trustworthy. We support individuals and organizations that conduct research and educate tech companies and governments on how to preserve privacy protections, including encryption, while making the necessary product design, policy, and incentive changes.
Here is what they were looking to invest into in the future:
Amplifying Youth Power
Shoring Up the Open-Source System
Ensuring the Future of Gaming is Inclusive and Equitable
Here is a list of their current investments (2021-2023) and the amounts they have invested into responsible technology. The total for the below investments is $28,216,703.
5 Rights Foundation
$850,000
American Economic Liberties Project
$250,000
Ashoka
$20,000
Aspen Institute
$500,000
Association Eticas Research and Innovation
$100,000
Atlantic Council
$250,000
Brookings Institution
$150,000
Bureau of European Union Consumers
$200,000
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
$70,800
CAL (Corporate Accountability Lab)
$200,000
Campaign for Accountability
$350,000
Center for American Progress
$200,000
Center for Digital Democracy
$75,000
Center for International Governance Innovation
$190,000
Chatham House
$250,000
Civics Unplugged
$55,200
Connected by Data
$250,000
Consumer Reports
$600,000
Cooperatives for a Better World dba Start.coop
$200,000
Data and Society Research Institute
$250,000
Datasphere
$100,000
Dazzle LCA (aka "Zebras Unite")
$300,000
Derechos Digitales
$100,000
Duke University
$150,000
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
$51,306
European Digital Rights (EDRi)
$75,000
Eyebeam
$200,000
Feminist Frequency
$50,000
Fight for the Future Education Fund
$180,000
Fight for the Future, Inc
$50,000
Global Impact
$450,000
Global Voices (GV)
$100,000
GrowthSpree
$210,000
Hack Club Bank
$49,000
Hampton University
$250,000
Hopelab
$200,000
Indian Institute of Science Bangalore
$250,000
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
$687,360
Just Futures Law
$376,500
Logic Foundation
$150,000
Loris.ai
$265,000
Luminate Projects Limited
$7,500,000
March On Foundation
$85,000
Meedan
$500,000
Morehouse College
$250,000
Mozilla Foundation
$450,000
Multiplier
$200,000
National Conference on Citizenship
$500,000
NC Young People's Alliance
$40,000
New Venture Fund *1
$50,000
North Fund *2
$334,500
Northeastern University
$200,000
Nuffield Foundation
$100,000
Open Collective Foundation
$150,000
Open Environmental Data Project
$100,000
Open Future Europe
$32,607
Open Markets Institute
$200,000
Parents Together Action
$60,000
PersonalData.IO
$100,000
POPVOX
$45,000
Praekelt PBC
$245,000
Public Knowledge
$200,000
Rhia Ventures
$20,000
Stanford Internet Observatory
$600,000
SumOfUs
$150,000
Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
$200,000
Tech Matters
$20,000
Tech Oversight Project
$200,000
Tech Policy Press
$212,000
The Busara Center for Behavioral Economics
$20,000
The Tor Project
$32,430
The University of Texas at Austin
$350,000
Third Sector New England (TSNE) dba TSNE MissionWorks
$75,000
UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
$475,000
UltraViolet Education Fund
$50,000
UN Economic Commission for Africa
$2,000,000
United Nations Foundation
$20,000
University of Birmingham
$150,000
University of California, Berkeley Foundation
$125,000
University of California, Los Angeles
$20,000
University of Virginia
$25,000
Verde
$100,000
Worker Info Exchange
$125,000
World Bank
$2,000,000
Yale School of Management
$650,000
Notes:
The grant to New Venture Fund was given for their project SEJ.
The grant to North Fund was given for their project Accountable Tech/Log Off Movement.
Reimagining Capitalism
According to Omidyar Network's website, this is what they have been investing in order to reimagine capitalism:
Seeding a New Economic Paradigm
Building Worker Power
Curbing Monopoly Power
Corporations, Capital Markets, and the Common Good
The prevailing economic ideas of the past 50 years in the U.S. have dramatically failed by most measures. We believe it is long past time to replace them.
Philanthropy supported the creation of these outdated ideas. We believe philanthropy must play a role in supporting new, better ideas. Our goal is to shape a new economic paradigm that describes our world today and points us toward systemic solutions that build a more equitable, inclusive, and resilient society. We are working with grantees, philanthropies, and other partners to help build alignment around a coherent new vision and set of economic values.
Here is a list of their current investments (2021-2023) and the amounts they have invested into reimagining capitalism. The total for the below current investments is $30,303,363.
Accountable.US
$150,000Action Center on Race & the Economy Institute (ACRE)
$400,000African Communities Together
$60,000Amalgamated Foundation *1
$500,000American Compass
$500,000Americans for Financial Reform (AFR)
$600,000B Lab
$450,000Better Markets
$550,000Boston Review
$250,000Brookings Institution
$200,000Business Forward, Inc.
$250,000Center for American Progress
$450,000Center for Political Accountability
$125,000Community Change Action
$750,000Coworker Solidarity Fund
$300,000Democracy Journal
$75,000Demos
$200,000Economic Policy Institute
$1,060,000Economic Security Project Action
$750,000For the Long Term
$425,000Financial Services Stakeholder Project
$200,000Grassroots Power Project
$100,000Harvard University
$75,000Horizon Project
$370,000Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia (United Renters for Justice)
$60,000Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
$500,000Jobs with Justice Education Fund
$1,050,000Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA)
$1,300,000Majority Action
$230,000National Academy of Sciences
$25,000Neighborhood Funders Group
$900,000New America Foundation
$300,000New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
$275,000New York Labor Documentary LLC
$250,000New York University
$94,000Novata
$1,000,000One Fair Wage Action
$100,000OpenSecrets
$85,000Poynter Institute
$155,000Private Capital Research Institute (PCRI)
$90,000Progressive Caucus Action Fund
$160,000Public Private Strategies Institute
$150,000Rethinking Economics
$35,000Rhia Ventures
$80,000Roosevelt Institute
$1,075,000Santa Fe Institute
$6,500,000SHARE
$80,000ShareAction
$130,150SiX Action
$150,000Sixteen Thirty Fund *2
$2,100,000Swiss Philanthropy Foundation
$1,500,000The American Prospect
$82,000The Association for Stewardship Professionals (StePs)
$100,000The New Press
$425,000The New School
$750,000The San Francisco Foundation
$300,000The Shareholder Commons
$400,000The University of Oxford Development Trust
$60,000Tides Advocacy *3
$110,000Washington Center for Equitable Growth
$250,000Wellbeing Economy Alliance
$130,000Working Families Organization
$500,000Zoe Institute for Future Fit Economies
$32,213
Notes:
The grant was given for their Families and Workers Fund projects.
The grant was given for their Carry on the Fight Fund, Groundwork Action Project Funding, Powering a New Economy Fund projects.
The grant was given for their California Donor Table, MH Action projects and is part of the Tides Center and Tides Foundation.
Building Cultures of Belonging
Throughout America’s history, the most transformative political advances—from slavery abolition to Reconstruction, ‘I Have a Dream’ to the election of Barack Obama, the DREAMers, Love Is Love, and the Movement for Black Lives—have been achieved by organizers, artists, and movements working together to awaken and harness people’s deep yearning to belong in a pluralist America.
In each case, the cultural tug of war between belonging and exclusion sparked a portal moment—a cracking open of the public imagination—through which we can see a glimmer of the pluralist nation we could become.
— Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Pop Culture Collaborative
According to Omidyar Network's website, this is what they have been investing their money into in regards to building cultures of belonging:
New Belonging
We are supporting networks that creatively disrupt patterns of fear and division to help communities solve problems together. Their experiences inspire new stories of what it looks and feels like when our cultural, economic, and technological practices work in tandem to build belonging.
Here is what they were looking to invest into in the future:
Culture of Repair
Learning from our past is critical when building a future where everyone belongs. That’s why Omidyar Network is exploring ways that communities can repair relations damaged by centuries of systemic racism, address history together, and heal. We are supporting organizations that advance both cultural and economic approaches for repair.
Here is a list of their current investments (2021-2023) and the amounts they have invested into responsible technology. The total for the below investments is $8,220,000.
Allied Media Projects
$150,000Aspen Institute
$100,000Citizen University
$250,000Civic Nation
$250,000Hopewell Fund *1
$400,000Movement Strategy Center
$100,000New Venture Fund *2
$200,000Next River
$150,000One America Movement
$175,000Partners for Dignity & Rights
$200,000Philanthropic Ventures Foundation *3
$200,000PolicyLink
$700,000Red Wine & Blue
$200,000Repairers of the Breach
$300,000Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors *4
$3,225,000The Center for Christianity and Public Life
$75,000University of California, Berkeley *5
$1,000,000University of Southern California (USC) *6
$125,000Welcoming America
$350,000WETA - Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association Inc
$70,000
Notes:
The grant was given for their Over Zero projects.
The grant was given for their Illuminative project.
The grant was given for their Building Belonging Fund project.
The grant was given for their Dignity.US, New Pluralists, Pop Culture Collaborative, and Trust for Civic projects.
The grant was given for their Othering and Belonging Institute.
The grant was given for their Norman Lear Center Popular Music Project.