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The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced<\/a> Thursday that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will revise Form 990 to increase transparency and curb misconduct within tax-exempt organizations. The move specifically targets\u00a0fiscal sponsorship arrangements, government grants, and contracts\u2014mechanisms critics argue have been exploited by \u201cdark money\u201d networks to operate without public scrutiny.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are ending the days of hiding fraud, abuse, and extremist activity behind complicated nonprofit arrangements,\u201d said\u00a0Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He warned that directors and officers of organizations misusing charitable structures would face increased \u201cscrutiny, accountability, and liability under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n The announcement comes amid intensifying investigations into prominent liberal networks like\u00a0Tides\u00a0and\u00a0Arabella Advisors. The\u00a0Washington Free Beacon reported<\/a> in November 2025 that Arabella had rebranded its fiscal sponsorship arm as\u00a0Sunflower Services\u00a0\u201camid a series of high-profile investigations into its finances and billionaire Bill Gates\u2019s decision to end a longstanding partnership with the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n The Treasury\u2019s focus on fiscal sponsorships\u2014where a 501(c)(3) acts as an \u201cumbrella\u201d for projects without their own tax-exempt status\u2014directly addresses concerns raised by the House Oversight Committee. Last month, Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said the Committee was \u201ccontinuing to investigate reports the Sixteen Thirty Fund, Arabella Advisors (now operating as Sunflower Services), and others have worked to circumvent federal campaign finance disclosure requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n Comer said his letter<\/a> was \u201cpart of the House Oversight Committee\u2019s larger effort to investigate powerful, dark money groups skirting campaign finance disclosure laws enforced by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) while obscuring the distinction between activities of legitimate journalists from campaign operatives. Online influencers invited to join the Chorus program reportedly receive up to $8,000 per month to amplify Democratic messaging online but must sign contracts enforcing strict secrecy and imposing limitations on the types of political content they can produce.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0American Accountability Foundation (AAF)\u00a0filed a formal IRS complaint<\/a> in November 2025 alleging that the New Venture Fund (NVF), an Arabella-managed entity, engaged in improper \u201cexcess benefit transactions.\u201d AAF wrote, \u201cWe have reason to believe that NVF has solicited hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from the public, a substantial portion of which have been diverted to NVF\u2019s founder and other senior officers through an administrative services agreement with Arabella Advisors LLC (\u2018Arabella Advisors\u2019), which was controlled by those same individuals. If so, NVF has engaged in improper excess benefit transactions by paying Arabella Advisors more than $200 million since 2006.\u201d<\/p>\n The Treasury\u2019s new reporting requirements aim to track where public money actually goes.\u00a0NGO Monitor\u00a0reported<\/a> in March 2025, \u201cSince 1976, Tides has \u2018scaled more than 1400 social ventures, fueled social change in 120+ countries, and mobilized over $3 billion for impact.\u2019 A number of these social ventures demonize Israel, promote antisemitic rhetoric, and lead BDS campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf an organization receives public funds,\u201d said Acting IRS Chief Counsel Ken Kies, \u201cit should be prepared to show who controls the money and where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n