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Dark Money
“Dark Money” is spending meant to influence political outcomes where the source of the money is not disclosed; usually via nonprofit organizations who are not required to disclose their donors.
Source: Investopedia
- Dark money groups spent approximately $242 million on TV ads targeting federal candidates during the 2024 election cycle, while over $300 million was spent digitally on social media.
- 320 groups that do not disclose their donors collectively spent more than $281 million on online ads during the 2024 election cycle without disclosing any spending to the FEC.
- Dark Money hit a record high of $1.9 Billion in 2024 Federal Races, up almost 100% from the 2020 election.
Source: Brennan Center - Since 2010, over $4 billion dollars has been spent by dark money groups on federal elections.
Dark Money isn’t a partisan issue as dark money supports all parties. There are many politically active nonprofits in existence who can accept unlimited donations from corporations, unions and individuals, while not having to make this information public. Fred Wertheimer, the founder and president of Democracy 21, for one, has said:
“History makes clear that unlimited contributions and secret money are a formula for corruption.”
- Groups aligned with Democratic or Republican party leadership account for around $3 in every $10 of dark money in 2020 elections.
Source: OpenSecrets
We give an "A" grade to ratings with a score of 80-100, a "B" grade to ratings with a score of 60-80, and so on. Ratings are roughly normally distributed around a mean of 50.
Causes form the basis of impact ratings and analysis on Ethos ESG. Ethos currently has 45 causes available, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). See descriptions of all causes, SDGs, metrics, and explore in more detail at www.ethosesg.com/definitions.
Light Money focuses on what we think are of the most common areas of concern for the public today based on what investors are telling us is important. These 6 causes are also personally near and dear to the team at Wayfinder Wealth Management.
The 3 metrics shown in the above 6 scorecards were selected by pulling Ethos data for each cause, sorting by weighting, and selecting the highest weighted metrics that had a measurable result while trying to minimize overlap and subjective scoring. These metrics are also aligned with the most common shareholder resolutions that are filed . For a full list of all causes, metrics, screens, and more, please visit www.ethosesg.com/definitions.