The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced 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 fiscal sponsorship arrangements, government grants, and contracts—mechanisms critics argue have been exploited by “dark money” networks to operate without public scrutiny.
“We are ending the days of hiding fraud, abuse, and extremist activity behind complicated nonprofit arrangements,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He warned that directors and officers of organizations misusing charitable structures would face increased “scrutiny, accountability, and liability under the law.”
The announcement comes amid intensifying investigations into prominent liberal networks like Tides and Arabella Advisors. The Washington Free Beacon reported in November 2025 that Arabella had rebranded its fiscal sponsorship arm as Sunflower Services “amid a series of high-profile investigations into its finances and billionaire Bill Gates’s decision to end a longstanding partnership with the organization.”
The Treasury’s focus on fiscal sponsorships—where a 501(c)(3) acts as an “umbrella” for projects without their own tax-exempt status—directly addresses concerns raised by the House Oversight Committee. Last month, Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said the Committee was “continuing 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.”
Comer said his letter was “part of the House Oversight Committee’s 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.”
The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) filed a formal IRS complaint in November 2025 alleging that the New Venture Fund (NVF), an Arabella-managed entity, engaged in improper “excess benefit transactions.” AAF wrote, “We 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’s founder and other senior officers through an administrative services agreement with Arabella Advisors LLC (‘Arabella Advisors’), 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.”
The Treasury’s new reporting requirements aim to track where public money actually goes. NGO Monitor reported in March 2025, “Since 1976, Tides has ‘scaled more than 1400 social ventures, fueled social change in 120+ countries, and mobilized over $3 billion for impact.’ A number of these social ventures demonize Israel, promote antisemitic rhetoric, and lead BDS campaigns.”
“If an organization receives public funds,” said Acting IRS Chief Counsel Ken Kies, “it should be prepared to show who controls the money and where it goes.”