# Americans for Prosperity Foundation **Type:** 501(c)(3) charitable organization **Founded:** 2004 **Headquarters:** Arlington, Virginia **CEO:** Emily Seidel (also CEO of [[Americans for Prosperity]]) **Twin organization:** [[Americans for Prosperity]] (the 501(c)(4) political-advocacy arm) **Americans for Prosperity Foundation** (AFPF) is the **501(c)(3) charitable arm** of the [[Koch Network]]'s principal political-advocacy organization, [[Americans for Prosperity]]. The Foundation conducts education, research, and policy-analysis activities (the constrained range of activities permitted to 501(c)(3)s), while the affiliated [[Americans for Prosperity]] 501(c)(4) conducts the more politically-oriented advocacy and electoral activity. AFP Foundation is the **named plaintiff in [[Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta]]** (2021), the Supreme Court case in which the Roberts Court struck down California's donor-disclosure requirement for charities. The case is the principal contemporary case in which the Court began constitutionalizing **donor anonymity for charitable and nonprofit organizations** — extending the post-2010 dark-money infrastructure's anonymity features into the 501(c)(3) charitable sector. ## The 501(c)(3) / 501(c)(4) Twin Structure The AFP Foundation / [[Americans for Prosperity]] pairing follows a specific architectural pattern that is common in the contemporary right-wing organizational infrastructure: | Entity | Tax Status | Activity Constraint | Donor Tax Treatment | |---|---|---|---| | AFP Foundation (501(c)(3)) | Charitable | Limited political activity | Tax-deductible donations | | Americans for Prosperity (501(c)(4)) | Social welfare | Substantial political activity permitted | Donations not tax-deductible | The architecture allows donors to choose which side of the AFP operation to support based on tax considerations. A donor who wants tax-deductible giving directs money to the Foundation; a donor who is more focused on political activity (and indifferent to tax-deduction) gives to the 501(c)(4). Both sides of the operation share operational infrastructure, leadership, and strategic direction. The pattern is replicated across the broader Koch-network infrastructure: [[Heritage Foundation]] / Heritage Action; [[Cato Institute]] (501(c)(3)) / no parallel (c)(4); the [[Federalist Society]] / external political-spending operations including [[Concord Fund]]. The Koch-AFP pairing is one of the most operationally-integrated instances of the pattern. ## The Bonta Case The 2021 [[Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta]] case challenged California Attorney General regulations requiring charitable organizations to submit unredacted IRS Form 990 Schedule B (which identifies major donors) to the state. AFP Foundation argued that the disclosure burden violated its [[First Amendment]] associational rights even though Schedule B information is filed with the IRS for federal tax purposes. The Roberts Court (6-3) struck down the California regulation, applying a strengthened "exacting scrutiny" requirement to disclosure regulations. The decision is significant for the broader campaign-finance system because: 1. **It is the first major case attacking the disclosure regime itself.** Until 2021, the post-2010 dark-money architecture had operated by *evading* disclosure (through 501(c)(4) and similar vehicles that are not required to disclose donors). [[Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta]] is the first case to substantially constrain *the disclosure rules themselves*. 2. **AFP Foundation's role as plaintiff is structurally illustrative.** The Koch-network organization that brought the case is the principal infrastructure for which the disclosure-resistance is most operationally valuable. The case is one in which Koch-network organizations directly litigated, and won, an expansion of donor-anonymity protection. See [[Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta]] for the full case treatment. ## Significance for the KB AFP Foundation matters for the KB on two registers: 1. **The 501(c)(3) / 501(c)(4) twin-structure pattern.** The pairing of charitable + advocacy entities under common leadership and operational infrastructure is one of the principal contemporary patterns in the conservative-movement infrastructure. AFP Foundation / [[Americans for Prosperity]] is the most operationally-integrated instance. 2. **The named plaintiff in *Bonta*.** AFP Foundation's role as the plaintiff in the principal contemporary case extending First Amendment protection to donor anonymity makes it a structural participant in the contemporary campaign-finance architecture, not merely a beneficiary of it. ## See Also - [[Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta]] — the 2021 case in which AFP Foundation was the named plaintiff - [[Americans for Prosperity]] — the 501(c)(4) political-advocacy arm - [[Koch Network]] — the parent network - [[Charles Koch]] — the principal individual funder - [[David Koch]] — the historical co-funder - [[DonorsTrust]] — adjacent donor-routing infrastructure - [[501(c)(4)]] — the entity type for the AFP twin - [[Dark Money]] — the broader funding infrastructure - [[Campaign Finance Timeline]] — full chronological view - [[Campaign Finance]] — Foundations hub