# Stand Together Stand Together is the umbrella organization coordinating [[Charles Koch]]'s political and philanthropic network. It is the latest branding iteration of an infrastructure that has existed since 2003, when Koch began hosting annual retreats for right-of-center donors. The organization functions as the central coordinating node of the [[Koch Network]], overseeing donor summits, grantmaking conduits, and a sprawling roster of advocacy groups, think tanks, and data operations — while projecting a public image of nonpartisan philanthropy. ## Serial Rebranding The organization has reinvented its public identity three times — each rebrand tracking a period of unwanted media scrutiny: **Koch Seminars (2003–2011):** Charles Koch launched twice-yearly invitation-only gatherings of wealthy conservatives and libertarians, modeled on the [[Koch Donor Summit Model]]. These retreats convened 200–700 donors who pledged collective contributions to Koch-aligned causes. **Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce (2011–2016):** As the 2012 election cycle raised the profile of Koch political spending, the network formalized into Freedom Partners, a [[501(c)(4)]] "business league" that served as the Koch network's fiscal hub. Freedom Partners funneled hundreds of millions to downstream organizations while shielding individual donor identities — the textbook [[Dark Money]] structure. **Seminar Network (2016–2019):** After [[Jane Mayer]]'s 2016 book *Dark Money* and sustained negative press tied the Koch name to plutocratic politics, the network rebranded again, emphasizing the collegial "seminar" format over the Koch surname. **Stand Together (2019–present):** In May 2019, Charles Koch announced that the Seminar Network would rebrand as Stand Together, that Freedom Partners would cease to exist, and that [[Americans for Prosperity]] would absorb all overtly political operations. The rebrand coincided with Koch's public pivot toward "bipartisan" issue advocacy on criminal justice and immigration — an attempt to soften the network's partisan image after years of being cast as a right-wing funding machine. Each rebrand dropped the Koch name further from public view. The strategy is textbook reputation laundering: the infrastructure, donors, and ideological agenda remain constant while the branding cycles to stay ahead of investigative scrutiny. ## Organizational Architecture Stand Together operates through a constellation of entities with distinct legal structures, all coordinated from the top: **Stand Together Chamber of Commerce:** A [[501(c)(4)]] entity that functions as a dark money conduit. Unlike [[501(c)(3)]] nonprofits, this structure permits unlimited lobbying and political spending without disclosing donors. In 2022, the Chamber channeled $25 million to the Koch network's hybrid PAC. **Stand Together Trust:** The primary donor-advised fund. In 2022, Charles Koch funneled $107.5 million through the Trust to ten groups under the Stand Together umbrella — his largest known political advocacy donation. **Stand Together Foundation:** The [[501(c)(3)]] charitable arm, focused on education, poverty, and community initiatives. Claims to work with over 290 community-based organizations. The Foundation provides the philanthropic cover that makes the broader political operation harder to attack. **[[Americans for Prosperity]]:** The flagship grassroots advocacy organization, claiming 3.2 million activists across all 50 states. Since the 2019 reorganization, AFP houses all of the network's overtly political and policy operations, including voter mobilization, canvassing, phone banking, and legislative lobbying. **[[i360]]:** The Koch network's proprietary voter data and analytics platform. Maintains files on over 199 million voters with up to 1,800 data points per individual — drawn from courthouse records, auto dealerships, consumer purchases, and more. At various points, i360 was considered superior to the [[Republican Party]]'s own data infrastructure, giving Koch-backed candidates a technological edge. The platform is also used by organizations like the [[NRA]] and Republican congressional campaigns. **LIBRE Initiative:** A Koch-funded organization targeting Latino communities on issues including immigration reform, education, and economic opportunity. Part of the network's effort to expand conservative outreach beyond its traditional white donor base. ## The Donor Summit Machine The core of the operation remains the twice-yearly invitation-only summits — historically held at resorts in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs, and similar venues. These gatherings convene 600–800 wealthy donors who collectively pledge $400–500 million per election cycle. The summits function as both fundraisers and strategic planning sessions where the network coordinates spending across federal, state, and local races. This is the Koch innovation that Stand Together inherited: converting a dispersed donor class into a coordinated political force. Charles Koch doesn't personally write $400 million in checks — he convenes hundreds of donors who each contribute, creating collective firepower that dwarfs what any individual could produce. The model has been widely copied, including by the [[Heritage Foundation]]'s donor operations and liberal counterparts like Democracy Alliance. ## Political Spending and Dark Money Flows Stand Together's combined entities move staggering sums. In 2022 alone, Koch-controlled political and policy organizations reported gross expenditures of $2.1 billion across three years of available records. The network's spending spans: Direct political advertising and voter mobilization through [[Americans for Prosperity]] and its [[Super PACs]] arm, AFP Action. Grantmaking to allied think tanks including the [[Cato Institute]], [[Mercatus Center]], and [[Heritage Foundation]]. Funding for state-level policy networks like [[ALEC]] and the State Policy Network. Academic programs at over 300 universities supporting more than 1,000 professors. Dark money pass-throughs via [[DonorsTrust]], which acts as a donor-advised fund aggregator that anonymizes contributions before distributing them to conservative causes. The [[501(c)(4)]] structure is the linchpin. Because these entities are classified as "social welfare" organizations rather than political committees, they face no obligation to disclose donors — a loophole supercharged by the [[Citizens United v. FEC]] decision and subsequent rulings that loosened restrictions on political spending. ## Issue Advocacy and Bipartisan Ventures After decades of pure partisanship, Stand Together under Brian Hooks has cultivated a portfolio of issue positions designed to signal bipartisan credibility: **Criminal justice reform:** The Koch network invested millions in the coalition that produced the 2018 FIRST STEP Act, which retroactively reduced federal sentences and expanded rehabilitation programs. This marked a genuine left-right alliance — Koch-funded groups partnered with the Center for American Progress and the ACLU. Charles Koch's interest traces to a 1990s Department of Justice prosecution of [[Koch Industries]] for environmental violations, which he viewed as prosecutorial overreach. **[[Immigration]] reform:** Americans for Prosperity and the LIBRE Initiative have supported bipartisan immigration legislation, including seven-figure ad buys backing reform bills. This position puts the Koch network at odds with the restrictionist wing of the [[Republican Party]]. **Education and poverty:** Stand Together Foundation funds school choice initiatives and community organizations addressing poverty — areas where libertarian preference for market-based solutions can be framed as nonpartisan. These issue positions are real, but they also serve a strategic function: they provide cover for the network's core deregulatory agenda and complicate the "right-wing dark money" narrative. ## The Trump Tension The relationship between Stand Together and [[Donald Trump]] represents the sharpest ideological fault line on the American right. The Koch network's classical [[Libertarianism]] — free trade, open immigration, limited government — clashes fundamentally with [[MAGA]] nationalism on tariffs, immigration restriction, and the use of state power. The tension escalated during the 2024 Republican primary. AFP Action endorsed [[Nikki Haley]] in November 2023 — the first time the Koch network had formally backed a candidate in a Republican presidential primary. The endorsement deployed AFP's grassroots infrastructure on Haley's behalf and spent over $9 million on anti-Trump advertising. Trump attacked the Koch-backed PAC as "bad for our Country," escalating a long-running feud. The gambit failed. After Haley's losses mounted, the Koch network withdrew support in February 2024 and redirected resources to Senate and House races. Trump won the nomination decisively, and the Koch network has since accommodated the new power reality — focusing on areas of alignment like deregulation and tax cuts while avoiding direct confrontation on tariffs and immigration. ## Brian Hooks and the New Koch Playbook Brian Hooks serves as Chairman and CEO of Stand Together and President of the Charles Koch Foundation. His leadership represents a generational and stylistic shift from the combative Koch politics of the 2010s — the era of the [[Tea Party Movement]] and scorched-earth fights against the Affordable Care Act. Under Hooks, Stand Together has adopted the language of "bottom-up" philanthropy and "empowerment" — framing Koch-funded initiatives as community-driven rather than billionaire-directed. The organization describes itself as working with "more than 700 business leaders and philanthropists" to help "every person rise." This rhetorical repositioning does not change the underlying power dynamics — Charles Koch remains the gravitational center — but it does make the network harder to caricature. ## See Also - [[Koch Network]] - [[Americans for Prosperity]] - [[Koch Donor Summit Model]] - [[Dark Money]] - [[i360]] - [[DonorsTrust]]