Mind the Gap
Mind the Gap is an American liberal super PAC based in Palo Alto, California aligned with the Democratic Party. Its FEC Committee ID is C00683649.
History
Mind the Gap was founded in 2018 by Stanford Law School professors Barbara Fried, Paul Brest, and researcher Graham Gottlieb to help flip the United States House of Representatives in the 2018 election to the Democratic Party.1) 2)
In January 2020, Vox published an expose based on a leaked memo to prospective donors.3) The memo revealed that MTG recommended donors direct their funds to the Center for Voter Information (CVI), the Voter Participation Center and Everybody Votes, another name for a network of organizations surrounding the Voter Registration Project.4) 5)
Mind the Gap provided recommendations on which organizations to contribute donations to for a network of political donors that included her own son, Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur and former owner of defunct crypto company, FTX.6)
Organization
Personnel
| Name | Position | Affiliation(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Barbara Fried | Co-founder and President | Mother of Sam Bankman-Fried |
| Paul Brest | Co-founder and Board Chair | Former President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation |
| Graham Gottlieb | Co-founder, Executive Director and Treasurer | United States Agency for International Development (USAID) |
| Marissa McBride | Chief Executive Officer | - |
| Beth Benjamin | Chief Operating Officer7) | Medallia, Center for Leadership Development & Research, Booz Allen Hamilton, RAND Corporation, McKinsey & Company |
| Brian Derrick8) | - | - |
| Mitch Mathias | - | - |
| Sabir Muhammad | - | - |
| Patrick Ramjug | - | - |
| Josh Rosmarin | - | - |
| Natalie Wheeler | - | - |
| Bruce Ives | Consultant | - |
Finances
Donors
In addition to the below-listed donors, some reports list Dustin Moskovitz and Eric Schmidt as being backers of MTG.12)
Expenditures
These people and organizations received money from Mind the Gap during the listed year.
| 2022 expenditures17) | |
|---|---|
| Analyst Institute | $45,150 |
| Automatic Data Processing | $348,500 |
| Beth Benjamin | $249,800 |
| Bridgette Bruno | $67,034 |
| Deck Technologies | $45,000 |
| Graham Gottlieb | $168,156 |
| Mitch Mathias | $106,444 |
| Marissa McBride | $285,572 |
| Josh Rosmarin | $187,323 |
| Natalie Wheeler | $59,327 |
| 2020 expenditures18) | |
| Name | Amount |
| Analyst Institute | $65,850 |
| Automatic Data Processing | $339,778 |
| Berger Hirschberg Strategies | $32,052 |
| Beth Benjamin | $153,826 |
| Grahanm Gottlieb | $296,393 |
| Hemenway & Barnes | $50,746 |
| Jill McCarthy | $72,514 |
| Hadar Sachs | $89,390 |
| Abigail Scully | $26,610 |
| Erica Slates | $112,462 |
| 2018 expenditures19) | |
| Analyst Institute | $3,128 |
| Automatic Data Processing | $14,065 |
| Barbara Fried | $5,953 |
| Beehive Research | $21,000 |
| Civis Analytics | $90,000 |
| Graham Gottlieb | $99,224 |
| Hemenway & Barnes | $24,812 |
| Max Wertheimer | $7,000 |
| Obitz | $2,367 |
| San Vincente Bungalows | $2,286 |
1)
, 12)
Schleifer, T. (2020, January 6). Inside the secretive Silicon Valley group that has funneled over $20 million to Democrats. Vox. https://archive.vn/iDkg9
2)
, 4)
Fried, B., Brest, P., & Gottlieb, G. Overview of Mind the Gap. Capital Research Center. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221208090124/https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Mind-The-Gap-Internal-memo.pdf
3)
Schleifer, T. (2020, January 7). How Silicon Valley’s secretive donor group plans to beat Trump. Vox. https://archive.ph/2YGtC
5)
Eastlick, K. (2021, October). Capital Research. Capital Research Center. https://web.archive.org/web/20221118214207/https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Capital-Research-2021-7.pdf
6)
Yaffe-Bellany, D., Kelley, L., & Vogel, K. P. (2022, December 13). The Parents in the Middle of FTX’s Collapse. The New York Times. https://archive.ph/Pqr04
7)
Beth Benjamin. LinkedIn. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-benjamin-a923b27/
8)
Mind the Gap, Inc. (2023). FEC Form 3X Report of Receipts and Disbursements. Federal Election Commission. https://web.archive.org/web/20230219014503/https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/853/202301319575288853/202301319575288853.pdf
9)
PAC Profile: Mind the Gap. (2022, November 19). OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20221119200132/https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/mind-the-gap/C00683649/summary/2022
10)
PAC Profile: Mind the Gap. (2021, April 1). OpenSecrets. https://archive.vn/aObOl
11)
PAC Profile: Mind the Gap. (2019, June 10). OpenSecrets. https://archive.vn/MfhSM
13)
Organizations Disclosing Donations to Mind the Gap, 2022. OpenSecrets. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221223233215/https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00683649&tab=donors_all
14)
Organizations Disclosing Donations to Mind the Gap, 2020. OpenSecrets. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221223085604/https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00683649&tab=donors_all
15)
Matt Chanoff. LinkedIn. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-chanoff-3525076/
16)
Organizations Disclosing Donations to Mind the Gap, 2018. OpenSecrets. Retrieved December 22, 2022, from https://archive.vn/5FPCj
17)
Expenditures by Mind the Gap, 2022. (2022, December 23). OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20221224011743/https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2022?cmte=C00683649&tab=expenditures
18)
Expenditures by Mind the Gap, 2020. (2022, December 23). OpenSecrets. https://web.archive.org/web/20221223085848/https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2020?cmte=C00683649&tab=expenditures
19)
Expenditures by Mind the Gap, 2018. (2022, November 17). OpenSecrets. https://archive.vn/QUkbS