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A Closer Look at “The Trade of the [previous] Century,” and some of the related Soros/Open Society Foundations, Their Ownership, Investments, and Activities (per Forms 990/990PF) [Publ. 3-24-2017]. (short-link ends “-573,” about 12,800 words, as of Sept. 2017 update)

In looking at the 1992 trade of the (previous) century in which $1 billion was made for the fund which bet AGAINST British pound sterling, while billions more were lost by the unfortunate Brits in that deal, I asked (before delving somewhat headfirst — only the heels left above ground-level — into some of these Open Society tax-exempts and how they interact with each other, in this post) —

My question being, given  how the funds are flowing and the profits being made, if someone this smart (with smart advice also, obviously) could bring the Bank of England to its knees, resulting in an entire currency having to go off the ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism), but still fail anyhow — and thus get devalued costing the British taxpayers billions, then what country, or currency, is next, and from the same source?  Also, do we really think this kind of game is only played on the politically Left or Progressive side of politics?

It’s beyond interesting, and I think should be kept in mind whenever you are hearing rhetoric about the pubic schools, education, transformation, and again, “left v. right.”

This post (as drafted 11/28/2016) began:

We have to open some Forms 990 and comprehend the contents.  Once this becomes habit (and probably not before it does), will the importance of the habit become evident.

Written and stored as draft 11/28/2016 with much detailed research and annotated images of the same.  In publishing it 3/24-25/2016 (within the First 100 Days of the Pres. Donald J. Trump Administration), and as (today) the vote to take down “Obamacare” has just officially fizzled when the Republicans refused to support it.  So as to “a nation divided” I think these posts are still relevant.

Because of the level of detail already researched in late Nov. for this post, I am not going to re-immerse myself in the material, but post most of it “as is.”  However here is some transition information, highlights, which may help digest the original posts:

(UPDATE COMMENT: Above background-color & minor copyedit added for planned quotation of this post in which (tangentially) the Soros/Druckenmiller topic came up in the context of when women were admitted to Ivy League and almost-Ivy League College such as the historic Bowdoin College in Maine.  In addition, I’d done (not on this post) plenty of drill-downs on some of the nonprofits and where the assets were being held, run by Canada and Druckenmiller in association with the Harlem Children’s Zone… //LGH Feb. 12, 2020).

You will also find some information in here (not typical in the media) on Betsy DeVos, now our new Secretary of (the U.S. Department of Education), whom the Left is raking over the coals for her support of charter schools and intent to supposedly dismantle the public education system.

While I am no fan of the DeVos Family or ANY of their programming I’ve become aware of over time (nor am I a fan of charter schools, although I’ve taught in some — as well as other kinds of schools over several decades — as a professional musician), I also understood the differences between various school options as a parent (after first escaping the abuse, single parent) of modest means with the goal of making possible for my daughters a four-year college of their choice on scholarships based on each child’s unique abilities.  But what came up here is funding of the “Fund for Educational Excellence” and the “Foundation for Educational Excellence” not to mention Alliance for Excellence in Education.  There are personnel in common you might not expect to be working together for this cause.

https://www.ffee.org/about-us/ (Baltimore-Based) (does it post Form 990s or EIN#?  No.  It does post “Annual Reports” (but only through year 2014).  Since 1984.  List of major sponsors includes Open Society Institute-Baltimore. Says it’s serving as a fiscal agent for the public schools (??).

Founded in 1984, the Fund is a Baltimore-based non-profit organization that works to secure the financial, human, and knowledge resources necessary to support innovation that increases student achievement in City Schools.

FundForEducat’lExcellence (ffee’org,Baltimore) 2014 Annual Rept WhatItDoes Excerpt (Screen Shot 2017-03-25)

In the last post “Indicators”* like this one written and stored in draft 11/28/2016 and being published about four months later in late March, 2017, with some additions, I asked a series of pointed questions, after discussing the “Conservative vs. Progressive” (or, Republican v. Democrat, or, [switching the order of labels here..] Left v. Right) and some “shine the light on our political opposites” websites — as the nonprofits they were.

*”Indicators that both Left and Right Want Their Public Distracted, Occupied, and Entertained (engaging the Emotional versus Logical Processes) with Good Guy/Bad Guy Storytelling …

I asked the questions in this format:

…[re:] “Sourcewatch,” a project of The Center for Media and Democracy [“CMD”], also a small progressive nonprofit dedicated to the opposite, and in its own words:

“CMD’s breakthrough investi-gations of the Koch Brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its American City County Exchange (ACCE), the State Policy Network (SPN), and numerous corporations and corporate-front groups).  Like  the David Horowitz Freedom Center, CMD has several projects, which may be reflected in on-line web pages:  PRWatch.org, SourceWatch.org, AlecExposed.org, etc.”

The point being:

Discover the Networks (and similar nonprofits or on-line publications) are going to look at Soros and the Clinton Foundation and report on and condemn groups/activities considered Left or Progressive.  The other side (and similar nonprofits or on-line publications) is of course going to point fingers at the Koch Brothers and others considered Right or Conservative.  Both attempt to identify their own position as best for America (and by association, the world).  Essentially, pointing fingers, mud-slinging, personalizing/demonizing perceived leadership of the other side, and telling one-sided stories while implying they are factual, neutral and objective.

My questions were:

• Which types of reporting, and in this case which of the above two nonprofits (David Horowitz Freedom Center with its “DTN” above + The Center for Media and Democracy, with Sourcewatch, PRWatch, AlecExposed, etc.), encourages or even helps readers acquire basic nonprofit, Form 990, or otherwise basic accounting and economic literacy on the nonprofit OR the government sector, and in the public interest?

• And since neither are doing this, why not?  Why, if the originators of this type of reporting are so concerned about the magnitude of the opposite political party’s threat to stability, commonsense, or “America” would these not wish for their audiences a wide public better educated on economic and accounting literacy, instead of maintaining or acquiring the position of chief storyteller?

• Is the attempt to grab people’s heads and discretionary time to listen to storytelling (which any hearsay information is), and hopefully add to the contributions of said nonprofits doing the reporting, a genuine demonstration of civic interest?  Or is all the reporting (on both sides) justifying the continued proliferation of the nonprofit sector, which is actually profitable for corporate wealth on BOTH sides of the political fence?

[Logically, if any group is so concerned about the public’s lack of awareness of how bad the other side’s nonprofit “shadow governments” as well as their programming (run through the nonprofits), then the same wouldn’t just post the results of their own studies, but point readers to “the tools of the trade” in looking up ANY nonprofit, or foundation, and evaluating it — getting their eyes (and heads) closer to the evidence, versus being spoonfed it from a different nonprofit.

These groups, by and large, are NOT promoting “where to look up a nonprofit” or “how to locate and read your local government financial statements” but “how to follow us and counter the bad guys’ programming….  Apparently they only want a public educated enough to follow — not to act independently and possibly investigate not only those being reported on, but also those doing the reporting — as to what kind of entity, how funded, how small or big, how old, where located, and in particular, how honestly are they reporting to the IRS, and maintaining corporate legitimacy.

Finally (in this list of points from last post “Indicators….”) I referenced my intent, in following education-focused nonprofits, to look more closely at the Open Society ? Soros entities.

• In the field of education, specifically — these nonprofits I have been currently looking at, although clearly one is more Open Society Foundations / Soros-involved than the other political side — have organizations whose board membership (and in one instance I am talking, an ex-Governor) can be found on both progressive and conservative nonprofit focused on the same subject matter.  Interesting….

Yes, and this did catch my attention, I saw a known right-wing leader and a known progressive-associated leader on the same “make education excellent” foundation (actually two different ones, not including yet another one “Alliance for Excellent Education.”).

A Closer Look at “The Trade of the [previous] Century,” and some of the related Soros/Open Society Foundations, Their Ownership, Investments, and Activities (per Forms 990/990PF) (short-link ends “-573”)

….emerged from this post,

Long post title with shortlink (short enough to tweet): 4th Quarter 2016 Review of Who’s Pushing Things “First 5” (and K12) Public School “Transformation”   (Sticky Post added 11-20-2016)

My long introduction to the Closer Look and a series of tax-return images from Open Society or Soros Foundations (Funds), in its demonstrating why we need to get this fiscal literacy thing down — and start at the top (Macro Economic Players) with some sustained, self-directed study and refusal to buy into the name-calling, finger-pointing, mud-slinging political parties (Progressive OR Conservative in alignment) that the various on-line websites and publications (not to mention mainstream media) encourage, to their nonprofit program purposes (including contribution, and persuasion) — to make those points, of course required more show and tell.  About 8,000 words into that, I booted that information overboard, to THIS post (in draft still):

Indicators that both Left and Right Want Their Public Distracted, Occupied, and Entertained (engaging the Emotional versus Logical Processes) with Good Guy/Bad Guy Storytelling with Big Letters, Bright Colors and Pretty Pictures. Otherwise the Public might Actually Acquire the Basic Fiscal Literacy which underlies Good Judgment, and, in general, through Independent Action, Actually Communicate with Each Other to Achieve Economic Independence without Enslaving Others? (shortlink these urls ARE case-sensitive ends “-57T”).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

4th Quarter 2016 Review of Who’s Pushing Things “First 5” (and K12) Public School “Transformation”   (Sticky Post added 11-20-2016)

OPEN SOCIETY & SOROS FUND SECTION, from “4th Quarter Review of Who’s been pushing things “First 5” and (public) school Transformation.

One of the nonprofits had an individual referenced by the Open Society Institute who I’d seen put on the board of a progressive “League of Education Voters America” whose activities related to “Alliance for Excellent Education” (a 501c(3))’s related 501©4 (America Graduates — which became “National Public Education Advocacy Fund” (NPEAF or similar name) took over America Graduates assets (at same address and with same board members) under a new name and EIN# exclusively, says its “exempt purpose” to funnel funds to League of Education Voters America” which quickly set about adding some non-Leeds family members to the board (within about a year of operation), as well as changing name, address, and etc.

One of the board members was Deepak Bhargava, who got more than honorable mention by an Open Society Foundations website and Bill Moyers in 2013 for his activities on “Center for Community Change” — a much larger and older nonprofit than the itty-bitty “Education Voters America” as it later became.

So that’s how I got into looking closer at the Open Society Institute tax returns, and quickly realizing just how many other ones were around even in the US –and how their profiles had been changing over time, as well as their investments, which was acknowledged, strategically changing.

As the Foundation for Educational Excellence (Florida organization) is recently in the news, because of our new Education Secretary to Be appointed by President- Elect Donald Trump, there is also a “FUND for Educational Excellence” receiving a significant (compared to other) grants from a 2003 spinoff foundation become a public charity, called “Alliance for Open Society, International” but doing business as “Open Society Institute – Baltimore.”

General idea clearly being to discourage outsiders from EVER figuring out the maze of entities and which ones are real, which are technically speaking perhaps real, but obviously set up for some subterranean money movements, in ways that do not readily lend themselves to explanation in mainstream journalism.

Case in point, when I go about blogging it. No way does any mainstream daily or weekly periodical, or even blogging platform (such as Huffington Post — a whole other level of digital platform buy-outs involved there over its existence.  It appears to be presently owned from Tokyo…and no sooner was it up and running than the capital to expand was raised from that quarter) encourage the level of ongoing detail on the nonprofit sector, outside of, say those running the nonprofit sector in collaboration with each other (such as “Philanthropy Times” or other publications).

Most text below this line was written before moving.  I have not corrected for all references to “below” which might be left behind at the other posts.  My hope is you read both of them anyhow.

The link is provided at the top of this post and on the other one also.

SO:  Warning about complexity and length of post — The Open Society Foundations also positively references the activity of this former ACORN activist, and my post below has substantial postings on the significance of when George Soros and friends (and foundations) get involved.

When comparing large to small, perhaps it’s good to start with the large and put in perspective media and warring organization website reporting on each other regarding the $1M or $2M level (and I included two or three examples, both left and right, below — regarding the Center for Community Change leadership) with the multi-billion-dollar investment platforms represented by — for one, not the only, example — the Soros-funded foundations (and Geosor Corp / Soros Investment Management Fund donates to many of them.

They also donate to each other and periodically one liquidates into another, in restructuring in which countries and funds specific assets are held — whether Ireland, or the Cayman Islands, or elsewhere.  Geosor Corp (founded 1990) (<=Bloomberg.com description) was of course, also privately held. Its “line of business includes providing investment advice to companies and individuals” and at this address (which will also show on several foundations).  NYState Business Entities Search (you must now complete a short “captcha” input to use — a recent change).

Address:

888 7th Ave Fl 33

New York, NY 10106

United States

Another address I found on many recent tax returns of some of the foundations is:

224 West 57th Street
New York , NY 10019

The Geosor Corporation address is listed as attention ℅ Daniel Eule of Soros Fund Management, which is an LLC.  (FYI there is also an Open Society Institute Management company in Cyprus)

Showing 2/2/1990 formation date of GeoSor Corp, with no former company names and that only 1,000 shares of $1/share (originally only?)per NYS Business Entity Search

Soros Fund Management, LLC (per NYS search site) was only registered as a foreign (Delaware) Corp.  in Nov. 1996, and currently at this address:

SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT
250 WEST 55TH STREET, 27TH FL
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 10019

The “Foundation to Promote Open Society” (currently one of the larger, with $4.9B total assets) only registered in NY as a Foreign (Delaware) Not For Profit on April 1, 2009, while the “Soros Economic Development Fund” (image below this one) was formed in 1997 in NY (Delaware Nonprofit).  The SEDF currently $67M (In part, because it’s donating heavily to the Foundation to Promote Open Society recently — if I have this all straight, but as noted below if perhaps not); it used to be significantly larger.  Meanwhile the “Open Society Institute” (which I mistakenly began with because it was which organization the Bill Moyers article of 2013 had quoted) is not even registered as a business in NY — but it IS registered as a charity and operating under EPTL (New York Estate, Powers and Trusts Law); the EIN (FYI) is #137029285).  See next series of images.

Underlying all of these are the various investment funds, obviously — as well as I found, at times grants from USAID and other governments’ parallel to the International Development field (the UK and Canada found on a year 2014 registration for the Open Society Institute).  Unfortunately, no intervening charitable registrations (although it’s annual, I thought) are clickable at NYSCharities.com for us to read what other grants were donated to this wealthy not for profit over time…  Meanwhile, all seem to be filing Form 990PFs, emphasizing of course the PRIVATE control of the cash flow, assets, investments, and reporting.

In other words, investments are being strategically re-organized in the last few years..

NYS Entity Search detail showing FTPOS Foundation registered 4/1/2009 in NY as a Delaware Not-for-profit

Soros Eco Devpt Fund registered in 1997 as a Delaware Nonprofit (it also reads “Reg. Agent Revoked”)

Showing from NYS Business Entities Search that Open Society Institute (which holds about $1.5B assets presently) is NOT registered as a corporation. It is registered at NYSCHarities.com (next image) under the New York EPTL (Estate, Powers and Trusts Law); the EIN (FYI) is #137029285. It apparently registered in 1999; and its website is “OPENSOCIETYFOUNDATIONS.ORG”

Showing Detail for NYSCharities.com regr of OSI (Which holds nearly $1.6B assets, moved 2014 to QOSI LLC (Cayman Islands $283M) and 1 other (similarly large) Verrry Interrresting return also shows over $100M grant to Institute for New Economic Thinking and notes a ½ billion loan ($500,000,000) from Geosor Corp…

So, I posted a great explanation on how this investment genius (with other geniuses in his employ, such as Stanley Druckenmiller) and the Quantum Fund/s, bet against the Bank of England, shorted the pound sterling in 1992, and made a billion dollars in the process– costing British citizens billions of dollars in the process.

What was then done with at least that billion dollars?  Well, it goes somewhere — and with multiple foundations EACH having (presumably) their own stash of assets — these if coordinated still comprise a significant influence within any country, as they are no doubt intended to.  It gets real interesting, and again — there is a significant difference between several billion and a few million.  With all of this in motion, I think it’s time for more of us to learn to see how and where it moves, and where this may be in part aimed at taking over public institutions (such as the schools) privately — but keeping the schools operating public, so as to retain the public financial support of the infrastructure.

In this post you will also see left and right working on the same side of the equation, particularly when it comes to “transforming the schools for success” while in public maintaining a great “we hate each other” face.  Don’t be taken in by this, please!

The drawback is that this all takes time, and summarizing it in simple sentences without posting the proof isn’t really fair. You can imagine how untangling this might complicate producing a simplistic, dumbed-down “Do This!” post such as many advocacy groups in circles I’ve frequented (experientially — i.e., divorce court post-abuse and related circles) just don’t bother to explain.  

So, I post a lot of the proof, enough to show patterns, and by sometimes focusing on single entities and from there, the related entities, also demonstrate one way to do this, and then discuss where to get more.  YOU SHOULD GET THE BASIC ENTITY INFORMATION UP FRONT — TAX RETURNS (or lack thereof) AND THEN READ THEM, INCLUDING ATTACHMENTS WHERE IT SAYS “SEE ATTACHED.” AND, LEARN TO SUMMARIZE WHAT’S ON THEM IN SIMPLE SENTENCES THAT OTHERS COULD FACT-CHECK AND, ON YOUR PART, WILL KEEP THE PROCESS OF “TURNING THE LIGHTS ON” ACTIVE, AND PARTICIPATORY!

(This logo, though appears to be 2015)

(BillMoyers.com, Oct. 2013, “Activists to Watch“). 

As executive director of the DC-based Center for Community Change (“CCC”), Bhargava, now [in 2013] 45, coordinates a large network of local community organizing groups engaged in a wide variety of issues. After working for the community activist group ACORN, Bhargava joined CCC in 1994 and has energized the organization by recruiting a young and diverse staff and by leading campaigns to address America’s poverty crisis and its fraying social safety net. CCC provides support and training to local and state-level groups such as Promise Arizona and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative to bring the often-fragmented progressive groups together around a common vision and strategy.

“Social movements have to be a combination of a big, inspiring national vision, but grounded in local struggles and local fights,” says Bhargava, who immigrated to the United States from India, grew up in New York City and graduated from Harvard University.

Several years ago, he helped bring together local immigrant rights activists to expand the campaign for federal reform, focusing on identifying, training and mobilizing young people, often called “dreamers.”

As  a Harvard grad he is already one of an elite cadre of leaders, and like many commands a nice salary through the CCC designed to help poor people.

As profiled on OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS, notice the reference, among the boards he serves on to “League of Education Voters” — this is a specific 501©4 I found with really odd, move-the money (shell-games) involvement of funder, and connections to the media technology family-wealth group I found when looking at the Alliance for Excellent Education, which had caught my attention some weeks ago in part because I found $75M here, $30M there being invested, then quickly (short-term capital gains) sold off, in “Bernard L. Madoff Funds, which led to one, large  “Excu-uu-se me“??? … …  ??? (and follow-up lookups).

The current organization purpose (2014) reads:

THE ALLIANCE IS A POLICY AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION THAT PROMOTES HIGH SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR EVERY CHILD TO GRADUATE PREPARED FOR POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION AND SUCCESS IN LIFE

Bob Wise’s LinkedIn (impossible to read without signing up, or I’d post it) shows he’s been president at this Alliance for Education organization since 2005.  

Therefore he reasonably should’ve known about what was going on with the still-young organization in at least 2004 and before — and they were investing heavily in “Bernie Madoff” funds with an erratic support schedule, and functioning as virtually a private, family-run charity (originally) with background in the digital and technology publishing field. They were also forming parallel to the 501(c)3 a series of 501(c)4s interrelated with other 501(c)4s in a maze of solicitations and donations, with shape-shifing, location-changing and name-changing entities.

Which I learned through doing the drill-down, having already learned before this that a connection with “ConnectEd: The California Center for Career and College” had been misbehaving vis-a-vis (regarding) the State of California by failing to register its charity for a full five years after incorporation (and receiving plenty of funds having required them to).

Yet “ConnectEd” was the darling of some of the largest privately-controlled foundations without regard to their operating above-board and legally under state rules, which are in the public interest for people IN the state (but not necessarily circulating in the highest echelons, state capitols, legislatures, or “Business Roundtables”) to know about the charitable activities within their state and particularly when those activities are targeted at public school districts most of those residents’ children (those that have kids) attend — and whether or not they have children, their wages go towards supporting.

(Alliance for Excellent Education, Inc. 2004 Tax Return (p1 only) EIN#113487339: Look at Header Line L and at Pt 1 Line 8, Gross/Net Income from Sale of Securities). Direct public support was only $1.5M but somehow they had $76M of assets to sell off?

all4ed-org-home-page-first-banner-gov-bob-wise-viewed-2016nov25.png

<==Description of this former governor of West Virginia teaming up with former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida on an initiative of “Foundation for Excellence in Education” called “Digital Learning Now.” I’m quoting just enough to show that they are using a sort of “RoadMap” to push for legislative reform (Education Reform) based on what was decided at a National Conference this organization convened in 2010:

 

Digital Learning Now is a national initiative of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, with the goal of advancing state policies that create a high-quality digital learning environment to better equip all students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in this 21st-century economy. Digital Learning Now is building support for the 10 Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning, which provide a roadmap for reform for lawmakers and policymakers to integrate digital learning into education to better prepare students for college and career.

In 2010, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise co-chaired the convening of the Digital Learning Council to define the policies that will integrate current and future technological innovations into public education. The Digital Learning Council united a diverse group of more than 100 leaders from education, government, philanthropy, business, technology, and think tanks to develop the roadmap of reform for local, state and federal lawmakers and policymakers. This work produced a consensus around the 10 Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning, which were released at the 2010 National Summit on Education Reform in Washington, D.C.

(Now that I see what this group is doing — it’s pretty transparent — should make a note that one of the board of directors has just been appointed future Education Secretary of the United States of America by our President-Elect, Michigan Billionaire, Betsy Devos (WashingtonPost, 11/23/2016 by Emma Brown)

Nevertheless, with “FEE” in year 2012 (bottom row below), we see two women (Patricia Levesque and Debra Finn) working 50 hours weeks for, per Part VIIA, “nothing” but find out later in the return, they are being paid through the primary subcontractor, “Media Management Strategies, LLC, which Levesque owns 100% and for which Finn is an employee.  The funding is almost 100% private grants, and their “Other expenses” (including Management, Line 11g, are running pretty high.  Give it two more years, and the main subcontractor is being paid $2M (versus Media Management Strategies, LLC’s only $276K), but Patricia Levesque now has a brisk salary:

ORGANIZATION NAME	ST	YR	FORM	PP	TOTAL ASSETS	EIN
Foundation for Excellence in Education	FL	2014	990	56	$14,437,440.00	26-0615175
Foundation for Excellence in Education	FL	2013	990	49	$14,938,571.00	26-0615175
Foundation for Excellence in Education	FL	2012	990	34	$13,710,854.00	26-0615175

(From the article above, they are worried about the Common Core and privatization factor, and conservative leanings):

Trump Picks Billionaire Betsy DeVos, School Choice Advocate, as Education Secretary

(WashingtonPost, 11/23/2016 by Emma Brown)

…Jim DeMint, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, cheered DeVos on Wednesday, saying that “the school choice movement will have a champion in the Education Department.” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said that Trump’s pick “makes it loud and clear that his education policy will focus on privatizing, defunding and destroying public education in America.” …

She has said little about Common Core, for example, and her ties to organizations that support the K-12 academic standards — including as a board member of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, started by former Florida governor Jeb Bush — raised concern for Trump supporters, who saw her nomination as a sign that the president-elect is wavering on his vehement opposition to the standards. …

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the education committee, said she plans to scrutinize DeVos’s record and ask her about her qualifications, priorities and plans. Murray also said she would press DeVos to explain — given Trump’s statements about immigrants, women, Muslims and other groups — how she “will ensure the safety and respect of all students, of all backgrounds, all across this country.”

DeVos, 58, grew up in Michigan, where her father, Edgar Prince, made a fortune supplying auto parts to manufacturers. Her brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, one of the most profitable private security firms during the Iraq War. Blackwater came under scrutiny after its guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

She graduated from Calvin College, a Christian liberal arts school in Grand Rapids, Mich., and married Dick DeVos Jr., an heir to the Amway direct-sales fortune.Together, they founded the Windquest Group, which invests in technology and manufacturing.

They wield powerful influence in Michigan, where she is a former chair of the state GOP and he was the Republican nominee for governor in 2006.

They also are major donors to GOP candidates and conservative causes nationwide. During the 2016 cycle, they gave nothing to Democrats and $2.7 million to Republican candidates and political action committees, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

I think it’s that Amway exposure we should be most worried about, given that privatization of charter schools emphasize on the digital platform (Note:  The public school system is already a mammoth marketplace, and with technology further enabling standardization; it’s a marketplace everyone (both sides and many industries) is already salivating after; and whoever gets to RUN the most of it , will be running ahead of the crowd for their technology in use — courtesy the US Taxpayers supporting the infrastructure.

What’s odd is that the Alliance for Excellent Education connections (Gov. Bob Wise) is trending definitely towards progressive connections (Open Society Foundation, Center for Community Change, etc.) while the Betsy Devos and Jeb Bush connections would seem to leaning more to the Right.  Either way, charter schools are still public schools — they must be chartered by school districts, although some are trying to get around this (found in “Milwaukee Institute for Transformational Leadership” at Marquette University run by a former pro-choice director of that public school system).

At no point are either the political RIGHT or the political LEFT attempting to equalize the “achievement gap” between schools their own children have attended or will attend K12 (and associated colleges/universities) which systems prepare people to run not just lone businesses, but business empires (multinational), and government institutions, and to be investments-savvy, make the right connections for raising capital quickly, or assigning debt, structuring entities to AVOID taxation — and the public school K-12 (and public university systems) for the masses which prepare people to work in businesses or government entities run by “the upper echelon.”

What both sides have in common is understanding how to build investment platforms tax-exempt and utilize the same tax-exemptions to promote certain programs and/or subcontractors included. In other words, regardless of political party, both sides know how to “move the money through the nonprofits, and disburse public awareness of the scope of it through decentralization.  

(Alliance for Excellent Education, Inc. 2004 Tax Return (p1 only) EIN#113487339: Look at Header Line L and at Pt 1 Line 8, Gross/Net Income from Sale of Securities). Direct public support was only $1.5M but somehow they had $76M of assets to sell off?

(Notice, he’s Advisory Board below, not listed as Board of Directors):

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/people/deepak-bhargava

Deepak Bhargava

Advisory Board Member  Board U.S. Programs

Deepak Bhargava is executive director of the Center for Community Change, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change the policies and institutions that affect their lives. As executive director, Bhargava has led the center’s work on immigration reform and spearheaded the creation of initiatives that develop the next generation of community organizers and bring large numbers of low-income voters into the electoral process. Prior to working at the center, Bhargava directed the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, and ran numerous national campaigns that have helped improve the lives of low-income families.

Bhargava has written on issues like poverty, racial justice, immigration reform, community organizing, and economic justice for publications including the American Prospect, the Nation, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has also provided intellectual and policy leadership on these issues by testifying before Congress more than 20 times, and serves on the boards of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, the Discount Foundation, the League of Education Voters

,and the Nation editorial board.  Bhargava graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College.

Center for Community Change is a well-known nonprofit, around since 1968, but somehow  Foundation Center database can’t get its name right more than one time out of three in search results for the EIN# (see next image).

Foundatn Center Search on EIN# 520888113 (Ctr Community Change) comes up with three different org names for $39M assets [2013] organization! Correct name is the middle one; the other two are its projects!.

Open Society Foundations only brought their programming to the US late in the game (per their “about/History” page) later in the game

 (Click here to view the image (below left, green background, two thumbnail portraits from Open Society Foundations) full-size.  Web pages change so I saved the image to a “PDF,” despite that “-png” indicator).

Christopher Stone is a fairly new President (2012), replacing Aryeh Neier who came their from Human Rights Watch since 1993:

Those two statements in that Soros quote don’t add up to a statement of “in what direction” movement should take.  Improvement is always with respect to a certain goal / standard and regarding a certain thing or situation to be improved.

Backing up some in the “History” of Open Foundations” (The one quote above is marked by background color and borders, but is not indented as a standard “Block Quote,” this next quote is from same source):

….To help train a new generation of political and economic leaders, Soros founded the Central European University in 1991 as a center of research and policy analysis that promotes the principles of open, democratic societies. Support for education programs, from early childhood to university, accounted for as much as half of the Open Society Foundations’ annual program expenditures.  [1/LGH]

Aryeh Neier joined the Open Society Foundations in 1993 as president after leading Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. By the following year annual expenditures had reached $300 million, compared to less than $3 million in 1985, and the Foundations became known for the ability to respond rapidly with innovative programs to changing conditions.

Neier began to make the Open Society Foundations into a truly international organization.We provided support for Burmese refugees and dissidents suffering under the repressive military regime in that country; for the construction of low-cost housing and legal, economic, and political reforms in South Africa to help the fledgling majority-black government; and for regional initiatives in Africa and Central Asia.

In 1996, with the launch of our programs in the United States, we made an effort to address some of the flaws of an open society.## Early programs focused on improving end-of-life care, reforming drug policies, changing the punitive criminal justice system, and challenging harsh immigration laws and practices. Baltimore was selected for a comprehensive approach to the root causes of poverty and injustice. The Foundations supported projects in Baltimore that helped boost reading and math test scores for public school students, expand after-school programs, double the number of people receiving drug treatment, and increase the state’s parole grant rate.

I bet “Center for Urban Fathers (CFUF) might have been one of them (I saw “Center for Urban Families” on a fairly recent Open Society Institute tax return (below) as a Baltimore grantee, but the amount was small).

So, an open society is wanted — and efforts made to create one — but open societies have flaws that the same foundations helping push for this openness are saying still exist?

[1/LGH] Let’s talk about some related events (although in a different Soros company) between 1991 and 1992 Again:

• 1991: Soros founded the Central European University in 1991 as a center of research and policy analysis that promotes the principles of open, democratic societies. Support for education programs, from early childhood to university, accounted for as much as half of the Open Society Foundations’ annual program expenditures
• 1993: “Aryeh Neier joined the Open Society Foundations in 1993 as president”

I found this one interesting, in that in 1992 Soros (see “hedge funds” with advice? by Stanley Druckenmiller who by then was working with him) bet against the Bank of England, that is against the pound sterling, and one, netting a profit of $1 billion.

Let this article, in hindsight, explain that there may be more than one reason for the extreme interest in “Open Societies” (less national borders) and what a difference it made to British taxpayers when Soros (and a group of traders) won on this particular bet.  Notice also the quote from Stanley Druckenmiller (dated to 1994) that goes with the article.

I couldn’t summarize it better, read the step-by-step explanation (aimed for the general reader, well-done!) so here’s the quote:

The Trade of the Century: When George Soros Broke the British Pound  (link =>here);

In PRICEONOMICS, by Rohin Dahr.

(article undated.  At the bottom, however. it reads “Priceonomics published an earlier version of this article on May 15, 2014.”)

“I’ve learned many things from [George Soros], but perhaps the most significant is that it’s not whether you’re right or wrong, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.”

Stanley Druckenmiller, 1994  * * * [[Who was managing Soros’ “Quantum Fund” at the time]]

In 1992, George Soros brought the Bank of England to its knees. In the process, he pocketed over a billion dollars. Making a billion dollars is by all accounts pretty cool . But demolishing the monetary system of Great Britain in a single day with an elegantly constructed bet against its currency? That’s the stuff of legends.

Though it occurred just two decades ago, Soros made his nation-shaking bet in a very different time. Back then, hedge funds hadn’t yet entered the public consciousness, restrictions on capital flowing from one country to another were just lifted, and the era of the 24-hour news cycle had just begun.

To appreciate how Soros made a fortune betting against the British pound requires some knowledge of how exchange rates between countries work, the macroeconomic tools governments use to stimulate economies, and how hedge funds make money. Our readers are invited to correct us if we stumble in explaining any of these concepts.

And so onwards with the story of how George Soros led a group of traders to break the entire foreign currency system of Great Britain—and profit handsomely at the expense of British taxpayers and others who were on the wrong side of the greatest financial bet of the 20th century.

…Again, I encourage people to read the story and think about it when considering what wonderful philanthropy is taking place in between operating tax exempt and betting AGAINST the citizens of a particular developed country — and having started this with a tax-exempt foundation, apparently 1979, in New York…!!!

How interesting, come to think of it, that this Foundation was set up in 1979, when the European Nations were getting together  on an ERM  (Euro Exchange Rate Mechanism) but before this was set in the “Euro” as currency by 1999.  When things are in major motion, profits can definitely be made for those who know how, and have the wherewithal:

(“The Trade of the Century,” cont’d., link =>here)

After Word War II, European countries wanted to integrate their economies more tightly with each other. The hope was that tighter relations would prevent catastrophic wars from breaking out every few decades and create a Pan-European market that could compete with the United States. This culminated in the European Union (EU), which didn’t assume its current form with a single currency until 1999.

A precursor to the EU was the European Exchange Rate mechanism ( ERM ), which was created in 1979. Countries weren’t ready to give up their national currencies, but they agreed to fix their exchange rates with each other instead of “floating” their currency and letting capital markets set the rates. Since Germany had the strongest economy in Europe, each country set their currency’s value in Deutschmarks. They agreed to maintain the exchange rate between their currency and the Deutschmark within an acceptable band of plus or minus 6% of the agreed upon rate.

[Read more =>here] {<==Please do!}

I just took a look at a single Open Society Institute (formerly “Foundations”) return, in detail.  This is of course only one of several controlled entities, both in the US and overseas.

It’s stunning in size and scope, but like any return, you can still look at source of revenues, expenses (including grants, and who’s getting the largest ones), where are the assets being held, or moved to and from, etc.  While the numbers are large, and there are many pages (particularly as $80M of grants (paid or awarded & due to be paid in the future), plus schedules of grantee accountability — and Schedules describing some of the details on the Tax Returns (like, what are those “other investments’ or “other Assets” or “Other liabilities” etc. — you can still get sense of it.  My question being, given  how the funds are flowing and the profits being made, if someone this smart (with smart advice also, obviously) could bring the Bank of England to its knees, resulting in an entire currency having to go off the ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism), but still fail anyhow — and thus get devalued costing the British taxpayers billions, then what country, or currency, is next, and from the same source?  Also, do we really think this kind of game is only played on the politically Left or Progressive side of politics?

Just for the perspective, then:    (NOTE:  After looking at this for about a half-day, it becomes clear that almost no end of OSI (or Soros) foundations are moving money to and from, along with investments, and while donations may end up being in the multiple-millions of dollars per year — many of those donations are going simply to other Soros foundations.  In addition, support (contributions) TO the same foundations are often coming from Other Soros foundations (but not exclusively) as well as GEOSOR CORP, and so forth.

I had looked in much more detail at “Open Society Institute” but on search simply the two words “Open Society” on a 990finder, found out that the $4 billion-dollar one (currently) is instead this one (but — it’s all relative anyhow, as that money is being moved across borders faster than the eye can blink, so to speak.  Or, at least yearly):

Total results: 3. Search Again.

When you are dealing with billions in only one entity, and a myriad (LOTS) of entities, the question is also often, where are the assets being held, not just where is the cash flowing.  These groups have been restructuring recently, in part moving out of holding funds in Ireland under either a plc (public shares) or just a “Limited” (privately held, not offered to the public to purchase) company to, at least in part, the Cayman Islands.  But the ownership is spread all over the map through this tactic.  You have to start reading those “Attachments” and looking at the different entities’ activity with each other.

Year Ending 2014 above, this foundation wasn’t assets-poor, at all, but still received $659M of contributions from two other Soros tax-exempt foundations (privately controlled, filing Form 990PFs) — Soros Economic Development Fund (“SEDF”) and Soros Fund Charitable Foundation (per the attached “Schedule B” which lists these things).  They also earned $428,000,000 net investment income, and (under expenses) distributed $410M of contributions to other groups, including (I’m sure) more Soros or Open Society entities:

Foundatn To Promote Open Societies, Part I (top, LL1-6 only) Yr 2014

<==Click image or here to see full-size.  But I am basically pointing out parts of the 990PF to look at, in general, and that unless people are highly motivated to do this, the overall impact will likely be missed, as well as what is going on as promoted by those in control of these holdings.

The $659M (Schedule B shows) came in two installments from two OTHER Soros Funds or tax-exempts (First image below-left) and this was by “Transfer of Investment shares” on 10/31/2014″ (second image below left. I should’ve annotated them green, as they correspond to Line 1, Contributions).

foundtn-to-prom-open-soc-ein263753801-yr2014-schedb-showing-sedf-284m-sfcf-888-7thave-nyny-374m-2016-11-24-at-1-14-16-pm

Schedule B Yr 2014 for FTPOpen Society (largest?) Soros fund, 224 W 57th St in NY, NY

You also see (Line 4, FTPOS Pt 1 image blue arrow and rectangle) $428,000,000 marked “Attachment 1.”  This is Dividends and interest from Securities.

Who in the heck has investments that produce $428M Dividends in ONE year?  Either way (click on the tax return) these were from Quantum Endowment Fund Ireland, says the return:

Meanwhile, as of 2012, the Open Society Foundation, Inc. (EIN#26-0248258) in NY liquidated itself, and gave the proceeds ($71M worth including profits from QEF Funds — C Shares) to the Open Society Institute as you can see by the $0.00 balance (and tax return contents showing “final return“):

In addition (below), the Soros Charitable Foundation, EIN#137003532, liquidated itself and gave the Foundation to Promote Open Society, EIN#26-3753801, $59M during 2012 (see also Quantum Endowment Fund, C Shares) (in a prior year I see there was also $10M in Quantum Industrial Funds):

Total results: 3. Search Again.

Soros Charitable Foundation, EIN: 13-7003532 (Year 2012)
Form 990-PF Attachment 8

990-PF,Part VII-A, Line 5 – Dissolution

During calendar year 2012, Soros Charitable Foundation transferred $59,657,307 to Foundation To Promote Open Society. This amount represents cash grants of $59,665,334 and $8,027 to pay liabilities incurred by Soros Charitable Foundation. This transfer represents the complete liquidation of the Soros Charitable Foundation as evidenced by the attached distribution of assets and termination, dated July 18, 2012.

This Soros Charitable Foundation (above) was apparently involved in a joint $2M loan (by these foundation’s standards, I’d call that “pipsqueak”) underwriting the South African Rand — a joint project with Soros Economic Development Fund (below, EIN#133965869, website “http://SEDFNY.org“) (also found contribution in a major way to the Foundation to Promote Open Society, above, one year that I looked).  As you can see from total assets, they drastically reduced it for FYE2014

Total results: 3. Search Again.

A Schedule B shows that the Foundation …Open Society Contributed $4M in 2014:

Attachment 20 (image barely legible) –> $288M to Foundation for Open Society, and $75,000 to Rockefeller Philanthropies:

STRATEGIC REORGANIZATION OF THE ADMINISTRATION AND FUNDING OF VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS NETWORK DESIGNED TO FACILITATE LONG-TERM PLANNING, INCREASE COORDINATION, AND IMPROVE CHARITABLE OUTCOMES, PURSUANT TO WHICH THE ORGANIZATIONS DESIRE TO CONSOLIDATE THE ASSETS OF THE NETWORK IN FPOS, WHICH WILL MANAGE AND ALLOCATE SUCH FUNDS FOR THE CHARITABLE PURPOSES AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES OF THE OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS

SUPPORT US NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD IN THE DEVELOPMENT, STRESS TESTING AND SOCIALIZING OF POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS INTENDED TO ADVANCE IMPACT INVESTING IN THE UNITED STATES ON BEHALF OF THE BROADER GLOBAL SOCIAL IMPACT INVESTMENT TASK FORCE

Total results: [3]. Search Again.  (results unsorted by year, oops).

**Notice this is not in date order (Foundation Center doing its “mess up the organization name” game again), I didn’t notice until going through FYr 2013 as an example.  Imagining the above table in date order, you can see constant, and significant increase in assets over a two-year span, from $685M to well over over twice that amount.

In 2013 (Calendar Year = Fiscal year) “OSI” shows Contributions TO the Open Society Institute of $41M and Net Gain from Sale of Assets, $117M.  (Image below shows “From whom”).

Under Expenses, it spent $43M on Employee Salaries and (it says) $47M Contributions — that’s a high percentage of grants to others.  However many – -and some of the largest — grants are to entities it controls, i.e., other Soros Foundations.    In 2014, the Contributions were $21.5M and Grants, a similar amount.  Although this may not be the most interesting part of the return (which won’t fit on this post, definitely), here are two “Schedule B: Contributors” showing that $40M one year, and $20M another year, came directly from “Geosor Corporation” which is private, an investment management company controlled completely by George Soros.  Another chunk ($550K 2013, $950K 2014) came from “Andrea Soros” and a third (similar amounts) from “Enterprise Foundation” — all at the same street address:

(Image filename as uploaded to blog): fy2013-990pf-for-open-society-institute-ein137029285-sched-b-40m-contrib-22geosor-corp22-ny-550k-andrea-soros-550k-enterprise-foundatn-all-same-addr

osi-sched-b-2014-215m-from-geosor-corp-20m-andrea-soros-950k-and-22enterprise-foundation22-550k-scrshot2016nov23-2-00pm.

[The Enterprise Foundation, EIN#137029291, is under control of Trustee Robert Soros (and some years, also Melissa Soros Schiff) and from what I can tell, running grants straight through the foundation year after year.  I looked as far back as I could go (2002)– at first, Robt Soros was contributing regularly anywhere from $50K to $225K to the organization, which kept a low profile, and it was distributed to various entities, including at least one time to “Bard College” (Leon Bottstein of Bard College is on the Board of Open Society). At some point, several million dollars (under $10M) were being stored mostly as cash and larger grants being given — usually a few miscellaneous, but the largest each year to OSI.  In the more recent years, you could also see some of this being invested in Quantum _______ , N.V.)

I decided to look back to 2007 and 2008 — the year of a global problem with, well, real estate — right?  Who was donating how much to the Open Society Institute then?

Year 2007 — $278M of contributions TO this organization, here’s a link to the printout of Schedule B.  Most of it came from George Soros, period, plus Soros Charitable Foundation, plus a Charitable Soros foundation in Hungary.  But you might be surprised who else was on the list (Including nearly $300K from US Dept. of State) — it takes up 11 pages:

2007-opensocietyinstitute-137029285-sched-b-pp15-24-of-a-198pp-tax-return-contribs-to-it-this-year-were-278235126-incl-46m-in-jetblue-stock-from-soros-190m-from-soros-and-more [<=Browse 2007 Sched B full-size.  Many individual contributors, & Annie E. Casey, Ford, and others. I see $13M ($13,000,000) from Soros Foundation Hungary; on other pages  $1.2M from “The Osprey Foundation of Maryland” in Baltimore.

The Osprey Fdn of Maryland 305 Washington Ave Suite 204 Baltimore, MD 21204

$1,200, 000  (The tax year being “2006”)

There are “Osprey Foundations” in different states, but the one in Towson MD, books in care of “Wealth Management Services” is probably this one:

Total results: 3. Search Again.
(Click on the column headers to sort.)

Roughly summarized, this 990PF is run by three Clarkes (William, Bonnie, and Jesse), two Powells (Christopher and Meredith) and two Wells (Chris and ___), with William Clarke contributing either shares of cash most years (that I looked at) and a very neatly typed list of grantees which doesn’t however, distinguish between current or “approved for future payment.” They are holding their assets in basically two main categories — Investments in Corporate Securities, and “Investments — Other” (the larger chunk).

Actually (it took me a while for it to register) William Clarke III also on advisory board of the OSI.

2013 (Undated, but it’s in the url) “Inside Philanthropy” article tells more on The Osprey Foundation’s founders:

Osprey Foundation Speaks Softly but Carries a Big Dowsing Stick

It may sound like a small bird-watching club from the Maryland suburbs, but over the last few years the Osprey Foundation has quietly become one of the United States’ largest funders of global water and sanitation projects.

Related: Osprey Foundation: Grants for Global Development ***

The Osprey Foundation was launched in the early 2000s by Bill Clarke, a Baltimore resident who made his fortune in the financial industry but retired early to pursue philanthropic interests. Clarke and his family initially focused on local charities like the Boy Scouts and human services organizations, with the occasional feel-good expenditure on stuffed animals for impoverished children abroad.

But the Osprey Foundation has taken an increasingly global view in recent years.

Grant-seekers should keep in mind that faith-based charities receive a large share of the Osprey Foundation’s grants, and its investments in water and sanitation are no different. Church World Service has made use of numerous six-figure grants to carry out its water resources efforts in East Africa. Lutheran World Relief has received similarly generous support for its work to expand safe water supplies and protect environmental resources around the world.

 **This link to another feature on the same organization, adds:

PROFILE: The Osprey Foundation draws on the wealth of Bill Clarke, a veteran of the financial industry who retired at a young age to use his wealth to do good. The foundation’s interests are broad but united by spirituality and a vision of “a world of equality, tolerance, and equanimity.” Spirituality is just one tie that binds Osprey to its grantees. Overall the foundation’s mission is to “inspire global citizens to realize their own potential to tackle the social, environmental, and economic challenges the world faces today.”

Geographically, Osprey limits its grantmaking to Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and its hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. For a more concrete idea of the types of organization’s Osprey funds, take a look at its Current Grantee list.

This is a small family run foundation with no paid staff, and it doesn’t award a large number of international grants annually. The majority of Osprey’s grants range from $25,000 to $100,000, though it does award a few big grants of between $300,000 and $600,000 each year to large international NGOs.

Osprey actively seeks out new grantees and does not accept or review unsolicited proposals at this time.

 Wow.  The link to “Bill Clarke” in one of these letters led to “OSI-Baltimore” which turns out to be a trade name for the next (OSI) entity I’m going to report on here, which only was set up in 2003.  OSI Baltimore, describing Bill Clarke in Fine print, notices he was appointed to their Board of Directors in 2007 and became board chair in 2009.  It also says regarding their Baltimore Location, something VERY interesting:

ABOUT OSI BALTIMORE

Open Society Institute – Baltimore is a public charity and the sole field office of the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs. We focus on the root causes of three intertwined problems in our city and state: drug addiction, an over-reliance on incarceration, and obstacles that impede youth in succeeding inside and out of the classroom. We believe that discussion and debate are critical to making positive, lasting changes. This site is a testing ground where ideas can be considered and discussion can be fostered.

William Clarke III (or “Bill Clarke”) is also referenced on the main “OpenSocietyFoundations.org” main page as director of OSI-Baltimore.  In this it mentions that he ran a hedge fund he’d founded, “Campbell & Company” for several years before retiring wealthy into philanthropy.  What people don’t realize is that running one’s “family foundations” doesn’t consist of retiring, really, from financial services industry!

Bill Clarke profile shown on main OSI Web page shows that one thing he may have in common with George Soros et al. is a longstanding interest in hedge funds and making lots of money from them: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/people/william-clarke

“Campbell & Company trades liquid markets and is a leading provider of alternative investment products that provide lowly correlated returns to complement a portfolio of traditional assets.” SEE ALSO “OUR PEOPLE“

Campbell & Company named 23015 best Hedge Fund (see The Osprey Foundation in Baltimore and OSI-Baltimore leadership)

This Markets Wiki doesn’t specifically reference Bill Clarke, but I think it might be “within the ballpark” of the company he founded. Notice they are trading commodity futures, and fairly sophisticated, there have been some organization name changes, and collectively about $5B of assets is mentioned as being currently managed.  A 1974 partnership is referenced in the description.  The “Markets Wiki” is regarding Campell & Company, LP (not “Inc.”):

Campell & Company, LP @@@@@

Campbell & Company, LP is a CFTC-registered Commodity Trading Advisor and Commodity Pool Operator.

Its primary business is the trading and management of discretionary futures and forward accounts, including commodity pools. As of January 31, 2015, Campbell & Company and its affiliates had approximately $5 billion assets under management, including proprietary accounts. The company specializes in trend following and other quantitative strategies.

Campbell & Company’s offices are located at 2850 Quarry Lake Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21209 and its main telephone number is (800) 698-7235.

History

Campbell & Company was founded in 1972 by Keith Campbell. Campbell began trading the ‘Campbell Fund’ on January 1, 1972 and it remains the oldest continuously operated private commodity pool in the U.S. The company was incorporated in 1978 as Campbell & Company, Inc., a Maryland corporation. It was a successor to a partnership originally organized in January 1974. The company registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) and a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) effective September 1982 and May 1978, respectively. The company became a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) in July 1982. Campbell & Company and its affiliate Campbell & Company Investment Adviser LLC operate independently from and do not have any strategic partnerships with other hedge funds.

The company changed its name from Campbell & Company, Inc to Campbell & Company, LP as a result of a corporate restructuring effective December 2014.

Those “clickables” provide more definitions of interest, for example, that a Commodity Trading Advisor can also have authority over a client’s account good to keep in mind that some of these areas were either banned, or regulated, in different decades, and that sophisticated individuals able to predict which way markets might go — or able to protect themselves from losses when wrong — can and have profited in major ways.  When things are in flux, and someone is ahead of the curve in understanding “in what way” — major profits can be made.

A Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA)^[1] is an individual or organization that, for compensation or profit, advises others as to the value or advisability of buying or selling futures contracts or commodity options.

Providing advice indirectly includes exercising trading authority over a customer’s account, as well as giving advice through written publications or other media.

Clicking on either of those, the difference between futures (commodity) contracts and commodity options is that follow-through on the OPTIONS is OPTIONAL.  On the other hand, the futures contracts, which must be followed through, apparently can also be sold, or “hedged” for risk management.  As described in the Corp Markets Wiki (and yes, this IS “above my pay grade” in being able to fluently explain, but the application here is, we are dealing at the highest levels in the public/private partnerships with players that DO understand, and these people are going global, whether or not individual citizens in any country particularly approve or agree.  Another thing I picked up on is that in the process of going so global, compliance with the finer points of an IRS return (like telling the truth on it — or filling it out properly) are at times also considered “optional” — which is just not good for public comprehension of government (always involved in public institution, and also in allowing or dis-allowing certain charities to continue operation) activities.

(under the above quote,) Futures Contract:

A futures contract (generally a short form of “commodity futures contract”) is a legally binding agreement transacted on a futures exchange to make or take delivery of a specified commodity or other asset, at a fixed date in the future, at a price agreed upon between buyer and seller at the time of the trade.^[1] The contract may be bought and sold either for risk management (hedging) or in order to profit from a correct prediction of movement in the market (speculation).

This contrasts with options trading, in which the option buyer may choose whether or not to exercise the option by the options exercise date.

From there, “Hedging / Hedge Fund.”

A hedge is an investment made to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset or an existing investment position. It usually involves taking an offsetting position in a related security, such as a futures contract. For example, someone who owned a stock might sell a futures contract promising to sell that stock at a set price. ^[1]

One can use a wide variety of products and strategies for hedging, including options (e.g. purchasing a put option in order to offset at least partially the potential losses from owning a stock). Hedges reduce potential losses but also tend to reduce potential profits. ^[2]

Also see:  Hedge fund … Hedge Fund  

---

A hedge fund is a private investment vehicle typically open to only a very limited range of qualified investors. In the United States, hedge funds are open to accredited investors only. Because of this restriction, they are usually exempt from any direct regulation by the SEC, NASD and other regulatory bodies. Because they are largely unregulated, hedge funds are free of the restrictions that keep most mutual funds from investing in non-traditional strategies like selling short and investing in complicated derivatives.

However, hedge funds typically become subject to greater regulation once they have more than a small number of investors, so they are generally limited to a few very wealthy individuals.^[1]

A hedge fund manager receives a significant portion of its compensation from incentive fees tied to the fund’s performance – typically 20 percent of annual gains over a certain hurdle rate, along with a management fee equal to 2 percent of assets (often referred to as “two-and-twenty”). The funds, often organized as limited partnerships, typically invest on behalf of high-net-worth individuals and institutions. 

Their primary objective is often to preserve investors’ capital by taking positions whose returns are not closely correlated to those of the broader financial markets. Such vehicles may employ leverage, short sales, a variety of derivatives and other hedging techniques to reduce risk and increase returns.

The classic hedge-fund concept, a long/short investment strategy sometimes referred to as the Jones Model, was developed by Alfred Winslow Jones in 1949.^[2]

My takeaway there is in italics — look at the prohibitive fees also for hedge fund managers.  With these fees, the same managers, obviously good at this, can then set up their own investments.  If I remember it right, this is what Stanley Druckenmiller did while managing for George Soros (or was it, Dreyfuss?  I don’t have his bio memorized, but do remember he was investing professionally, and for himself also).

Here’s a brief bio at Bloomberg.com, viewed Thanksgiving weekend 2016:

Mr. Stanley F. Druckenmiller, Stan, was the Founder at Duquesne Capital Management, L.L.C. since 1981 and its Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman until 2010. Mr. Druckenmiller was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management LLC from 1988 to 2000. He was employed at The Dreyfus Corporation, where he developed and ran the best performing mutual fund in the industry from its date of inception to his departure from Dreyfus.

[Then it segues right into the nonprofit (or college) boardships

Mr. Druckenmiller is the Chairman of The Harlem Children’s Zone and Trustee of Environmental Defense Fund, Inc. He is a Director of The Children’s Scholarship Fund. Mr. Druckenmiller serves on the Board of Overseers of Memorial Sloan Kettering and is a Member of the Investment Committee of Bowdoin College. Mr. Druckenmiller is a magna cum laude graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine with degrees in Economics and English and has graduate degree credits in Economics from the University of Michigan

So, the order of “events” for Mr. Druckenmiller appears to have been Dreyfus (employee), Duquesne (his own) and, simultaneous until he left in year 2000, Soros Fund Management. Another bio at CSIS | Georgetown (Center for Strategic and International Studies) reminds us that he that there was a Duquesne….Inc. and also and LLC:

Stanley Druckenmiller is chairman and chief executive officer of Duquesne Family Office, LLC. He founded Duquesne Capital Management in 1981, which he ran until he closed the firm at the end of 2010.** From 1988 to 2000, he was managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he served as lead portfolio manager of the Quantum Fund and chief investment officer of Soros (1989–2000) and had overall responsibility for funds with a peak assessed value of $22 billion. Early on in his career, he worked at Pittsburgh National Bank and the Dreyfus Corporation.

[Browse the other illustrious directors….]

On Aug. 8, 2010, the Wall Street Journal published part of his “I quit” letter and mentioned that he’s still managing around $12 assets, including plenty of his own.  He literally returned the money to investors, saying he couldn’t keep up the pace of returns (or, no doubt, his own high standards in what those returns should be).

Another reason for both Druckenmiller and Soros (?) getting out of ‘hedge funds” and going for the family offices may have to do with lowered (from astronomically high compared to the rest of us) rates of returns were not sustainable — and new regulations by the SEC requiring them to state amount of assets and disciplinary records, etc. as of about this time.

This particular (long) WSJ article is about someone Louis Moore Bacon, of Moore Investments, but compares him as a 55-year old to a “troika” of top hedge fund investors, the other two being the ones I’ve been discussing here, “Druck” and Soros.   I thought this insight might be helpful, and remind us that the hot streak for this type of trading seemed to have been the 1980s.

This man also charged 3% fees and up to 25% of returns, as opposed to the 2% and 20% of some others.

On the heels of weak performance in 2011, Louis Bacon has to reveal information about $15 billion Moore Capital to the SEC—and he’s not happy about it. by Kate Kelly, 2/13/2012.

FORTUNE — It’s a humbling time for Louis Moore Bacon. The 55-year-old founder of the $15 billion Moore Capital Management — and one of the premier hedge fund investors of the past two decades — just weathered his second down year in the past four after a particularly ragged run in the markets. His onetime heir apparent recently launched his own fund and a spate of negative publicity in the past few years has raised questions about his management …

That [[Recent DODD-FRANK REGULATION REQUIRING CERTAIN SEC DISCLOSURES]] has prompted him to reconsider the way he has done business for more than 20 years, according to associates. Some, in fact, believe that in the coming years Bacon may transform Moore into what’s known as a “family office,” a far smaller operation primarily managing Bacon’s own capital as opposed to that of outside investors. “Louis has been talking about becoming a family office for at least two years,” says one investor, adding that Bacon considers the new disclosures required by the Dodd-Frank Act to be “a problem.” …

A winning streak ends

When Bacon founded Moore in 1989 with a $25,000 inheritance from his mother, it was a different era. The idea of trading on a “macro” basis—making essentially global bets on everything from equities in the U.S. to European bonds, metals and Asian currencies—was a relatively new concept, and big market disruptions could lead to massive returns. In Moore’s first full year, for instance, a prescient bet that Saddam Hussein would invade Kuwait generated an 86% return, according to a letter Bacon penned to commemorate Moore’s first two decades. Thirteen years later, the same letter explains, Bacon’s accurate predictions on the market events surrounding the Iraq war would help his flagship fund return a performance of 35%.

Those sorts of calls have produced a stellar record—Bacon’s flagship fund has averaged 18.8% returns since inception in 1989—and they elevated Bacon’s reputation, giving him a place among the most elite hedge fund managers. He was part of the most important troika in macro trading along with Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investment Corp. and Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Capital Management.

(I’ve quoted plenty, but that article is an easy read and recommended reading all the way through).

Druckenmiller is May, 2016) saying, get out of the stock market, invest in gold:

Druckenmiller:  Get out of the Stock Market; own gold. by Tae Kim (CNBC.com, 5/4/2016)

Legendary billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller told Sohn Investment Conference attendees to sell their equity holdings Wednesday.

“The conference wants a specific recommendation from me. I guess ‘Get out of the stock market’ isn’t clear enough,” said Druckenmiller from the conference stage in New York. Gold “remains our largest currency allocation.” ….

Druckenmiller is chairman and chief executive officer of the Duquesne Family Office. His hedge fund track record is unparalleled, generating annualized returns of 30 percent during his investment career. The Duquesne fund never had a down year, according one of his investors Ken Langone.

–With reporting by Dawn Giel

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And right after “Brexit” (The vote was 6/23/2016, if you recall):

Soros, Druckenmiller among hedgies profiting in market plunge

Kate Kelly | @katekellycnbc Monday, 27 Jun 2016 | 2:59 PM ET

Bullish positions in gold and volatility and well-timed short bets on China and emerging markets, among other areas, were some of the trades that benefited hedge funds on Friday as markets digested Britons’ surprise decision to exit the European Union, according to people familiar with the matter. ….(several paragraphs later…)  

…

Ahead of the referendum Soros, who runs the $30 billion Soros Fund Management and recently took a more active role in the company’s trading, argued passionately for Britons to stay in the EU.

“Too many people believe that a vote to leave the EU will have no effect on their personal financial position,”Soros wrote in an op-ed piecepublished by the Guardian newspaper earlier this week. “This is wishful thinking.”

He added that in the wake of an exit vote, the British pound would fall precipitously — as it did Friday — and that there would be “an immediate and dramatic impact on financial markets, investment, prices, and jobs.” Whether Soros’s portfolio was positioned specifically to benefit from a British exit of the EU, however, through a long bet in the pound or other means, was never clear.

Notwithstanding that, some of Soros Fund Management’s positions seemed to be rallying on Friday.

Its holdings in the miner Barrick Gold, its top stock position, and in the SPDR Gold Trust, an exchange-traded fund tracking the commodity were both up markedly.

You are not Stanley Druckenmiller 11/10/2016 by Ben Carlson

…Druckenmiller and his former boss, George Soros, are one of a kind traders. They’re flexible. They go long and short. They invest beyond stocks and bonds in currencies and commodities. They employ leverage. And they can also make a ton of short-term moves by taking large positions when they see an opportunity.

I’m stating the obvious here, but you are not Stanley Druckenmiller. You are not George Soros. You don’t run a hedge fund that makes macro bets and you aren’t a billionaire. You likely don’t have the temperament or the skill set to pull this off. This is not how regular investors manage their money.

And while they Druckenmiller is brilliant and has an amazing track record, occasionally he is wildly wrong about the markets. It’s just that he can afford to be wrong because he has billions of dollars at his disposal.

Don’t try to emulate someone like Stanley Druckenmiller. When he makes these types of calls you have no idea what’s really going on in his head or when he’ll decide to change his mind again in the future.

Bold macro calls are exciting but the majority of investors are better off ignoring them.

(OSI-Baltimore website doesn’t offer up its financials, or EIN#. It does show its presumably current board members, including a Judge (!) on US Court of Appeals, a woman (Muriel Berkeley) with connections to the City School Boards Commission, and, hardly surprising because I’ve seen the grants to “Center for Urban Families” (formerly, I’m sure it’s the same group, “for Urban Fathers” Joseph T. Jones.  Notice para. 1 – low-income families are to be helped by helping men with to “fulfill their roles as fathers” (this doesn’t mean just financially, but also relates to co-parenting and custody issues) — and “women and men to contribute ‘as wage-earners.”  Notice the omission of wage-earning women as mothers also.  Claim to have influenced policy nationwide.  With backers like Open Society Institute, focused on this city, one can easily see why.

Alliance for Open Societies International (oddly dba OSI-BALTIMORE, perhaps to conceal the global intentions) Bd of Directors includes individual with background in responsible fatherhood and on a White House task force re: the same

Moving on, ….The OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE organization has a particular interest in the City of Baltimore, as shown an entirely separate entity (“Alliance for Open Societies International, Inc.” (EIN#810623035, <==its Year 2014 return) only started up in 2003 “doing business as” Open Society Institute-Baltimore”]

Unlike most of the Open Society or Soros Fund nonprofits I’ve seen so far (reflected in this post), this AOSI above is registered as a public charity, filing a Form 990, not 990PF.  That means, in effect, we do not get to see its Schedule B (excess amount) contributors, but do see certain other things, such as its date of formation and domicile (Delaware).

[[Talk about “tricky.”  EIN# 810623035, has only 4 board of directors, and no employees (although somehow it still has salary expenses).  Those boards of directors are paid by “related” organization — and so was about half its $9M gross receipts (and over $8M contributions) this particular year. The Board of Directrs page shows its officers are paid by “related” org.  It is funded by “related organizations ($4,800,000 shown) + private (not gov’t) grants of $4.23M, but in effect this year, moved $6M grants to entities within the USA — mostly SMALL (by the million-dollar perspective) ones; in fact 32 separate grantees (one was not even a 501©3 but an “other”) — but a single grant about ⅓ of the total made to an organization whose name is not particularly reflected in the Program Service Accomplishments section — and that was “FUND (versus “FOUNDATION”) for Educational Excellence on 800 N. Charles Street #400″…., itself EIN# 521129402. (The address sounds more like Boston, than Baltimore):

Images from “Alliance for Open Societies International, Inc. dba OSI-Baltimore” Year 2014 return reflecting my statements just above.  Note they are functioning primarily to move grants, and one of the 2014 grantees also engaging in suspicious IRS-filing tactics (where recording expenses and major activities over time) although this entity had been around since 1984, its return said:

(Image filename:) aosi-yr2014-page-1-through-l15-top-only-ein-810623035-aosi-dba-osi-baltimre-a-rare-22form-99022-filer-vs-990pf-for-any-sorosopen-society-entity.

Click HERE to see full-size:  ==>

Notice there is a salary expense of $539,940 despite Line 5 saying “0” employees.  This is explained, in a somewhat contradictory fashion, in two places on “Schedule O.” They are drawing a fine line between Officers and Employees:

EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2003, AOSI ENTERED INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH OSI** WHEREBY OSI AGREED TO PROVIDE CERTAIN SERVICES TO AOSI. PURSUANT TO THE AGREEMENT, OSI MAINTAINS ON ITS PAYROLL AND BENEFIT PLANS CERTAIN EMPLOYEES WHO PROVIDE SERVICES TO AOSI. OSI ALSO PROVIDES SPACE AND OTHER SUPPORT SERVICES UNDER THE AGREEMENT. DURING THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,2014, AOSI RECORDED EXPENSES OF $651,937 FOR SERVICES UNDER THE AGREEMENT, INCLUDING $539,940 FOR SALARIES AND BENEFITS. AT DECEMBER 31, 2014, AOSI HAD PAYABLE OF $116,416 DUE TO OSI FOR SERVICES RENDERED UNDER THE AGREEMENT.

“PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 15 OFFICERS COMPENSATION PROCESS: AOSI HAS NO EMPLOYEES. EMPLOYEES OF OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE, A RELATED SECTION 501(C)(3) TAX EXEMPT ORGANIZATION, SERVE AS OFFICERS OF AOSI.

AOSI DOES NOT REIMBURSE OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE OR PAY OFFICERS”

**In order for AOSI (run by 3 top officers of OSI, including Christopher Stone) AOSI actually had to first legally exist.  I see from the Delaware Corporations Search that it registered just two months earlier (7/1/2003) as an Exempt organization in the State of Delaware — image to right, below:

Showing from State of Delaware Corp search site that AOSI incorporated 7-1-2003 only

Next image from AOSI will be the segment from its grants page showing a $2.1M grant was buried in the fine print of other smaller grantees.

aosi-ein810623035-annotated-sched-i-partial-showing-2134328-almost-e28593-of-domestic-68m-grant-went-to-fund-for-educatl-excellence-52-1129402-boston.png

Last page of the 2007 pdf is part of another schedule reflecting capital gains (mostly from JetBlueStock), but that one chart takes 3pp, 11X5 (horizontal) format because of so many columns.  This means that the stocks’ names are on one page, and $$ gains on another).

OSI Total Contributions TO it Year2007 were $278,235,126 | Page1 shows Soros Contribs of Majority (incl JetBlueStock, $46M) PARTIAL Sched B Only

#######yr2008-form990pf-schedb-donations-to-opensocinstitute-438m-schebabout-10pp-cap-gains-schedule-jetblue-sears-etc