The most politically explosive scandal surrounding Opportunity Wisconsin and Rebecca Cooke is George Soros’ Open Society money moving between organizations connected with Cooke’s tangled web.
Soros has donated more than $32 billion of his personal fortune to the Open Society’s Foundation, the umbrella organization for Soros’ philanthropy network, which has been overseen by his son Alex Soros since 2022.
Tax records and nonprofit financial databases show grants from Open Society advocacy organizations to North Fund – the same group operating Opportunity Wisconsin where Rebecca Cooke served on its Steering Committee.
These grants include approximately $732,000 in 2021 and $250,000 in 2022. Later records show additional grants from Open Society Action Fund to North Fund.
North Fund’s money arrives as large donor transfers from Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund. Those funds, in turn, have taken money from Soros-linked groups.
The public can see many of the financial pipelines, but it cannot always see every original donor behind every dollar that eventually reaches a particular advocacy project (i.e. “Dark Money”).
Cooke has previously been asked about her connections to George Soros’ money and answered “Zero” while she continues to boast her campaign is financed through grassroots support. But FEC records show direct contributions from Soros family members to Cooke’s campaign committee. George Soros’ son and daughter-in-law — Jonathan and Jennifer Soros — gave $6,600 to her campaign committee.
Another layer emerged after the Democratic primary on Aug. 11 when Cooke’s financial disclosure was filed after voters had selected her as the Democratic nominee. Cooke purposely delayed her personal financial disclosure until two days after voters had already nominated her — and now we know why.
Subsequent reporting found payments of more than $5,000 from Third Way and the Pipeline Fund. Both groups have financial ties to George Soros’s Open Society Foundations network, with both receiving substantial grants.
According to Fox News, The Open Society network awarded $1 million to Third Way’s nonprofit research arm between 2023 and 2024, while the Pipeline Fund received $1.4 million directly from the Open Society Action Fund in 2024.
Third Way said it paid Cooke an additional $30,000 for her work on a project “involving working-class voters,” (Cooke is listed as a senior visiting fellow). Pipeline Fund confirmed that Cooke was contracted with the organization in 2025 to help recruit “working-class and underrepresented candidates.”
Oh what a tangled web we weave. Cooke has a documented history as a Democratic fundraiser and political consultant — the financial records paint a picture that is contradictory to the phrase “grassroots Wisconsin coalition.” Cooke is just another a bought and paid for candidate by the far-left donor class who is too extreme to represent western Wisconsin.
This is Part 3 of a three-part series examining Opportunity Wisconsin, North Fund, Rebecca Cooke and the financial and organizational relationships surrounding the group.
