Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill last week that would force charities to spell out fiscal sponsorship arrangements on tax returns, putting new pressure on a fundraising model now tied to Freedom 250. The change would not just add paperwork. It would give the public a clearer view of how money moves through nonprofit projects that do not file their own returns.
That is why the search for Dark Money is landing here now. Freedom 250 was created by the National Park Foundation in October 2025 as a special subsidiary in Delaware, and President Trump said it would throw America “the most spectacular birthday party you’ve ever seen.” The National Park Foundation has already received roughly $90 million in federal dollars for the celebration, while Freedom 250 separately sought seven-figure donations from corporate sponsors.
Brian Mittendorf, a professor at Ohio State University, said charities are publicly supported in part because they receive tax benefits and that disclosure has long been a problem. “There’s always been this challenge for transparency,” he said. The bill is built around that same complaint. It would require charities to disclose the details of fiscal sponsorship arrangements, and it would hit funds judged to have been routed improperly with a tax of 20%, rising to 100% if the problem is not fixed.
The pressure point is that Freedom 250 does not stand on its own paper trail. Money raised in its name legally belongs to the National Park Foundation, but there is no standalone accounting showing how much flowed through the project, how it was spent or who ran it. The foundation has described Freedom 250 as a wholly owned subsidiary, and it says the arrangement gave the Park Service access to expertise for planning and carrying out events for America’s 250th birthday celebration. Yet the structure leaves donors and the public with no separate tax return to inspect.
That gap is exactly where the bill bites, and it is also where it stops. Lloyd Mayer said the measure would not require the National Park Foundation to list Freedom 250’s individual donors. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it “complements Treasury's work to improve transparency, strengthen tax administration, and provide cle,” underscoring that the fight over dark money in nonprofits is moving from a political talking point into a live legislative test. Whether the bill becomes law is still unresolved, but if it does, Freedom 250 is likely to have to show how much money moved through the arrangement and who managed it.
