HARRISBURG — A nonprofit organization that does not publicly disclose its donors spent over $12,000 last year for Gov. Josh Shapiro to attend sports events. The lack of transparency makes it difficult for taxpayers to know who funds the outings and what interests they may have in state government policy.
The payment also raises new concerns about whether the Democrat is breaking his prohibition on accepting presents.
Shapiro stated that he received $12,194.62 from Team PA for “transportation, lodging or hospitality” on his recently submitted financial interest statement. The Harrisburg-based nonprofit presents itself as a public-private partnership to strengthen Pennsylvania’s economic development; its “investors” encompass a variety of the state’s top business sectors, according to an annual report.
In the document, Shapiro did not specify what Team PA covered, stating only: “The governor in his official capacity attended various events for the benefit of the Commonwealth to promote Pennsylvania and its economic interests.”
According to Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder, Team PA funded the Democratic governor's attendance at six sports events: the 2023 Super Bowl in Arizona and games played by the Harrisburg Senators, Penn State’s football team, Philadelphia Phillies, and Philadelphia Union.
Bonder also mentioned that Shapiro was frequently invited to these events by the teams, and used the opportunity to meet fans, support the teams, and connect with business or legislative leaders who were also present.
The money for those tickets originated from a little-known fund managed by Team PA called Pennsylvania Growth Partnership, which exclusively accepts donations to promote the governor — and consequently, the commonwealth and its economic well-being — on a national and international scale.
It is not publicly known which individuals, groups, or businesses have contributed to the growth partnership fund. Nonprofits are obligated to submit comprehensive annual reports with the Internal Revenue Service that include, among other things, total revenue and expenses. However, they are not required to disclose the names of their donors.
Bonder referred to Team PA, whose executive director, Abby Smith, has refused to disclose the fund's contributors.
Despite IRS regulations, a good-government expert stated “it would be very reasonable” to request that Team PA reveal the contributors to the growth partnership fund, considering its specific purpose of financing the governor’s travel.
“The nonprofit is simply acting as an intermediary,” Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with the Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen, told Spotlight PA, adding: “If those funds are being explicitly designated as gifts to the governor, then each contributor should be publicly revealed.”
It is also unclear who raises money for the growth partnership fund, or who determines which events Shapiro attends funded by Team PA.
In a previous interview, Smith stated that when the nonprofit receives requests to use funds from the various funds managed by Team PA, it approves them and issues a check.
When asked for more details this week, Smith responded that the Governor's Office collaborates with Team PA and uses the Pennsylvania Growth Partnership fund to support the Governor's attendance when it will benefit the Commonwealth and position the Governor as a business leader.
Bonder stated that the governor's office doesn't have complete control over this funding, and Team PA must approve all funds disbursed from its account.
Shapiro's restriction on gifts
According to Pennsylvania law, public officials can accept gifts and hospitality of any value, as well as lodging and transportation. They need to report gifts over $250 and lodging, hospitality, and transportation worth more than $650 by May 1 each year.
Similar to his predecessor, Governor Tom Wolf, Shapiro chose to limit the types of gifts he and other administration employees can accept.
Shortly after taking office in January of last year, Shapiro issued an executive order preventing administration executives, employees, and appointees from accepting cash or anything of cash value from individuals or entities that currently do or wish to do business with the state.
Although less restrictive than Wolf's ban, the order prohibits a wide range of gifts or items, including admission to a recreational event, such as a professional or semi-professional sports event.
Bonder stated that the administration sought advice from the state Ethics Commission before submitting Shapiro's financial interest statement. The commission confirmed that these items are considered as hospitality.
The financial interest statements have separate sections for officials to report gifts, transportation, lodging, and hospitality. The commission uses definitions from the state's lobbying disclosure law, which defines a gift as anything received without equal or greater value in return, and hospitality as including meals, beverages, recreation, and entertainment.
However, ethics expert Holman believes the sports tickets are unequivocally a gift to the governor, stating, "There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it."
"From the beginning, Shapiro has faced inquiries about whether the sporting event tickets from Team PA violate the ban."
The administration previously argued that the gift ban was not meant to include Team PA, which a spokesperson described as completely different from a private entity. At the time, the administration stated it would continue to accept funding from the organization, which received almost $1.8 million in state contracts just last year.
The precedent of Team Pennsylvania supporting the Governor in economic development work has been established through several previous administrations, according to Bonder.
"Who pays for it?"
In a comprehensive interview in February, Smith mentioned Team PA's extensive history of collaborating with Pennsylvania's governors to promote the state's economy and business interests.
Established in 1997 as the idea of former Republican Gov. Tom Ridge, Team PA brings together government, higher education, and business leaders to find or increase economic opportunities.
The group, led by the governor in office and a private sector representative, is structured as a nonprofit under the federal tax code, and is financed by private donors whose identities are not publicly revealed. Nonprofits are not obligated to make donor information public, although they could for transparency.
Previous governors have used the organization for funding over the years, including Republican Tom Corbett, who utilized Team PA to finance trade missions to countries such as Brazil, Chile, and Germany. (Ridge and former Ed Rendell, a Democrat, also led overseas trade missions, but used taxpayer dollars to pay for them).
In the past ten years, the financial connections between the government and Team PA have grown — partly because of a strict gift ban imposed by Wolf.
According to that policy, administration officials could not accept even a disposable bottle of water, unless they planned to reimburse the cost.
Due to these restrictions, several commissions under the governor’s jurisdiction, like the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Women, were no longer able to seek or accept private donations to fund their activities. So they turned to Team PA to serve as a “fiscal agent” for their fundraising efforts, Smith said, “because we already had a precedent of being a fiscal home” for groups connected to the commonwealth.
At that time, said Smith, Team PA acted as a fiscal agent for a few financial funds associated with the governor’s office, including the bank account that funds renovations of the governor’s residence.
Under Wolf and his strict gift ban, that list expanded. The nonprofit now serves as the fiscal agent for eight funds supported by private donors — whose identities are not publicly disclosed — that benefit the governor or commissions associated with the administration, according to Team PA’s website.
But exactly who raises money for those funds is unknown.
Smith said the nonprofit is not responsible for fundraising for those pots of money, but she also has not replied to requests for information about who is.
Anne Wakabayashi chaired the Governor’s Advisory Commission on LGBTQ Affairs during Wolf’s tenure. The commission is one for which Team PA is a fiscal agent.
Wakabayashi told Spotlight PA that she never used the account.
“The process of fundraising into Team PA’s bank account for the commission was so unclear and never fully explained, it was easier to pay for costs, like lunch or small needs, out of pocket,” she told Spotlight PA.
Unlike donations to an elected official’s political action committee, donations to funds managed by a nonprofit like Team PA lack the kind of transparency that good-government groups say is necessary for the public to understand who is supporting — or trying to influence — public policy.
Campaign reports, for example, list not only a donor’s name, but how much money they gave and when.
When asked if a nonprofit's unclear finances allow private interests to try to influence a public official without being transparent, Smith replied, "They would be much more effective if they did that through the PAC."
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HARRISBURG — A nonprofit that keeps its donors private spent over $12,000 last year for Gov. Josh Shapiro to go to sports events. The lack of transparency keeps taxpayers unaware of who supports these outings and what agendas they might have in state government policy.
