Supervisor Gore's Wife Received Nearly $900k in Nonprofit Grants for Her Stock Corporation
Taxpayer funds support Gore's lavish Healdsburg lifestyle
Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore is currently running for California State Senate, 2026.
While Supervisor Gore was first elected to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in 2014, he has struggled with financial transparency over the last decade.
Gore has been under investigation with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) since May 12, 2022 for failing to report his wife's reportable financial interests.
Elizabeth Gore, Supervisor Gore’s spouse, held several investments in 2021 which were not reported by the Supervisor to the FPPC. He was forced to file an amendment with the State’s oversight watchdog on 8/10/2022.
As of March 31, 2022, The Press Democrat reported that Supervisor Gore was fined for failing to report his spouse’s income over a four-year period.
In 2017, Elizabeth Gore co-founded Circular Board, Inc. Gore’s 2023 statement of economic interest filed with the FPPC indicated that the company is doing business as Hello Alice with his spouse holding the title of President.
On July 14, 2022, Elizabeth Gore removed herself as Secretary from the Statement of Information filed with the California Secretary of State on behalf of Circular Board, Inc. dba Hello Alice.
Per the 2021 Form 990 filed by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a $250k grant was given to Circular Board, Inc. for ‘health’ under the EIN 46-5539467. It appeared to be one of the only corporations, and non-charity/government which received grant funds.
Per the 2020 Form 990 for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a $195k grant was given to Circular Board, Inc. for ‘health’.
Generally, 501(c)(3) organizations can make grants to individuals and to businesses if such grants are made in furtherance of their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt purposes and are not expended in a manner inconsistent with 501(c)(3). However, this is extremely uncommon.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s website stated the following regarding grant application eligibility requirements:
Organizations with a 501(c)(3) designation, those that have a fiscal sponsor with a 501(c)(3) designation, public agencies, collaborations of nonprofit and public agencies, or other entities that have a designated charitable purpose will be considered.
The following organization types are not eligible to apply for this RFP:
- Fiscally sponsored projects that are established solely to support the work of one individual.
- Foundations with the sole purpose to raise funds to support a public entity (such as education foundations).
Per the 2022 Form 990 for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Circular Board, Inc. received a $445k grant to build a digital financial health score tool and associated technical assistance for entrepreneurs through educational guides and milestones. The filing period was for the fiscal year ending Dec. 2022.
The Kauffman Foundation is indicated as a partner on the Hello Alice website.
Trish Costello, Portfolia founder, co-founded the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program in 1994 at the Kauffman Foundation. At Kauffman Fellows, she created the first training program for venture capital partners and launched the careers of many VC leaders, including numerous women VCs.
Following the 2017 Tubbs Fire, Elizabeth Gore was appointed by Press Democrat Owner Darius Anderson as the President of his nonprofit, Rebuild North Bay. Rather than providing immediate relief to fire victims as expressed within their mission statement, they lobbied for PG&E.
Per a 2015 article in The Press Democrat:
‘In 2015, Gore violated a basic tenet of California campaign finance law by failing to report on time unpaid bills for work performed by his chief campaign strategist.’
I have absolutely no idea what Hello Alice contributes to our community. They appear to steal the intellectual property of marginalized grant applicants to auction on the Portfolia commercial investment platform while failing to release grant funds to anyone besides themselves. I am sure that is not the case!
“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want”. -Proverbs 11:24
Great timeline research thank you
Have you considered directly emailing this to a good number of businesses in Healdsburg and Cloverdale?
I recently posted on ND asking neighbors what they thought of Gore .
The responses were 75/80% unfavorable