Two channels, one ballot

Every flow and relationship

Where the channels meet

Dark money is made by passing a check through one container that never names its donors, so that when it reaches a committee that names everyone, the only name it has to give is the container’s. Everything on this map is lawful, and almost none of it appears in any single place a Wyoming voter would look.

No document connects the Storer Foundation to Western Futures Fund. The charitable channel builds organizations, networks and leaders; the electoral channel funds endorsements and writes checks. The funders never touch on paper. The people do — at four points.

An organization

Documented: Shelter JH, a 600-member housing group, took $70,000 from Western Futures Fund; the same funder put $1.2 million into Way Back PAC. Shelter JH endorsed two of the three winners and recommended the third; Way Back PAC paid all three. Shelter JH recommended the commissioner who cast the sole vote against the largest workforce housing project in county history, and its endorsement letter states that “personal connections” were not considered. Not documented: its criteria, its scoring, and $65,459 of its 2023 budget. What the record would need to show: the endorsement minutes.

A person

Documented: the Storer Foundation’s 2022 return lists a Nicole Kaufman of Victor, Idaho as a programmatic consultant paid $67,087. That year Nikki Kaufman was, by her own account, executive director of the Wyoming Donor Alliance and on Shelter JH’s board — two Western Futures grantees — and chaired Shelter JH in 2024 while working as a paid campaign consultant. The October 2024 endorsement letter, signed during her chairship, endorsed two of her clients. Not documented: a second record placing the Victor address on a Shelter JH or Donor Alliance filing; what the consulting was for; whether she recused. What the record would need to show: the foundation, and the minutes.

A consultant

Documented: Skye Schell co-founded Shelter JH, ran the Conservation Alliance on Storer money, and founded two firms. Wyoming Way PAC — funded almost entirely by Western Futures Fund — paid the first firm in a 2022 Republican primary and the second in 2024. All three 2026 winners paid the second. Not documented: nothing here is missing; every payment is on a filing. No filing shows them together.

A name

Documented: Ryan Lance has been Way Back PAC’s treasurer since September 2022; the PAC’s own Schedule A lists him as a Cheyenne attorney. He appears on the Storer Foundation’s trustee list, having joined in 2025 or 2026, and the Wyoming Business Council lists him, of Cheyenne — conservation, law and land management, president of Pathfinder Ranches until its owner sold it in January 2026. The foundation’s FY2025 Form 990-PF, due around November 2026, prints every trustee’s address. The treasurer of the committee that paid the three candidates sits on the board of the foundation whose president formed the committee that promoted them.

The clocks

Campaign finance moves in weeks. Tax reporting moves in years. On primary day the most recent financial statement from the largest organization on this map covered a year that had ended fourteen months earlier. The return covering the 2026 primary is not due until May 2028. Western Futures Fund’s own returns, the latest covering 2024, show $150,000 to Way Back PAC; the $1.2 million it has sent since will not appear on one until late 2027.

What the record does not yet show

1. What was the $67,087 for? The foundation’s FY2022 return lists Nicole Kaufman as a programmatic consultant. The same return says the foundation “funded a consultant to launch and develop a new state-wide, non-partisan organization that works to deepen voter education and encourage more citizens to vote” — and names neither the consultant nor the organization.
2. Did the Shelter JH board chair recuse? Its 9 October 2024 endorsement letter, signed during Nikki Kaufman’s chairship, endorsed two of her own published consulting clients — and states that endorsements did not consider “personal connections.” A yes, with minutes, is a complete answer.
3. When did Ryan Lance join the Storer board, and did the foundation know he was Way Back PAC’s treasurer? The identity is confirmed; the FY2025 Form 990-PF Part VIII, due around November 2026, will put it on paper.
4. Which return is wrong? Better Wyoming Action and Research names Better Wyoming as a related organization on its Schedule R. Better Wyoming says it has none. The boards share no members. Neither organization has explained it.
5. Who advises The Riverbend Fund? The naming document is an attachment to the Storer Foundation’s return, obtainable under §6104(d): the three most recent returns, complete with attachments, on written request.
6. What do the later disclosures say? Storer’s state financial disclosure is filed annually with the Secretary of State. Propst’s, as a county official, is filed with the Teton County Clerk.
7. Who received the eight Forms 1099? The Wyoming Donor Alliance paid $109,360 in contract labor and consulting — more than it granted — and the return names none of the recipients.
8. Has Keep Jackson Whole filed its expenditure report? It was outstanding at the end of August 2026.

What is not claimed here

• That Storer money reached Western Futures Fund, Way Back PAC or Shelter JH. It does not, on any document in this file. The foundation’s grants to the New Venture Fund are restricted to programs unrelated to Wyoming, and the map does not draw them.
• That Wyss or Berger money funded Western Futures Fund. No direct grant exists; the route runs through pooled funds that take in money from many donors. The top of the chain is unprovable by design.
• That the Nicole Kaufman on the foundation’s return and the Nikki Kaufman who chaired Shelter JH are shown to be one person by any document other than the name, the place and the role. The map shows the two records and asserts nothing beyond them.
• That anyone violated any law.