The Ad Astra Collective is a left-of-center consulting project that provides communications and campaign strategy services to labor unions, nonprofits, and advocacy campaigns. The group operates as a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a left-of-center nonprofit known for supporting radical-left initiatives. AfGJ’s radical anti-Israel stances have drawn significant scrutiny, causing left-of-center foundations, such as the Ford Foundation, which funded the AdAdstra Collective through AfGJ, to cease contributions to AfGJ. Through AfGJ, Ad Astra avoids filing public tax returns and does not maintain independent nonprofit status, allowing it to operate with limited financial transparency.^{1 2}

Background

The Ad Astra Collective describes itself as a “full-service consulting cooperative” that partners with left-wing organizations to deliver campaign design, messaging development, and network coordination. According to its website, the group has worked with labor unions, women’s groups, and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International USA, Women for Women International, and the Girl Scouts. The group also states that it supports strategic communications for Ford Foundation grantees through training and technical assistance. ²

Ad Astra’s status as a fiscally sponsored project of Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ) enables it to receive tax-deductible donations and grants. In this capacity, Ad Astra received a $15,000 grant from the Ford Foundation in 2019, routed through AfGJ, to provide “Core support for the AdAstra Management Collective for technical assistance for U.S. BUILD grantees to increase networking capacities through an understanding of social network theory and how it informs systems change.” ³

Alliance for Global Justice

The Ad Astra Collective operates under the umbrella of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a controversial fiscal sponsor that supports numerous radical-left causes and activist groups. AfGJ has sponsored groups with alleged ties to foreign militant organizations and far-left movements across Latin America and the Middle East. In January 2023, the Washington Examiner reported that the Ford Foundation had ceased all grantmaking to AfGJ after “years of warnings” about the organization’s ties to a Palestinian group with terrorist designations under U.S. law. Ad Astra had previously benefited from Ford Foundation grants through AfGJ. ⁴ The Ad Astra Collective is not an independent nonprofit and operates under AFGJ’s legal and tax status. It does not file nonprofit tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, publish audited financial statements, or disclose its internal governance. The group’s revenue sources, expenditures, and budget scale remain unclear, apart from known grants administered through AfGJ, such as the 2019 grant from the Ford Foundation. ^{4 5}

Clients

Listed clients and partners of the Ad Astra Collective include Art of Applying; the Wisconsin Union; Girl Scouts of the USA; the New York Media Lab; NYU PolyTechnic; Women for Women International; the City of Somerville, Massachusetts; Wisconsin Public Television; The Canopy Center; the Girl Scouts of Blackhawk Council; Girl Neighborhood Power; Girls, Incorporated; the City of Memphis, Tennessee; Within our Lifetime Network; Solidarity C’ville; Jersey City Health and Human Services; the Chesapeake Bay Trust; Life Camp, Inc.; Women’s March; Amnesty International USA; Art for Amnesty; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; CUNY Hunter College; Loyola Marymount University; and the Ford Foundation. ²

1. “Fiscally Sponsored Projects.” Alliance for Global Justice, September 6, 2023. Accessed June 1, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20230906184056/https://afgj.org/fsp/fiscally-sponsored-projects.
2. “About.” Ad Astra Collective. Accessed June 24, 2025. https://adastra.management/about
3. “Alliance for Global Justice.” Ford Foundation. Accessed June 24, 2025. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/alliance-for-global-justice-134543/
4. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Liberal Ford Foundation to Stop Funding Palestinian Terror-Tied Group after Years of Warnings.” Washington Examiner. June 18, 2024. Accessed June 24, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2579782/liberal-ford-foundation-to-stop-funding-palestinian-terror-tied-group-years-of-warnings/
5. “Make a Donation!” Alliance for Global Justice. Accessed June 24, 2025. https://afgj.salsalabs.org/AdAstra/index.html