Isaiah Castilla

On February 10, 2022, Arabella Advisors issued a GlobeNewswire release: “Arabella Advisors is thrilled to announce that Isaiah Castilla has joined the firm as a Managing Director based in Washington, DC.” The release said he would “focus on partnering with nonprofit organizations, foundations, corporations, families, and individuals seeking to advance social and environmental change,” and that he brought expertise including “environmental justice, civic engagement and democracy, and criminal justice and policing reform.” It said he came “following four years as General Counsel at Democracy Fund” and Democracy Fund Voice. CEO Sampriti Ganguli is quoted praising issue knowledge, “philanthropic changemaking,” and “legal expertise.” Castilla is quoted thanking Democracy Fund for exposing him to Arabella’s services and looking forward to supporting “organizations led by and serving people of color.” Those are the release’s words. They are not a court finding. They are not a client list. They do not assign Arabella-network grant totals to him.

Employer hire announcement locking the Managing Director / Washington title. Own-site later dates Arabella 2020–2025 — see Claims / date-conflict. Not a Trump-case appointment. Not a judge’s commission.

N/A — employer press release. Not a criminal judgment.

Democracy Fund Inc., EIN 38-3926408, is the Omidyar-founded private foundation. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer extracts of its Form 990-PF officer lists name Isaiah Castilla as “Secretary & Senior Counsel” for the fiscal years ending December 2018, December 2019, and December 2020. He does not appear on the extracted 2017 officer list. He does not appear on the extracted 2021 officer list; that year Deepa Isac is listed as “General Counsel & Secretary.” Those are IRS-return titles as ProPublica extracted them. They are not a finding of misconduct. This page does not reprint compensation. It does not assign Democracy Fund grant totals to him. Pierre Omidyar is listed as chairman on the same 2018–2020 extracts. A later Democracy Fund Voice Form 990 (2020) lists him as “General Counsel, Secretary” — different form; see next packet and Claims.

Foundation 990 officer lock for three fiscal years. Do not collapse “Senior Counsel” into “General Counsel” as if the (c)(3) return said GC.

N/A — IRS information return extract. Filing ≠ finding.

Castilla Impact: “For over four years, Isaiah was general counsel and secretary at Democracy Fund … and its affiliated (c)(4), Democracy Fund Voice.” Arabella’s February 10, 2022, GlobeNewswire says he came “following four years as General Counsel at Democracy Fund” and Democracy Fund Voice. Democracy Fund Inc.’s Form 990-PF extracts for 2018–2020 list him as “Secretary & Senior Counsel,” not “General Counsel.” The 2020 Democracy Fund Voice Form 990 lists him as “General Counsel, Secretary.” Both lines are real. They are not the same form. This site records the conflict. It does not pick one title to make a cleaner story.

Voter Registration Project, EIN 26-4802468, Form 990 for calendar 2022 (public-disclosure copy hosted by InfluenceWatch) lists “ISAIAH CASTILLA (JAN-DEC 2022)” as Chair, 1.00 hour per week, officer and director boxes checked, reportable compensation $0. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer extract of the same organization names “Isaiah Castilla Jan-dec 2022 (Chair)” with $0. Earlier ProPublica extracts list him as a board member (unpaid) on prior-year officer tables. The 2022 return describes the organization’s purpose as assisting “U.S. citizens who are people of color that are eligible to register to vote and participate in democracy” and providing technical assistance to “nonpartisan voter registration drives” — the filer’s language. Chair of a 501(c)(3) voter-registration nonprofit is a documented officer role. It is not a finding that the drives were partisan. It is not a crime.

990 officer lock for Chair year 2022. InfluenceWatch person-page commentary is not used as proof of the chair title; the 990 is.

N/A — IRS information return. Filing ≠ finding.

The 2015 Professional Women in Advocacy Annual Conference speaker page lists Isaiah Castilla as Advocacy Programs Counsel at Alliance for Justice. Session: November 17, 2015, “Workshop 4: Are non-profits allowed to advocate?” The page says that before AFJ he was a founding member of The Castilla Law Group, P.L.L.C., and lists education (Tougaloo B.A.; Mississippi College School of Law J.D.) and Mississippi AG / Supreme Court externship lines as that bio states them. Later Castilla Impact shortens the title to “counsel for the Bolder Advocacy Program at Alliance for Justice.” Arabella’s February 10, 2022, release says he “advised nonprofits and foundations on effective advocacy and led workshops on federal nonprofit tax and campaign finance law.” Those are employer and own-site / conference lines. This page does not invent a client list or treat a workshop as a crime.

Castilla Impact’s about page presents the firm as a consultancy for nonprofits, fiscal sponsors, philanthropic families, institutional donors, and corporate philanthropy teams, “led by a seasoned nonprofit tax lawyer, former private foundation general counsel, and former managing director for a leading philanthropic and nonprofit consulting firm.” It dates the Arabella managing-director role “from 2020-2025.” Capital for Good’s board-of-directors page names “Isaiah Castilla, Director” and calls him “Founder and Principal Consultant of Castilla Impact,” then repeats the Arabella and Democracy Fund résumé. No state formation filing, IRS determination letter, or dated launch release for Castilla Impact was located this pass. This site does not invent a founding month or clients.

A PDF hosted on arabellaadvisors.com, “How Arabella Can Help Philanthropists and Impact Investors Close the Racial Wealth Gap,” lists Isaiah Castilla among “Arabella’s Wealth Gap Practice Leaders,” with a bio calling him a managing director in the Washington office and repeating the Democracy Fund GC/secretary line. It is a primary for the title they gave him on that practice page. It is not a grant ledger. Case studies in the same PDF that do not name him as lead are not assigned to him. Firm-wide “$4B in philanthropic assets” language is Arabella’s claim, not his personal total. Live PDF fetch may be blocked; GlobeNewswire + own site remain the stronger MD locks.

FCCP’s 2023 Convening page listed Isaiah Castilla on the Convening Planning Committee as “Arabella Advisors” and published a bio repeating Arabella MD / Democracy Fund GC lines, then: he “serves on the boards of Sojourners and the Voter Registration Project.” VRP is independently on Form 990s. The Sojourners board line, this pass, is his conference bio (and watchdog pages that cite LinkedIn). No Sojourners.org board-of-directors page naming him was located this pass. FCCP’s page is a primary for the planning-committee listing and for the words they published under his name — not an upgrade of Sojourners to a separate org primary.

Castilla Impact (accessed for this file): “Isaiah most recently served as a Managing Director in the Washington, DC office of Arabella Advisors from 2020-2025.” Arabella’s February 10, 2022, GlobeNewswire is written as a join announcement: the firm is “thrilled to announce that Isaiah Castilla has joined the firm as a Managing Director.” Those two date stories do not match. This site records both. It does not collapse 2020 into 2022, or 2022 into 2020. No later Arabella Form 10-K or comparable primary was located that independently prints a start month.