A little-known nonprofit organization with ties to conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch raised some $256 million and spent $236 million in support of Republican political causes between November 2011 and November 2012, Politico reports.

The organization, Freedom Partners, shared with Politico a draft of an Internal Revenue Service filing which indicates it spent more in support of conservative groups in the runup to the 2012 election than any other single group — including Karl Rove's American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, which together spent a total of $300 million to influence policy and public debate in the months before the election. Formerly known as the Association for American Innovation, Freedom Partners is organized under section 501(c)(6) of the tax code and is not required to publicly disclose its donors, although the amounts and recipients of its major grants are included in the filing provided to Politico. They include three grants totaling $115 million to the Center to Protect Patient Rights, a group that is working to repeal Obamacare; $32.3 million to Americans for Prosperity, an organizing and advocacy group that is frequently courted by Republican presidential candidates; and $3.5 million to the National Rifle Association.

Marc Short, the group's president, told Politico he wanted to shine a light on his group and its cause. "There's a mystery around us that makes an interesting story," said Short. "There's also a vilification that happens that gets exaggerated when your opposition thinks you're secretive. Our members are proud to be part of [the organization]."

Three of Freedom Partners' five board members are current or former Koch employees: Wayne Gable, who holds a Ph.D. in economics and was the new group's first director; Richard Fink, another Ph.D. in economics who is president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation; and Kevin Gentry, a Koch official and vice chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. The group's membership consists of about two hundred donors, drawn from the ranks of attendees at the Koch brothers' semiannual conferences, who each pay at least $100,000 in annual "membership dues." By establishing itself as a 501(c)(6) organization instead of a (c)(4) "social welfare" group, the New York Times notes, Freedom Partners offers an additional advantage — some contributions may be tax-deductible as business expenses.

According to Short, the group's members are "concerned that the nation that they grew up in and that their businesses have flourished in will not be there for their children and grandchildren," and they are "committed to trying to restore what they view [as] free markets in a free society in America. They are really worried about the country that's going to be left for their future generations."