American Future Fund is a non-profit 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organization based in Iowa.  It was founded by Nick Ryan in 2007, and Iowa state Sen. Sandra Greiner serves as president.  According to the Center for Public Integrity, American Future Fund spent more than $29 million total on political advertising (federal and state) in 2012, putting it third among the 501(c)(4) groups after Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity.  In independent expenditures in the presidential race, according to the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group's "Follow the Unlimited Money" (1, 2), AFF spent $11.3 million in support of Romney and $6.8 million opposing Obama.

Among the more distinctive AFF ads were:

-"Security" opened with the charge that "President Obama skips 50% of his national security briefings" then went to the Sept. 11, 2012 murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya;

-"New Path" had the Romney message as interpreted by an outside group;

-"Real Solutions" featured women's voices;

-"Endorsement" ads;

-"Delphi" presented another side of the auto bailout; and

-"Fed Up" showed a young woman fed up "with Washington, with politics, with bickering; with wasteful, out-of-control spending" kicking over a TV set.


See: Michael Beckel.  "Nonprofit spends big on politics despite IRS limitation."  The Center for Public Integrity, Jan. 28, 2013.