"The national Black Lives Matter group may be sitting on a cash hoard significantly larger than previously disclosed, new records reviewed by the Washington Examiner suggest.
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation claimed in February 2021, it spent about a third of the $90 million it raised in 2020, leaving the group with $60 million under its control at the end of the year.
Previously unreported IRS records suggest that BLM, through its fiscal sponsors, raised nearly $79 million from the small-dollar Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue in 2020 and another $13 million through ActBlue in 2021,
figures that likely don't represent the flood of corporate donations that poured into BLM's coffers during the nationwide unrest that followed George Floyd's killing.
"It appears that millions of dollars in donations to BLMGNF are unaccounted for," said Paul Kamenar, the legal counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group.
"Corporations and Foundations usually make their charitable contributions directly to the charity rather than through an intermediary such as ActBlue,
which takes a percentage of the gift as a processing fee and is used for small-dollar donations from individuals.
"The questions surrounding BLMGNF's finances call for a full independent audit that must be released to the public."
While dozens of prominent corporations pledged six and seven-figure contributions to BLM during Summer 2020, BLM has not disclosed exactly how much it received in corporate contributions.
BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors said in February that the money her group received in 2020 came from "white corporation guilt,"
implying that a substantial portion of BLM's funding that year did not come from small-dollar donations processed through ActBlue.
BLM did not return numerous requests for comment.
Adding to the BLM financial mystery is that the group had multiple pools of income during 2020.
During the first half of 2020, BLM operated as a fiscally sponsored project of the California-based charity Thousand Currents. In July 2020, BLM shifted its sponsor to the Tides Foundation, a liberal dark money behemoth.
Web archives show that from late July 2020 through mid-February 2021, the ActBlue donation button on BLM's website routed contributions to the Black Lives Matter Support Fund operated by the Tides Foundation.
ActBlue Technical Services, the entity that processes all donations made on the ActBlue platform, reported to the IRS in January 2021 that the "Tides Foundation c/o BLM Support" paid a cumulative $3,111,919 in ActBlue fees in 2020.
ActBlue charges a flat 3.95% processing fee on all contributions made through the platform, which implies the Tides Foundation raised $78.8 million in small-dollar donations through the platform for BLM in 2020.
It's not clear whether Tides then distributed those funds to BLM or if Tides remains in control of the funds.
BLM disclosed to the California Office of the Attorney General in February that it began receiving donations directly starting in August 2020.
BLM also received $66.5 million directly from Thousand Currents in October 2020, the same time frame during which it was sponsored by the Tides Foundation.
The IRS granted BLM charity status in December 2020.
Cullors acknowledged during a talk with Moorehouse College last month that both Tides and BLM were "holding money" for the group during the latter half of 2020.
"Thousand Currents is a small fiscal sponsor.
They were like, 'You're too big for us.
You have more money than we do, you all gotta go.
Find someone else,'" Cullors recalled.
"And so we went to Tides Foundation."
Cullors added: "In the in-between time, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation became a c3.
We got our legal status."
"And that legal entity, as well as Tides, was holding money.
Lots of people were giving money."
BLM and Tides did not return numerous requests for comment asking if BLM's claim that it ended 2020 with $60 million in the bank accounts for the funds that the Tides Foundation raised on BLM's behalf that year.
Records from ActBlue Technical Services suggest that BLM continued to rake in substantial sums of small-dollar contributions in 2021.
ActBlue Technical Services reported to the IRS in January 2022 that "Black Lives Matter Foundation Inc.," the original name of the national BLM group before it changed its name to Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in August 2019,
paid $517,847 in ActBlue processing fees in 2021.
The address ActBlue Technical Services listed for "Black Lives Matter Foundation Inc." is the same San Francisco P.O. Box it had reported for "Tides Foundation c/o BLM Support" the year prior.
The figure suggests BLM raised $13.1 million through ActBlue in 2021.
BLM voluntarily shut down its online fundraising in February after receiving legal threats from California and Washington due to the group's failure to report its 2020 finances.
BLM recently brought on the services of the law firm run by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias, and the group also changed its 12-month accounting period to run July through June,
a move that enabled it to further delay reporting its 2020 finances until mid-May, the Washington Examiner previously reported.
BLM's accounting maneuver helped put it back in good standing in California, but the group remains out of compliance in Washington, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia as of Tuesday afternoon.
Cullors, who resigned from her position as BLM's executive director in May 2021 amid scrutiny of her personal real estate purchases, lamented that she feels like she's being "treated as the fall guy" for BLM during an interview Monday with The Guardian.
However, she also acknowledged that BLM's attempts to be more transparent with its millions while she controlled the organization had failed.
"I think it's because Black people in general have a hard time with money," Cullors said.
"It's a trigger point for us."
Friday, March 4, 2022
Black Lives Matter cash hoard may be significantly larger than previously disclosed, new records suggest
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