At least 351 donor organizations have made millions of dollars in grants over the past seven years to nonprofits designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups.
Most of the money came from a small number of larger donor-advised funds managed by community foundations or commercially affiliated nonprofits like Fidelity Charitable. However, 280 private foundations also gave to these groups, according to Internal Revenue Service records.
In all, these organizations donated $52.8 million to SPLC-designated hate groups through 2018, the most recent year for which the relevant IRS data is available. The vast majority, roughly $41.6 million, came from just nine organizations that each channeled at least $1 million to groups on the list.
Donations to groups on the list are legal because the IRS has granted those organizations 501(c)(3) status, which makes contributions to them tax deductible. Some nonprofit advocates would like to see the IRS deny them charity status. Meanwhile, some of the SPLC-designated hate groups say the list is intended to stifle legitimate points of view that clash with liberal or progressive orthodoxy.
Among the groups studied by the Chronicle, donor-advised-fund sponsors are among the most prolific donors to SPLC-designated hate groups, contributing a collective $34 million.
Leading the way was the National Christian Foundation, which has sent $26.8 million to SPLC-designated hate groups since 2013, the majority going to organizations that oppose LGBT rights. The National Christian Foundation’s giving to groups on the list peaked in 2014, with $14.4 million in grants.
Most of that came in the form of $12.8 million in donations to the American Family Association, which the Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes as an anti-LGBT hate group. The American Family Association has bristled at its inclusion on the list ever since it was added in 2010. The group describes itself as a Christian “pro-family” group that opposes same-sex marriage. A 2017 blog post on its website blasted the SPLC list for what it perceives to be “libelous misrepresentation of Christian conservative organizations.” The group did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to the Chronicle, officials at the National Christian Foundation said its donors have made more than $10 billion in grants to 63,000 charities over the past decade, noting that the $26 million to what the SPLC considers hate groups represents a minuscule amount of the group’s charitable outlay. The group also said that it does not use third-party designations to determine grant eligibility.
“NCF carefully reviews and assesses every grant recommendation to confirm both the charity’s legal status as an IRS-approved tax-exempt organization and the alignment of its purpose and activities with our beliefs and values,” read the statement. “NCF does not develop or implement strategies about which charities or causes to support. All grants are initiated by the recommendations of our givers.”
Donor-advised-fund sponsors offer accounts in which donors can deposit their money until they decide which working charities should receive it. While the donors recommend where the money should go, it is ultimately the responsibility of the sponsor to determine whether the money is going to an appropriate charitable purpose.
Pressure to Cut Funding
There is pressure in the philanthropic world to cut funding to hate groups. AmazonSmiles, Amazon.com’s charitable donation arm, for instance, has used the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate-group list to block groups from receiving funds through its platform. Amalgamated Foundation, a commercially affiliated donor-advised-fund sponsor created by New York-based Amalgamated Bank, in 2019 launched a Hate Is Not Charitable campaign to pressure donor-advised funds to cut the flow of money to hate groups. More than 100 donor-advised-fund sponsors have signed on so far.
“We need to look at the real implications of funding hate, and of hate in this country. We are at a moment of real national reckoning where it is incumbent upon the philanthropic sector to do our part to restore and strengthen a multiracial democracy,” said Anna Fink, executive director at the Amalgamated Foundation. “At a bare minimum, that should include a commitment not to fund hate.”
Fidelity Charitable, the biggest donor-advised-fund sponsor in the United States, granted $4.6 million to 23 SPLC-designated hate groups, according to IRS data for 2017, 2018, and 2019.
The biggest share of the grants went to two groups, with the American Freedom Law Center receiving $1.4 million and the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which describes itself as a think tank engaged in “political warfare” to protect America against leftists and “jihadist Islam,” receiving $1.3 million. The SPLC classifies the David Horowitz Freedom Center as an anti-Muslim group. The group did not respond to a request for comment.
The American Freedom Law Center describes itself as a “Judeo-Christian law firm” focused on religious liberties. The SPLC describes the American Freedom Law Center as an anti-Muslim law firm whose co-founder, David Yerushalmi, views the world in an almost apocalyptic battle with “radical Islam.” The group did not respond to requests to comment.
Stephen Austin, a spokesman for Fidelity Charitable, said the donor-advised fund does not weigh the merits of the causes it donates to but that each grant is reviewed to make sure the charities are legally above-board and are registered charities.
“Fidelity Charitable remains cause-neutral. We created a robust review process for each grant made by our donors, such as if they are a qualified 501(c)(3) charity. We also take into consideration a number of other data sources, including IRS databases and even news reports,” Austin added. “Fidelity Charitable does not make grants to groups that may be involved in illegal activities, such as terrorism, money laundering, hate crimes, or fraud.”
The Foundation for the Carolinas reported $2 million in grants to hate groups, including $300,000 to Californians for Population Stabilization in 2016 and $1.7 million to the Federation for American Immigration Reform in 2015.
In a statement issued to the Chronicle, officials at the Foundation for the Carolinas said it distributed nearly $3 billion over the past decade, the “vast majority” of which came from about 3,000 donor-advised funds, including the grants to the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Californians for Population Stabilization.
“While our board policy is to facilitate grants as recommended by fundholder clients to IRS-sanctioned 501(c)(3) public charities of their choosing, regardless of subject matter, we believe it is important to note that no grants have been made since 2017 to the nonprofits in this report,” the statement says. “Also, a much smaller portion of FFTC’s overall grant making is discretionary, meaning FFTC proactively chooses to fund nonprofits supporting community needs. In our 62-year history, the foundation has never used discretionary funds to support the groups that appear on the Southern Poverty Law Center list.”
Schwab Charitable Gift fund, the second-largest donor-advised fund in the country, directed $2 million to groups on the list since 2015. Schwab Charitable grants to such groups have grown steadily in that time, rising from $405,080 in 2015 to $767,260 in 2018. The biggest chunk of that money, $948,725, went to the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
Schwab Charitable officials said in a statement that they facilitate “grants recommended by individuals to 501(c)(3)charitable organizations for qualified charitable purposes. To determine 501(c)(3) charitable status and qualified purposes, Schwab Charitable and other donor-advised funds rely on the IRS and state regulators.”
“We encourage anyone with concerns about the activities of a charitable organization to contact the IRS or state charity regulators,” said the statement.
The Christian Community Foundation, in Memphis, directed about $2.2 million to five SPLC-designated hate groups, according to records from 2013 through 2017. The group did not respond to a request for comment on this story. The majority went to the Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as an anti-LGBT hate group. The group vehemently objects to this classification, instead describing itself as a Christian “pro-family” group. In a statement, the Family Research Council executive vice president criticized the SPLC for including in its hate group lists “conservative, Christian and parent organizations who opposed SPLC’s political agenda” and accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of fomenting hatred against conservatives.
The Prince Foundation, based in Holland, Mich., and founded by former auto-parts magnate Edgar Prince, disclosed donations totaling $1.8 million to two nonprofits on the list, the Family Research Council and the Ruth Institute, an anti-LGBT group that opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage. Reached by phone, an employee at the Prince Foundation said the Family Research Council and the Ruth Institute “were not hate groups,” before hanging up without fully identifying herself. Reached for comment, Ruth Institute founder and executive Jennifer Morse referred to a 2020 news release that called its SPLC-hate group designation “an outrage.”
The Sidney Swensrud Foundation, whose namesake was a founder of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, made $1.3 million in donations to SPLC-designated hate groups, according to disclosures filed on IRS records for 2013 through 2018. Most of the money, roughly $1.2 million, went to the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Attempts to contact the Swensrud Foundation, in Boston, were not successful, with calls to the phone number of record going to a message saying the line had been disconnected.
Two family foundations gave more than $1 million each to organizations on the list. The Helen Diller Family Foundation donated $1.4 million from 2013 to 2017. Most of that money, $725,000, went to the David Horowitz Freedom Center. The Moriah Foundation donated slightly more than $1 million to a single SPLC-designated hate group, the Family Research Council, from 2013 to 2018. Neither foundation responded to requests for comment.
The Chronicle’s records date back as far as 2013 for some organizations, depending on when they started filing digital tax forms; for other groups, data was available for as little as three years. The Chronicle searched Schedule I of the IRS Form 990 and Part XV of IRS Form 990-PF, where charities and foundations, respectively, are required to disclose the grants they make to domestic organizations, for grants made to a list of 73 SPLC-designated hate groups and militias known to operate registered 501(c)(3) charities.
The data is not a complete tally. Many groups do not yet file their records electronically, though they are required to start doing so for tax year 2020 and onward. As a result, the amounts identified by the Chronicle likely understate the full extent of charitable support for those groups.
Objections to the List
The SPLC list has generated considerable ire from conservatives and others who say its goal is to stifle legitimate points of view.
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, objected to the designation of his organization as a hate group and argued SPLC’s list was being used as a tool to silence conservative voices.
“Who decided that the SPLC has any authority to decide what right other people have to determine other points of view or to approach public policy differently than they do,” said Stein. “This is becoming a battleground in the field of ideas and whether a society benefits from having a robust discussion from all points of view or whether a handful of vigilantes want to decide who is entitled to have a platform and who is not.”
From a legal standpoint, donor-advised-fund account sponsors like Fidelity Charitable could declare certain groups off-limits for distributions. However, Boston College law professor Ray Madoff said donor-advised-fund account sponsors are under enormous pressure to distribute the funds as directed by the account fund holders.
Madoff says donor-advised-fund account sponsors “are cause neutral, and there’s nothing wrong with being cause neutral. The problem is when we have charities that shouldn’t be charities because they are causing harm in the world.”
She added: “These hate groups put them in a very bad situation.”
Dan Parks contributed to this article.
