Donations to the national organization for Black Lives Matter saw a shocking drop of nearly 90 percent between 2021 and 2022 as the group’s use of funds continued to spark controversy.
The organization’s fundraising arm, BLM Global Network, reported contributions of just $9.3 million for the fiscal year ending June 2022 in state filings.
That’s a whopping 88 percent less than the $77 million the nonprofit reported in donations for the fiscal year that ended 12 months earlier, according to the Washington free beacon.
BLM Global Network has been handling its own fundraising since splitting from its management group Thousand Currents in mid-2020. It did so after being inundated with donations following the June 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Since then, however, the group has often faced backlash for what some have seen as misuse of funds for various lavish purchases and “consulting fees” — though it’s unclear what triggered BLM’s donations.
In May 2022, it was revealed that Black Lives Matter had spent more than $12 million on luxury properties in Los Angeles (pictured) and in Toronto — including a $6.3 million, 10,000-square-foot property in Canada that was purchased as part of an $8 million ‘foreign grant’
Donations to the national organization for Black Lives Matter saw a shocking drop of nearly 90 percent between 2021 and 2022 as the group’s use of funds continued to spark controversy
Leaders have tried to justify the huge sums spent on security by saying the foundation’s protection could not be entrusted to former police professionals.
They mostly run security companies – with BLM famous for its opposition to vehemently protesting law enforcement organizations.
A consulting firm led by Shalomyah Bowers, who is BLM’s board secretary and previously served as deputy executive director, received more than $2.1 million to provide operational support to the organization, including staffing, fundraising and other key services.
In May 2022, Black Lives Matter was revealed more than $12 million spent on luxury properties in Los Angeles and in Toronto — including a $6.3 million 10,000-square-foot property Canada which was purchased as part of an $8 million out of country grant.
The Toronto property was purchased with grant money intended for “activities to educate and support black communities, and to purchase and renovate property for charitable use.”
The group had said it intended to use the property as its Canada headquarters, and it has now been renamed the Wilseed Center for Arts and Activism. In January, it was revealed that BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors had transferred millions from the organization to a charity run by her wife, Janaya Khan, to purchase the property.
Cullors, who stepped down in May 2021 after it was revealed she had amassed a $3.2 million real estate portfolio, has used the property twice for personal reasons: once for a Biden inauguration party and another time for her son’s birthday . According to the tax return, she paid $390 to use it.
Tax returns released last year showed that BLM paid a company owned by Damon Turner, the father of Cullors’ child, nearly $970,000 to help “produce live events” and provide other “creative services.”
The co-founder’s brother, Paul Cullors, received more than $840,000 for providing security services to the foundation.
There is no suggestion of financial impropriety on the part of Black Lives Matter, but the manner in which the bosses have spent money has generated ongoing controversy.
In January, it was revealed that BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors had transferred millions from the organization to a charity run by her wife, Janaya Khan, to purchase the property.
D’Zhane Parker, left, Cicley Gay, center, and Shalomyah Bowers pose for a portrait in May 2022. A consulting firm led by Shalomyah Bowers, BLM’s board secretary and previously deputy executive director, received more than $2.1 million
Leaders have tried to justify the cost, saying the foundation’s protection could not be entrusted to former police professionals who typically run security firms because the BLM movement is known for fiercely protesting law enforcement organizations.
When Cullors revealed last year’s windfall from donations last year, organizers from local chapters and families of victims of police brutality reacted angrily.
Until then, the foundation had not been transparent with BLM’s most committed organizers, many of whom accused Cullors of excluding them from decisions about how funding would be allocated.
YahNé Ndgo, an activist and former organizer of the BLM chapter in Philadelphia, said Cullors kept his promise to hand over control of the foundation’s resources to grassroots organizers.
“If resources came in, if opportunities came, only[the foundation]would decide who would use them, without regard to the other organizers whose work gave them access to those resources. resources and opportunity first and foremost,” said Ndgo, who organized a group of chapters that confronted the foundation with issues of transparency and accountability.
In 2020, the foundation spun off its network of chapters as a sister collective called BLM Grassroots. It has a fiscal sponsor who manages foundation money.
Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLM’s first Los Angeles chapter, also leads the grassroots collective and said the organizers continue to have a direct impact on communities across the country.
“We’ll never stop doing that,” Abdullah said. “That’s the work we were born from.”
Garza (center) and Tometi (left) are no longer affiliated with BLM. Cullors (right) was the figurehead and leader during the 2020 George Floyd protests – with huge donations pouring in
In a recent interview with the AP, Cullors acknowledged that the foundation was not well prepared for the moment. The tax return lists Cullors as an uncompensated founder and executive director. She resigned last year. The foundation also paid nearly $140,000 in severance payments to a former general manager who was at odds with local BLM chapter organizers prior to Cullors’ tenure as director.
The filing shows that Cullors reimbursed the organization $73,523 for a charter flight for foundation-related travel, which the organization says it made in 2021 amid concerns about COVID-19 and security threats. She also paid the foundation $390 for her use of the Studio City grounds for two private events.
During the past fiscal year, Cullors was the sole voting director of the foundation board and held no board meetings, according to the filing. While permitted by Delaware law, where the foundation was founded, that governance structure gives the impression that Cullors alone decided who to hire and how to spend donations. That was never the truth, the current board members said.
Despite all the questions about the foundation’s oversight, the BLM foundation’s tax returns show that its stewards have funneled money to organizations charged with tackling racism. It donated tens of millions of dollars to BLM chapters, black-led grassroots organizations, and families of victims of police brutality, whose names supported the larger movement.
BLM co-founders – Cullors, Alicia Garza and Ay Tometi – had pledged to build a decentralized organization governed by the consensus of the BLM departments. But just three years into its existence, Cullors was the only founder of the movement associated with the organization.