Donors Trust

Donors Trust
Formation 1999
Type Nonprofit (IRC § 501(c)(3))[1]
52-2166327
Location
  • 1800 Diagonal Rd., S-280
    Alexandria, VA 22314
Coordinates 38°48′20″N 77°03′37″W / 38.8056°N 77.0603°WCoordinates: 38°48′20″N 77°03′37″W / 38.8056°N 77.0603°W
Services Donor advised fund
President
 Whitney Ball
Kimberly Dennis, James Piereson, Thomas Beach, William J. Hume, Jeffrey Zysik[2]
Affiliations Donors Capital Fund
Revenue (2012)
 $47,559,206[1]
Expenses (2012) $43,106,986[1]
Slogan Building a Legacy of Liberty
Website www.donorstrust.org

Donors Trust is a nonprofit donor advised fund based in Virginia.[3] As a donor advised fund, Donors Trust can offer anonymity to donors who do not wish to make their donations publicly.[4][5][6] It provides funds to a wide variety of charities and conservative causes, and assures donors that their contributions will never go to liberal causes. It is affiliated with Donors Capital Fund, another donor advised fund.

Overview

Donors Trust relies on donors from charitable foundations and individuals.[7] Grants from Donors Trust are based on the preferences of the original contributor.[8] Donors Trust assures clients that their contributions will never be used to support liberal causes.[5][9] Donors Trust offers anonymity to individual donors, with respect to their donations to Donors Trust, as well as with respect to an individual donor's ultimate grantee.[4][5][10][11]

"A donor-advised fund begins with a donor contributing cash or assets to a public charity, which in turn creates a separate account for the donor, who may recommend disbursements from the fund to other public charities," according to Whitney Ball, the executive director of Donors Trust.[10] Donors Trust requires an initial deposit of $10,000 or more.[12][13] Donors Trust is associated with Donors Capital Fund. Donors Trust refers clients to Donors Capital Fund if the client plans to maintain a balance of $1 million or more.[14][15]

Donors Trust files with the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization.[1] As a public charity, Donors Trust offers donors a more favorable income tax treatment as compared to donations to a private foundation.[16]

History

Donors Trust was established in 1999 by a group of donors and nonprofit executives with the common goal of “promoting our free society as understood in America’s founding documents.”[3][16] According to Donors Trust, the organization was founded "to ensure the intent of donors who are dedicated to the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise."[9]

In early 2013 Donors Trust was the subject of investigative journalism reports, including those of the British daily newspapers The Independent[17] and The Guardian,[5][7][18] the progressive news magazine Mother Jones,[13][19] NBC News,[3] and the media watchdog group the Center for Public Integrity.[3] Mother Jones described Donors Trust as having "funded the right's assault on labor unions, climate scientists, public schools, economic regulations, and the very premise of activist government" while having "mostly avoided any real scrutiny."[13] Donors Trust was a subject of the February 19, 2013 broadcast of Democracy Now!, a daily progressive, nonprofit, independently syndicated news hour.[20][21]

Donors

As of 2013, Donors Trust had 193 contributors, mostly individuals, and some foundations.[3]

Donors Trust account holders include Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, hedge fund manager and philanthropist Paul Singer and entrepreneur Philip Anschutz.[3] The DeVos family foundation contributed $1 million in 2009 and $1.5 million in 2010 to Donors Trust.[13]

The Charles G. Koch Foundation and the Knowledge and Progress Fund, another of the Koch family foundations, contributed $3.3 million to Donors Trust between 2007 and 2011.[17][22][23] The Koch brothers were Donors Trust's top contributors in 2011.[24] The Knowledge and Progress Fund contributed $4.5 million to Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund between 2006 and 2012.[25] In 2013, The Independent reported that Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund appeared to be the only grantees of the Knowledge and Progress Fund.[17] In 2010, Donors Trust received a US$2 million grant from the Donors Capital Fund.[26]

Donors Trust account holders have included the John M. Olin Foundation, the Castle Rock Foundation, the Searle Freedom Trust, and the Bradley Foundation.[3][27] The Bradley family contributed $650,000 between 2001 and 2010.[13]

Recipients

From its founding in 1999 through 2013, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund have distributed nearly $400 million to various nonprofit organizations, including numerous conservative and libertarian causes.[3][28] Donors Trust requires that recipients are registered with the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public charity. According to Whitney Ball, the president of Donors Trust, Donors Trust has about 1600 grantees,[29] and 70 to 75 percent of grants go to public policy organizations, with the rest going to more conventional charities such as social service and educational organizations.[16]

In 2010, the Arlington, Virginia-based conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Foundation[30] received a Donors Trust grant of $7 million, nearly half of the Foundation's revenue that year.[3][23] Other conservative and libertarian Donors Trust recipients include the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank; Americans for Tax Reform, a taxpayer advocacy group; the National Rifle Association Freedom Action Foundation; the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank; the Federalist Society, an organization seeking textualist or originalist reform of the American legal system; the FreedomWorks Foundation, a charity affiliated with a lobbying group; the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which provides free legal assistance to employees who report that their civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism; and the Center for Class Action Fairness, which represents consumers dissatisfied with their counsel in class actions.[13][19][31]

Donors Trust paid the legal fees of the Project on Fair Representation, a Washington, D.C.-based legal defense fund that assembled the plaintiff's legal team in Fisher v. University of Texas, a 2013 United States Supreme Court case concerning affirmative action college admissions policies.[32]

Other Donors Trust recipients have included the Foundation for Jewish Camp, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and the Marijuana Policy Project.[16][33]

Climate change related funding

Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund distributed nearly $120 million dollars to 102 think tanks and action groups skeptical of the science behind climate change between 2002 and 2010.[5] According to a 2013 analysis by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, between 2003 and 2013 Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund combined were the largest funders of organizations opposed to restrictions on carbon emissions, which Brulle calls the "climate change counter-movement."[8][13] According to Brulle, by 2009, approximately one-quarter of the funding of the "climate counter-movement" was from the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.[14]

As of 2010, Donors Trust grants to conservative and libertarian organizations active in climate change issues included more than $17 million to the American Enterprise Institute, a not-for-profit think tank; $13.5 million to the Heartland Institute, a public policy think tank; and $11 million to Americans for Prosperity, the political advocacy group.[18] In 2011, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, an online news organization, received $6.3 million in Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund grants, 95% of the Center's revenue that year. In 2011, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the conservative Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, received $1.2 million from Donors Trust, 40% of CFACT's revenue in that year.[4] Climate change writer Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Donors Trust.[34][35]

State-based policy funding

Between 2008 and 2013, Donors Trust granted $10 million to the State Policy Network (SPN), a national network of conservative and libertarian think tanks focused on state-level policy. SPN used the grants to incubate new think tanks in Arkansas, Rhode Island and Florida. Donors Trust also issued grants to SPN's affiliates at the state level during the same period. The American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation, is a Donors Trust recipient.[3]

Board of directors

The board of directors of Donors Trust includes:[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "2012 IRS Form 990" (PDF). GuideStar. IRS. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Donors Trust Officers & Directors". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Abowd, Paul (February 14, 2013). "Koch-funded charity passes money to free-market think tanks in states". NBC News. Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Walter Hickley (February 12, 2013). "Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 14, 2013). "Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks". The Guardian. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  6. ↑ "The future of donor-advised funds" (PDF). Philanthropy Roundtable. September 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 15, 2013). "Media campaign against windfarms funded by anonymous conservatives". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Brulle, Robert J. (December 21, 2013). "Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations". Climatic Change 122 (4): 681–694. doi:10.1007/s10584-013-1018-7.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Mission & Principles". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The future of donor-advised funds" (PDF). Philanthropy Roundtable. September 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  11. ↑ "FAQs". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Guidelines". Donors Trust. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Kroll, Andy (February 5, 2013). "Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement". Mother Jones. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Robert Brulle: Inside the Climate Change "Countermovement"". Frontline (PBS). October 23, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  15. ↑ "What is Donors Capital Fund?". Donors Capital Fund. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Zeiser, Bill (September 24, 2014). "Dark Money". National Review. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Connor, Steve (January 24, 2013). "Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science". The Independent. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 14, 2013). "How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups". The Guardian. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Kroll, Andy (February 11, 2013). "Exclusive: Donors Trust, The Right's Dark-Money ATM, Paid Out $30 Million in 2011". Mother Jones. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  20. ↑ Goodman, Amy (February 19, 2013). "The ATM for Climate Denial: Secretive Donors Trust Funds Vast Network of Global Warming Skeptics". Democracy Now!. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  21. ↑ Riley, Theresa (February 21, 2013). "Donors Trust: The ATM for Climate Denial". Public Affairs Television, Inc. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  22. ↑ Lewis, Charles; Holmberg, Eric; Fernandez Campbell, Alexia; Beyoud, Lydia (July 1, 2013). "Koch millions spread influence through nonprofits, colleges". Investigative Reporting Workshop (American University School of Communication). Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Bennett, Laurie (March 31, 2012). "Tracking Koch Money and Americans for Prosperity". Forbes. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  24. ↑ Chavkin, Sasha (April 22, 2013). "The Koch brothers’ media investment". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  25. ↑ Keneally, Meghan (January 25, 2013). "Revealed: Secretive funding organization 'providing millions to climate change counter-movement on behalf of fossil fuel industry'". Daily Mail. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  26. ↑ Hickley, Walter (February 12, 2013). "Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups". Business Insider. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  27. ↑ Miller, John J. (November 8, 2007). "Daniel C. Searle, R.I.P.". National Review. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  28. ↑ Goodman, Amy (February 19, 2013). "Donors Trust: Little-Known Group Helps Wealthy Backers Fund Right-Wing Agenda in Secret". Democracy Now!. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  29. ↑ Connor, Steve (January 24, 2013). "How the 'Kochtopus' stifled green debate; Behind the climate 'countermovement' are two billionaire brothers". The Independent. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  30. ↑ Pettersson, Edvard (February 17, 2015). "Koch Group Gets to Keep Donors Secret in California Lawsuit". Bloomberg Business.
  31. ↑ Zahorsky, Rachel (April 1, 2010). "Unsettling Advocate". ABA Journal (American Bar Association).
  32. ↑ Smith, Morgan (February 23, 2012). "One Man Standing Against Race-Based Laws". New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Marijuana Policy Project". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  34. ↑ Gillis, Justin; Schwartz, John (February 21, 2015). "Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher". New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  35. ↑ Basken, Paul (February 25, 2015). "A Climate Crusader Melts, Exposing a Profitable Link to Harvard’s Name". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved March 17, 2015.

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