Legal Statement. The foundation started by organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement spent more than $1.2 million lobbying members of Congress last year, including a push to impeach Donald Trump a second time, new tax filings show. Additionally, Cullors touched on the calls for transparency within BLM, alleging full disclosure wold put the foundation and its staff in jeopardy. "If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of . We knew that it needed some repairs, and it needed fixing, and that it would need to be shared,' Cullors explained. The filing shows that the group's lobbying spending was devoted in part to 'lobby member[s] of Congress to vote in favor of impeachment.'. After the transfer, Black Lives Matter leaders began using the house in various ways, including as a set for recording videos and staying overnight when they didnt feel safe at their own homes. Former Black Lives Matter leader Patrisse Cullors (pictured March 2022) admitted the charity was not prepared to handle the influx of 'white guilt money' donated after the murder of George Floyd and said mistakes made with the funds are now being 'weaponized against her', Black Lives Matter spent $6M on a mansion in Studio City, California, The Toronto mansion was purchased with funds that came from an $8M BLMGNF grant. A Massachusetts woman who accidentally tossed out a $1 million lottery ticket eventually collected her winnings thanks to the kindness and honesty of the owners of the convenience store where she . Other lobbying priorities listed in the new tax filing included campaigning against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which BLM organizers argued did not go far enough in reforming policing. The police had even pulled over his friend in a different car earlier, gave him a ticket for no insurance and license and let the guy that took my car come and get in . BLM is an affirmation & embrace of the resistance & resilience of Black people. While tax-exempt non-profits like the BLMGNF are not prohibited from some lobbying, IRS rules prohibit them from devoting a 'substantial' part of their activities to influencing legislation. However, she argues that the decision not to receive an annual wage from BLM actually came from a place of good intention. That scandal was made up by a website that calls itself satirical. All rights reserved. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The tax filing shows that nearly $6 million was spent on a Los Angeles-area compound. ', The Toronto property was bought with grant money that was meant for 'activities to educate and support black communities, and to purchase and renovate property for charitable use.'. "Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) is here to give light and fight for Black liberation," the statement said in part. All rights reserved. The organization offered the first official accounting of its finances recently, disclosing a filing to the I.R.S. That's a choice, bro. (Francine Orr/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images). She said the support she got from other teams was 'overwhelming. While such a structure is legal in Delaware, where the group is incorporated, charity experts say it is far from best practices, especially for a group with tens of millions of dollars in its coffers. The Michael O.D. An executive at Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (GNF), is accused of "syphoning" more than $10 million from donors, the grassroots arm of the BLM organization said a court filing. In February 2021, BLMGN disclosed it had raised $90 million in donations in 2020. Employees of Apple, Google, and Microsoft have raised millions of dollars for the Black Lives Matter Foundation thinking it's the international racial justice movement seeking to end police brutality. Any insinuation or assertion to the contrary is categorically false, the spokesperson said. Stuart Villanueva /The Galveston County Daily News via AP. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, Caregiver accused in Manhattan Beach child sexual abuse case believed to be in Philippines, Woman in her 70s found stabbed to death in Lake Forest home, Yosemite breaks decades-old snowfall record, closing national park indefinitely, San Diego federal judge had defendants 13-year-old daughter handcuffed. While Black Lives Matter at the national level is flush, hes seen local activists fall into poverty and become homeless. Could Alec Baldwin Really Go to Prison for the. Black Lives Matter Grassroots (BLMGR), a nonprofit that serves as the umbrella group for local BLM chapters nationwide, claimed in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court that Shalomyah Bowers, the leader of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF), defrauded the local chapters for "unjust enrichment" and used their funds as his "personal piggy bank.". A comprehensive new government study concludes that the illness probably wasnt caused by foreign adversaries. The founder of BLM inc. just bought a $1.5 Million compound in Topanga Canyon, the 4th whitest neighborhood in LA BLM raised $90 million last year. The Brutal Layoffs at Twitter Just Keep Coming. West's Yeezy shoe business made 1.3 billion dollars in revenue in 2019. They have never received payment for any work done for BLM. That ratio pretty much tells the story right there, Mr. Harold said. But it was the 2014 death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, that made the slogan 'Black lives matter' a rallying cry for progressives and a favorite target of derision for conservatives. Justin Hansford, a professor at the Howard University School of Law, said the stakes were high because the public could not always differentiate between the Black Lives Matter movement and one specific organization. The couple is pictured in 2020, The co-founder's brother, Paul Cullors (right), received more than $840,000 for providing security services to the foundation. This included grants of $2.3 million to the non-profit organization Living Through Giving Foundation, $1.4 million to The Michael O.D. Bowers was hired by Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors in 2020 to help raise and distribute money to groups within the foundation. BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors the foundations executive director insisted that the financial boost in 2020 was radically different than previous years, however, without releasing further records. What we're doing has never been done before,' said Shalomyah Bowers, who serves as the foundation's board secretary. Soon after, The Post reported that Kahn-Cullorswent on a real estate buying binge. The foundation said it collected over $90 million in 2020 alone and committed $21.7 million in funding to various BLM chapters and grassroots organizations. 'We needed to get dollars out to grassroots organizations doing the work of abolition, doing the work that would shift the moral tide of this world towards one that does not have or believe in police, prisons, jails or violence,' he said. Because the BLM movement was larger than life and it is larger than life people made very huge assumptions about what our actual finances looked like, Cullors told the AP. The disclosures had contributed to the idea that there is a disturbing gap between the fortunes of the movements most visible figures and on-the-ground activists across the country, and Cullors resigned as executive director of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation on May 27, within a few days of the patio chat. 'We, as a board, are charged with disrupting traditional standards of what grant making in philanthropy looks like. The all-cash deal closed five months after George Floyd's murder sparked nationwide protests and widespread donations to various BLM chapters. She paid the foundation an additional $390 over her uses of the 6,500 square-foot Studio City property for two private events. A Huge Majority of Voters in George Santoss Own District Think He Should Resign. A month later, Kahn-Cullors announced she wasstepping down from leadershipof the organization and handing the reins over to two other activists, Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Soon after the report, local activists went public with complaints that they felt unsupported by BLMGNF despite their pleas for help. Patrisse Cullors, who co-founded the charity in 2013, said BLM saw an unexpected 'tsunami of funding' - to the tune of $90 million - after Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 and argued the charity did not have the infrastructure to support the donations. Now, we are taking time to build efficient infrastructure to run the largest Black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.. Its far from a box, with more than 6,500 square feet, more than half a dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, several fireplaces, a soundstage, a pool and bungalow, and parking for more than 20 cars, according to real-estate listings. AmazonSmile suspended the organization from its platform in February 2022, and BLMGNF has removed donation links from its own website. Bowers is a close associate of BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who resigned from BLMGNF in May 2021 after allegations she misused millions of dollars in donation money. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. George Floyds death triggered an outpouring of contributions to BLMGNF, and in October 2020, the organization received an infusion of $66.5 million from its fiscal sponsor an intermediary commonly used by fledgling nonprofits to process donations. After accounting for expenses and grant disbursements, the organization said, it had $60 million on hand. She paid $390 for its use, according to tax filings. The. I think they are doing what a lawyer in this situation would advise them to do, which is be as open as you possibly can be and be as accurate as you possibly can be, said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in nonprofits. Black communities are still in ruin,. Back in April 2021, Cullors uploaded a video to her personal YouTube channel titled I Try Baking a Family Recipe for the FIRST Time *INTENSE* the first in an intended series called Patrisse Tries, in which she would attempt unfamiliar tasks. Theyve attempted to say and Im just gonna say it She bought some damn houses. The group had said it was planning to use the property as main headquarters in Canada, and it has now been named the Wilseed Center for Arts and Activism. To tax filings national level is flush, hes seen local activists fall poverty. 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