DonorsTrust

DonorsTrust (DT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit started in 1999 "to ensure the intent of donors who are dedicated to the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise." Along with its supporting 509(a)(3) organization Donors Capital Fund (DCF), it is a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a coordinating body for conservative foundations founded by Whitney L. Ball, who passed away in 2015. The current president and CEO of DCF and DT is Lawson R. Bader, former president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Both funding organizations are "donor-advised funds," which means that the fund creates separate accounts for individual donors, and the donors then recommend disbursements from the accounts to different non-profits. They cloak the identity of the original mystery donors because the funds are then distributed in the name of DT or DCF, contributing another step to what has been called a "murky money maze."

The twin Donors organizations are advertised as a way for very wealthy people and corporations to remain hidden when "funding sensitive or controversial issues," creating a lack of accountability.

According to the late co-founder Whitney Ball, if donors neglect to give DonorsTrust an intent statement, "DonorsTrust is free to distribute the funds as it sees fit."

DonorsTrust is an "associate" member of the State Policy Network, a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country.

Koch Wiki

The Koch brothers -- David and Charles -- are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.

DonorsTrust connection to DOJ Official Matthew Whitaker

Matthew Whitaker was named acting Attorney General by President Trump after the November 2018 ousting of Jeff Sessions from that role. Prior to his appointment to the Justice Department top spot, Whitaker earned $1.2 million dollars as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT). Whitaker's salary made up "a sizable chunk" of the organization's revenue which was "mainly from" DonorsTrust, according to the Associated Press. As the director of FACT, Whitaker was an outspoken critic of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election. Despite advice from ethic's officials to do so, Whitaker did not recuse himself from his oversight power into the investigation.Whitaker rejected advice to recuse from Russia probe Although DonorTrust has been the preferred investment vehicle of the Koch Network of donors, any donor, foreign or domestic, could have bankrolled Whitaker's activities. The public does not know if these secret donors may have caused conflict of interest issues for the Acting Attorney General, who has oversight over the Mueller investigation until a new Attorney General is confirmed.

Many U.S. Senators, former Justice Department officials and others have spoken out on Whitaker's conflicts, known and unknown, including his past involvement with a company the Federal Trade Commission accused of scamming consumers. His elevation to Acting AG was challenged as unconstitutional by numerous watchdog groups and federal officials and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse demanded answers on Whitaker from DOJ nominee William Barr on January 15, 2019

DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund Grant Recipients

In June, 2016, DonorsTrust reached $1 billion in contributions to their "donor-advised accounts."

For a complete list of 2010-2014 grant recipients, see the DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund Grant Recipients page.

What DonorsTrust Funds, and How Much

Donors Trust Money Trail (Source: Center for Public Integrity
(http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/14/12151/following-donors-trust-money-trail))

DT and DCF made grants of over $148 million in 2011 and 2012, and according to a report by DeSmog Blog the two funds granted almost $311 million between 2002 and 2010'. The Koch brothers and other ultra-wealthy industrial ideologues appear to be cloaking an untold amount of their donations to conservative political outlets through DT and DCF. The obscure Knowledge and Progress Fund, controlled by Charles G. Koch, with Richard Fink as president, has given only to Donors since 2005, according to Mashey.

Coincidentally, the related Philanthropy Roundtable chose to honor Charles G. Koch with its 2011 William E. Simon Prize for "Philanthropic Leadership," enabling him to choose a non-profit to receive a $250,000 grant. The Roundtable explained that Koch is at the "forefront of strategic investment in ideas, think tanks, and academic research. . . . Having benefited from the capitalist system, he wants others to prosper in the same way."

Funding Climate Change Denial

According to Robert Brulle, a Drexel University sociologist featured on PBS Frontline in October 2012, "by 2009, about one-quarter of the funding of the climate countermovement [of climate change denial] is from the Donors Trust [and] Donors Capital Fund." He added that "what you see is that as the contribution of Donors [to climate change denial groups] has increased over the 2003-to-2010 timeframe, the contribution of other foundations has declined. Koch went from a high of 9 percent of the funding flow in 2008 to 1 percent in 2010. We do know that the Koch brothers have made significant contributions to Donors Trust through their foundation called the Knowledge and Progress Fund. They gave $1.25 million in 2007, $1.25 million in 2008, and then $2 million in 2010 to Donors. We don’t know where it went after it goes to Donors, because it’s not necessarily a one-for-one giving."

DonorsTrust promises to only funnel money to groups with an extreme anti-environmental bent, so industrial billionaires need not worry about their money winding up at Greenpeace, for example, as DonorsTrust co-founder Whitney Ball explains:

"...if a donor names his child a successor advisor, and she wants to give to Greenpeace, we're not going to be able to do that."

In February 2013, the Guardian reported that nearly US$120 million dollars from "conservative billionaires" were routed through two trusts, DonorsTrust and the Donors Capital Fund, who used a "secretive funding route" to channel the funds "to more than 100 groups casting doubt about the science behind climate change." The trusts were "operating out of a generic town house in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC," and the funds "doled out between 2002 and 2010, helped build a vast network of thinktanks and activist groups working to a single purpose: to redefine climate change from neutral scientific fact to a highly polarising 'wedge issue' for hardcore conservatives."

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) published a chart of the foundations and funds that gave money to DonorsTrust, and the organizations to which Donors Trust distributed the funds. In one example, DonorsTrust was a large supporter of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a think tank with a network of online media outlets in state capitals that covered climate change from a conservative point of view. According to IRS records, 95 percent of Franklin’s revenue in 2011 came from Donors Trust. The funding allowed Franklin to maintain tax-exemption as a “publicly supported” entity.

Funding State Think Tanks' ALEC Membership

In the mid-2000s, SPN began to secure funding for more of its member think tanks to join ALEC in order to help develop model legislation. In 2011, some of this "secured funding" for SPN members' participation in ALEC came from DCF. According to DCF's 2011 IRS disclosure, it funded Michigan's Mackinac Center, North Carolina's John Locke Foundation, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Foundation, and six other member think tanks "for participation at American Legislative Exchange Council meeting," providing a total of $200,000 to the groups for that purpose.

Funding Islamophobia in the United States

Research from the Center for American Progress (CAP) indicates that DCF has funded various organizations and individuals contributing to an anti-Islamic hysteria in the United States. Between 2007 and 2009 the Donors Capital Fund contributed $21,318,600 to "groups promoting Islamophobia, some of which included the Middle East Forum, Clarion Fund, Investigative Project on Terrorism, and the David Horowitz Freedom Center. In 2008, Donors Capital contributions amounted to 96% of Clarion Fund's financial resources, which allowed the organization to distribute a controversial video called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," which attempted to persuade Americans of the supposed Islamist threat during the 2008 election cycle.

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

Through 2016 DonorsTrust received $3,249,292 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Bradley detailed the most recent grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of the grant prepared by CMD. The quoted text was written by Bradley staff.

2015: $30,000 to support the general operations of Talent Market. Talent Market matches individuals with right wing nonprofits. “Talent Market is a wholly owned entity of DonorsTrust and is funded solely through direct contributions from individuals, organizations, foundations, and corporations…In a space of five years’ time it has provided free market nonprofits with information, personnel, and training expertise at no charge, all in an effort to develop a critical mass of well staffed and well run free market organizations available to engage in the public debate of ideas and formation of public policies that once enacted can sustain and nurture America’s fundamental principles and values.”

2015: $100,000 to support Philanthropy Roundtable’s Independence Project. The Independence Project is a new endeavor of the Philanthropy Roundtable “to challenge the Veterans public bureaucracy by testing new flexible private alternatives.”

2014: $100,000 to support the Project on Fair Representation (PFR), “which requests an unspecified amount to finance at least three class action lawsuits challenging affirmative action policies at highly competitive public and private colleges and universities, perhaps including the University of Wisconsin.” PFR’s predecessor was the Campaign for Color Blind America (CCBA). Bradley supported PFR with a grant of $100,000 in 2012 for Fisher v UT and Shelby County v. Holder. PFR was seeking help from attorneys at DC’s Wiley Rein law firm to identify more opportunities to strike down affirmative action. Bradley noted in 2014 that three likely targets were UW Madison, UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard. PFR noted a desire to file the suits within weeks or day of each other, aiming for the Spring of 2015. PFR has raised $1.5 million from the Searle Freedom Trust.

2013: $20,000 to support a project in Pennsylvania by the Commonwealth Foundation, American Majority and Media Trackers. The three groups worked together to create a permanent Pennsylvania infrastructure that mimics Wisconsin’s, “Bradley already supports both American Majority’s and Media Trackers’ work in Wisconsin. Commonwealth is a member of the Bradley supported Interstate Policy Alliance (IPA) and State Policy Network (SPN).”

Their first collective project was “educating” legislators on the effect of government unions on public policy and economic growth. “The context for this project includes the fact that reforms that might be proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett later this year or early next to alter the way in which government unions in state collect dues and PAC contributions from their members through automatic withholding… To the effort, according to the organizations’ jointly submitted request, Commonwealth brings ‘intellectual ammunition,’ American Majority brings candidate recruitment and training and Media Trackers brings ‘opposition research.’ Other organizations, including some 501(c)(3) groups, are also part of the effort. SPN is offering public relations support for the project as part of its larger campaign to better ‘brand’ freedom.” The overall budget for the larger infrastructure project was $5.3 million, of which $3 million was raised by in state donors. Bradley recommended the $20,000 “to supplement already existing, albeit indirect support of Commonwealth through IPA and SPN… Given Commonwealth’s history, the potential national importance of Pennsylvania as a place for policy to pivot and the groups’ desire to learn from the experience of those who helped further reform in Wisconsin.”

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more. Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Core Financials

2017

• Total Revenue: $112,961,835
• Total Expenses: $112,781,795
• Net Assets: $210,429,295

2016

• Total Revenue: $92,583,255
• Total Expenses: $68,618,357
• Net Assets: $187,465,225

2015

• Total Revenue: $85,527,056
• Total Expenses: $69,779,064
• Net Assets: $167,817,067

2014

• Total Revenue: $67,869,616
• Total Expenses: $58,239,511
• Net Assets: $140,390,762

2013

• Total Revenue: $104,533,200
• Total Expenses: $39,689,582
• Net Assets: $102,076,607

2012

• Total Revenue: $47,559,207
• Total Expenses: $43,106,986
• Net Assets: $30,614,131

Personnel

As of February 2019:

Staff

• Lawson R. Bader, President & CEO, Donors Capital Fund and DonorsTrust
• Gordon Cummings, Philanthropic Advisor
• Stephanie Giovanetti Lips, Philanthropic Advisor
• Peter A. Lipsett, Director of Growth Strategies
• Lydia Pitea, Marketing and Events Manager
• Rosemary Purple, Grants Administrator
• Jeffrey A. Sellazzo, Executive Assistant
• Jeffrey C. Zysik, Chief Financial Officer & Chief of Information Technology

Former Staff

• Whitney L. Ball, Former President & CEO of DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund
• Lauren B. Vander Heyden, Outreach Manager
• Christopher D. Renner, Grants & Accounting Manager
• Thomas Wischer, Office Manager & Grants Associate

Board of Directors

• Kimberly O. Dennis, Chairman of the Board; President and CEO, Searle Freedom Trust
• James Piereson, Vice Chairman of the Board; President, William E. Simon Foundation
• Lawson R. Bader, President & CEO, Donors Capital Fund and DonorsTrust
• Thomas E. Beach, Director; Founder and Managing Director, Beach Investment Counsel

Former Directors

• Whitney L. Ball, Former President & CEO of DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund
• William J. Hume, Director, Chairman of the Board, Basic American, Inc.
• Jeffrey C. Zysik, Secretary-Treasurer; Chief Financial Officer & Chief of Information Technology, DonorsTrust

Contact Information

DonorsTrust
1800 Diagonal Street, Suite 280
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone: (703) 535-3563
Fax: (703) 535-3564
Email: info@donorstrust.org
Web: http://www.donorstrust.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donorstrust

Resources and Articles

IRS Form 990 Filings

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Related Sourcewatch Articles

• Koch Brothers
• Koch Family Foundations
• Americans for Prosperity
• Freedom Partners
• Cato Institute
• Heritage Foundation
• Koch Universities
• Koch Network
• Knowledge and Progress Fund
• American Encore
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital
• 60 Plus
• Generation Opportunity
• State Policy Network:
  • SPN Portal
  • SPN Political Activity
  • SPN Funding
    • SPN 2011 Funding
    • SPN 2010 Funding
    • SPN 2009 Funding
  • SPN Agenda
  • SPN Founders, History, and Staff
  • SPN Members
  • SPN Ties to ALEC
  • Thomas A. Roe
  • Tracie Sharp
  • Byron S. Lamm
  • Roe Foundation
• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
  • ALEC Non-Profits
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital Fund
• Koch Family Foundations
• Koch Industries
• Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
• Heritage Foundation
• Think tanks
• Whitney Ball
• Adam Meyerson
• Bridgett Wagner
• Philanthropy Roundtable
• William E. Simon Foundation

Related PRWatch Articles

• Brendan Fischer, Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?, PRWatch.org, December 19, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, The State Policy Network's Cozy Relationship with Big Tobacco, PRWatch.org, December 16, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Did ALEC Found SPN? 1991 Report Suggests So, Exposes SPN Agenda, PRWatch.org, December 12, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Guardian Documents Expose State Policy Network Groups' Intent to Lobby, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, State Policy Network: The Stealth Network Dramatically Influencing State Law, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Tracie Sharp: Bursar of Mystery Money and "IKEA Model" Materials to Stink Tanks, PRWatch.org, November 19, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, Reports Expose Extreme Pressure Groups Masquerading as Think Tanks, press release, November 13, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, A Reporters’ Guide to the "State Policy Network": the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States, PRWatch.org, April 4, 2013.
• Sara Jerving, ALEC and Heartland Aim to Crush Renewable Energy Standards in the States, PRWatch.org, November 27, 2012.
• Connor Gibson, Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund", PRWatch.org, October 29, 2012.
• Brendan Fischer, Koch-Funded Mackinac Center Brings Wisconsin Act 10 Provisions to ALEC, PRWatch.org, May 2, 2012.
• Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 31, 2011.

External Resources

• Wall Street Journal, The Spoils of the Republican State Conquest, December 9, 2016, archived by CMD here.
• DeSmog Blog, Stink Tanks: Historical Records Reveal State Policy Network Was Created by ALEC, December 9, 2013.
• The Guardian, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, December 5, 2013.
• Portland Press Herald, "Washington County residents have mixed reactions to plan to eliminate taxes," December 5, 2013.
• The Texas Observer, "The Money Behind the Fight to Undermine Medicaid," December 5, 2013.
• Media Matters, North Carolina Newspapers Largely Ignore Conservative Funding Of Sham Think Tanks, December 3, 2013.
• Shepherd Express, Masters of Manipulation: Right-wing Billionaires, Corporations and the Bradley Foundation Pay for Junk Studies that Prop up Their Agenda, November 27, 2013.
• "Moyers & Company," How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas, November 19, 2013.
• MSNBC "Rachel Maddow Show," November 18, 2013.
• Free Speech TV "Ring of Fire," Facebook, Microsoft, AT&T and Others Supporting Right Wing Propaganda Machine, November 18, 2013.
• Topeka Capital-Journal, Trabert dismisses report tying KPI to Koch agenda, November 16, 2013.
• The New Yorker (Jane Mayer), Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, November 15, 2013.
• Salon, Ted Cruz and Koch brothers embroiled in shadowy Tea Party scheme, November 15, 2013.
• St. Louis Business Journal, Beyond Sinquefield: Who else is funding the Show-Me Institute?, November 15, 2013.
• The Guardian, Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds, November 14, 2013.
• Huffington Post, Meet The Little-Known Network Pushing Ideas For Kochs, ALEC, November 14, 2013.
• CBS St. Louis, Show-Me Institute’s Ties Questioned in New Report, November 14, 2013.
• Talking Points Memo, Florida Conservative Group Helping Muck Up Obamacare In Alaska, November 14, 2013.
• Mint Press News, Reports Reveal SPN’s Secret Corporate Agenda Through Use ‘Expert’ Testimony, November 14, 2013.
• Media Matters, Shadowy Right-Wing Group Generates Media Coverage For Conservative Policy From Coast To Coast, November 14, 2013.
• The Institute for Southern Studies, Are conservative think tanks breaking lobbying laws?, November 14, 2013.
• Nonprofit Quarterly, Corporate Money in Network of Right-Wing State Policy Think Tanks, November 14, 2013.
• The Progressive, Right-Wing Think Tanks Push Privatization in the States, November 13, 2013.
• Politico, Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs, November 13, 2013.
• Lawrence Journal-World, Reports released by progressive groups are critical of Kansas Policy Institute, November 13, 2013.
• Maine Insights, Report: Maine Heritage Policy Center’s funding connection to Koch Brothers, November 13, 2013.
• The Florida Current, Liberal groups bemoan lobbying by conservative think tanks, November 13, 2013.
• The Oregonian, Cascade Policy Institute benefits from secretive donor group but says it operates independently, November 13, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network, The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Arizona Working Families and CMD, A Reporter’s Guide to the Goldwater Institute: What Citizens, Policymakers, and Reporters Should Know, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Progress Florida and CMD, Lawmaking Under the Influence of Very Special Interests: Understand the role of Florida ‘think tanks’ in driving a Koch-fueled, ALEC-allied corporate agenda, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Maine's Majority Education Fund, Fooling Maine: How national conservative groups infiltrated Maine politics by founding and funding the Maine Heritage Policy Center, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Michigan, Who's Running Michigan? The Far-Right Influence of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Who's in Charge: How Nationalized Corporate-Run Think Tanks Influence Minnesota Politics, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Missouri, What Missourians Need to Know About the Show-Me Institute, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Granite State Progress, Bad Bartlett: The Josiah Bartlett Center and NH Watchdog Answer the Call of the Koch Brothers, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• ProgressOhio, Smoke Screen: The Buckeye Institute, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Keystone Progress, Think tanks or corporate lobbyist propaganda mills?, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Texas, TPPF + ALEC, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• One Wisconsin Now, S is for Shill: Inside the Bradley Foundation's Attack on Public Education, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Pence and Right-Wing Are Taking Over Public Education, November 13, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Shawn Vestal: Idaho Freedom Foundation pushes limits of word ‘charity’, November 2, 2013.
• AZ Central, When this ‘watchdog’ pitches, taxpayers strike out, October 12, 2013.
• IndyStar, Daniels says speech to partisan group was a mistake, October 10, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Indiana Policy Review: Not an Independent News Source, October 2, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Idaho Freedom Foundation's charitable status scrutinized, September 15, 2013.
• CounterSpin, Lee Fang on 'The Right Leans In', April 5, 2013.
• FireDogLake, State Policy Network, an umbrella coordinating ALEC, Heritage, Heartland and others, April 4, 2013.
• Thom Hartmann with Lee Fang on MSNBC, The conservative State Policy Network is sneaking into your state & will change America, March 29, 2013.
• Current TV "War Room", Lee Fang discussing the State Policy Network, March 28, 2013.
• The Nation, The Right Leans In, March 26, 2013.
• Democracy Now, Donors Trust: Little-Known Group Helps Wealthy Backers Fund Right-Wing Agenda in Secret, February 19, 2013.
• Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, Consider the Source, February 14, 2013.
• John R. Mashey, Fake science, fakexperts, funny finances, free of tax 2, DeSmog Blog report, updated October 23, 2012, p. 74.
• Urban Milwaukee, Stealth Conservatives, October 11, 2012.
• Rome News-Tribune, ANALYSIS: Georgia leaders depend on the same well for ideas, October 2012.
• Andy Kroll, The Right-Wing Network Behind the War on Unions, Mother Jones, April 25, 2011.
• Guidestar, State Policy Network, IRS filings and other organizational information about SPN.
• Center for Policy Alternatives, ALEC and the Extreme Right-Wing Agenda, organizational brochure about ALEC and SPN.
• John J. Miller, Fifty Flowers Bloom: Conservative think tanks — mini–Heritage Foundations — at the state level, National Review, November 19, 2007.
• Bridge Project, State Policy Network, online resource listing grants to SPN and SPN's connections to other groups.
• People for the American Way, State Policy Network, RightWingWatch.org, organizational resource.
• Greenpeace, Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group: State Policy Network (SPN), organizational resource.