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'''Donors Trust''' is a nonprofit [[Donor-advised fund|donor advised fund]] which offers anonymity to people who wish to contribute to nonprofit entities, including [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and [[libertarianism in the United States|libertarian]] organizations, but who do not wish to make their donations public. Based in [[Virginia]], it is affiliated with [[Donors Capital Fund]], another donor advised fund.
'''DonorsTrust''' is a [[501(c) organization#501(c)(3)|501(c)(3)]] organization that provides funding to a variety of [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] [[political advocacy group]]s, [[think tank]]s and groups that support [[Climate change denial|climate change denial]].<ref>{{cite news |title=How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups|author=Suzanne Goldenberg|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/donors-trust-funding-climate-denial-networks|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=14 February 2013|accessdate=26 February 2013}}</ref> DonorsTrust offers anonymity to wealthy donors who do not want to make their donations publicly.<ref name = "businessinsider1">{{cite news |title=Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups|author=Walter Hickley|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/donors-trust-capital-fund-conservative-dark-money-2013-2|newspaper=[[Business Insider]]|date=12 February 2013|accessdate=14 February 2013}}</ref><ref name = Guardian021413 >{{cite news |title=Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks|author=Suzanne Goldenberg|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/funding-climate-change-denial-thinktanks-network|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=14 February 2013|accessdate=14 February 2013}}</ref><ref name="Research2003">{{cite book|author=[[American Enterprise Institute]] for Public Policy Research|title=The American enterprise|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bI8rAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=11 September 2011|date=1 January 2003|publisher=American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research}}</ref> The organization assures its conservative donors that their donated funds will never be used to support liberal causes.<ref name = Guardian021413 />


== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 15:43, 10 March 2015

Donors Trust
Formation1999
TypeNonprofit (IRC § 501(c)(3))[1]
52-2166327
Location
Coordinates38°48′20″N 77°03′37″W / 38.8056°N 77.0603°W / 38.8056; -77.0603
ServicesDonor advised fund
President
Whitney Ball
Kimberly Dennis, James Piereson, Thomas Beach, William J. Hume, Jeffrey Zysik[2]
AffiliationsDonors Capital Fund
Revenue (2012)
$47,559,206[1]
Expenses (2012)$43,106,986[1]
Websitewww.donorstrust.org

Donors Trust is a nonprofit donor advised fund which offers anonymity to people who wish to contribute to nonprofit entities, including conservative and libertarian organizations, but who do not wish to make their donations public. Based in Virginia, it is affiliated with Donors Capital Fund, another donor advised fund.

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][4] 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."[5] Donors Trust files with the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization.[1]

Donors Trust relies on donors from charitable foundations and individuals.[6] Grants from Donors Trust are based on the preferences of the original contributor.[7] Donors Trust assures donors that their contributions will never be used to support liberal causes.[8][5] 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.[9][8][10][11] 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.[12][13]

The progressive news magazine 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."[14]

According to Whitney Ball, the president of Donors Trust, 70 to 75 percent of the gifts to the organization go to public policy organizations, with the rest going to more conventional charities such as social service and educational organizations.[4]

Donors

Donors Trust requires an initial deposit of $10,000 or more.[15][14] As of 2013, Donors Trust had 193 contributors, mostly individuals, and some foundations.[16]

Individual Donors Trust account holders include American businessmen Richard DeVos, co-founder of Amway; Paul Singer, hedge fund manager, investor, philanthropist, and political activist; and entrepreneur Philip Anschutz.[16][importance?] The DeVos family foundation contributed $1 million in 2009 and $1.5 million in 2010.[14]

The Knowledge and Progress Fund, chaired and funded by Charles Koch, and the Charles G. Koch Foundation contributed $3.3 million to Donors Trust between 2007 and 2011.[17][18][19] The Koch brothers were Donors Trust's top contributors in 2011.[20] Other conservative foundation Donors Trust account holders include the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation; the John M. Olin Foundation, a grant-making foundation established in 1953; the Castle Rock Foundation, founded with a 1993 endowment from the Adolph Coors Foundation;[16] and the Searle Freedom Trust, founded by American businessman, heir and philanthropist Daniel C. Searle to support free market economics.[21][importance?] The Bradley family contributed $650,000 between 2001 and 2010.[14]

Recipients

Since its founding in 1999, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund have distributed nearly $400 million to various nonprofit organizations, including numerous conservative and libertarian causes.[3] In 2010, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a political advocacy group, received a Donors Trust grant of $7 million, nearly half of the Foundation's revenue that year.[18][16] 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; the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which provides free legal assistance to employees who claim 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.[14][22][23][importance?][improper synthesis?]

Other Donors Trust recipients have included the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Marijuana Policy Project.[4][24]

Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund distributed nearly $120 million to more than 100 groups skeptical of climate change between 2002 and 2010.[8] 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."[7][14] 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.[12]

As of 2010, Donors Trust grants to conservative and libertarian organizations active in climate 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.[25] 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.[9] Climate change writer Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Donors Trust.[26]

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.[16][unreliable source?]

Board of directors

The board of Donors Trust includes:[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "2012 IRS Form 990" (PDF). GuideStar. IRS. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Donors Trust Officers & Directors". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Abowd, Paul (February 14, 2013). "Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states". Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Zeiser, Bill (September 24, 2014). "Dark Money". National Review. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Mission & Principles". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  6. ^ Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 15, 2013). "Media campaign against windfarms funded by anonymous conservatives". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  7. ^ a b 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.
  8. ^ a b c Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 14, 2013). "Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks". The Guardian. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Hickley, Walter (February 12, 2013). "Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups". Business Insider. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  10. ^ "The future of donor-advised funds" (PDF). Philanthropy Roundtable. September 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  11. ^ "FAQs". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  12. ^ a b "Robert Brulle: Inside the Climate Change "Countermovement"". Frontline. PBS. October 23, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2015. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  13. ^ "What is Donors Capital Fund?". Donors Capital Fund. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Kroll, Andy (February 5, 2013). "Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement". Mother Jones. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  15. ^ "Guidelines". Donors Trust. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  16. ^ a b c d e Abowd, Paul (February 14, 2013). "Koch-funded charity passes money to free-market think tanks in states". NBC News. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ a b Bennett, Laurie (March 31, 2012). "Tracking Koch Money and Americans for Prosperity". Forbes. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  19. ^ Connor, Steve (January 24, 2013). "Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science". The Independent. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  20. ^ Chavkin, Sasha (April 22, 2013). "The Koch brothers' media investment". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  21. ^ Miller, John J. (November 8, 2007). "Daniel C. Searle, R.I.P." National Review. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ Zahorsky, Rachel (April 1, 2010). "Unsettling Advocate". ABA Journal. American Bar Association.
  24. ^ "Marijuana Policy Project". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  25. ^ Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 14, 2013). "How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups". The Guardian. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  26. ^ Gillis, Justin; Schwartz, John (February 21, 2015). "Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher". New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
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