Nancy Wiechec/Reuters
Several charitable gift funds in the U.S. that conceal the identities of donors have helped hate groups raise $11 million, Sludge reports. Donors Trust, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Schwab Charitable Fund, and Vanguard Charitable allow individuals to donate to nonprofits of their choosing via accounts provided by the gift funds, so they can save on taxes and give anonymously. These donations are ultimately attributed to the gift funds. Sludge’s analysis found the four charitable gift funds gave close to $11 million to 34 Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate groups between mid-2014 and 2017—including “12 anti-LGBT groups, 12 anti-Muslim groups, eight anti-immigrant groups, one white nationalist group, and one radical traditional Catholic group.”
One anti-Muslim group, the American Freedom Law Center, received about 14 percent of its 2015-2017 revenue from Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable. Center for Security Policy, another anti-Muslim group, had about 8.7 percent of their 2015-2017 revenue donated to them by the four charitable gift funds. Chief strategic planning officer at Vanguard Charitable, Rebecca Moffett, told the website they were “cause-neutral” and therefore “organizations which may be on opposing sides of issues/debates.” However, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Heidi Beirich said the funds were “serving as pass-throughs to hate groups.”