The AP reveals:
“The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc. invested $32 million in equities from the $90 million it received as donations during racial justice demonstrations in 2020, according to a new 63-page Form 990 shared exclusively with The Associated Press. Organizers say the investment will become an endowment to guarantee that the organization’s work continues in the future. It had roughly $42 million in net assets at the conclusion of its last fiscal year – from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.”
The foundation’s payments to a firm founded by someone who fathered a kid with BLM Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors, as well as more than $840,000 to her brother’s security business, were certain to cause eyebrows to be raised. The organization also gave over $73,000 in private plane tickets for Cullors, although she reimbursed them soon after.
The group’s financial reserves total $42 million, despite spending more than $37 million on grants, consultants, real estate ($12 million worth), and other costs in 2021.
Patrisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter, resigned in 2021 after the problems intensified, but she spoke about them on a MSNBC podcast Monday. Cullors explained that the group’s large sums of money following George Floyd’s death was due to his legacy:
“It was an enormous surprise. It was also a lot of, ‘Oh no, I didn’t see that coming. Contrary to what has been reported, much of the cash came from individual contributors. There’s a lot of White guilt money there.”
There’s usually fire when there’s smoke. While the foundation may have been established with good intentions, the continual revelations of questionable financing choices must be making at least some contributors uneasy—where exactly did my money go?
