In recent months, the Black Lives Matter organization has raised hundreds of millions of dollars (possibly into the billions) from individual and corporate donations. One Minnesota businessman gave the group $25 million. What do they do with all that cash?
The BLM web site doesn’t answer that question, nor does it even tell us what sort of a legal entity BLM is. You can donate here, but your contribution doesn’t go to BLM; at least, not directly. It goes to ActBlue Charities. ActBlue, to my knowledge, is primarily a fundraising arm of the Democratic Party, although it does raise money for far-left nonprofits as well.
The BLM Donate page also says that “[y]our contribution will benefit Black Lives Matter Support Fund at Tides Foundation.” You can read about the Tides Foundation here. It funnels enormous amounts of money to a variety of far-left organizations.
I have no idea what BLM will do with the vast sums of money it is now raising. Maybe, like the Southern Poverty Law Center, it will have more money than it knows what to do with, and will store large amounts of cash in offshore accounts. That is probably the least destructive use of donated money.
BLM is a decentralized organization, and donations can be made to local chapters. The founder of BLM’s Greater Atlanta chapter has been charged with fraud following an FBI investigation:
Sir Maejor Page, 32, was accused Friday of misappropriating $200,000 in donations he solicited through Facebook on behalf of Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta, Fox 5 Atlanta reported Friday.
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The FBI opened an investigation last year after a cooperating witness submitted a fraud complaint against Page, whose real name is Tyree Conyers-Page, FBI agent Matthew Desorbo said in the complaint.Page founded Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta in 2016 and this year took in more than $466,000 in donations in June, July and August, Desorbo said.
“In sum, Page has spent over $200,000 on personal items generated from donations received through BLMGA Facebook page with no identifiable purchase or expenditure for social or racial justice,” he said.
The FBI said Page pledged to use those donations “for George Floyd” but instead used the money make purchases related to food, dining, entertainment, clothing, furniture, a home security system, tailored suits and accessories.
Among other things, the FBI says that Page used BLM money to buy himself a house in Toledo, Ohio.
Black Lives Matter is a fraudulent organization in several ways. This is perhaps the least of them. Still, it would be interesting to know where the vast amounts of money being raised by BLM are going.
