The claims seem to have flourished amid confusion over the structure of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, which is incorporated in Delaware. The Operations of the Black Lives Matter Global Network “All contributions to the DNC are publicly reported to the FEC and review of FEC reports will confirm there has never been any donation from this organization,” she said. In a statement to, the Black Lives Matter Global Network’s managing director, Kailee Scales, said that the claims about the money being routed to Democrats are part of “an organized disinformation campaign against BLM, from actors clearly trying to blunt the growing support for this movement.” We do not choose the recipient of the contribution, the donor does.” “We pass along the contribution directly to the receiving campaign or entity. “When you donate on an ActBlue or ActBlue Charities page, the donation is earmarked for the group listed on the form,” Caleb Cade, a spokesperson for ActBlue, told us in an email. T he money “you see coming through ActBlue is coming through it, not from it.”Ī similar platform used for Republican fundraising efforts, WinRed, launched in 2019. “ActBlue has no discretion over” where to direct individuals’ contributions, he said. Malbin - a professor of political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York - said candidates and organizations use ActBlue “f or the ease of transactions.” If you give the money to Sanders, it does not go to Biden.” “There’s no crossing from one account to another. “ActBlue lets candidates and liberal nonprofit organizations set up their separate accounts,” Michael Malbin, director of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute, told us in a phone interview. It’s just the online platform that campaigns and groups use to solicit and collect donations.Ĭampaign finance experts told us that it’s false to say that donations to the Black Lives Matter group are going to the Democratic National Committee, or to Democratic presidential campaigns, simply because the website uses ActBlue. Elizabeth Warren.īut the video misrepresents how ActBlue works. ActBlue isn’t itself donating money. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen. It then shows an breakdown of expenditures by ActBlue made in the 2020 cycle the top recipients are the presidential campaigns of Sen. Owens’ Instagram post features a video showing that uses ActBlue for its donations. To collect donations, the website uses ActBlue Charities, a 501(c)(3) organization that specifically makes the platform available to charitable organizations. The effort started in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin. There is a “ Black Lives Matter Foundation,” for example, whose president confirmed to us that it is not related to the organization behind - which is at the center of the viral claims.ī is operated by an umbrella Black Lives Matter organization called the Black Lives Matter Global Network. There are a number of groups that use the phrase “Black Lives Matter” in their name. The funds first pass through a nonprofit that sponsors the group.Īs the Black Lives Matter movement captures national attention, websites and social media posts are spreading a false claim about donations made to a leading Black Lives Matter organization.Īn Instagram page for the website claimed, for example, that “donations made to Black Lives Matter website go directly to the DNC” and that “appears to be an international money laundering program used by the Democratic National Committee.” A similar claim appeared on the conspiracy theory website .Ĭonservative personality Candace Owens also put the claim before her more than 1 million followers on Instagram, where she claimed “BLACK LIVES MATTER FUNDING GOES DIRECTLY TO WHITE DEMOCRATS AND THEIR VARIOUS INITIATIVES TO GET DEMOCRATS INTO OFFICE.”īut the claims - perhaps worsened by public confusion over the structure of the organization, which we’ll explain later - are based on a distortion of facts regarding the nonprofit ActBlue, which provides fundraising infrastructure to Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations. Social media posts falsely claim donations made on the Black Lives Matter website go “directly” to the Democratic Party, because the group uses ActBlue Charities - an online fundraising platform. Donations go to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.
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