Black Lives Matter halts fundraising after liberal states threaten legal action over missing financial records



The liberal states of California and Washington have ordered the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation to halt all fundraising operations over a lack of financial transparency, according to a new report.

"We take these matters seriously and have taken immediate action," an unidentified spokesperson for the BLMGNF told the Washington Examiner. "We have immediately engaged compliance counsel to address any issues related to state fundraising compliance. In the interim, we have shut down online fundraising as we work quickly to ensure we are meeting all compliance requirements."

The outlet reported that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation shut down all online fundraising on Wednesday night and noted that the "donation button that used to be featured prominently on BLM's website was nowhere to be found as of Wednesday evening."

After the foundation reportedly failed to submit an annual report for the 2020 tax year that is required of charitable trusts, California and Washington state officials prohibited the BLM organization from soliciting donations.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) sent a formal delinquency notice to BLM on Monday, according to the New York Post. The order gives the group 60 days to file tax and charity documents for 2020; otherwise, BLM could lose its tax-exempt status and be subject to late fees.

“The organization BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC. is delinquent with The Registry of Charitable Trusts for failing to submit required annual report(s)," the letter said.

"Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status," the notice stated.

While the organization is delinquent, it is prohibited from any "solicitation or disbursing of charitable funds."

On Jan. 5, the Washington secretary of state corporations and charities division reportedly sent a notice to BLM to "immediately cease" fundraising in the state because of the group's lack of financial transparency.

"Please note that a violation of the Act is also a violation of the consumer Protection Act ... and could result in the imposition of injunctions and civil penalties of up to $2,000 per violation,” the official letter to BLM said, according to the Examiner. "Any organization that solicits and/or collects contributions in violation of the Act and CPA will be reported to the Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division for further action.”

The outlet also reported, "BLM's charity registration is also out of compliance in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Virginia."

When asked about the Black Lives Matter organization, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) told the Examiner, "It appears that the house of cards may be falling, and this happens eventually with nearly every scam, scheme, or illegal enterprise. I see patterns that scams kind of universally take: failure to provide board members, failure to provide even executive directors, failure to make your filings available. It all leads to suspicion."

Rokita did not confirm or deny whether his office is investigating BLM.

Last week, a report questioned who controls the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation's $60 million war chest. The Examiner noted that the BLMGNF hasn't had an executive director since Patrisse Cullors resigned in May after weeks of criticism surrounding her purchase of high-end real estate properties.

Another report from last week alleged that the foundation helped fund the purchase of a mansion that was formerly the headquarters of the Communist Party of Canada.

In February 2021, BLMGNF released its disclosure – which stated the organization "raised just over $90 million" in 2020.

'Where is all that money going?' Michael Brown's father says Black Lives Matter abandoned Ferguson activists, demands $20 million



The father of Michael Brown Jr., whose death sparked nationwide protest in 2014, is accusing the Black Lives Matter movement of abandoning Ferguson activists and demanding $20 million for community improvement projects.

Michael Brown Sr. released a joint statement with Tory Russell, the director of the International Black Freedom Alliance (IBFA), on Tuesday demanding some of the millions raised by BLM be handed over to activists in Ferguson, Missouri, where 18-year-old Brown Jr. was killed.

"Thousands of other youth activists in their 20s and 30s have been out in the streets protesting for months and months, and years and years. Still forgotten," Russell said in a video released on Twitter.

Today our co-founder, #Ferguson frontline organizer @VanguardTNT alongside #MikeBrown's father demands 20 million f… https://t.co/x2pawwr3Ld
— TheIBFA (@TheIBFA)1614691620.0

"We're asking that Black Lives Matter leadership funds $20 million for Ferguson organizers, organizations and community foundations to do the work," he added.

The statement was in response to a report by the Associated Press that BLM had raised over $90 million in donations to fight systemic racism in 2020.

"We're not begging for a handout, we're coming for what we deserve," Russell said.

A separate statement voiced the concerns from Brown Sr. about the use of the millions donated to BLM.

"Where is all that money going? Who are they giving it to and what are they doing with it?" Brown Sr. asked.

"Why hasn't my family's foundation received any assistance from the movement?" he added. "How could you leave the families who are helping the community without any funding?"

Russell said the money they demanded would be used for community gardens, fellowships, stipends for internships, and annual commemorations of Brown Jr.

The death of Michael Brown Jr. because a nationwide cause for those who saw it as another example of a black male dying at the hands of the police. A grand jury decided against the indictment of Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Brown Jr., who later resigned from the police force. The city of Ferguson settled a lawsuit by the Brown family with a payment of $1.5 million in 2017.

Here's a news video about the Ferguson protests:

Standoff in Ferguson After Death of Michael Brown | The New York Timeswww.youtube.com

BLM raked in $90 million in donations last year — but local chapters complain they’re not getting support



For the first time in almost eight years since its founding, leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement's principal organization are sharing a more detailed look at the group's finances. According to a financial snapshot obtained by the Associated Press this week, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raked in a whopping $90 million in donations last year.

The massive haul can reportedly be credited to an avalanche in contributions that followed the death of George Floyd in late May and continued on for the better part of the year. Floyd's death was the pivotal moment that kickstarted an international reckoning on police brutality against black people and racial injustice, in general, the effects of which can still be felt today.

Now the organization is reportedly aiming to build an infrastructure to catch up to the pace of its fundraising, with the goal of becoming known for more than just being the group that organizes protests after black Americans die in confrontation with police.

"We want to uplift Black joy and liberation, not just Black death. We want to see Black communities thriving, not just surviving," an impact statement shared with the AP said.

One of its primary goals for 2021 is to establish "economic justice." BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors added more specifically that the organization is focused on the "need to reinvest into Black communities."

"One of our biggest goals this year is taking the dollars we were able to raise in 2020 and building out the institution we've been trying to build for the last seven and a half years," she said.

Yet for all its lofty goals and successes in fundraising, the organization has been simultaneously plagued by infighting. As more money was raised and more power was concentrated at the top, longstanding tensions between grassroots organizers and the foundation's leadership began to boil over.

Activists at local chapters had complained for years that they weren't receiving enough support from the global network. Then late last year, 10 local chapters severed ties with the organization as part of a tense internal revolt.

Last summer, news broke that over the last three fiscal years only 6% of BLM's spending went to local chapters, while millions went toward travel and staff compensation.

According to the financial snapshot made available to the AP, the organization worked to correct that in 2020.

"The foundation said it committed $21.7 million in grant funding to official and unofficial BLM chapters, as well as 30 Black-led local organizations," the report stated. "It ended 2020 with a balance of more than $60 million, after spending nearly a quarter of its assets on the grant funds and other charitable giving."