Black Lives Matter Foundation Struggling with $90 Million Raised

Black Lives Matter Foundation Facing Bankruptcy

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which has reportedly paid some of its official and unofficial chapters millions of dollars, appears to be risking bankruptcy. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the foundation ran $8.5 million in arrears last year, while donations plunged 88% between 2021 and 2022. Co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned from the organization in 2021 after she was accused of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, a charge she has denied.

Real Estate Buying Binge

The New York Post reported, “As protests broke out across the country in the name of Black Lives Matter, the group’s co-founder went on a real estate buying binge, snagging four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the U.S. alone, according to property records.” Cullors’ relatives have been on the company’s payroll including her brother Paul who had owned two companies that BLM paid $1.6 million in order to provide “professional security services” in 2022. Paul received a $126,000 salary as “head of security” in 2022 while companies linked to Damon Turner, the father of Cullors’ child, received roughly $970,000 in 2021.

“Keeping it all in the family”

“While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, it looks like she’s still keeping it all in the family,” Paul Kamenar of the National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group told the Free Beacon.

Spending Millions on Properties

In May 2022, news broke that Black Lives Matter paid out over $12 million for properties in Toronto and Los Angeles. The funds for a $6.3 million 10,000-square-foot property in Toronto came from an “out of country grant” meant for “activities to educate and support black communities, and to purchase and renovate property for charitable use,” according to BLMGNF’s federal tax filing for fiscal year 2020.

Building Efficient Infrastructure

“No one expected the foundation to grow at this pace and to this scale,” said Cicley Gay, chair of the board of directors of BLMGNF, in May 2022. “Now, we are taking time to build efficient infrastructure to run the largest black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.”

“As a new board, we are building policies that didn’t exist, operational and administrative infrastructure that didn’t exist,” board member Shalomyah Bowers echoed. “We’re making it clear to black people that we’re an institution and that we’re here to stay. In order to do that, we need to demonstrate that our financial house is in order.”

Donations and Fundraising

In 2021, the foundation said it raised $90 million in 2020. However, with recent controversies and financial struggles, it remains to be seen how successful the organization will be in future fundraising efforts.