Ultimately, that donation results in a net loss to the charity, not a net gain. It’s right there in the 990 forms filed with the IRS. That means your donation is funding Grassroots Campaigns, not Planned Parenthood, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Nature Conservancy, or any other client engaged in this sleight of hand.
Planned Parenthood Federation has been engaged in this scheme since 2009. Notably, only the charity side of Planned Parenthood engages with Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. Though the social welfare, or 501(c)(4), entities also do fund-raising, they don’t use this particular company. Why? Could it be that they don’t actually hire Grassroots Campaigns for the fund-raising? Is it just a scheme to direct charity funds to partisan political activities?
Planned Parenthood Federation Losses to Grassroots Campaigns Inc.
Amount Fund-Raised
Amount Charged by Grassroots
Loss by PPF
2016
$2,686,919.00
$4,599,074.00
$(1,912,155.00)
2015
$1,954,196.00
$3,400,000.00
$(1,445,804.00)
2014
$909,925.00
$2,273,485.00
$(1,363,560.00)
2013
$1,049,817.00
$2,261,872.00
$(1,212,055.00)
2012
$1,849,612.00
$3,493,461.00
$(1,643,849.00)
2011
$1,569,663.00
$3,776,470.00
$(2,206,807.00)
2010
$902,515.00
$2,420,841.00
$(1,518,326.00)
2009
$97,079.00
$370,874.00
$(273,795.00)
$11,019,726.00
$22,596,077.00
$(11,576,351.00)
Source: 990 tax filings
Let’s take a look at the success of Grassroots Campaigns Inc. in fund-raising for Planned Parenthood Federation. The chart above shows Grassroots Campaigns hasn’t come close to raising the amount of money Planned Parenthood is paying them. In fact, in the eight years for which I was able to see records, Planned Parenthood’s 501(c)(3) charity has paid out more than $11.5 million to the canvassing organization above and beyond the amounts they have received for fund-raising.
To a nonprofit auditor, these numbers would make no sense. In the real world, if a nonprofit pays a fund-raiser, that fund-raiser had better raise at least enough to cover the cost of the contract. In the real world, if a fund-raiser costs more than the amount raised, the nonprofit would hire someone else the following year. But Planned Parenthood doesn’t. Note that the amounts fund-raised by Grassroots Campaigns each year (column two) are consistently exceeded by the amounts charged for fund-raising (column three). Normally, after a single year of failing to raise the amount of the fee, we would expect a nonprofit to fire the fund-raiser and hire someone who can raise at least as much as he or she is paid. But Planned Parenthood doesn’t. They have continued to use Grassroots Campaigns each year since 2009. The last column shows the loss incurred each year—the difference between what was paid and what was raised. In addition to the money Grassroots Campaigns was paid for fund-raising, they were also paid for consulting.
While most nonprofits of its size do their fund-raising in-house, the Planned Parenthood Federation has consistently rehired Grassroots Campaigns for both consultancy and fund-raising services over the most recent six-year reporting period, paying out a total of $38 million (including consulting) and raising less than $6 million during that time.
The for-profit organization Grassroots Campaigns is making millions of dollars each year from the contract with Planned Parenthood alone. Where is that money going? Well, let’s revisit their website and look at what Grassroots Campaigns says it does.
“In addition to running ongoing small-donor fund-raising canvasses throughout the U.S., Grassroots Campaigns also has more than a decade of experience running cutting-edge voter contact, volunteer organizing, and grassroots advocacy campaigns on behalf of progressive political groups and candidates. The services we provide include:
Fundraising
Paid Voter Contact and GOTV
Volunteer Voter Contact and GOTV
Voter Registration
Volunteer Recruitment and Organizing
Advocacy
Phone Services
Training”
What happens to your donation when Grassroots Campaigns knocks on your door? We’ve already established it isn’t going back to the nonprofit organization—they’re paying more for the fund-raising service than the donations given. It appears to be used, directly or indirectly, to fund these other services—services that the nonprofit itself, particularly the charity arm, cannot legally fund.
As a for-profit organization, Grassroots Campaigns doesn’t have to report how this money—the money that came from a 501(c)(3) charity—is used. This would be an easy way to access those deep reserves for political purposes. Is that why those reserves seem to increase so dramatically after an organization pays Grassroots Campaigns for “consulting” services? Is Grassroots helping get the word out to donors that political donations to the nonprofit charity will not only be tax deductible, but will also be used to help fund the resistance? That’s a question that deserves much greater scrutiny.
Southern Poverty Law Center
Planned Parenthood Federation is just one of many clients of Grassroots Campaigns, although it is perhaps the largest. Another large client is the troubled but prosperous Southern Poverty Law Center.
According to the 990s filed with the IRS for the period between 2010 and 2017, the pattern we saw at Planned Parenthood held true for Southern Poverty Law Center. Once again, Grassroots Campaigns collected significantly more than it raised, taking in nearly $12 million over eight years, and raising just over $4 million.
Like Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center grew considerably during the years for which we found public data—in both its revenue and its reserves. The amounts are staggering.
Southern Poverty Law Center Losses to Grassroots Campaigns Inc.
Amount Fund-Raised
Amount Charged by Grassroots
Loss by SPLC
2017
$317,336.00
$1,028,324.00
$(710,988.00)
2016
$787,881.00
$2,530,660.00
$(1,742,779.00)
2015
$623,596.00
$1,811.174.00
$(1,187,578.00)
2014
$757,182.00
$2,028,857.00
$(1,271,675.00)
2013
$581,478.00
$1,712,158.00
$(1,130,680.00)
2012
$770,211.00
$1,926,976.00
$(1,156,765.00)
2011
$731,694.00
$1,601,380.00
$(869,686.00)
2010
$142.899.00
$355,113.00
$(212,214.00)
$4,394,941.00
$11,966,318.00
$(7,571,377.00)
Source: 990 tax filings
Numbers released in March 2019 indicate that the organization’s total assets now top half a billion dollars. Of those assets, some $121 million is held in offshore accounts. Assets have doubled since 2011, when SPLC reported $256 million and an increase of $41 million in the twelve-month period since the previous filing. Total revenues in 2018 were $121 million. On top of that $518 million in assets, the organization reported an endowment fund, which was valued at a healthy $281 million in 2011 and is now worth $471 million as of 2018.