A bizarrely dangerous and misleading POLITICO report by Shia Kapos is headlined “Pro-Palestinian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden’s biggest donors.”
President Joe Biden has been dogged for months by pro-Palestinian protesters calling him “Genocide Joe” — but some of the groups behind the demonstrations receive financial backing from philanthropists pushing hard for his reelection.
The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Soros, Rockefeller and Pritzker, according to a POLITICO analysis.
Shocking! So, the right-wing conspiracy guys are actually right?!
Well . . . no.
Two of the organizers supporting the protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros and was previously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It in turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change.
[…]
Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the protest movement is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In 2022, the fund gave $300,000 to the Tides Foundation; according to nonprofit tax forms, Tides has given nearly $500,000 over the past five years to Jewish Voice for Peace, which explicitly describes itself as anti-Zionist.
Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.
So . . . two organizing groups got money from a foundation which in turn was “seeded” by billionaire megadonors who fund lots of foundations? Yup.
The trail of donations shows a series of blurred lines when it comes to liberal causes and Democratic politics. Often those missions are aligned, but they also sometimes have different and — particularly when it comes to Gaza — conflicting agendas and tactics. And a small group of wealthy heavyweights are often playing an outsize role funding many of them.
The Tides Foundation is itself massive, funding all manner of progressive causes. It’s been around since 1976 and has spun off projects ranging from “Campaign to Defend the Constitution, Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, People for the American Way, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Rockridge Institute, Social Venture Network, Urgent Action Fund, and V-Day.”
It’s quite possible to support the general thrust of its donations and yet not be on board with every single effort it sponsors. But, yes, there’s naturally going to be blowback:
But as protester tactics have grown more intense, like taking over university buildings and shouting antisemitic remarks, the groups behind them are now attracting criticism from prominent donors on the left.
“Why [is the Rockefeller Fund] giving significant grants to Jewish Voice for Peace, [which] blamed the horrific Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the United States rather than Hamas?” said Elisha Wiesel, a Democratic donor who chairs the Elie Wiesel Foundation, an organization that supports anti-genocide work.
Jewish Voice for Peace, which did not return a request for comment, has been a leader in disruptive protests against Biden, including shouting “genocide supporter” at his glitzy fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York in March. It protests on campuses across the country, and its statement immediately following the Oct. 7 attacks said that “the source of all this violence” was “Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression.”
Presumably, to the degree doing this sort of thing pisses off donors, they’ll quit donating. But, again, when an organization is as big as Tides, it’s almost certainly going to do things that any donor will object to.
It’s not until paragraph eleven that this is made explicit:
The complex funding system in the nonprofit space sometimes means that groups are funded by grants — or even subgrants — from a larger organization that isn’t involved in granular, day-to-day management of an activist group’s work. In a statement to POLITICO, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund noted it cannot support political activity or campaigns and is not involved in the personal political giving of trustees.
“Our grantees in all three portfolios support a broad range of policy ideas—some align with the Biden administration’s agenda and others conflict. This complexity is part and parcel of our nonpartisan work,” said Sarah Edkins, the fund’s communications director, in a statement.
Some advisers to left-leaning causes say that’s just part of the way things work when it comes to philanthropic giving.
“There may be times where a donor may give to an organization or candidate that sometimes does something that clashes with their personal view,” said Kevin Conlon, who has been a bundler for Biden as well as for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now advises nonprofits.
To the degree that one views a second Trump term an existential threat, spending money supporting causes that could potentially make it harder for Biden to get re-elected is unwise. But the war in Gaza is a divisive issue within the Democratic Party and, indeed, even within the Biden Administration. It’s hardly shocking that progressive activists and megadonors will be split.
Many of the nonprofits that receive grants that are now involved in the protests also have missions that are mostly unrelated to foreign policy. But as the conflict in the Middle East takes up a greater space at the center of the nation’s political debates, nonprofits with other missions have been drawn to the cause.
“A lot of our members are supporting actions that are trying to hold Biden accountable, which is not the same thing as opposing Biden. It’s saying we desperately don’t want the alternative,” said Barni Qaasim, a spokesperson for Solidaire Action, a group that funds social justice movements.
Solidaire has received financial support from the Pritzkers, who also founded the Libra Foundation, which funds smaller nonprofits that address criminal justice, environmental and gender justice issues. Susan Pritzker declined to comment for this story. Some of the groups funded by Libra have also been involved in protests against Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
For instance, The Climate Justice Alliance took part in pro-Palestinian marches that have used the phrase “Genocide Joe.” Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity, another group backed by the Libra Foundation, promotes pro-Palestinian demonstrations on its website. And a third, the Immigrant Defense Project, was part of a protest in Washington that saw 13 activists arrested by Capitol police after demanding a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
The Tides Foundation, funded by the Prizkers, has also supported the Adalah Justice Project, which has also been part of protests at Columbia University. The group wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “universities are hedge funds, deeply embedded with weapons manufacturers.” Tides also supports Palestine Legal, a legal defense fund that is offers legal assistance to “students mobilizing against genocide.”
The Tides Foundation issued a statement about funding groups that protest, saying it is “committed to advancing social justice,” adding that its “community of fiscally sponsored projects, donors, and grantees represent a wide range of perspectives on what social justice looks like.”
Palestine Legal has been a fiscally sponsored project of the Tides Center since 2013, and Adalah Justice Project since 2016, according to a spokesperson. Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow “are grantee partners.”
Some donors may use this moment to reevaluate where their money goes, something that Conlon, the Democratic bundler, acknowledged.
“They might be less inclined to give [in the future] if they feel strongly about it. Inevitably, there will be conflicts,” he said. “You’re not going to sync perfectly all the time.”
Sure. But, again, if you’re giving money to large organizations, you’re going to disagree with how they spend some of that money. That’s especially true if it’s a foundation that supports a wide swath of causes that are only loosely grouped. The Tides Foundation claims to be dedicated to “social justice” and to “believe that a just and equitable future can exist only when communities who have been historically denied power have the social, political, and economic power they need to create it.” That’s a pretty wide remit.
Further, the most politically engaged folks will almost always have passions that don’t neatly align with one party or candidate. While most progressives and progressive donors far prefer Biden to Trump, a large swath of them are nonetheless outraged by his ardent support of Israel in this conflict. Achieving “social justice” is a complicated thing.
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Author: James Joyner
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