BLM group raked in $90MILLION in donations last year

Feb 25, 2021 AP by Adam Shraver

BLM group raked in $90MILLION in donations last year: Leaders disclose finances for the first time - but angry local chapters say they are not being given any of the money and Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is now building infrastructure to catch up to the speed of its funding:

BLM plans to use its endowment to become known for more than protests

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors said the foundation is focused on a 'need to reinvest into black communities' 

The foundation said it committed $21.7million in grant funding to official and unofficial BLM chapters, as well as 30 black-led local organizations 

It ended 2020 with a balance of more than $60million, after spending nearly a quarter of its assets on the grant funds and other causes. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has revealed its finances for the first time, noting that the group raked in $90million in donations last year.

The nonprofit has shared its financial snapshot exclusively with The Associated Press amid accusations from local chapters that they are not being given any of the money. 

But the fight is far from over for the foundation, widely seen as a steward of the Black Lives Matter movement, with only one BLM group in Denver having signed a multi-year agreement with the national association to receive funds.

The foundation is now building infrastructure to catch up to the speed of its funding and plans to use its endowment to become known for more than protests after Black Americans die at the hands of police or vigilantes.

'We want to uplift Black joy and liberation, not just Black death. We want to see Black communities thriving, not just surviving,' reads an impact report the foundation shared with the AP before releasing it.

This marks the first time in the movement´s nearly eight-year history that BLM leaders have revealed a detailed look at their finances. 

The foundation's coffers and influence grew immensely following the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a black man whose last breaths under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer sparked protests across the U.S. and around the world.

That growth also caused longstanding tensions to boil over between some of the movement´s grassroots organizers and national leaders - the former went public last fall with grievances about financial transparency, decision-making and accountability.

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

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, pictured, said the foundation is focused on a 'need to reinvest into black communities'

A mural that reads 'ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER' is painted on Halsey Street in Newark, N.J.

Epilogue Kitchen & Cocktails owner Jonathan Jones speaks with customers near an image of George Floyd while serving free meals in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Salem, Oregon

MD Crawford carries a Black Lives Matter flag before a march in La Marque, Texas to protest the shooting of Joshua Feast, 22, by a La Marque police officer

Antonio Mingo, of Washington, right, holds his fists in the air as demonstrators protest in front of a police line on a section of 16th Street that's been renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza

In its report, the BLM foundation said individual donations via its main fundraising platform averaged $30.76. More than 10% of the donations were recurring. The report does not state who gave the money in 2020, and leaders declined to name prominent donors.

Last year, the foundation's expenses were approximately $8.4million - that includes staffing, operating and administrative costs, along with activities such as civic engagement, rapid response and crisis intervention.

One of its focuses for 2021 will be economic justice, particularly as it relates to the ongoing socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 on black communities.

The racial justice movement had a broad impact on philanthropic giving last year. According to an upcoming report by Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 35% of the $20.2 billion in U.S. funding dollars from corporations, foundations, public charities and high-net-worth individuals to address COVID-19 was explicitly designated for communities of color.

But critics say the BLM Global Network Foundation has increasingly moved away from being a black radical organizing hub and become a mainstream philanthropic and Democrat political organization run without democratic input from its earliest grassroots supporters.

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors told the AP that the foundation is focused on a '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 in an interview.

Who are the leaders of Black Lives Matter?

Opal Tometi accepts the Social Justice Advocacy Award on stage during the MoCADA 3rd Annual Masquerade Ball at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2017

In July 2013, Alicia Garza wrote an emotional Facebook post noting how she continued to be surprised 'at how little black lives matter,' CNN reported. 

Garza's post was made the night before the verdict was expected to be announced in George Zimmerman's trial for killing Trayvon Martin, a black teen. 

Garza's friend, Patrisse Cullors, was inspired to create the twitter hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on July 15, which quickly went viral. 

Garza and Cullors reached out to Opal Tometi to help establish accounts on Tumblr and Twitter using the hashtag and where users could share relevant personal stories and information.

That same year, the organization's first chapter was formed in Los Angeles  with the help of Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies, according to the BBC.

The death of Michael Brown in 2014 sparked massive protests against police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri. 

Graza, Cullors, and Tometi organized 'Freedom Rides' to Ferguson, transporting hundreds of protesters who adopted the slogan 'Black Lives Matter' throughout the months-long protests.

In 2015, a network of chapters was formed, as support and donations poured in. 

The group formally incorporated as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. in 2017 and has seen been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The the network consists of 13 official chapters in the US, plus three more in Canada, according to the BLM website. Local chapters are semi-autonomous,

Cullors, who became the foundation´s full-time executive director last year, is the author of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. 

She is currently producing a YouTube Originals series called Resist, which premiered November 18, 2020, according to Essence.