Alex Kotch CMD exposed
yeoman's work:
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KOCH
Summary
A congressional staffer during the 2017 tax cut negotiations left Congress in January and immediately began to lobby on the tax bill’s implementation for Koch Industries
At every step of the way, the political network of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch has stood behind the Republican effort to massively reduce taxes for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Lobbying records reviewed by Sludge show that the business that has made the brothers each worth roughly $51.6 billion continues to weigh in on the implementation of the December legislation.
In mid-2017, the Koch network spent millions of dollars promoting the idea of major tax cuts. Then, after the U.S. House passed its tax cut bill, Charles and his wife, Elizabeth Koch, showered House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) with nearly $500,000 in donations to his joint fundraising committee. Once Congress passed the compromise tax bill and it became law, the Koch network announced plans to spend another $20 million on ads to promote the alleged benefits of the law to the public.
Because the tax bill is long and complicated, and it was rushed through Congress at the end of 2017, it requires additional legislation to improve its implementation, including technical fixes to various provisions. That process opens up the bill to more special interests seeking favorable tax treatment. A March appropriations bill included a few fixes to the tax law, but there is more to be done, and special interests are weighing in.
The Koch brothers didn’t want yet another opportunity to influence the tax bill to get away from them. Koch Industries hired former congressional staffers who passed through the revolving door to K Street and are lobbying Congress and the Treasury Department on the implementation of H.R. 1, the tax cut bill—including one lobbyist who left Congress right after the tax bill became law. These lobbyists have close ties to key Republican lawmakers in the tax cut implementation process.
Salim Alameddin was a legislative assistant to Republican Texas congressman Will Hurd through December 2017, when the tax cuts became law. The next month, Alameddin left Congress to join lobbying firm Crossroads Strategies, where he’s a vice president. In the first quarter of this year, Alameddin lobbied on behalf of Koch Companies Public Sector LLC, Koch Industries’ public affairs firm, on the tax bill implementation and on S.2155, the banking deregulation legislation that became law in May, among other issues.
Before working for Hurd, Alameddin was a staff member for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) from July 2015 to January 2017. According to International Business Times, Cornyn—a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which marked up its version of the tax bill, and the House-Senate Conference Committee, which negotiated the final law—inserted a special tax deduction for oil and gas investments into the Senate’s tax legislation, a break that would financially benefit 16 of his congressional colleagues. Koch Industries owns these types of oil and gas investments, called master limited partnerships, including Koch Pipeline Company LP, Flint Hills Resources LP, and PetroLogistics LP, a subsidiary Flint Hills Resources.
Other former government employees are now lobbying for Koch Industries and other corporate interests.
From 2005 to 2008, Christopher Javens was tax counsel to the Senate Finance Committee under former chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is no longer chairman but remains on the committee. Javens left Congress for Capitol Tax Partners in 2008 and as recently as the first quarter of this year was lobbying Congress, and possibly his old boss, on behalf of Koch Companies Public Sector LLC on the tax bill.
After a stint in the U.S. House, Jason Goggins joined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as chief of staff to Commissioner Christopher Giancarlo. The CFTC regulates the trading of commodities including oil and gas. In October 2016, Goggins joined the Daly Consulting Group, where he lobbied on legislation about commodity trading regulation on behalf of Koch Industries and other clients. In April 2018, Goggins moved on to work for Fidelity Investments.
Matthew Lavoie, Koch Industries’ current director of trade policy, once worked for two Republican leaders in Washington. From March 2006 to April 2007 he was a press assistant for then-Congressman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who is now the vice president. For three months in 2008, Lavoie worked as Rep. Ryan’s press secretary. Ten years later, Lavoie is potentially rubbing shoulders with his former employer as he advocates Koch Industries’ trade and foreign investment interests. Lavoie joined Koch Industries in February and began lobbying that quarter.
And the revolving door swings both ways: Former lobbyist Hazen Marshall, who represented Koch Industries on tax policy in 2014, is now policy director for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). In the first quarter of 2015, Marshall lobbied on tax issues for Koch Companies Public Sector.
Alex Kotch
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shadowy right-wing nonprofit is helping coordinate coronavirus response strategy and promoting the lockdown protests.
Working alongside close allies that have helped coordinate the protests, including Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks, Council for National Policy Action (CNP Action) has been hosting conference calls and publishing action memos around reopening states' economies.
CNP Action is the 501(c)(4) nonprofit affiliate of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a coalition of far-right political advocacy and think tank figures that has worked largely behind the scenes since its founding in 1981. CNP’s membership includes conservative Republicans and right-wing extremists who work together to shape policy. Trump allies, including senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and former chief adviser Steve Bannon, were CNP members as of 2014. Vice President Mike Pence and Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow have also been members, according to a recently published book by Anne Nelson.
Since last month, CNP Action has hosted weekly conference calls to coordinate coronavirus response tactics. The first call featured Moore, who founded the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation’s Ed Meese, and Al Regnery, chairman of CNP’s Conservative Action Project and the cousin of prominent white nationalist William Regnery.
Moore has called the lockdown protesters "the modern-day Rosa Parks" for "protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties."
The email announcing the second call, which featured ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson and State Policy Network CEO Tracie Sharp, links to information about an April 21 car protest at the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery, organized by the anti-LGBTQ group Eagle Forum. The forum's founder, the late Phyllis Schlafly, was a CNP member, and several current staffers are part of the CNP-connected "Save Our Country Task Force."
The announcement directed readers to the private Facebook page of the group ReOpen PA, which was one of three groups that organized an April 20 lockdown protest at the Pennsylvania state capitol. The other two groups' Facebook pages have been deactivated.
In an announcement of the third call, CNP Action directs allies to send links to op-eds, articles, and social media posts to a TeaPartyPatriots.org email address, indicating that the group is involved in CNP's organizing efforts. "The Save Our Country Task Force will send it out for others in the coalition to share and cross-promote for a multiplying effect," the announcement says.
"We need to share the stories of people who have been affected by the lockdowns, to show that we must be concerned with both sides of this crisis," states the Tea Party Patriots Action website.
The Save Our Country Task Force is an overlapping group, tied closely to ALEC, that's chaired by Trump economic adviser Art Laffer and includes Moore and CNP's president Bill Walton, a trustee of the Heritage Foundation, in its leadership. Laffer sits on ALEC's Board of Scholars and co-authors ALEC’s annual “Rich States, Poor States” publication with Moore. Last year, Trump gave Laffer, a former Ronald Reagan adviser and a supply-side economics evangelist, a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On the May 4 call, Robert Alt of the Charles Koch-funded Buckeye Institute spoke, and his remarks were posted online.
An announcement for the fourth weekly CNP Action call links to the ReOpen PA Facebook page as well as to a "Zoom Grassroots Briefing on #ReOpenAmerica with Steve Moore and [conservative pollster] Scott Rasmussen." Moore and FreedomWorks have been helping coordinate on-the-ground lockdown protests.
The announcement links to the Open the States website, a project of Convention of States Action, which has also helped coordinate protests. "Check out the Open the States online community to connect with other Americans concerned about how the COVID-19 response is affecting our communities and liberties," it states.
The call took place on May 11 and featured Mercedes Schlapp, a lobbyist and senior advisor to Donald Trump's campaign, and her husband, Matt Schlapp, a lobbyist and the head of the American Conservative Union. No one mentioned the protests, but the speakers disputed the severity of the coronavirus. In one exchange, Walton and the Schlapps tried to downplay the risks of the deadly virus.
WALTON, introducing a caller's question: We're now discovering, as the science rolls out, that there are tens of millions more people infected with this virus than previously imagined.... It's decidedly reduced the lethality of it.
MERCEDES SCHLAPP: ...I think that the reality is, is that when they looked at the modeling...it depends what assumptions you put into the modeling to see, and so I think the thing is, let's go from millions of deaths to having more like, if you can get it down to not millions of deaths we're in better position.
MATT SCHLAPP: ...Even if you’re in some of these really, really serious demographic categories, the survival rate is so high, so we should feel optimistic about it instead of pessimistic.
The call largely revolved around what the Trump campaign is doing to win the election in the face of the current crisis.
CNP did not respond to a request for comment.
Extremists at the Center for National Policy
The Southern Poverty Law Center published a leaked full roster of CNP from 2014, which identified 413 members. "The list is surprising, not so much for the conservatives who dominate it," wrote Heidi Beirich and Mark Potok, "but for the many real extremists who are included."
At the time, populating CNP's executive committee, board of directors, board of governors, and general membership were a number of extremists from hate groups such as the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council and Liberty Counsel; the neo-Confederate League of the South; and the anti-Muslim Center for Security Policy.
On the board of governors was Michael Peroutka, who was on the board of League of the South and appeared on a white nationalist radio show. Also involved with CNP were Liberty Council’s Mat Staver, who has tried to re-criminalize gay sex; Alan Sears of the anti-LGTBQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom; Tim Wildmon, president of the anti-LGBTQ hate group the American Family Association; and conspiracy theorists Jerome Corsi, who was investigated in the Trump-Russia probe, and Joseph Farah.
The recent CNP Action announcements link to a Liberty Counsel initiative led by Mat Staver called ReOpen Church.
CNP's founders include multiple members of the conspiracist John Birch Society and Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and ALEC.
As of 2018, the most recent tax year on record for CNP, the board of directors included Tony Perkins, who was president at the time, and Kenneth Blackwell of the Family Research Council. The current board of governors and general membership rosters are unknown.
Perkins will be a speaker during next week's CNP Action call on May 18.
Billionaire Funding
In 2018, CNP Action had a small budget, having spent $127,000 and received only $95,000 in contributions. Bill Walton was chairman, and Blackwell, Adam Brandon-the president of FreedomWorks-and Perkins were directors.
CNP is a much larger operation, having spent $2.9 million and taken in a total of over $3.2 million in 2018.
Richard DeVos, the father-in-law of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, is a former president of CNP, and his family foundation has funded the group. DeVos's parents' family charity, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, are regular donors, having given money in the 2018 fiscal year, the most recent on record.
The family foundation of Robert Mercer gave $75,000 to CNP from 2013-14. Another right-wing political megadonor, Foster Friess, has been part of CNP and likely funded the organization.
Tim Phillips, a Tea Party organizer and president of Koch's Americans for Prosperity, was listed as a member of CNP's Board of Governors in 2014. The Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is now defunct but was run by the Koch family, donated $75,000 to CNP from 2011-12.
Institutional donors include the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation, and Judicial Watch, as well as from the donor-advised fund sponsors the National Christian Foundation and National Philanthropic Trust.
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/24/2087833/-Koch-et-al-Spend-Over-50-Million-on-Climate-Disinfo-Organizations-Between-2014-2020
On Monday, Alex Kotch at the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) _{published the latest count of climate disinfo funding}_, tallying up over $50 million in “donations” to climate denial groups, straight from industry profits, billionaire ideologues fortunes, and everything in between.
Between 2014 and 2022, there was $54,298,510 that went to just eight organizations that, per Kotch, “represents key groups primarily focused on energy and the environment that consistently mislead the public about the climate crisis.”
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ref
https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/03/21/the-dirty-dozen-the-biggest-nonprofit-funders-of-climate-denial/
in its recently released report on climate impacts and adaptation, a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change points out the very real danger of climate misinformation—for the first time since its annual assessments began in 2017.
The report, which states that “urgent action” is needed “to avoid mounting loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure,” finds that “vested economic and political interests have organized and financed misinformation and ‘contrarian’ climate change communication.” The resulting “rhetoric and misinformation on climate change and the deliberate undermining of science have contributed to misperceptions of the scientific consensus, uncertainty, disregarded risk and urgency, and dissent,” it contends.
Geoffrey Supran, a Harvard University fellow in the history of science, says it’s great that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has finally called this out. But he believes the report should also detail exactly who has been bankrolling misinformation about the climate crisis.
“Indeed, there’s enough to write another report on,” Supran said. “The veiled reference to ‘vested economic and political interests,’ for instance, is an example of where reports such as this can and, in my opinion, should go further, and name names. It is a quantified, reported fact that those vested interests include specific fossil fuel interests and libertarian billionaires such as ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, and Koch Industries, and that they have orchestrated multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar propaganda campaigns to sabotage science and undermine action.”
Naming Names
Fossil fuel corporations are among the special interests that have funded climate change denial for decades. But it’s not just the oil giants that are spreading this harmful misinformation. A host of nonprofit charities—ranging from mainstream money managers to private, right-wing foundations—are some of the biggest funders of climate change denial, research by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has found.
CMD research has found that eight of the most egregious climate misinformation groups received more than $54 million from nonprofit funders between 2014 and 2020.
While the list is by no means exhaustive, it represents key groups primarily focused on energy and the environment that consistently mislead the public about the climate crisis.
[table NO LNX]
TABLE ONE
Top Climate Misinformation Groups, 2014-20
These leading climate misinformation organizations received large donations from nonprofits from 2014-20.
Table with 9 columns and 9 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 9.
Recipient 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 TOTAL
Heartland Institute $3,799,025 $2,537,850 $3,676,617 $3,693,650 $3,925,637 $2,860,232 $903,950 21,396,961
Competitive Enterprise Institute $3,840,074 $2,987,869 $3,474,275 $2,580,736 $2,656,600 $1,223,901 $1,927,938 18,691,393
Property and Environmental Research Center $451,500 $776,500 $827,000 $897,000 $1,043,000 $962,000 $1,019,550 5,976,550
Institute for Energy Research/American Energy Alliance $50,628 $727,495 $506,902 $479,967 $336,000 $96,165 $292,146 2,489,303
CO2 Coalition $0 $125,000 $441,126 $663,883 $358,000 $398,078 $394,115 2,380,202
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow $181,252 $327,002 $227,150 $236,310 $172,850 $326,355 $366,982 1,837,901
Energy and Environment Legal Institute $125,000 $296,000 $350,000 771,000
Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change $10,000 $125,000 $10,000 $210,200 $400,000 755,200
TOTAL $8,332,479 $7,481,716 $9,403,070 $8,561,546 $8,998,287 $5,866,731 $5,654,6xx... $54,298,510
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nOnprofit donations to these eight climate misinformation organizations swelled from 2016–18 and decreased in 2019 and 2020. Note that 2020 data may be incomplete, as tax returns are not yet publicly available for some nonprofit donors.
Many other right-wing groups regularly spread misinformation on climate issues, but since their work focuses on other areas as well, their donors are not included in this report. Larger-scale studies such as “Obstructing action: foundation funding and US climate change counter-movement organizations”offer additional details.
The Dirty Dozen Funders of Climate Misinformation
A dozen of the largest nonprofits donated $47.8 million to the leading climate denial organizations, accounting for 88% of the funds CMD was able to track down using FY 2014-20 federal tax returns.
Half of the traceable funding came from DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund, two donor-advised fund sponsors that pass along their clients’ donations to other charities approved by their boards of directors. While the two funds give exclusively to conservative causes, no restrictions are apparent within that ideology. For instance, CMD was first to report that DonorsTrust is by far the biggest known funder of American white nationalist hate groups.
Among the “Dirty Dozen” climate denial financiers are foundations established by the right-wing Bradley, Koch, Mercer, Searle, and Scaife families. The Kochs, Mercers, and other Republican megadonors pour additional money into political groups and electoral campaigns focused on electing right-wing candidates who oppose meaningful action on climate change and often support expanding and deregulating the fossil fuel industry.
The funders named in this report have also financed a broader right-wing political strategy to misinform the public about a number of issues and increase GOP voter turnout.
“Bad actors are using a tried and tested playbook to weaken public mandates and create confusion [about] viable solutions going forward,” notes Jennie King, head of civic action and education at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an independent nonprofit dedicated to protecting human rights and reversing polarization, extremism, and disinformation around the world. “This includes weaponizing climate response within a broader ‘culture wars’ frame and conflating it with any supposed controversy, from Covid-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates to critical race theory, trans rights, or geopolitics.”
Leading non-ideological donor-advised fund sponsors connected to the Vanguard and Fidelity financial firms are also among the Dirty Dozen climate misinformation funders.
“We cannot solve the climate crisis until we solve the climate misinformation crisis,” U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told CMD. “It is disappointing that mainstream organizations are still keeping ties with groups that have attacked climate science and legislative solutions. We need to be calling this behavior out publicly, so Americans know which organizations are linked to climate denial efforts.”
All nonprofits identified by CMD that gave $10,000 or more to the top climate misinformation groups from 2014–20 are listed in the table below.
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tABLE 2
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Top Nonprofit Climate Denial Funders, 2014-20
Numerous charities, private foundations, and trade associations have bankrolled the climate misinformation movement.
Page 1 of 4
Table with 9 columns and 53 rows. Currently displaying rows 1 to 15.
Donor 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 TOTAL
1 DonorsTrust/Donors Capital Fund $3,293,850 $3,816,850 $3,676,750 $2,422,000 $3,830,200 $2,101,732 $1,416,500 20,557,882
2 Searle Freedom Trust $839,500 $589,500 $1,140,000 $940,000 $1,096,000 $754,000 $985,000 6,344,000
3 Sarah Scaife Foundation $350,000 $610,000 $842,000 $875,000 $960,000 $715,000 $1,245,000 5,597,000
4 Mercer Family Foundation $885,000 $100,000 $1,075,000 $970,000 3,030,000
5 Dunn Foundation $1,200,000 $250,000 $325,000 $200,000 $350,000 $350,000 $350,000 3,025,000
6 Bradley Foundations $344,376 $318,876 $458,500 $519,000 $280,000 $475,000 $110,000 2,505,752
7 American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers $365,000 $275,000 $470,000 $400,000 1,510,000
8 Koch Foundations $100,128 $431,891 $333,028 $413,016 $84,000 $99,049 $18,749 1,479,861
9 Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program $38,500 $228,500 $265,000 $230,000 $235,000 997,000
10 Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund $35,525 $21,350 $27,867 $241,355 $212,310 $231,055 $201,952 971,414
11 National Philanthropic Trust $150,000 $175,000 $175,500 $176,000 $200,000 876,500
12 Bartley J. Madden Foundation $45,000 $270,000 $270,000 $250,000 $30,000 865,000
13 Thomas W. Smith Foundation $150,000 $175,000 $200,000 $200,000 725,000
14 The 85 Fund $700,000 700,000
15 Ed Uihlein Family Foundation $10,500 $129,000 $35,000 $115,000 $115,000 $140,000...
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P2
Donor 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 TOTAL
16 Schwab Charitable Fund $206,600 $14,475 $121,775 $32,925 $45,100 $44,895 $95,480 561,250
17 Chase Foundation of Virginia $84,000 $113,000 $108,000 $85,000 $75,000 $75,000 540,000
18 Murray Energy $10,000 $285,000 $100,000 395,000
19 Adolph Coors Foundation $80,000 $100,000 $90,000 $100,000 370,000
20 Claws Foundation $65,000 $115,000 $175,000 355,000
21 Lilly Endowment $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 350,000
22 Diana Davis Spencer Foundation $50,000 $100,000 $150,000 300,000
23 National Christian Foundation $200,000 $1,100 201,100
24 The Carthage Foundation $160,000 160,000
25 Barney Family Foundation $40,000 $40,000 $40,000 $40,000 160,000
26 DuPage Community Foundation $25,000 $50,000 $55,000 $25,000 155,000
27 Deramus Foundation $25,000 $25,000 $25,000 $25,000 100,000
28 Pew Charitable Trusts $95,177 95,177
29 John William Pope Foundation $10,000 $10,000 $15,000 $25,000 $25,000 85,000
30 William H. Donner Foundation $82,000 82,000 ....
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A number of the top funders of climate misinformation are closely connected. Staff and board members often overlap, and many currently work or previously worked for organizations linked to Charles Koch.
In addition to the fossil fuel companies themselves, this network of nonprofits has been effective at blocking meaningful policies and regulations to address the climate crisis. In 2022, after a number of dire warnings from the IPCC and other climate monitors, even a unified Democratic White House and congressional majority have yet to pass substantial environmental protection legislation.
In descending order, the leading nonprofit funders of climate science misinformation from 2014–20 are:
1. Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund — $20.6 million
Known as the “dark money ATM of the conservative movement,” DonorsTrust and its sister fund, Donors Capital Fund, have been the nonprofit funding vehicles of choice for the wealthy right wing for many years. They are both donor-advised fund sponsors, meaning that they manage the charitable donations of their clients. These clients “advise” the funds on which nonprofit charities should receive their money, but the funds decide on the recipients.
Between 2014 and 2020, the two funds gave the most money—$13.3 million—to the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank and charity that “has been at the forefront of denying the scientific evidence for man-made climate change,” according to DeSmog.
The institute has historically received significant funding from fossil fuel giants such as ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and Murray Energy, and in the 1990s it worked with the tobacco company Philip Morris to question the science linking second-hand smoke to health problems.
The funds bankrolled the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based free market advocacy group that also has a history of funding from tobacco and oil companies, with nearly $6 million. The institute’s former executive director, Gregory Conko, is senior director of programs at DonorsTrust.
In addition, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund funded these climate misinformation groups from 2014–20:
- Energy and Environment Legal Institute ($421,000)
- Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change ($400,000)
- Institute for Energy Research ($371,000)
- Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ($122,000)
- Property and Environmental Research Center ($30,000)
Kimberly Dennis, cofounder and board chair of DonorsTrust, is on the board of the Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC), which was formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center. She’s also president of the right-wing Searle Freedom Trust.
Thomas Beach, a member of the DonorsTrust board of directors, also serves on the PERC board.
2. Searle Freedom Trust — $6.3 million
The Searle Freedom Trust, a private foundation launched with money from the pharmaceutical company that invented the sugar substitute aspartame, donated a total of $6.3 million to several of the organizations mentioned above, as well as to the CO2 Coalition ($400,000), a pro-carbon organization founded by prominent climate change denier William Happer, who is currently its chairman.
A former adjunct scholar at the Koch-funded Cato Institute, Happer served as deputy assistant for emerging technologies on Trump’s National Security Council, a position he used to attack mainstream climate science. A 2015 Greenpeace investigation revealed that he agreed to accept thousands of dollars from a fake Middle Eastern oil company to write a paper on the benefits of carbon dioxide. CO2 Coalition board member and former Exxon lobbyist Bill O’Keefe suggested in an email that funders of the paper route their money through DonorsTrust to hide their identities, and a DonorsTrust representative, who previously worked with Koch Industries, confirmed to Greenpeace investigators that the fund accepted foreign money if it came from a U.S. bank account, which allowed donors to remain hidden.
Happer also revealed that the CO2 Coalition had accepted thousands of dollars from coal giant Peabody Energy in exchange for his testimony that the earth is experiencing a “carbon dioxide famine” and would benefit from even more greenhouse gas emissions—a claim as absurd as it is false.
The Searle Freedom Trust is closely connected to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where Searle program officer Richard Tren is on the board of directors. Searle donated the most—more than $3.4 million—to the Competitive Enterprise Institute during the seven-year period in question. In addition, the foundation gave $2.2 million to PERC, $224,000 to the Heartland Institute, and $80,000 to the Institute for Energy Research, which Charles Koch cofounded.
3. Sarah Scaife Foundation — $5.6 million
The Sarah Scaife Foundation is one of three foundations that were previously overseen by Richard Mellon Scaife, an heir to the Mellon industrial, oil, aluminum, and banking fortune. In addition to funding right-wing political and climate misinformation groups, the Scaife Foundation is a major donor to anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant organizations.
Since 2014, Scaife has given big donations to the Competitive Enterprise Institute ($2.4 million), PERC ($1.2 million), the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ($960,000), and the CO2 Coalition ($777,000), among other climate misinformation groups.
The 2020 board of directors included Roger Kimball, president of Encounter for Culture and Education, a nonprofit shell organization for Encounter Books, a publisher founded and funded by the Bradley Foundation.
4. Mercer Family Foundation — $3 million
The family foundation of hedge fund billionaire and Trump megadonor Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah is one of the Heartland Institute's biggest funders, having donated nearly $2.6 million to the group from 2014–17. It also contributed $320,000 to the CO2 Coalition in 2016 and 2017, and $125,000 to the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change in 2016.
While this might suggest the Mercer Family Foundation stopped funding climate misinformation after 2017, it’s likely still doing so. By then the foundation had already given millions to DonorsTrust, which allows donors to shield their names from the public. But in 2018, the foundation ramped up the size of its donor-advised fund, giving more than $8 million to DonorsTrust and another $1.4 million the following year. Then, in 2020, the Mercer Family Foundation gave DonorsTrust $20 million, moving its charitable operation into its donor-advised fund.
A veteran donor to far-right causes, Mercer is a longtime patron of nationalist Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, CEO of the 2016 Trump campaign, and a former White House special adviser. Bannon is currently focused on coordinating an international far-right movement and rabble rousing through his video podcast, which is a prime vector for ongoing lies about alleged election fraud and other disinformation.
5. Dunn Foundation — $3 million
The behind-the-scenes Dunn Foundation (formerly Dunn's Foundation for Right Thinking) has become one of the biggest climate misinformation funders in the U.S. The private foundation of Florida-based multimillionaire William A. Dunn, president of Dunn Capital Management, gave $1.3 million to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, $1.2 million to PERC, and $600,000 to Heartland from 2014–20. Dunn is an emeritus member of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's board of directors and a former PERC board member.
6. Bradley Foundations — $2.5 million
The Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation was founded by a charter member of the far-right John Birch Society in 1942. Now a $1-billion private foundation, it’s one of the biggest funders of right-wing state policy think tanks. The connected Bradley Impact Fund, a donor-advised fund sponsor, finances many of these same operations.
Since 2014, the Bradley foundations have given nearly $2 million to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, as well as large amounts to Heartland ($361,000) and the CO2 Coalition ($125,000), among other climate misinformation organizations.
The foundations are major funders of the Big Lie of widespread voter fraud, anti-labor activism, and school privatization. The Bradley Foundation board includes Cleta Mitchell, a leading voter suppression lawyer who attempted to help Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, as well as Koch ally Art Pope, a North Carolina-based GOP megadonor.
7. American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers — $1.5 million
A trade group representing oil, gas, and petrochemical companies, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers has done its part to advance misinformation about climate change on behalf of its members, which include oil giants Chevron, ExxonMobil, Marathon, and Valero. Its board chairman is Jeff Ramsey, CEO of Flint Hills Resources, an oil refining subsidiary of Koch Industries.
From 2015–18, the trade association donated to the American Energy Alliance ($1.2 million), the 501(c)(4) affiliate of the Institute for Energy Research; Heartland ($150,000); and the Competitive Enterprise Institute ($120,000). The group did not make any contributions in 2018, and tax records for 2019 and 2020 are not yet publicly available.
8. Koch Foundations — $1.5 million
Billionaire oil executive Charles Koch doled out at least $1.5 million to five climate misinformation organizations through two of his foundations. He and his firm Koch Industries have been among the most significant funders of climate change denial and misinformation for decades.
Since 2014, the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute bankrolled the Institute for Energy Research ($489,000), PERC ($390,000), the Competitive Enterprise Institute ($361,000), and two other climate misinformation operations.
A 2010 Greenpeace report showed that the Koch operation gave more to climate change-denying groups than big, public oil companies such as ExxonMobil.
9. Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program — $1 million
Like DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program is a donor-advised fund sponsor—albeit a non-ideological one. It passes along clients’ donations to an array of causes deemed charitable by the Internal Revenue Service, including climate change misinformation and white nationalist hate groups. The charitable endowment program is not legally connected to the Vanguard investment company, but Vanguard money managers invest its charitable program’s funds and receive management fees, which the charitable arm raises from its clients. In other words, Vanguard profits from Vanguard Charitable and is able to increase its total money under management because of the relationship.
From 2014–18, Vanguard Charitable donated almost $1 million to the Heartland Institute. Between 2017 and 2020, it also gave nearly $70,000 to the VDARE Foundation, a white nationalist hate group, with the largest amount given in 2020.
As in past reporting, Vanguard responded to CMD’s request for comment with a standard statement glossing over concerns about the ethics of funding groups that help fossil fuel companies destroy the environment or demonize non-white people.
”Donors can recommend grants at any time to qualified 501(c)(3) public charities that are in good standing with the IRS,” the statement reads. “Vanguard Charitable abides by IRS guidelines that require all charitable dollars be used to advance the public good. If Vanguard Charitable becomes aware that an organization has been charged by state attorney general or federal regulatory authorities, putting the organization’s ability to carry out its charitable purpose in question, Vanguard Charitable will cease grantmaking until the issue has been resolved or charges have been dropped.”
Despite its board having full discretion over where its money goes, Vanguard appears to fund any nonprofit that isn’t being openly scrutinized by government authorities.
10. Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund — $971,000
Like its rival, Vanguard Charitable, the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund is another donor-advised fund sponsor closely affiliated with, but not legally connected to, a major financial investment firm. The largest U.S. charity based on annual income, Fidelity Charitable has funded a number of climate misinformation groups in recent years, including the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ($354,000 since 2017), the Heartland Institute ($213,000 since 2014), and the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change ($155,000 in 2018).
Like Vanguard, Fidelity Charitable has financed white nationalist hate groups. Fidelity did not respond to CMD’s request for comment.
11. National Philanthropic Trust — $877,000
The National Philanthropic Trust is a donor-advised fund sponsor that was worth $10.5 billion at the end of June 2020. Since 2014 it has donated $877,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
A National Philanthropic Trust spokesperson did not directly address a question about whether climate misinformation should qualify as a charitable activity, and whether that activity was worthy of the trust’s money. “As context, in 2021 National Philanthropic Trust donors recommended grants exceeding $200 million to charities focused on environmental causes, representing an increase of more than 100% compared to 2020,” the spokesperson said.
The National Philanthropic Trust gave the white nationalist VDARE Foundation $50,000 in the 2020 fiscal year, the most recent on record. When CMD asked if the trust is planning to take an honest look at its policies and confront the fact that it funds hate and environmental destruction, the spokesperson said, “NPT takes all constructive feedback under advisement and regularly reviews grantmaking policies.”
Among the top recipients of the National Philanthropic Trust’s donations in FY2020 was the Stand Together Foundation, a 501(c)(3) “venture philanthropy” foundation founded by Charles Koch, which received $37.9 million.
12. Bartley J. Madden Foundation — $865,000
The foundation of retired finance industry veteran Bartley J. Madden has mostly donated to the Heartland Institute ($775,000 from 2016–19), where Madden is a policy adviser. The foundation gave $90,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute between 2016 and 2020.
13. Thomas W. Smith Foundation — $725,000
Baker’s dozen: Hedge fund founder Thomas W. Smith is (along with Charles Koch) a major funder of free-market university programs and right-wing think tanks. He also stands out as a prodigious donor to organizations that oppose critical race theory.
Smith's foundation gave $400,000 to PERC and $325,000 to the CO2 Coalition from 2014–19. The foundation's 2020 tax records are not yet publicly available.
More Climate Misinformers
A number of other right-wing groups spread lies about the climate crisis, although they work on other issues as well.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing policy nonprofit that brings together state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists to write model legislation, has denied climate change for years, backing legislation that opposes environmental action and supports fossil fuel companies. Most recently, an ALEC committee approved model legislation penalizing government contractors who divest from fossil fuels. Already passed in Texas, the law is in play in four other states. DonorsTrust/Donors Capital Fund and the Searle, Bradley, Scaife, and Koch foundations all gave millions to ALEC from 2014–20.
Additional organizations that are funded by many of these same donors and misinform the public about the climate crisis include the American Enterprise Institute, Koch's Americans for Prosperity and affiliates, the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Media Exacerbate the Problem
Fossil fuel corporations and groups willfully disseminating misinformation about climate change get help from social media companies and the news media, including mainstream publications.
As chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, Rep. Khanna has “pledged to bring in the heads of these [social media] companies to outline the steps they are taking to crack down on misinformation.” Questioning social media CEOs “is one of the next steps in a long-term effort to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for their decades of climate misinformation,” continued Khanna, who added that his subcommittee will also examine others involved in the spread of this misinformation, including public relations firms.
Right-wing media regularly misinform their audiences, but in its report the IPCC working group also called out “traditional media” for “the journalistic norm of ‘balance’ (giving equal weight to climate scientists and contrarians in climate change reporting)," which distorts coverage by “unevenly amplifying certain messages that are not supported by science, contributing to politicization of science, spreading misinformation, and reducing public consensus on action."
alex k