Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGN or the BLMGNF) is an American organization dedicated to organizing and continuing activist activities in the Black Lives Matter movement. The organization currently has no leader and most of its chapters act autonomously, although efforts which were started in late 2020 by its then Executive Director Patrisse Cullors began to centralize its operations. The organization is often mistaken for other organizations within the Black Lives Matter movement because it often solely employs the phrase "Black Lives Matter" as its name and it also owns the domain name "blacklivesmatter.com" as its official website. While BLMGN often simply calls itself "Black Lives Matter", it is not the sole organization within the broader Black Lives Matter social movement. It is, however, the largest and most well-funded, and it also claims to speak on behalf of the movement.

The organization was founded in 2013 by three female activists and it currently serves as a network of activists within the Black Lives Matter movement. The organization is international and it advocates the eradication of systematic racism and the prevention of police violence. Among its core beliefs is that the entire US legal system, mainstream media, and society is inherently white supremacist; and that "policing at-large is an irredeemable institution" and should be defunded.

The organization has been criticized for its statements about Marxism as well as for its handling of its finances.

Organization

The organization exists as a decentralized network of local-based chapters. According to its website , there were over 40 chapters. Each local chapter is expected to embrace the set principles of the BLMGN, but it is allowed to internally organize itself in any way it pleases. Each chapter can form its own agenda, so some chapters are more radical than others. Local chapters are mostly funded via direct donations,but they can also apply for more funding from the BLMGN.

Initially created by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, Garza and Tometi have since left the organization, but they still speak at events and they still keep in contact with Cullors.

On October 9, 2020, the establishment of two new BLM organizations was announced to the public: the Black Lives Matter Political Action Committee (BLM PAC), and BLM Grassroots. Under this new organizational structure, the BLMGN is supposed to serve as the "fundraising body, the grantmaking entity, the amplifier, and the action-oriented think tank of the movement," while BLM Grassroots will continue to perform the actions of its chapters and the BLM PAC will push for political change. In November 2020, Patrisse Cullors, the sole BLMGN board member, was appointed executive director of the BLMGN.

The BLMGN is funded by donations and grants which it receives from the Black Lives Matter Support Fund, which is hosted on the donation platform Tides as of July 2, 2020. According to Tides, the BLMGN made the move after its previous fiscal sponsor, Thousand Currents, decided to discontinue its fiscal sponsorships in order to focus on its core grantmaking work.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is a member of the coalition organization Movement for Black Lives.

On April 27, 2022, the Black Lives Matter Global Foundation announced that its expanded Board of Directors will include Cicley Gay, D'zhane Parker and Shalomyah Bowers.

Black Lives Matter Political Action Committee

In 2015, an unaffiliated PAC which is entitled the "Black Lives Matter PAC LLC" was established by St. Louis based activists. Alicia Garza stated that the PAC was in no way endorsed by the BLMGN and she also stated that BLM was not interested in endorsing political candidates. When the Democratic National Committee adopted a resolution in solidarity with the movement in late August 2015 in which it specifically mentioned the BLMGN's founders, a statement on the BLMGN Facebook page stated that " do not now, nor have we ever, endorsed or affiliated with the Democratic Party, or with any party. The Democratic Party, like the Republican and all political parties, have historically attempted to control or contain black people’s efforts to liberate ourselves. True change requires real struggle, and that struggle will be in the streets and led by the people, not by a political party."

After the departure of Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, the remaining BLMGN founder Patrisse Cullors announced the establishment of the first BLMGN-sponsored political action committee, the Black Lives Matter Political Action Committee, in the October 9, 2020, ''2020 Impact Report'' document. The move was noted as being unusual for a grassroots movement with no central leadership. The BLM PAC announced plans to endorse a slate of candidates ahead of the general election, Since its founding as a Super-PAC, BLM PAC has notably supported Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff during the 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia and 2020–21 United States Senate election in Georgia, respectively.

Black Lives Matter Grassroots

The establishment of Black Lives Matter Grassroots and the establishment of the BLM PAC were simultaneously announced on October 9, 2020, in the "2020 Impact Report" document. It seeks to retain the original BLM movement's origins and unify its many chapters under the new BLM Grassroots name. It pushes for more unified, targeted stances on various issues which impact the black community, along with social and economic justice in general.

History

Formation

After the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012, activist Alicia Garza woke up crying in the middle of the night and decided to write about her emotions in a Facebook post. In the post, Garza stated that she was surprised "at how little Black lives matter". The post would inspire Garza's friend Patrisse Cullors to create the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on July 15, 2013. Garza and Cullors would reach out to their associate Opal Tometi to help establish Tumblr and Twitter accounts using the hashtag and where users could share relevant personal stories. Garza put the "Black Lives Matter" slogan on signs and displayed them in a local shoe shop. Cullors led a march down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills with the slogan on her sign. Eventually, the slogan and hashtag would gain popularity.

The first chapter of the BLMGN organization would be organized in Los Angeles in 2013 with the help of Melina Abdullah. The first chapter would consist of 30 people, notably artists, students, organizers, and mothers.

The phrase was used in an episode of Blue Bloods Season 6 E21, called "The Extra Mile".

Early activities

During 2014 protests in Ferguson Garza, Cullors, and Tometi organized "Freedom Rides" to Ferguson. 500 people would sign up and travel to Ferguson in these "Freedom Rides". Protesters throughout Ferguson would adopt the slogan "Black Lives Matter" throughout the months-long protests. The organization's involvement in protests in Ferguson and the slogan's popularity brought the organization and the Black Lives Matter movement to national attention. New found popularity sparked a rise of other Black Lives Matter organizations that were independent of the BLMGN, as well as new chapters of the BLMGN forming in other cities.

By August 31, 2015, BLMGN claimed 26 chapters nationwide.

On September 6, 2016, the International Development Exchange (IDEX, now known as Thousand Currents) announced a new partnership in which IDEX provided "fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to BLM." As a 501(c)(3) organization, IDEX could receive tax-deductible grants, donations and gifts on behalf of BLM. The announcement highlighted providing "learning exchange and alliance building opportunities" between the 'BLM Network' and IDEX's partners in Africa. At this time, IDEX stated BLMGN had 37 chapters within the US and 5 outside.

George Floyd protests and subsequent growth

After the murder of George Floyd and later protests many people tried to donate money to the BLMGN but often accidentally donated money to a similarly named organization called the "Black Lives Matter Foundation". The BLMGN would itself receive around 1.1 million donations averaging about $33 each after the murder of George Floyd. The BLMGN would soon create a 12 million dollar fund to aid its local chapters activities and other independent grassroots organizations.

BLMGN claimed $90 million in donations for 2020, with an end-year balance of $60 million. BLMGN wanted to scale their activity in proportion to their incoming finances, leading to $21.7 million in grants to Black Lives Matter chapters and other POC-led activist groups.

On May 27, 2021, Patrisse Cullors announced she was stepping down from her role as executive director of BLMGN to focus on the upcoming release of her second book and multi-year TV development deal with Warner Bros. Two new interim senior executives were brought aboard to steer the organization for the immediate future: Monifa Bandele, a longtime BLM organizer and founder of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement in New York City, and Makani Themba, an early backer of the BLM movement and chief strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies in Jackson, Mississippi. The move came amidst controversy over Patrisse Cullors' recent purchases of real estate, the foundation's finances, and her personal wealth. Cullors' claimed that the controversy was an attempt to discredit her character.

Sometime between May and June 2021, BLMGN met Biden-Harris White House officials to discuss their agenda. During the meeting, BLMGN leaders expressed disappointment in the administration's handling of issues relating to Black people. CNBC claimed this lead some to believe the organization may have less clout within the Biden White House than it had hoped for.

On September 3, 2021, Monifa Bandele and Makani Themba issued a statement stating that "although a media advisory was released indicating that we were tapped to play the role of Senior Co-Executives at BLMGNF, we were not able to come to an agreement with the acting Leadership Council about the scope of our work and authority. As a result, we did not have the opportunity to serve in this capacity. We wanted to be sure to inform our community of this fact as we move on to serve our movement in other ways." Consequently, there is no current leader of the organization.

As of mid-2021, BLMGN had spent more than half of the $90 million it made in 2020 on smaller organizations, consultants, including $840,993 annually to Paul Cullors, a family member of Patrisse Cullors, and real estate, leaving BLMGN with $42 million in assets.

Criticism and disputes

Founder statements and statements on Marxism

The foundation's success and global reach have elicited some scrutiny of its statements. Founder Patrisse Cullors stated she and co-founder Garza were "trained Marxists" in a 2015 interview that resurfaced in 2020. This alarmed conservatives like Ben Carson, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Levin, and others. However, there is no single definitive Marxist theory, and the group's support of gender identity politics sets it apart from historical Marxism-Leninism. Miriyam Aouragh, a lecturer at the London-based Westminster School of Media and Communications, told Politifact: "I am fairly convinced these are mostly attempts to smear anti-racist activists. I think in some media, 'Marxist' is dog-whistle for something horrible, like 'Nazi', and thus enables to delegitimize/dehumanize them. lack Lives Matteris not an organization, but a fluid movement; it doesn’t actually matter if one of its founders was a liberal, Marxist, socialist or capitalist."

During the 2021 Cuban protests, the BLMGN released a statement calling for the United States government to lift its embargo on Cuba and praised the Cuban government for its "solidarity with oppressed peoples of African descent", adding "The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government because the country has maintained its commitment to sovereignty and self-determination". BLMGN also claimed that the protests were caused by the "U.S. federal government's inhumane treatments of Cubans." BLMGN's apparent praise of the Cuban government received criticism due to the Cuban government's history of systemic racism and for ignoring the issues raised by Cuban protesters. In an email to NBC News, BLMGN officials said that their statement was "grounded in our unequivocal support for Cuba" and that they sought to amplify the voices of Afro-Cubans protesting oppression "from all actors, including the United States Embargo." The officials also said that "We unequivocally join in solidarity with the Cuban people against repression and violence from internal and unseen external actors" and that "We also understand that Anti-Blackness exists within Cuba and is a Global issue. We struggle for and alongside Black people across the diaspora for liberation and self-sovereignty."

Also controversial was BLMGN's call to "defund the police."

Another statement that alarmed conservatives and libertarians was a note on the foundation's list of beliefs regarding disrupting the nuclear family. It was removed from the foundation's website in 2020:

On April 6, 2015, while speaking as a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School's 'Globalizing Ferguson: Radicalized Policing and International Violence' forum, Patrisse Cullors stated her opinion that people must "end the imperialist project that's called Israel:"
:

Thousand Currents partnership

The foundation has been criticized for its partnership with the grantmaking organization Thousand Currents, whose vice-chair is Susan Rosenberg. As of June 25, 2020, Thousand Currents deleted its listing of Rosenberg's biography along with its entire board of directors webpage. According to Tides as of July 2, 2020, Thousand Currents decided to sunset its fiscal sponsorship of BLM to focus on its core grantmaking activities. The IRS granted BLMGNF tax-exempt status in December 2020, enabling it to operate independently of its former fiscal sponsors Thousand Currents and Tides Foundation.

Financial criticism

BLMGN's handling of finances has been criticized by both members of the Black Lives Matter movement and by opponents of Black Lives Matter.

BLMGN Chapter statement

On November 30, 2020, ten BLMGN chapters filed a joint statement demanding greater "financial transparency, decision making and accountability" from the main BLMGN organization. The authors disputed sole BLMGN board member Patrisse Cullors' appointment as executive director "without the knowledge of the majority of Black Lives Matter chapters across the country and world." The statement went on to criticize the creation of the Black Lives Matter Political Action Committee, and BLM Grassroots, which the authors allege also occurred without their knowledge. In particular, the statement accused BLM Grassroots as having "effectively separated the majority of chapters from BLMGN without their consent and interrupted the active process of accountability that was being established by those chapters."

The authors further stated that " r years there has been inquiry regarding the financial operations of BLMGN and no acceptable process of either public or internal transparency about the unknown millions of dollars donated to BLMGN, which has certainly increased during this time of pandemic and rebellion." The statement claimed that the 12 million dollar grant BLM announced in July 2020 offering chapters up to $500,000 was not equitable, as the money was raised from the organizing abilities of the chapters themselves and did not include the millions donated to BLMGN from other sources.

According to ''Politico'', chapter members had brought up their grievances about a lack of funding as early as 2016, and had prepared to go public a few months prior to the statement's reveal in November 2020. Chapters were encouraged to wait and discuss matters with Cullors privately, which members claim did not go well after they were not allowed to ask questions. Cullors has responded to the accusations stating that the ten chapters were "not formally affiliated with the global network" and were looking for credibility and money. The 2020 Impact Report announced that eleven BLM chapters would no longer be part of the movement, some of them having previously signed onto the statement. These chapters included: Boston; Canada; Chicago; DC; Denver; Detroit; Lansing; Memphis; Philadelphia; South Bend; and Nashville.

As of June 3, 2021, members of the chapter statement and others that have publicly criticized the group's funding and transparency go by the hashtag "#BLM10" and are represented by Rev. T. Sheri Dickinson of the Oklahoma City BLM chapter. According to Dickinson, "I know some of (the families) are feeling exploited, their pain exploited, and that’s not something that I ever want to be affiliated with." Cullors has responded that BLMGN does financially support families without making public announcements or disclosing dollar amounts.

Real estate and salary dispute

On May 30, 2021, Patrisse Cullors announced she was stepping down as executive director to focus on her upcoming book and TV-show development deal with Warner Bros. and that such a decision had been in the works for over a year prior. The announcement came amidst a report in the ''New York Post'' claiming that Cullors had bought four luxury homes in the Los Angeles and Atlanta area during her time as executive director of BLMGN. The ''AP News'' and ''USA Today'' said that such claims were misleading. While public records showed Cullors did indeed buy three properties; two in Los Angeles and one in Atlanta during her time within BLMGN; no evidence has been presented that such properties were acquired through funds donated to BLMGN itself. Furthermore, no evidence has been found that the fourth property was a $1.4 million home in Topanga Canyon bought on March 30 through a limited liability company. In response to the allegations, Cullors claims that "as a registered 501c3, BLMGNF cannot and did not commit any organizational resources toward the purchase of my personal property," and that she has only received $120,000 from the organization since 2013 for being a spokesperson and for 'political education work,' and that she has not been paid since 2019. As for her other sources of income, Cullors stated that she had two previous book deals including a New York Times best-selling memoir, is a public speaker, owns a gallery, has a deal with YouTube, and teaches at a private liberal arts college in Arizona.

An April 2022 investigative report by ''New York Magazine'''s Intelligencer revealed that the BLMGN had secretly purchased a $6 million house in Southern California in October 2020 with donated funds. In May 2022, Cullors defended the purchase, saying that "We really wanted to make sure that the global network foundation had an asset that wasn't just financial resources" and that "we understood that not many Black-led organizations have property. They don't own their property."

501(c)(3) transparency, tax concerns, and New Impact Partners allegations

The BLMGN is registered as a tax exempt 501(c)(3) organization and has been asserted to be out of compliance and, , is under investigation in several states after failure to submit its 2020 IRS tax forms on November 15, 2021 after having been given a six month extension. The Foundation has failed to identify its current leadership or who controls its more than $60 million in assets, leading the Executive Director of the charity assessment organization CharityWatch to describe it as "a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting... with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction."

On January 27, 2022, a report by the ''Washington Examiner'' stated that the address listed on BLMGN's tax forms was wrong, and that a security guard onsite said there had never been a BLM office at that location. The ''Examiner'' further claimed that an unidentified BLM spokesperson stated that the organization does not currently maintain a "permanent office." Likewise, BLMGN's two remaining board members, Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard, would not comment on who controls BLMGN's $60 million war chest after Cullors stepped down in late 2021. CharityWatch Executive Director aurie Styronstated that the organization had not yet completed its 2020 Form 990 application. "Irrespective of where any person falls on the political spectrum or what their position is on any social justice issue, hopefully, we can all agree that tax-subsidized public charities have an ethical responsibility to be transparent with the public about how they are operating and how the donations they receive are being used. The amount of money involved here is not insignificant." A later ''Examiner'' piece clarified that BLMGN failed to submit its 2020 tax forms to the IRS when it was due on November 15, 2021, after previously being granted a six month extension.

The ''Examiner'' further claimed that as BLMGN was not a charity during 2020 in which it received a windfall of cash as a result of the 2020 George Floyd protests, it effectively borrowed the charitable status of its fiscal sponsors Thousand Currents and Tides Foundation. According to Thousand Currents Consolidated Financial Statements 2020, BLMGN was listed as a Delaware nonstock nonprofit foundation during this time. However, said financial statements also showed Thousand Currents transferred $66.5 million directly to BLMGN in October 2020, which was before BLMGN received its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS in December, 2020. Documents provided to the ''Washington Examiner'' by the Office of the California Attorney General show that Cullors signed the asset transfer on September 23, 2020. BLMGN's 2020 Impact Report released to the public in February, 2021 stated that it incurred $8.4 million in operating expenses in 2020 and that it closed out the year with $60 million under its control. However, as stated by the ''Examiner'', "BLMGNF reported to the IRS in August 2020 that it expected to incur precisely $12,706,366 in "Professional Fees" expenditures during the same calendar year, a figure $4.3 million higher than the top-line annual spending figure it later reported to the public in February."

The ''Washington Examiner'' also raised concerns over board member Raymond Howard, claiming that Howard's LinkedIn profile stated he was the finance and operations manager of New Impact Partners, a consulting firm owned by Howard's sister. A quote from Howard which stated his connection to BLMGNF in the attribution and later removed from New Impact Partner's website, stated that, "New Impact Partners helped my team narrow in on the root cause of our organizational challenge. Together, we truly partnered to define solutions and created a set of clear priorities."

On February 1, 2022, the ''Washington Examiner'' published a follow up piece stating that the Washington Secretary of State Corporations and Charities Division told BLMGN in early January that it must immediately stop fundraising activities in the state due to its lack of financial transparency, failure to submit required financial documents, and failure to register pursuant to the Charitable Solicitations Act. It claimed that BLMGN continuing to solicit donations could result in injunctions and civil penalties of $2,000 per violation. The ''Examiner'' stated that BLMGN's charity registration is also out of compliance in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia. It also stated that the conservative watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center is preparing a complaint against BLMGN. The ''Examiner'' also reported that the California Department of Justice stated the "organization BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC. is delinquent with The Registry of Charitable Trusts for failing to submit required annual report(s)," and vowed to hold the leadership of BLMGN personally liable if it did not submit the required documents within sixty days, as of January 31. On February 4, the National Legal and Policy Center submitted its legal complains to the attorney generals of Washington and California, in which the Center demanded "a full investigation and audit of this group, and possible criminal sanctions."

On February 4, a day after the ''Examiner'' reported BLMGN was still accepting donations in states where it was forbidden to do so, BLMGN's fundraising pages on ActBlue were no longer available. BLMGN stated it had enacted a "compliance council" to right itself after the accusations leveled in the ''Washington Examiner'' report. The ''Examiner'' also stated that halomyah Bowers one of BLMGN's two known board members, had gone "underground" by leaving an automated email stating they would be unavailable by phone or email for the first half of February.

On February 4, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita told Fox News he launched an investigation into BLM to find out if the organization was a "scam." On February 8, Jerri Mares, spokeswoman for New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, announced that the office is currently "securing compliance" with BLMGN.

In September 2022, a lawsuit was filed accusing an executive of BLMGN, Shalomyah Bowers, of "syphoning" more than $10 million from donors. Bowers denied the accusations, calling them "harmful, divisive, and false."

2022 bail for murder attempt suspect

On February 14, 2022, BLM member and social justice activist Quintez Brown was charged with attempted murder and four counts of wanton endangerment after firing shots in the campaign headquarters of Jewish Democratic mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg, a political candidate running for the Louisville, Kentucky Metro Council District 5; the same position Brown was also running for as an independent. After arriving at Greenberg's campaign office, Brown pulled out a 9mm Glock and fired several rounds, with one round grazing Greenberg's shirt. Brown was arrested shortly thereafter less than a half-mile from the scene with a loaded 9mm magazine in his pants pocket and a drawstring bag with a handgun and additional handgun magazines, according to the arrest report.

On February 15, 2022, the BLMGN-affiliated chapter Black Lives Matter Louisville, teamed up with the Louisville Community Bail Fund to release Quintez Brown by posting Brown's bail with a $100,000 cashier's check that afternoon. The following day, Greenberg stated he was "traumatized" by the affair, stating that "it is nearly impossible to believe that someone can attempt murder on Monday and walk out of jail on Wednesday." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell further lambasted the decision, claiming that the "radical-left bailed their comrade out of jail." McConnell further accused the media of a double standard when it comes to media coverage of suspected criminals from different political backgrounds, stating: "I'm confident that if an activist claiming to be conservative tried to assassinate a politician, whatever his mental state, the media would open a 24-7 'national conversation' about rhetoric on the right. Somehow I doubt attempted murder by a BLM activist will get that treatment."

Condemnation of the release crossed party lines, with Democratic US Senate candidate Charles Booker joining criticism of the decision, stating that "anyone who has been arrested for attempted murder — and is feared to be a harm to themselves and others — should be in custody."

Accolades

In 2021, the foundation won the Olof Palme Prize for "promoting 'peaceful civil disobedience against police brutality and racial violence' across the globe" and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

See also

* Assata's Daughters
* Movement for Black Lives

Notes

References

{{Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter
African Americans' rights organizations
Anti-racist organizations in the United States
Organizations established in 2013
2013 establishments in the United States
Civil rights organizations
501(c)(3) organizations
Lobbying organizations in the United States
Political advocacy groups in the United States