Power Grab - Jason Chaffetz Page 0,20

also an investment vehicle for the Public Interest Network called 1543 LLC, in which Environment America invested and which comes under the direction of Douglas Phelps and the Public Interest Network. Other related parties to this group of nonprofits are the Clinton Foundation, the Sierra Club, the Center for American Progress, and the Democratic National Committee. Joe Biden was reported as having a fund-raiser at the home of Douglas Phelps in the 2014 election.

The political infrastructure of the Democratic Party is inextricably linked to the infrastructure of America’s nonprofit sector.

An Analysis of Conservative Nonprofits

After learning what was happening on the left, I was curious to see whether the same patterns could be found on the right. Forbes magazine’s William P. Barrett compiles an annual list of America’s top charities. The most recent list, published in December 2018, includes several of Grassroots Campaigns’ clients. The ACLU comes in at #50. The Planned Parenthood Federation is #27 and the Nature Conservancy is #20.

Perhaps the most well-known and liberal-maligned conservative nonprofit—the National Rifle Association (NRA)—does not appear anywhere on the list. For all the fearmongering from the left about the power of the NRA, it doesn’t even approach the size of the Clinton Foundation (#69) or the Barack Obama Foundation (#63). The NRA’s 2016 reserves of $75 million were dwarfed by the Clinton Foundation’s $326 million, although the NRA’s revenues were higher in the year of Hillary Clinton’s infamous defeat.

The only charities on the Forbes list remotely tied to conservative political views might be the handful of religious ones—none of which engage in politics.

There are, of course, conservative nonprofits. They may not approach the size and scale of their reflections on the left, but they do exist.

As we began delving through the 990 forms of a cross section of some of America’s most influential conservative groups, the first difference we noted was the revenues and assets. Whereas politically oriented nonprofits on the left were seeing significant growth in those categories over time, conservative nonprofits looked more like the rest of the nonprofit sector with very modest gains.

Over on the left, the Planned Parenthood Federation’s endowment funds had grown from $88 million in 2013 to $157 million in 2016. The Nature Conservancy went from having $5.7 billion in assets in 2013 to $6.2 billion in 2016. The Nature Conservancy’s endowment fund grew from $993 million to $1.2 billion over that three-year period. Same story for the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose endowment fund was $281 million in 2013 and grew to $470 million by 2019.

How do those numbers compare to conservative nonprofits? Let’s start with the venerable NRA, which has both a 501(c)(3) charity organization as well as a 501(c)(4) advocacy arm. In the 2016 Form 990, the foundation had $366 million in revenue, up a little from the $336 million they saw in 2015 and the $310 million in 2014. Net assets during those three years declined, primarily because of increased spending. These are healthy numbers, but the growth rates don’t match those of the left-leaning 501(c)(3) charities. Despite NRA’s huge membership and long history, its revenue numbers are dwarfed by those in the top one hundred charities. Similarly, the Gun Owners of America saw insignificant increases in revenues over the three years reported—from $1.9 million in 2013 to $2.2 million three years later with minimal reserves.

Numbers USA, which considers itself a bipartisan group that works to decrease immigration, raised $7.4 million in 2016 with net assets of $10 million. Those are healthy numbers, but they are dwarfed by the left-wing nonprofits. The even smaller Eagle Forum is an influential family-run nonprofit with limited revenue. Total income dropped from just over $1 million in 2015 to $275,661 in 2016. Expenses have outspent revenue by $1.5 million during the 2015–16 cycle, with total assets at the time of $4.6 million. Similarly, the Center for Immigration Studies is a 501(c)3 organization. It had revenues of $2,772,885 in 2014 with net assets of $3,000,323. In 2015 it had revenues of $2,907,224 with net assets of $3,267,051. In 2016, it had revenues of $2,902,940 with net assets of $3,425,201. It’s certainly not having the exponential growth of its left-leaning counterparts but still is in a healthy position.

The National Organization for Marriage had steady revenues at $1.3 million during the three years reported, but saw an operating loss in 2014. Focus on the Family, another well-known conservative nonprofit, has no public reporting since 2014. At that time, it had revenues of $86 million, or $2 million less than