How BLM Lied About Supporting Its BLM Chapters in Its Impact Report 

Executive Summary

• BLM hoards its contributions and lied about supporting BLM chapters and its “grass roots.”

Introduction

BLM is renowned for not providing funding to its chapters. However, in its Impact Report, it lied about the support it provides.

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How BLM Lied About Supporting Its BLM Chapters in Its Impact Report 

The following quote comes from BLM’s Impact Report.

BLMGNF also remains firmly committed to our grassroots network. After all, our movement was born at this level. We have committed funding to the following chapters, some of which have officially been onboarded during our earlier point of transition, and others who we remain aligned with in our ultimate goal of Black liberation but are no longer holding in our official network:

Boston, Canada, Chicago, DC, Denver, Detroit, Lansing, Memphis, Philadelphia, South Bend, Nashville – BLM Impact Report

This is a high-level synopsis of the financial figures presented in the report.

Cullors later issued the organization’s first-ever “impact report” in February 2021, claiming that the organization had raised over $90 million in 2020, spent $8.4 million on operating expenses, and given out $21.7 million to local BLM chapters and affiliated organizations. But these were just top-line numbers in a flashy communications product. No details were given on who was specifically paid what. – Washington Examiner

What Happened to the Rest of the BLM Chapters?

BLM had at one time 30 chapters, and probably many other chapters it was reviewing for membership. This is only eleven. The problem, that BLM did not address in the Impact report or anywhere else, is that BLMGNF has longstanding arguments with the BLM chapters. These disagreements are mostly around BLM not providing them with any funding, but also on other philosophical grounds that BLM is being remotely controlled by the Democratic party. BLM now only has a minority of chapters that started with it, and a major reason is that BLM has not been providing those chapters with any funding, which is why chapters have asked that donations be given directly to the chapters.

This is also explained in the following article.

It’s also no longer clear how many chapters Black Lives Matter has, official or otherwise. In the fall of 2020, as the group of ten chapters prepared to issue its call for greater transparency in November 2020, all chapter names were removed from the Black Lives Matter website. A spokesperson for the ten chapters, Kelly Davidson, declined to comment for this article but wrote in an email that discussion of the dispute “does not move the movement forward and it also leads to more harassment and Internet chatter when Patrisse and the global network is the topic of discussion.” The end of February will mark a year since BLMGNF last published details of its finances. – NY Magazine

Davidson’s comment is incongruous, as it is the ten chapters that called BLM a fraud in previous statements.

BLM On the Amount of Funding It Has Sent to Black Communities

The total amount that’s been committed to the 30 local organizations and BLM chapters is approximately $21.7 million. That is $21.7 million that will go towards the sustenance of Black communities and Black movement-building—towards creating a world in which Black lives matter. – BLM Impact Report

The problem is that BLM can’t even seem to get funds to families that it supposedly raises money for.

Distributing Five to Eight Percentage of Donations is Standard for Charities?

Just to put that in context, foundations typically grant between 5-8% of their assets in disbursements. In 2020, BLMGNF committed 23% of its total assets in disbursements and charitable giving. That is almost three times the industry norm.

After our expenses and grant disbursements, we are left with an approximate balance of $60 million.

Returning to fiscal sustainability, it is important that an organization not end its year at a balance of $0. Few foundations will disburse more than 8% of their total assets; for BLMGNF to have committed 23% of its assets is groundbreaking. – BLM Impact Report

This claim is very odd.

The first thing is how BLM uses the term “assets.” These are donations. Under BLM’s logic, if a person were to donate $100, then the donor should be satisfied if the charity gives $5 to $8 to the cause for which the charity is raising money. What is the point of donating to BLM if BLM is only going to distribute 5 to 8% of its donations? Using this logic, BLM would just continue to raise money every year and grow its assets. Does BLM think that it is managing a bank?

Furthermore, in 2021, BLM claimed nearly 13 million dollars in professional services, many of these services being connected to BLM insiders charging the charity for dubious services. We have no idea if the $21.7 million figure is correct, but if we assume it is for a moment, this means that BLM changed $13 M/$21.7 M or 59% of what it distributed in these services.

However, the problem is that BLM’s previous statements have often been false. Therefore, we can’t assume that the $21.7 million figure is correct. Every time we investigate a statement made by BLM, it later ends up being false or exaggerated in some way.

The main spokesperson for BLM has been Patrisse Cullors, and Patrisse Cullors is constantly lying, and we have found we need to check every statement she makes.

The Impact Report Published by BLM Was Unconvincing

Patrisse Cullors thought the criticism of BLM would stop after they published their Impact Report, as is explained in the following quotations. 

Just three months later (after publishing the report), Cullors left BLM, claiming that she wanted to focus on other projects. She adamantly denied charges that she left the organization due to media reports that she had recently purchased millions of dollars’ worth of real estate for herself. – Washington Examiner

There is something odd about that — but BLM received even more criticism from many people after the Impact Report was released. Cullors thought the report would quell the criticism.

Cullors said she was shocked that her decision to publish BLM’s “Impact Report” in February 2021, which claimed the group ended 2020 with $60 million in the bank, only led to more criticism of her group’s finances.

“It backfired because of anti-black racism,” she said. “We had a whole impact report where we showed where all the money went, and the question still is where did the money go. That’s deeply concerning to me because it means people don’t want to believe what’s actually true.” – Washington Examiner

The Impact Report was published in reaction to people asking for more transparency on BLM’s accounting, however, the vast majority of the report is not related to BLM’s accounting, but instead to BLM’s discussion of their accomplishments. And the high-level explanations of BLM’s use of donations did not add up. BLM and Patrisse Cullors in particular suffer from the concept that they do not need to provide evidence and that they can get by with making assertions. If these assertions are not accepted they claim the reason is racism, sexism, etc.. We covered in the article Why the Claims by Black Lives Matter on Police Shootings Are False that the core claim made by BLM that blacks are shot disproportionately with their involvement in violent crime is false. However, BLM never bothers to provide evidence for their claims, and instead, they work 100% off of anecdotes. BLM convinces those that follow it that 100% of shootings of blacks by police are unjustified (even though in around 95% of cases they are armed) and that police are murdering all of these individuals. And now when it comes to their assertions about BLM being a charity, those are false as well.

The Claims Against BLM For Hoarding Their Donations

BLM’s statements must be taken in the context of what is said about BLM by both its chapters and those that it raises money in the name of.

This quote is from ten chapters of BLM.

In November 2020, ten chapters of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation issued a public call for greater financial accountability. “For years there has been inquiry regarding the financial operations of BLMGNF and no acceptable process of either public or internal transparency about the unknown millions of dollars donated to BLMGNF, which has certainly increased during this time of pandemic and rebellion,” the chapters’ statement read. – American Renaissance

This quote is from the International Black Freedom Alliance.

Many in the so-called Black Lives Matter movement are asking the same questions but coming to quicker and much more demoralizing answers. When Ferguson activists and organizers began to talk locally, they soon found out that none of them had received anything either.

They believe the momentum from the 2014 unrest and the subsequent protest that local activists organized for several months after were the catalyst for the group being propelled into the position to receive the 90 million. Now they demand funding from the group to the tune of 20 million in order to continue the work they started.  – Daily Wire

That is the same complaint made by many of the BLM chapters. BLM raises money but does not distribute money that is raised for anything those donating assume it is being used for.

Furthermore, BLM does not use attorneys to represent those arrested during protests and riots. This means that BLM whips protesters/rioters into a frenzy, and then collects money from the protests/riots, but then leaves the protesters/rioters to fend for themselves if they are caught breaking the law. The money appears to go to BLM but seems to stay with BLM headquarters.

These types of tweets are increasingly common on BLM. 

BLM has been repeatedly accused of offering no financial support to both families that BLM has ostensibly raised money for (using the death of their children to do so) and by the BLM chapters. This is explained in the following quotation. This quote describes the fight between BLM GL and the BLM Chapters.

My criticisms did distinguish between BLMGN and those local based BLM chapters who have been genuinely struggling on the ground to meet the challenges of organizing the communities against the system’s abuses, but were not receiving support or resources from BLMGN. BLMGN had been and continues to rake in massive sums of money (tens of million of dollars), which has not gone to BLM chapters nor suffering communities or families. This money remains unaccounted for, except that BLMGN leaders have achieved immense personal celebrity and wealth on account of pretended leadership of and identification with the victims of police terror and the mass resistance against these horrendous abuses. In fact BLMGN’s self-appointed leader Patrisse Cullors has been recently exposed in numerous media outlets for purchasing four luxury homes.

Recently several community-based BLM chapters have taken a stand against BLMGN and its corrupt leadership, recognizing the need to publicly distinguish themselves and the work of those truly committed to serving the masses in the oppressed communities from BLMGN. – Rashid Mod

The chapters as well as families that BLM has raised money for (but then kept for itself) have repeatedly accused BLM of being corrupt. As is also covered in the following quotation.

In November 2020, ten chapters of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation issued a public call for greater financial accountability. “For years there has been inquiry regarding the financial operations of BLMGNF and no acceptable process of either public or internal transparency about the unknown millions of dollars donated to BLMGNF, which has certainly increased during this time of pandemic and rebellion,” the chapters’ statement read. – American Renaissance

How BLM Constantly Stiffs Those that Do its Dirty Work

Russell alleged in the video that Black Lives Matter had not taken care of the families of some Ferguson activists who had “literally given their lives to the struggle,” including two men connected to the protests which later died of apparent suicides and another found dead inside a torched car, his body riddled with bullets. See the following quotation.

“Brother Ali, Joshua Williams, and many other political prisoners from the Ferguson movement are incarcerated, or have been, and still have received no assistance from Black Lives Matter,” Russell went on to claim. – Daily Wire

Those people who protest and get arrested are on their own. This and other stories illustrate a sociopathic disregard for those that protest for BLM.

Yet Cullors states that this is all right-wing propaganda that has been distributed to the black community.

“What’s so effective about the right-wing media disinformation and misinformation strategy is that they deploy it inside the black community,” she said. “To see them post about me, and then the black media — I put in quotes, not all black media is actually black — spread those rumors … I was naive to think black journalists and black media would be interested in talking to me first versus spreading misinformation and disinformation.”  – Washington Examiner

Conclusion

Patrice Cullors has stated that all criticism of BLM, including the requirements by states that BLM complies with reporting requirements that apply to all charities, is a racist plot. And that some of these racists are blacks. Cullors has further stated that only conservative media have been covering the corruption at BLM.

The problem with this accusation is that Brightwork Research & Analysis is not conservative media. We often cover corruption, and BLM’s behavior and statements fit into a pattern we have seen many times before. The question is why liberal or Democrat-aligned media has not covered the corruption at BLM.

Bias and Corruption in Democrat Aligned Media

Cullors is right on one point — only conservatives appear to be covering this story. However, that is not an indictment against conservative media but an indictment against Democrat-aligned media, and this is because this story is real.