How Some Nonprofit Groups Funnel Dark Money Into Campaigns
A ProPublica investigation shows that many 501(c)(4) nonprofits active in the 2010 election spent millions of dollars on campaigns, sometimes reporting less political spending to the Internal Revenue Service than they did to election officials. Some groups listed here – including several with long histories and well-established social welfare missions – put only a small portion of their resources into politics and reported accurately. How we calculated these numbers | Related story »
Suevon Lee and Jonathan Stock contributed research for this project.See all organizations »
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- Most active groups
- Groups operating without IRS recognition
- Groups that said “no” to politics in applying for IRS recognition
- Groups that reported no political spending in tax returns
- Liberal groups
- Conservative groups
- Grantmakers to political nonprofits
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American Action Network leaning conservative
Applied for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status on Feb. 24, 2010.
Said it would spend on elections on IRS Form 1024.
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
American Future Fund leaning conservative
Applied for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status on March 19, 2008.
Said it would not spend on elections on IRS Form 1024.
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies leaning conservative
Applied for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status.
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
60 Plus Association leaning conservative
Applied for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status on Nov. 20, 1990.
Said it would not spend on elections on IRS Form 1024.
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
League of Conservation Voters leaning liberal
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
* This figure includes money reported to the FEC and to state election authorities, as well as donations to super PACs, political committees and c4s for the purpose of political ads. Three groups -- Economy Forward, The Annual Fund and The Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity -- did not report spending to election authorities, but their expenditures surfaced in other records. The Republican Jewish Coalition spent $4.9 million – almost $3.8 million reported to the IRS, plus $1.1 million reported to the FEC.
** This figure is the amount of money reported by the organization as its political spending to the IRS.