‘Black Lives Matter’ Foundation’s Revenues Plummet 88%

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation faced a challenging fiscal year in 2022, with revenues taking a sharp 88% dip from the previous year.

The Foundation secured a total of $9.3 million, a far cry from its financial peak in 2020, which followed the nationwide upheaval triggered by the death of George Floyd.

In the aftermath of Floyd’s death, the organization managed to amass $80 million, the Washington Free Beacon revealed through obtained records.

The organization’s founder, Patrisse Cullors, used the financial surge to expand property holdings and enrich the group’s leadership.

This expansion included four properties across California and Georgia, acquired by Cullors at a total cost of $3.2 million.

Furthermore, a luxurious compound in Los Angeles, valued at $6 million, was purchased by the charity in late 2020.

Cullors utilized the compound to produce video content, engaging in activities such as baking peach cobblers and sipping wine.

Black Lives Matter also diversified geographically, extending its reach to Canada, Free Beacon notes.

In July 2021, the Canadian branch was granted $8 million to acquire a mansion in Toronto for $6.3 million.

Cullors’ close associates benefited significantly from the windfall, including her brother, Paul Cullors, who was paid $840,993 for “professional security services.”

Despite having no prior experience in the field, Paul Cullors managed to buy a house in Los Angeles for $637,000 by the end of 2020.

Furthermore, $969,459 was paid to an art firm led by the father of Cullors’s child, Damon Turner, and a consulting firm run by Black Lives Matter board member and Cullors’ associate, Shalomyah Bowers, received a hefty $2,167,894 for providing management services.

However, the foundation faced scrutiny when news of Cullors’s real estate acquisitions came to light in April 2021, leading to a decline in trust and financial support.

With the increasing scrutiny and transparency demanded by some states, the organization chose to halt its fundraising activities in February 2022.

Cullors voiced her discomfort with the level of financial disclosure required, saying, “This doesn’t seem safe for us, this 990 structure—this nonprofit system structure,” during an April 2022 event. “This is, like, deeply unsafe. This is being literally weaponized against us, against the people we work with.”

Ironically, it was not external critics but the former affiliate organization, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, who used the foundation’s tax return against it.

In a lawsuit filed in September 2022, BLM Grassroots accused Bowers of treating the charity as his “personal piggy bank,” alleging that he had withdrawn an additional $10 million in “fees” on top of the $2,167,894 disclosed in the Form 990.

The lawsuit suggested that Bowers’ actions have inflicted “irreparable harm to BLM in less than eighteen months,” and led to investigations by the Internal Revenue Service and various state attorneys general.

The document, required by law to be public, was due on Monday.

Further detailed financial statement required by Florida also remains delayed.

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