Página referida: Donors Trust
Philanthropy Roundtable – Right Web, 12/01/2011 – http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Philanthropy_Roundtable/
“In February 2013, the Philanthropy Roundtable drew public attention when various sources, including the Guardian newspaper, reported on the organization’s connections to a club of rightist donors, including Donors Trust and the Koch Foundation, that have been funding efforts to debunk climate change science and environmental regulations. Commenting on this aspect of the Roundtable’s work, Media Matter reported: “One of its board members, Jeff Sandefer, is a former oilman. It is partially funded by The Charles G. Koch Foundation, and in 2011 it gave Charles G. Koch an award for ‘Philanthropic Leadership.’ In 2010, oil tycoon Philip Anschutz [owner of the Weekly Standard] received the award.”[2] According to Media Matters, the “Philanthropy Roundtable gave $250,000 to Donors Trust in 2010,” just as that trust began “funneling” money to “climate denial groups.”[3] Donors Trust is also notorious for serving as a pass through foundation for donors supporting anti-Islamic causes in the United States, as reported in a widely noted 2011 Center for American Progress report, Fear, Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America.”
Karoli – Donors Trust: An Anonymous Tax-Deductible Policy Slush Fund – Crooks and Liars – 01/04/2011 – http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/donors-trust-anonymous-tax-deductible-polic
“Donors Trust is a tax-deductible slush fund. If a donor or foundation wants to put money toward a project and doesn’t want it to be a direct gift reportable to the IRS, all they do is give it to Donors Trust. Donors Trust has three related project entities, according to their 2009 disclosures: Donors Trust, LLC – Created to receive a gift of real property and liquidate it Talent Market, LLC – Provides administrative support services Center for College Affordability & Productivity, LLC – Research, writing, educational services. ”
Shenderson – Who is the “Anonymous Donor” behind Denialgate? Here’s one possibility – Daily Kos – 18/02/2012 – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/18/1065989/-Who-is-the-Anonymous-Donor-behind-Denialgate-Here-s-one-possibility-
“Donors Trust is a donor-advised fund set up for the specific purpose of masking the source of donations to right-wing “charities”, so it’s not inconceivable that more than one wealthy Heartland sympathizer might choose to use it to channel their donations. But just as Heartland is a small fish among the big think tanks, Donors Trust is actually a pretty small operation as donor-advised funds go — handling between 10 and 40 million bucks in most years.”
“I contend that Chicago industrialist Barre Seid is by far the most likely known candidate for the status of the Heartland Institute’s “Anonymous Donor.” The project is a close fit with Seid’s known interests, the method is a close fit with Seid’s known MO, and Seid is already known to be closely connected with the Heartland Institute, to which he has been the largest single donor. In addition, Mr. Anonymous and Mr. Seid match up in at least three ways that are unlikely to be coincidental: the use of the obscure “Donors Trust” vehicle to mask his identity, the insistence on being referred to internally only as “the Anonymous Donor”, and the very recent accession of known Seid deputy Chuck Lang to the board of the Heartland Institute.”
Shenderson – Is Barre Seid the Heartland Institute’s “Anonymous Donor”? Further considerations. – Daily Kos – 22/02/2012 – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/22/1067186/-Is-Barre-Seid-the-Heartland-Institute-s-Anonymous-Donor-Further-considerations-
“Many of the payments Seid made as part of the unsuccessful attempt to take over Chicago’s tiny Shimer College were to or by way of his proxies on the Board, such as Heartland’s Joe Bast and Sam Adams’ Eric O’Keefe; that muddies the waters somewhat, and a comprehensive account is out of place here. But zeroing in just on direct donations, there are two payments to Shimer in the Seid Foundation’s disclosures: one for $650,000 in 2007 and one for $175,000 in 2008. In 2009 (PDF, page 53/55), as the trap was sprung, Seid switched channels and donated $585,000 via Donors Trust. This fits well with the putative pattern for Seid as Heartland’s Anonymous Donor: openly at first, anonymously later.”
Graham Readfearn – How Heartland-style Climate Sceptic Campaigns Play “Hide the Deniers” Using Secretive Fund – Desmogblog – 29/02/2012 – http://www.desmogblog.com/how-heartland-style-climate-sceptic-campaigns-play-hide-deniers-using-secretive-fund
“The Virginia-based Donors Capital Fund and its partner organisation Donors Trust has been giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups blocking attempts to limit greenhouse gas pollution and undermining climate science … DCF works by establishing what it calls “donor-advised funds” with a “minimum initial gift” of $1 million … DCF shares an address with Donors Trust and several board members and staff. Whitney Ball is the president of DCF and Donors Trust.”
Graham Readfearn – How Heartland-style Climate Sceptic Campaigns Play “Hide the Deniers” Using Secretive Fund – Desmogblog – 29/02/2012 – http://www.desmogblog.com/how-heartland-style-climate-sceptic-campaigns-play-hide-deniers-using-secretive-fund
“The IRS forms reveal that in 2010 Donors Trust gave $50,000 to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, “for research under Dr Willie Soon”. A Greenpeace spokesman has told DeSmogBlog it is now “investigating the genesis” of this $50,000 grant, which he said was not disclosed when Greenpeace requested documents from Smithsonian under Freedom of Information laws last year. As DeSmogBlog and others reported last year, the Greenpeace investigation found that every grant Dr. Soon has received since 2002 had originated with fossil fuel interests.”
Graham Readfearn – How Heartland-style Climate Sceptic Campaigns Play “Hide the Deniers” Using Secretive Fund – Desmogblog – 29/02/2012 – http://www.desmogblog.com/how-heartland-style-climate-sceptic-campaigns-play-hide-deniers-using-secretive-fund
“In 2010, Donors Trust gave several grants to one of the most overt of all climate science denying organisations, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, which flew a delegation including Lord Christopher Monckton to Durban for last year’s UN climate conference. Some $535,500 went to CFACT’s “Environmental Education Fund”. A further $24,753 went towards the “Not Evil, Just Wrong project”. Not Evil Just Wrong is a film that claims regulating greenhouse gas emissions will cripple world economies and hurt the third-world.”
Graham Readfearn – How Heartland-style Climate Sceptic Campaigns Play “Hide the Deniers” Using Secretive Fund – Desmogblog – 29/02/2012 – http://www.desmogblog.com/how-heartland-style-climate-sceptic-campaigns-play-hide-deniers-using-secretive-fund
“Adam Meyerson is DCF’s chairman and also the president of Philanthropy Roundtable. DCF’s vice-chairman, Kimberly O. Dennis, is a Philanthropy Roundtable board member as well as being the chairman of Donors Trust.”
John Mashey – Fakery 2: More Funny Finances, Free Of Tax – Desmogblog – 25/10/2012 – http://desmogblog.com/2012/10/23/fakery-2-more-funny-finances-free-tax
“3. Donors Trust (and Donors Capital Fund) have been studied in more detail. Robert Brulle found another Charles Koch fund, Knowledge and Progress, which seems to give money only to DONORS. Added to the others he controls (Charles Koch and Claude Lambe), money can flow through three separate funds. Then some of it goes through DONORS TRUST and DONORS CAPITAL FUND, which anonymize it, as Whitney Ball actually writes the checks. Some “Kochtopus” tentacles are difficult to see.”
Steve Connor – Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science – The Independent – 24/01/2013 – http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-billionaires-secretly-fund-attacks-on-climate-science-8466312.html
“However, an audit trail reveals that Donors is being indirectly supported by the American billionaire Charles Koch who, with his brother David, jointly owns a majority stake in Koch Industries, a large oil, gas and chemicals conglomerate based in Kansas. Millions of dollars has been paid to Donors through a third-party organisation, called the Knowledge and Progress Fund, with is operated by the Koch family but does not advertise its Koch connections … The Knowledge and Progress Fund, whose directors include Charles Koch and his wife Liz, gave $1.25m to Donors in 2007, a further $1.25m in 2008 and $2m in 2010. It does not appear to have given money to any other group and there is no mention of the fund on the websites of Koch Industries or the Charles Koch Foundation.”ç”
Steve Connor – Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science – The Independent – 24/01/2013 – http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-billionaires-secretly-fund-attacks-on-climate-science-8466312.html
“The trust has given money to the Competitive Enterprise Institute which is currently being sued for defamation by Professor Michael Mann of Pennsylvania University, an eminent climatologist, whose affidavit claims that he was accused of scientific fraud and compared to a convicted child molester.”
Andy Kroll (2013) – Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement – Mother Jones – 05/02/2013 – Dark Money reporter – http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos
“You haven’t heard of Donors Trust, but it’s bankrolled the right’s fights against unions, public schools, climate scientists, and more.”
Suzanne Goldenberg (2013) – How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups – The Guardian – 14/02/2013 – US environment correspondent – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/donors-trust-funding-climate-denial-networks
“The secretive funding network distributed $118m to 102 groups including some of the best-known think-tanks on the right.”
Suzanne Goldenberg – Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks – The Guardian – 14/02/2013 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/funding-climate-change-denial-thinktanks-network
“Conservative billionaires used a secretive funding route to channel nearly $120m (£77m) to more than 100 groups casting doubt about the science behind climate change, the Guardian has learned. The funds, doled out between 2002 and 2010, helped build a vast network of think-tanks and activist groups working to a single purpose: to redefine climate change from neutral scientific fact to a highly polarising “wedge issue” for hardcore conservatives. The millions were routed through two trusts, Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund, operating out of a generic town house in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. Donors Capital caters to those making donations of $1m or more. Whitney Ball, chief executive of the Donors Trust told the Guardian that her organisation assured wealthy donors that their funds would never by diverted to liberal causes.”
Suzanne Goldenberg – Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks – The Guardian – 14/02/2013 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/funding-climate-change-denial-thinktanks-network
“The rise of that movement is evident in the funding stream. In 2002, the two trusts raised less than $900,000 for the anti-climate cause. That was a fraction of what Exxon Mobil or the conservative oil billionaire Koch brothers donated to climate sceptic groups that year. By 2010, the two Donor Trusts between them were channelling just under $30m to a host of conservative organisations opposing climate action or science. That accounted to 46% of all their grants to conservative causes, according to the Greenpeace analysis.”
Suzanne Goldenberg (2013) – Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks – The Guardian – 14/02/2013 – US environment correspondent – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/14/funding-climate-change-denial-thinktanks-network
“Anonymous billionaires donated $120m to more than 100 anti-climate groups working to discredit climate change science.”
Suzanne Goldenberg – Media campaign against windfarms funded by anonymous conservatives – The Guardian – 15/02/2013 – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/15/media-campaign-windfarms-conservatives
“The trusts, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, served as the bankers of the conservative movement over the past decade. Promising anonymity to their conservative billionaire patrons, the trusts between them channelled nearly $120m to contrarian thinktanks and activists, wrecking the chances of getting Congress to act on climate change. Now the Guardian can reveal the latest project of the secretive funding network: a campaign to stop state governments moving towards renewable energy. The campaign against wind and solar power was led by a relatively new entity, the Franklin Centre for Government and Public Integrity. The Franklin Centre did not exist before 2009, but it has quickly become a protege of Donors Trust.”
George Monbiot – Secrets of the Rich – The Guardian – 19/02/2013 – http://www.monbiot.com/2013/02/18/secrets-of-the-rich/
“The two organisations – the Donors’ Trust and the Donors’ Capital Fund – were set up as political funding channels for people handing over $1m or more. They have financed 102 organisations which either dismiss climate science or downplay the need to take action. The large number of recipients creates the impression that there are many independent voices challenging climate science. These groups, working through the media, mobilising gullible voters and lobbying politicians, helped to derail Obama’s cap and trade bill and the climate talks at Copenhagen. Now they’re seeking to prevent the US president from trying again(2).”
George Monbiot – Secrets of the Rich – The Guardian – 19/02/2013 – http://www.monbiot.com/2013/02/18/secrets-of-the-rich/
“This covers only part of the funding. In total, between 2002 and 2010 the two identity-laundering groups paid $311m to 480 organisations(3), most of which take positions of interest to the ultra-rich and the corporations they run: less tax, less regulation, a smaller public sector. Around a quarter of the money received by the rightwing opinion swarm comes from the two foundations(4). If this funding were not effective, it wouldn’t exist: the ultra-rich didn’t get that way by throwing their money around randomly. The organisations they support are those which advance their interests.”
George Monbiot – Secrets of the Rich – The Guardian – 19/02/2013 – http://www.monbiot.com/2013/02/18/secrets-of-the-rich/
“One name in particular jumped out at me: American Friends of the IEA. The Institute of Economic Affairs is a British group which, like all the others, calls itself a free market thinktank. Scarcely a day goes by on which its staff are not interviewed in the broadcast media, promoting the dreary old billionaires’ agenda: less tax for the rich, less help for the poor, less spending by the state, less regulation for business. In the first 13 days of February, its people were on the BBC ten times(8) … The database, published by the Canadian site desmogblog.com, shows that American Friends of the IEA has received (up to 2010) $215,000 from the two secretive funds(10). When I spoke to the IEA’s fundraising manager, she confirmed that the sole purpose of American Friends is to raise money for the organisation in London(11). She agreed that the IEA has never disclosed the Donors’ Trust money it has received. She denied that the institute is a sockpuppet organisation: purporting to be independent while working for some very powerful US interests.”
Brendan Demelle – Climate Denial Playbook: Marc Morano’s History of Bullying Scientists – DeSmogBlog – 10/09/2013 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/09/10/climate-denial-playbook-marc-morano-s-history-bullying-scientists
“If you’ve even heard of Marc Morano, you probably watched him angrily attacking a climate scientist, journalist or Al Gore on Fox News or on his blog Climate Depot, a project of the Donors Trust and oil industry-funded CFACT. Morano is so agitated in his climate denial that he once advocated that climate scientists be “publicly flogged.”.”
EXPOSED: The State Policy Network – Center for Media and Democracy – 01/11/2013 – http://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/25/SPN_National_Report_FINAL.pdf
“The largest known funder behind SPN and its member think tanks are two closely related funds — DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Exposed in Mother Jones as the “dark money ATM of the conservative movement,”cxiii the Donors groups are spin-offs of the Philanthropy Roundtable run by SPN board member Whitney L. Ball.cxiv They are what are called “donor-advised funds,” which means that the fund creates separate accounts for individual donors, and the donors then recommend disbursements from the accounts to different non-profits. It cloaks the identity of the original mystery donors or makes it impossible to connect donors with recipients because the funds are then distributed in the name of DT or DCF. For example, a relatively unknown Koch family foundation called the Knowledge and Progress Fund gave $4.5 million to DonorsTrust between 2007 and 2010, but what organizations received that funding from Donors is unknown.” (p. cxv)
– EXPOSED: The State Policy Network – Center for Media and Democracy – 01/11/2013 – http://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/25/SPN_National_Report_FINAL.pdf
“A review of funding from the Donors groups to SPN and its member think tanks reveals that the two Donors groups funneled nearly $50 million to SPN and 55 member think tanks in just the four years between 2008 and 2011. That is a substantial amount of cash flooding into the states to affect state policies and laws. This money was specifically itemized by Donors to be used for participation in ALEC, so-called journalism programs and statehouse reporting operations, transparency projects, direct mail efforts, litigation centers, or reports against Affordable Care Act and environmental protections [ref].”
– Not Just The Koch Brothers: New Drexel Study Reveals Funders Behind The Climate Change Denial Effort – Drexel Now – 20/12/2013 – http://drexel.edu/now/news-media/releases/archive/2013/December/Climate-Change/
“The data also indicates that Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, two of the largest supporters of climate science denial, have recently pulled back from publicly funding countermovement organizations. Coinciding with the decline in traceable funding, the amount of funding given to countermovement organizations through third party pass-through foundations like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, whose funders cannot be traced, has risen dramatically. Brulle, a professor of sociology and environmental science in Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences, conducted the study during a year-long fellowship at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. The study was published today in Climatic Change, one of the top 10 climate science journals in the world.”
Robert J. Brulle (2014) – Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations – Climatic Change 122:681-694 doi:10.1007/s10584-013-1018-7 – Drexel University – http://www.drexel.edu/~/media/Files/now/pdfs/Institutionalizing Delay – Climatic Change.ashx
“The single largest funders are the combined foundations Donors Trust/Donors Capital Fund. Over the 2003–2010 period, they provided more than $78 million in funding to CCCM organizations. The other major funders are the combined Scaife and Koch Affiliated Foundations, and the Bradley, Howard, Pope, Searle and Templeton foundations, all giving more than $20 million from 2003–2010 … As this figure shows, conservative think tanks were the largest recipients of foundation support.”
“The rapid increase in the percentage of funding of the CCCM by Donors Trust/Capital and the decline in both Koch and ExxonMobil corresponds to the initiation of campaigns by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Greenpeace publicizing and criticizing both ExxonMobil and Koch Corporations as funders of climate denial. Although the correspondence is suggestive of an effort to conceal funding of the CCCM by these foundations, it is impossible to determine for certain whether or not ExxonMobil and the Koch Foundations continue to fund CCCM organizations via Donors Trust/Capital or direct corporate contributions. However, it is important to note that a Koch run foundation, the Knowledge and Progress Fund, initiated a pattern of making large grants to Donors Trust in 2008.”
“An examination of this sociogram reveals the overwhelming dominance of Donors Trust/ Donors Capital in the overall network. It occupies a central position in the network: Out of the 51 CCCMorganizations that received foundation funding from the top 22 foundations, Donors funded 35, or nearly 70 % of them. The other leading funders include the affiliated Scaife and Koch Foundations, as well as the Bradley, Pope, and Searle foundations. The pattern of recipients of funding shows that the traditional conservative think tanks receive the largest sums of foundation funding. Especially prominent are the Hoover Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute. Additionally, an unusually large amount of funding was provided to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. This was due to a large grant of $7.7 million dollars from Donors Trust.”
“The available data indicates that the Koch and ExxonMobil Foundations have recently pulled back from publicly funding CCCM organizations. From 2003 to 2007, the Koch Affiliated Foundations and the ExxonMobil Foundation were heavily involved in funding CCCM organizations. But since 2008, they are no longer making publicly traceable contributions to CCCMorganizations. Instead, funding has shifted to pass through untraceable sources. Coinciding with the decline in traceable funding, the amount of funding given to CCCM organizations by Donors Trust/Capital has risen dramatically.”
Graham Readfearn – The Millions Behind Bjorn Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center US Think Tank – Desmogblog – 24/06/2014 – https://www.desmogblog.com/2014/06/25/millions-behind-bjorn-lomborg-copenhagen-consensus-center
“The main trustee at Randolph is Heather Higgins, the president and CEO of Independent Women’s Voice and the chairman of its sister organization Independent Women’s Forum. Higgins is the daughter of R. Randolph Richardson, a member of the family that sold Vick Chemical Company to Procter & Gamble for $1.2 billion. Staff writers of both organisations regularly express scepticism about the science of human-caused climate change and cite Lomborg’s views approvingly. A recent article from IWF senior fellow Vicki Alger claimed “a majority of scientists believe that global warming is largely nature-made” — ignoring several studies that show the vast majority of research from scientists studying climate change believe exactly the opposite. IWF funders include the Charles R. Lambe Foundation, controlled by Charles Koch, and Donors Trust, a fund for conservative philanthropists that has pushed millions into organisations promoting climate science denial and fighting laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”
“A recent article from IWF senior fellow Vicki Alger claimed “a majority of scientists believe that global warming is largely nature-made” — ignoring several studies that show the vast majority of research from scientists studying climate change believe exactly the opposite. IWF funders include the Claude R. Lambe Foundation, controlled by Charles Koch, and Donors Trust, a fund for conservative philanthropists that has pushed millions into organisations promoting climate science denial and fighting laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Higgins is also board member at the Philanthropy Roundtable, another route for conservative philanthropy which shares two members of personnel with Donors Trust or its partner organisation Donors Capital Fund. Also on the board of trustees at Randolph is Polly Freiss, the daughter-in-law of conservative Christian businessman Foster Freiss. Foster Freiss put more than $2 million into Republican Senator Rick Santorum’s 2012 run for his party’s nomination for the presidency. Freiss also bankrolled conservative news outlet The Daily Caller, which regularly publishes articles supporting the views of climate science denialists. On his personal web page, Freiss promotes climate science denial sources including Climate Depot and The Heartland Institute. Friess’s website has also promoted Lomborg’s views. Foster Freiss and his daughter Polly attended the Koch brother’s secretive 2010 strategy meeting in Aspen, along with Heather Higgins and a host of other conservative activists. ”
Kert Davies – Willie Soon Scandal: Corporate Funding Year By Year – Climate Investigations Center – 27/02/2015 – http://www.climateinvestigations.org/willie-soon-scandal-corporate-funding-year-by-year
“People keep asking how much Soon got from each of his corporate funders year by year, and why some places it says $1.2 million total and others $1.5M… The total funding since 2001 that we know about from Greenpeace FOIAs to Smithsonian and corporate foundation 990s is $1,573,270, tabulated below. That total excluding the ‘anonymous’ donation from Donors Trust, leaved known fossil funding at $1,248,471.”
Graham Readfearn – Was Climate Science Denialist Willie Soon Funded To Do Science Or Was It Just PR Cash From The Fossil Fuel Industry? – Desmogblog – 01/03/2015 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/03/01/was-climate-science-denialist-willie-soon-funded-do-science-or-was-it-just-pr-cash-fossil-fuel-industry
“While it’s been known for several years that Soon was being funded heavily by the fossil fuel industry, the current outcry centres on the disclosure of that funding to the journals who have run his research. InsideClimate News has a summary of the 11 scientific papers where Soon had described his studies as “deliverables” to his funders – in those cases coal utility Southern Company and conservative funding arm Donors Trust. On most occasions, the fossil fuel funding was not disclosed.”
Graham Readfearn – Exclusive: Major Climate Denial Funders Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund Handled $479 Million Of Dark Money – DesmogUK – 12/05/2015 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/05/12/exclusive-major-climate-science-denial-funders-donors-trust-and-donors-capital-fund-handled-479-million-untraceable
“More than $470 million of cash flowing into a key funding arm of the climate science denial movement in the United States is untraceable, a DeSmog investigation has found. Sister organisations Donors Trust (DT) and Donors Capital Fund (DCF) declared an income of $511 million between 2005 and 2012, tax records show. But a DeSmog analysis of the sources of DT and DCF income finds that some $479 million of the income is “dark money” coming from individuals or groups who do not have to declare their donations. The amount of untraceable cash moving through DT and DCF is likely to be increasing substantially. In 2013, the two groups had their biggest year to date with a combined income of $152m and cash assets of $138m. Donors Trust itself saw income more than double from $46m in 2012 to $103m in 2013 even though the value of grants it handed out remained stable at about $40m each year.”
Letter to Rex Tillerson – United States Senate – 29/10/2015 – https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2490793/letter-to-exxonmobil-re-donors-funding.pdf
“Dear Mr. Tillerson … Over the years. we have seen Exxon support climate denial and anti-climate policy advocacy through a variety of foundations and advocacy groups, such as the Heartland Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. ln the mid- 2000s ExxonMobil pulled its funding from some of those organizations. Soon thereafter, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund began to increasingly support climate denial groups. According to research by Dr. Ruben Brulle of Drexel University the Donors Trust / Donors Capital Fund operation docs double duty: it is the “central component” and” “predominant funder” of the denier apparatus. and at the same time it is the “black box that conceals the identity of contributors … Sincerely.”
Lawrence Carter and Maeve McClenaghan (2015) – Exposed: Academics-for-hire agree not to disclose fossil fuel funding – Unearthed – 08/12/2015 – https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2015/12/08/exposed-academics-for-hire/
“Leading climate sceptic who will testify at Ted Cruz senate hearing today agrees to write pro-fossil fuel paper secretly funded by oil company. An Unearthed undercover investigation has exposed how fossil fuel companies can secretly pay academics at leading American universities to write research that sows doubt about climate science and promotes the companies’ commercial interests … Citing industry-funded documents – including testimony to state hearings and newspaper articles – Professor Frank Clemente of Penn State said: “In none of these cases is the sponsor identified. All my work is published as an independent scholar.” Leading climate-sceptic academic, Professor William Happer, agreed to write a report for a Middle Eastern oil company on the benefits of CO2 and to allow the firm to keep the source of the funding secret. Happer is due to appear this afternoon as a star witness in Senate hearings called by Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz. In emails to reporters he also revealed Peabody Energy paid thousands of dollars for him to testify at a separate state hearing, with the money being paid to a climate-sceptic think tank. Read the emails with Professor Frank Clemente. Read the emails with Professor Happer and the Donors Trust. ”
Graham Readfearn – Major Climate Science Denial Groups Offer to Hide Fossil Fuel Funding, Greenpeace Investigation Finds – Desmogblog – 08/12/2015 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/12/08/leading-climate-science-denial-groups-offer-hide-fossil-fuel-funding-greenpeace-investigation-finds
“According to a report on the investigation at Greenpeace’s EnergyDesk website, Princeton’s Professor William Happer had revealed he had accepted cash from coal company Peabody Energy in return for providing testimony to US congress but had routed the cash through a climate denial group. Happer also offered his services but said that a new climate science denial group, CO2 Coalition, should be used to channel the funds. Groups including the Global Warming Policy Foundation and Donors Trust are also alleged to have been complicit in providing “peer review” services for fossil fuel clients and, in the case of Donors Trust, in providing an untraceable route for the fossil fuel payments. … A DeSmogBlog investigation into Donors Trust and its partner group Donors Capital Fund found that between 2005 and 2012, some $479 million of income to the two groups was untraceable. Of the amounts that were traceable, DeSmog found that $7.65 million had come from the Knowledge and Progress Fund (KPF). On the KPF board are oil billionaire and major Republican benefactor Charles Koch, his wife Liz and son Charles Chase Koch. Richard Fink, a Koch company director and long-standing aide to Charles Koch, is also a KPF director.”
Graham Readfearn – Major Climate Science Denial Groups Offer to Hide Fossil Fuel Funding, Greenpeace Investigation Finds – Desmogblog – 08/12/2015 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/12/08/leading-climate-science-denial-groups-offer-hide-fossil-fuel-funding-greenpeace-investigation-finds
“Greenpeace also claims that CO2 Coalition board member William O’Keefe, a former Exxon lobbyist, had suggested in an email to Happer that Donors Trust be used as a route to conceal cash from a fictional Middle eastern oil and gas company. The investigation also targeted Happer’s work with the London-based contrarian group the Global Warming Policy Foundation, founded by former UK chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson. Greenpeace wrote: Professor Happer, who sits on the GWPF’s Academic Advisory Council, was asked by undercover reporters if he could put the industry funded report through the same peer review process as previous GWPF reports they claimed to have been “thoroughly peer reviewed”. Happer explained that this process had consisted of members of the Advisory Council and other selected scientists reviewing the work, rather than presenting it to an academic journal. He added: “I would be glad to ask for a similar review for the first drafts of anything I write for your client. Unless we decide to submit the piece to a regular journal, with all the complications of delay, possibly quixotic editors and reviewers that is the best we can do, and I think it would be fine to call it a peer review.” Asked for comment by Greenpeace, the GWPF said in a statement that it rejected Greenpeace’s investigation, saying any claims it had offered to put a fossil fuel commission report through its own version of peer review were a “fabrication”.”
Jane Mayer (2016) – Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right – Bantam Dell – – ISBN-13: 978-0385535595 – 464 Págs.
“Ball argued that the mechanism wasn’t suspicious, or even unusual, and that liberals too had their own donor-advised fund, the Tides Foundation. DonorsTrust, the conservative answer to the Tides Foundation, however, soon had four times the funds and a far more strategic board. Its directors consisted of top officials of several of the most important institutions in the conservative movement, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Institute for Justice, the libertarian legal center whose start-up funds had been supplied by Charles Koch. They functioned as a central committee, coordinating grant making.” (p. 207)
Mary Bottari and David Armiak (2016) – Kochs’ ‘Grassroots Leadership Academy’ Is Training an Astroturf Army – Alter Net – 18/05/2016 – PR Watch – http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/kochs-grassroots-leadership-academy-training-astroturf-army
“This is why the Kochs built the multi-million dollar political operation, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which spends millions on phony “”issue ads”” in the election cycle and also recruits the Kochs’ “”grassroots.”” AFP’s budget—which has come from Koch foundations, the Koch personal fortune, and Koch billionaire allies in their Freedom Partners alliance—surged from $7 million in 2007 to $40 million in 2010 to $122 million in 2012. In the 2012 election cycle, it was a key component of the Kochs’ estimated $400 million political network, receiving large portions of its money from the Kochs’ Freedom Partners and the Koch-linked American Encore (previously known as the Center to Protect Patient Rights) and Donors Trust. AFP has in the past parachuted in grassroots-like operations when Koch-backed candidates needed their help to win.”.”
David Callahan – A Top Community Foundation Pulls Back the Curtain on Donor-Advised Funds—To a Point – Inside Philantropy – 13/06/2016 – http://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2016/6/13/a-top-community-foundation-pulls-back-the-curtain-on-donor-a.html
“The growth of donor-advised funds is one of the biggest stories in philanthropy. Over the past half decade, the amount of money held in these funds has more than doubled, as has the annual value of grants flowing out. Of the four largest grantmaking institutions in the U.S., two are donor-advised funds. (Here’s the pecking order, in case you’re wondering: Gates, Fidelity, Schwab, OSF.) We’ve hosted strong arguments at IP about both the pros and cons of donor-advised funds, with critics and defenders alike making some great points.”
Graham Readfearn – Conservative Funders of Climate Denial Are Quietly Spending Millions To Generate More Partisan Journalism – Desmog – 15/06/2016 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/06/16/conservative-funders-climate-denial-are-quietly-spending-millions-create-more-partisan-journalism
“In 2014, the Daily Caller News Foundation — the non-profit arm of the Daily Caller website — accepted some $106,248 in two donations from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Donors Trust also handed the Daily Caller $60,000 in 2014. The Daily Caller regularly publishes stories that denigrate climate science while promoting Republican outbursts against cutting fossil fuel emissions. Climate science denier and Republican supporter Foster Freiss helped bankroll the Daily Caller with a $3 million donation before it was launched in January 2010. Several Daily Caller staff have spent time at the organisations analysed by DeSmog. Investigative reporter Katie Watson spent three years at the Franklin Center’s Watchdog project, reporter Connor Wolf was an associate at the Charles Koch Institute, environment writer Michael Bastasch was a Koch intern, editor in chief Christopher Bedford was an associate at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, and managing editor Paul Connor and reporter Casey Harper both spent time at the Young America’s Foundation’s National Journalism Center (NJC).”
Ralph Wilson – Koch Criminal Justice Reform Trojan Horse: Special Report on Reentry and Following the Money – PR Watch – 16/06/2016 – http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/06/13115/koch-criminal-justice-reform-report-reentry-follow-money
“Right on Crime8 was a project launched in 2010 by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a “think tank” active in the State Policy Network and ALEC. (See related map on Little Sis.) That’s the same year that Charles Koch’s corporation, Koch Industries, made a major donation to TPPF, which was uncovered by investigative journalists in the state, as CMD detailed in its “Koch Trojan Horse” special report.9 As of 2013, TPPF had received10 at least $3,314,591 from donors and entities connected to the Koch network (including Donors Trust11 and Donors Capital Fund,12 who supplied TPPF with $760,100 in 2014 alone), but the total amount from Koch Industries or personal checks from the Kochs is not publicly disclosed. Right on Crime describes itself as “a national campaign to promote successful, conservative solutions on American criminal justice policy—reforming the system to ensure public safety, shrink government, and save taxpayers money.”.”
Brendan DeMelle – Senators Launch Resolution, Speech Blitz Calling Out #WebOfDenial Blocking Climate Action – Desmog – 11/07/2016 – http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/07/11/senators-launch-resolution-and-speech-blitz-calling-out-climate-webofdenial
“Championed by Senators Whitehouse, Markey, Schatz, Boxer, Merkley, Warren, Sanders, and Franken, the resolution condemns what they are calling the #WebOfDenial — “interconnected groups – funded by the Koch brothers, major fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal, identity-scrubbing groups like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, and their allies – developed and executed a massive campaign to deceive the public about climate change to halt climate action and protect their bottom lines.” Joined in the House of Representatives by Congressman Ted Lieu (D- CA), these champions for climate action and accountability in the Senate are calling out the use of think tanks and denier-for-hire front groups to create doubt about climate science. Read the resolution [pdf].”
– Kimberly O. Dennis – George Mason University – 21/07/2016 – http://bov.gmu.edu/bios/dennis.html
“Kim Dennis is president and CEO of the Searle Freedom Trust, a grant-making foundation established by the late Daniel C. Searle to support public policy research. … Ms. Dennis has spent over 30 years in the philanthropic arena. She was the first executive director of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a national association of individual donors, foundation officers, corporate giving representatives, and trust and estate officers. She assumed leadership of the Roundtable when it was established as an independent organization and built the membership to 450 associates within five years. Her first grant-making experience was with the John M. Olin Foundation, which is best known for its role in developing law and economics as an academic discipline. … Currently, Ms. Dennis serves as chairman of the board of Donors Trust, vice chairman of Donors Capital Fund, a trustee of the Earhart Foundation, a member of the board of the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, and a director of PERC, the Property and Environment Research Center. She serves on the selection committee for the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership and the Hayek Book Prize. Previously, she served on the boards of the W.H. Brady Foundation and the Philanthropy Roundtable, and was a member of the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal.”
– Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) – Desmogblog – 21/07/2016 – http://www.desmogblog.com/property-and-environment-research-center
“PERC was founded over 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, where it began as a think tank where “scholars documented how government regulation and bureaucracy often led to environmental degradation.” The organization’s latest development is the “PERC University” campus where “scholars, journalists, policy makers, and environmental practitioners can come together to share knowledge, refine their work, and engage in robust discussion” about free market environmentalism. [2] Terry Anderson, former president of the PERC, was a previous member of George W. Bush’s presidential campaign environmental advisory staff, as was former PERC fellow Gale Norton. In 1998, Kathryn Ratte of PERC, addressed the Petroleum Association of America on how to get their message into public schools. She said that “politically correct environmentalism invaded U.S. public classrooms years ago, and is helping to hold the door shut on your message.” [3] The PERC has long advocated for the privatization of America’s national parks, and recently (as of 2015) has pushed for no more national parks. [4] PERC has received significant funding from Koch Foundations and related organizations, as well as from the fossil fuel industry and Donors Trust, a group that has been called the “dark-money ATM” of the conservative movement by Mother Jones. [5].”
Dana Nuccitelli – These are the best arguments from the 3% of climate scientist ‘skeptics.’ Really. – The Guardian – 25/07/2016 – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/jul/25/these-are-the-best-arguments-from-the-3-of-climate-scientist-skeptics-really
“Contrarian climate scientist Roy Spencer summed up the contrarian case for a fossil fuel and tobacco-funded think tank … Last week, Spencer wrote a white paper for the Texas Public Policy Institute (TPPI) outlining the contrarian case against climate concerns. TPPI is part of the web of denial, having received substantial funding from both the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, including $65,000 from ExxonMobil and at least $911,499 from Koch-related foundations since 1998, and over $3 million from “dark money” anonymizers Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.”
Graham Readfearn – How Donald Trump Kingmaker-Billionaires Robert and Rebekah Mercer Have Poured Millions Into Climate Science Denial – Desmogblog – 12/01/2017 – https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/12/trump-kingmaker-billionaires-robert-rebekah-mercer-pouring-millions-climate-science-denial
“Most of the attention of investigative journalists had fallen on three overlapping groups that have either influenced or funded the climate science denial movement across the United States. The first was the network of groups funded and orchestrated by the Koch brothers, who have invested millions into creating and sustaining conservative “think tanks” that take positions protecting the Koch brothers’ fossil fuel interests. Groups like the Cato Institute (which cashed a $300,000 Mercer check last year) and Americans for Prosperity have attacked the science of human-caused climate change while challenging the legitimacy of solutions, such as renewable energy and electric vehicles. The second key funding stream for climate science denial organizations are two linked organizations called Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund. Both Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund are “donor-advised funds” and are used by rich conservatives to funnel money to “libertarian” causes while hiding the identity of the donors. A third major supporter of the climate science denial industry are those who stand to lose most from the public fully understanding the implications of climate change — the fossil fuel industry itself.”
Wiki – Robert Brulle – Wikipedia – 10/09/2017 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Brulle
“Robert J. Brulle is an American environmental sociologist and professor of sociology and environmental science at Drexel University. He is also an associate professor of public health at the Drexel University School of Public Health. He advocates aggressive political action to address global warming … Over the eight years covered by the study (2003-2010), the American Enterprise Institute received the most funding—16% of the total funds, and the donor-advised funds Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund were the largest funders.[11] The study also found that the amount of money donated to these organizations by means of Donors Trust and other foundations whose funding sources cannot be traced has risen dramatically over the previous five years.”
James Piereson – Wikipedia – 22/01/2018 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Piereson
“James Piereson is an American conservative scholar … Philanthropy: From 1985 to 2005, he served as Executive Director and Trustee of the John M. Olin Foundation [refs] He is President of the William E. Simon Foundation, a grant-giving organization headquartered in New York City [refs] He is a Senior Fellow and serves as Chairman of the Center for the American University at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research [refs] … He serves on the Boards of the Pinkerton Foundation, the Thomas W. Smith Foundation, the Center for Individual Rights, the Philanthropy Roundtable (where he served as Chairman from 1995 to 1999), the Foundation for Cultural Review, the American Spectator Foundation, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Donors Trust.”
Sharon Kelly – Dark Money Paid New Trump Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s Salary for 3 Years – Desmogblog – 07/11/2018 – https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/11/07/dark-money-donors-trust-trump-attorney-general-matthew-whitaker-jeff-sessions
“Today, President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that Matthew G. Whitaker, who served as chief of staff for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would replace his boss. Sessions was forced from office a day after the midterm elections, which were rough for climate and anti-fracking measures around the country. Whitaker was appointed as Session’s chief of staff on September 22, 2017. Before that, he served for three years as the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), which describes itself as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas.” FACT has come under fire for its own lack of transparency, with the Center for Responsive Politics calling attention to FACT’s funding, which in some years came entirely from DonorsTrust, an organization also known as the “Dark Money ATM of the Conservative Movement” and whose own donors include the notorious funders of climate denial, Charles and David Koch.”
Nafeez Ahmed – How US climate deniers are working with far-right racists to hijack Brexit for Big Oil – Le Monde Diplomatique – 01/06/2019 – https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/brexit-climate-deniers
“The network map uncovers how this nexus of British groups around Tufton Street is being used, through funding and personnel, by the Atlas Network, a neoconservative non-profit based in Washington DC. Funded by the Kochs, Exxon and other fossil fuel giants, Atlas’ main London partner is the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), which has lobbied key UK government ministers including several competing to become the next prime minister. The Atlas Network has direct connections with top Trump administration officials and supports over 450 organizations around the world to promote its vision of the ‘free-market’ — a euphemism for eliminating government regulations, rolling back environment laws, and slashing public spending in the interests of the wealthiest. Atlas Network think tanks are funded by some of the biggest US fossil fuel producers and funders of climate science denial — such as the Koch brothers (through the Koch Foundation and Donors Trust), ExxonMobil and MasterCard … Among the map’s implications is that the UK’s hardline Brexit lobby is far from truly ‘nationalist’ — but is actually operating as a front for Trump’s ‘America First’ lobbying efforts to break into European markets.”
