ProPublica

Journalism in the Public Interest

Cancel

Campaign 2012

How Some Nonprofit Groups Funnel Dark Money Into Campaigns

By Kim Barker and Al Shaw, ProPublica. Updated October 4, 2012

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 »

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.
Recognized on April 3, 2010.
Started ads in Oct. 2010
Aired Oct. 15, 2010
Aired Oct. 15, 2010
Aired Oct. 15, 2010
Aired Oct. 18, 2010
Aired Oct. 18, 2010
Aired Oct. 19, 2010
Aired Oct. 19, 2010
Aired Oct. 22, 2010
Reported spending $25.7M to the IRS and $19.4M on elections* from July 2010 to June 2011.
76%
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.
Recognized on Oct. 24, 2008.
Started ads in Sept. 2010
Aired Sept. 15, 2010
Aired Sept. 15, 2010
Aired Sept. 15, 2010
Aired Sept. 23, 2010
Aired Sept. 24, 2010
Aired Oct. 5, 2010
Aired Oct. 16, 2010
Reported spending $21.4M to the IRS and $9.07M on elections* from Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2010.
42%
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies leaning conservative

Applied for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status.
Started ads in Aug. 2010
Aired Aug. 15, 2010
Aired Aug. 19, 2010
Aired Aug. 19, 2010
Aired Aug. 24, 2010
Aired Aug. 25, 2010
Aired Aug. 25, 2010
Aired Aug. 26, 2010
Aired Aug. 30, 2010
Aired Aug. 31, 2010
Aired Aug. 31, 2010
Aired Sept. 2, 2010
Aired Sept. 20, 2010
Aired Sept. 27, 2010
Aired Sept. 27, 2010
Reported spending $42.3M to the IRS and $16.5M on elections* from June 2010 to May 2011.
39%
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
Still awaiting tax-exempt recognition from the IRS.

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.
Recognized on March 28, 1991.
Started ads in Sept. 2010
Aired Sept. 8, 2010
Aired Sept. 8, 2010
Aired Sept. 8, 2010
Aired Sept. 8, 2010
Aired Sept. 22, 2010
Aired Sept. 24, 2010
Aired Sept. 28, 2010
Reported spending $18.3M to the IRS and $7.24M on elections** from July 2010 to June 2011.
40%
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.

League of Conservation Voters leaning liberal

The IRS recognized the group’s tax-exempt status in Dec. 1991 but couldn’t locate a copy of the application for ProPublica.
Started ads in Oct. 2010
Aired Oct. 8, 2010
Aired Oct. 14, 2010
Reported spending $19M to the IRS and $4.69M on elections* from Jan. 2010 to Dec. 2010.
25%
Reported election spending on IRS Form 990.
See all organizations »

* 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.