Related Research Articles
Focus on the Family is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s. As of the 2017 tax filing year, Focus on the Family declared itself to be a church, "primarily to protect the confidentiality of our donors." Traditionally, entities considered churches have been ones that have regular worship services and congregants.
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The legal term PAC was created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition. At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to protect religious liberty, expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights. In 2014, ADF literature described part of its mission as "[seeking] to recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries." ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with branch offices in several locations including Washington, D.C., and New York. Its international subsidiary, Alliance Defending Freedom International, with headquarters in Vienna, Austria, operates in over 100 countries.
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 1,001 stores in 48 U.S. states. The Green family founded Hobby Lobby to express their Christian beliefs and the chain incorporates American conservative values and Christian media.
George Soros is a Hungarian-American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist. As of October 2023, he had a net worth of US$6.7 billion, having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, of which $15 billion has already been distributed, representing 64% of his original fortune. Forbes called Soros the "most generous giver". He is a resident of New York.
Jeffrey S. Yass is an American billionaire businessman. According to Forbes, Yass had a net worth of $28.5 billion in 2023.
Harold Clark Simmons was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist whose banking expertise helped him develop the acquisition concept known as the leveraged buyout (LBO) to acquire various corporations. He was the owner of Contran Corporation and of Valhi, Inc.,. As of 2006, he controlled five public companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange: NL Industries; Titanium Metals Corporation, the world's largest producer of titanium; Valhi, Inc., a multinational company with operations in the chemicals, component products, Waste Control Specialists, titanium metals industries; CompX International, manufacturer of ergonomic products, and Kronos Worldwide, leading producer and marketer of titanium dioxide.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch family's primary political advocacy group, it is one of the most influential American conservative organizations.
Charles G. and David H. Koch (1940–2019), sometimes referred to as the Koch brothers, have become famous for their financial and political influence in United States politics with a libertarian, more so, right-libertarian or American-style libertarian political stance. From around 2004 to 2019, with "foresight and perseverance", the brothers organized like-minded wealthy libertarian-oriented conservatives, spent hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money to build an "integrated" and "stealth" network of think tanks, foundations, "grassroots" movements, academic programs, advocacy and legal groups to "destroy the prevalent statist paradigm" reshape public opinion to favor minimal government. As of mid 2018, the media has been encouraged to refer to the "Koch network" rather than the "Koch brothers".
In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public.
GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the beginning of 2020, over $9 billion has been raised on the platform, with contributions from over 120 million donors.
Robert Leroy Mercer is an American hedge fund manager, computer scientist, and political donor. Mercer was an early artificial intelligence researcher and developer and is the former co-CEO of the hedge fund company Renaissance Technologies.
Richard Ellis Uihlein and Elizabeth Uihlein are American billionaire businesspeople, founders of Uline and conservative donors. Richard is also an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.
The Center for Organizational Research and Education (CORE), formerly the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and prior to that the Guest Choice Network, is an American non-profit entity founded by Richard Berman. It describes itself as "dedicated to protecting consumer choices and promoting common sense."
National Christian Foundation (NCF) is a US non-profit organization that assists donors in donating to charitable causes. NCF accepts non-cash assets and is the nation's largest provider of donor-advised funds focused primarily on Christian donors. Since 1982, NCF has granted over $14.5 billion to causes and charities.
Jonathan Tivadar Soros is the founder and chief executive officer of JS Capital Management LLC, a private investment firm. Prior to that, Soros worked at Soros Fund Management in daily operations and was co-deputy chairman of the organization.
Arabella Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network. It was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler. The Arabella network spent nearly $1.2 billion in 2020 and raised $1.35 billion in 2022.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a hub of undisclosed political spending on the American Left. The group serves as a fiscal sponsor for other organizations, incubating and financing various progressive projects. According to The New York Times, "The Sixteen Thirty is part of a broader network of progressive nonprofits that donors use to fill specific spaces on the political chessboard." The Sixteen Thirty Fund is administered by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consulting firm.
GiveSendGo is a Christian crowdfunding website. It has attracted controversy for facilitating the funding of far-right, neo-Nazi, alt-right, and white supremacist activists and hate groups.
"He Gets Us" is an American religious advertising campaign formerly operated by the Servant Foundation. First launched in 2022, the campaign's stated goal is to "reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible".
References
- 1 2 Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon (2013-05-09). "Servant Foundation, Full Filing - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Carter, Joe (2 March 2023). "The FAQs: What You Should Know About the 'He Gets Us' Campaign". The Gospel Coalition. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
- 1 2 "'He Gets Us' returns with new Super Bowl commercials for Jesus". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
- ↑ Jones, Kevin J. (December 5, 2022). "Super Bowl 2023: Who's behind those 'He Gets Us' ads about Jesus?". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- 1 2 Bauer, Sydney; Cariboni, Diana (28 November 2023). "Non-profit trying to rebrand Jesus for Gen Z is main funder for US hate group". opendemocracy.net. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ Willingham, AJ (13 February 2023). "The truth behind the 'He Gets Us' ads for Jesus airing during the Super Bowl". CNN. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ↑ Wright, Matthew (12 February 2024). "Billionaire family aims to convert Super Bowl fans with 'haters' campaign". MSN. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ↑ "Alliance Defending Freedom". splcenter.org. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ↑ Biron, Bethany (21 October 2022). "16 of the biggest controversies in Hobby Lobby's 50-year history — from denying contraceptives for employees to illegally smuggling ancient tablets". Business Insider. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
