There are many reasons why people create charity organizations. To encourage this, we have created a tax system for non-profits in the country. The non-profit sector is full of hardworking, honest people.
Grifters are everywhere.
Grifters don’t always start off as grifters. They can start out as people with a heart of gold, who are either sad and angry or just plain helpful. This is an admirable reason. But as the saying by famous philosopher P.Diddy goes: mo’ money, mo’ problems.
Black Lives Matter is the best example of that expression. Although it was born from frustrations over the Ferguson riots and started by community members who thought they had something of value, its roots are humble. Although you might not be able to agree with them (or agree completely), their creation was natural. That didn’t last long. The summer of 2020 (Summer O’ BLM, as I like to call it) brought with it a tidal wave of funding for an organization largely founded and run by people with little experience in non-profit reporting, spending or finances. To top it all, they were socialists. It was impossible for them to figure it out.
BLM leaders could not resist the temptation of an unstoppable cash flow. They had no infrastructure and were without a leader. They were not only receiving an enormous influx of donors, but also making millions from their retail business through the licensing and sale of BLM merchandise.
This is an incredible amount of wealth that you can achieve in such a short time. If they hadn’t been trained beforehand, few people could manage such a large amount of wealth. Patrisse and her BLM colleagues make no exception.
There’s no need to rehash all the issues. RedState has been reporting extensively on BLM’s financial woes, including Cullors’ luxurious real estate purchases in Los Angeles and Toronto and the group’s purchase of a $6 million dollar mansion in the coveted Los Angeles environ of Studio City. Cullors’ troubles also include a recent report that BLM paid her brother $840,000 for security services.
It’s not the most striking look but it isn’t surprising.
Love of money is at the root of all evil. Many think that reference is for wealthy people…greedy people. Anyone can use it. It is possible to be wealthy and obsessive about money. It is the elevation of cashflow that rots the spirit and not the quantity of cashflow.
BLM’s story is only one example of the many disasters that charity groups face every day. It was easy to realize that a protest movement could bring in a lot of cash and make more than your common sense.
This happened to me through the Tea Party Movement, my entry point into politics. Many of those I met went on to be effective commentators and activists. Many others became permanent fund raisers who were short on strategy messaging and are long on private jets, cocktail parties, and private planes.
Occupy Wall Street was also subject to the same fate. They were overthrown by the socialist elite. They turned the organization into a fundraiser and activists went on to Antifa.
It happened the same way to #MeToo. Tarana Burke, founder of the organization, was the victim of egregious workplace sexual harassment. She intended the support group to help women navigate corporate culture and make legitimate harassment complaints. Then the Harvey Weinstein scandal came along and every woman in Hollywood rushed to be by Burke’s side for red carpet photo ops. After that, they took over the movement making it an advertising and financial success machine. Burke has since admitted she was worried that would happen and has expressed disgust at how Hollywood has ‘hijacked’ her genuine activism.
Politicians are often victims of this. Even people with the best intentions, it is easy to become overwhelmed by all that money flowing into politics or government. It can warp one’s view of right and wrong, and sever connections with the average Americans they purport to serve.
Pastors are often affected by it. Carl Lentz was a Hillsong former pastor. Although he was young and attractive, he had a heart for his church and was committed to serving it. However, despite the fact that a place that allowed him to be next to the best entertainers, such as Justin Bieber, he couldn’t resist the temptations of personal fame and tax-free income.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to run a financially successful charity group honestly. You can do it, but you need to put in a lot of hard work. This work is not glamorous and does not come with the reward of fancy meals and luxurious transportation. This requires accountability, continuous education and training as well as good management and accounting skills.
Most people who start activist movements don’t need to be raising funds for them. You can easily turn your passion for the cause to a desire for recognition (and money) for it.
Her crowd and Cullors could not escape the prospect of more income than what they had ever imagined in their lower-income past lives. Their passion was strong, but they had no moral anchors to hold them down in the real world. They should have hired a team accountants and managers in order to manage the millions of dollars they suddenly had at their disposal. It was instead to purchase mansions, flood their families with lucrative contracts, and ignore the many satellite BLM organizations that waited patiently for the promised funds.
BLM – and #MeToo and Carl Lentz and every other bad actor in the non-profit world – is what happens when you have too many dollars and not nearly enough sense.
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