As a rising tide of red ink threatens to engulf Black Lives Matter, it has increased spending on management, according to new documents.
The Washington Free Beacon recently published the federal tax return of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.
The federal 990 form required for non-profits shows that in the 2020-2021 reporting year, Black Lives Matter raked in $76,872,002 in contributions and grants, which nosedived to $9,268,283 in the 2021-2022 year covered by the document.
For the 21-22 year, Black Lives Matter spent $17,048,810, giving it a net loss on the year of $8,559,748. The document said that while Black Lives Matter had roughly $30 million in assets at the end of the 21-22 reporting year, it lost $11.7 million in assets in the course of the year.
In its report, the Free Beacon noted that after multiple issues in compliance with the rules for charities in several states, Black Lives Matter had to shut down its online presence.
The document and report showed that more than $10.5 million went to contractors, many of which were linked for friends and family of former executive director Patrisse Cullors.
Paul Cullors, the brother of Patrisse Cullors, not only collected a $126,000 salary but $1.6 million through his businesses, which according to the tax form provided security services.
“While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, it looks like she’s still keeping it all in the family,” said Paul Kamenar, an attorney with the National Legal and Policy Center.
Shalomyah Bowers, the current executive director and close friend of Cullors, received $1.7 million for services through his consulting firm.
A sister organization, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, has accused Bowers of “blazing a path of irreparable harm to BLM” and “‘siphoning’ millions to his firm,” according to the New York Post.
“Instead of using the donations for its intended purposes, Mr. Bowers diverted these donations to his own coffers,” the group claimed in a lawsuit.
The firm owned by Danielle Edwards, sister of former Black Lives Matter board member Raymond Howard, received roughly $1.1 million as a consultant.
The office of the New Mexico Attorney General posted a summary online. The summary showed that despite losing revenue, funds spent on management rose as the cash flow dwindled.
According to the New Mexico summary, in the 2020-2021 reporting year, Black Lives Matter spent $3,760,600 on management, which was 4.72 percent of its revenue.
In the 2021-2022 reporting year, management spending rose to $5,099,244, which was 60.07 percent of revenue.
Brian Mittendorf, a professor of accounting at Ohio State University, said the red flag the document shows, to him, is the “continued and substantial transactions with insiders,” according to Newsweek.
“While this is not improper per se, it does raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest in governing the organization. So I would hope the organization would take strides to ensure any such transactions benefited the organization and not individuals affiliated with it,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
