After Raising $90 Million in 2020, Black Lives Matter Has $42 Million …

In the tragic, whirlwind year of 2020, with racial-justice protests prompted by the killing of Black men and women by police officers, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation raised $90 million, much of it small donations from rank-and-file supporters. A recent tax filing from the group shows that by the middle of last year, more than half of that money had been granted to smaller organizations or spent on consultants and real estate, leaving the foundation with $42 million in assets.

The foundations finances have been subjected to criticism both from participants in the Black Lives Matter movement and from their opponents. Many local groups that are part of the movement have called for more transparency and a greater role in making decisions, as well as more money for the organizations led by activists on the ground. At the same time, opponents of Black Lives Matter have tried to portray spending by one of the groups founders as evidence of widespread mismanagement in a manner that appears intended to impugn the cause of racial justice as well as the group.

No one expected the foundation to grow at this pace and to this scale, Cicley Gay, chair of the board of directors, said in a statement on Tuesday. Now, we are taking time to build efficient infrastructure to run the largest Black, abolitionist, philanthropic organization to ever exist in the United States.

Ms. Gay was one of three new board members that the group announced last month. In an interview on Tuesday, Shalomyah Bowers, another new member of the board, said the picture painted by the documents shows an organization retooling for the long haul.

As a new board, we are building policies that didnt exist, operational and administrative infrastructure that didnt exist. Were making it clear to Black people that were an institution and that were here to stay, said Mr. Bowers. In order to do that, we need to demonstrate that our financial house is in order.

During the fiscal year covered by the tax form, the only voting board member was Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter. While such a structure is legal in Delaware, where the group is incorporated, charity experts say it is far from best practices, especially for a group with tens of millions of dollars in its coffers.

Imagine you have the equivalent of a cruise ship with no one at the helm, you have a massive organization, massive amounts of money, no structure, no accountability, no staff, said Ashley Yates, a St. Louis-born activist who was involved with Black Lives Matter nationally in its early years but has since spoken critically about lack of transparency within the group. Who even makes the decision on who writes the checks?

Ms. Cullors, who stepped down as executive director in May 2021, said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that within the group, they often referred to the experience of the past few years as building the plane while flying it.

The only regret I have with B.L.M. is wishing that we could have paused for one to two years, to just not do any work and just focus on the infrastructure, she said in the interview. Much of the outside critical attention on the group focused on her involvement.

Last month, New York Magazine reported that funds raised by the foundation were used to buy a house in California for nearly $6 million in cash in October 2020. The tax filing shows property worth $5.9 million, held by a Delaware company. The house was to be used, among other things, as an artist retreat, the filing said, but identifying information is not being released here due to safety and security concerns and threats to B.L.M.G.N.F.s leadership, staff and creators, the form said.

The tax form indicated that Ms. Cullors received no compensation during the fiscal year but instead served as an unpaid volunteer. A family member, Paul Cullors, was listed on the tax form as receiving payment for professional security services amounting to $840,993.

According to the tax filing, Ms. Cullors also paid the organization back for charter travel, saying that she voluntarily reimbursed subsequent to year end. She also repaid the nonprofit for personal use of its real estate, which appeared to refer to a birthday party for her son held at the $6 million house.

I think they are doing what a lawyer in this situation would advise them to do, which is be as open as you possibly can be and be as accurate as you possibly can be, said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in nonprofits. Theyre trying to be transparent. Theyre trying to right the ship. Theres still work to do.

The release of the tax filing, Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, was the first time the group offered an official accounting of its finances. It is also a delayed snapshot. The form covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, nearly a year ago.

In 2021, the foundation released its own report, not a mandatory federal tax filing but a voluntary accounting of its funds, in which it said that it raised $90 million in 2020, with the average donation being $30.64. At that time, the group said that it spent $8.4 million on operating expenses while disbursing $21.7 million in grants to about 30 organizations and to 11 Black Lives Matter chapters around the country.

On the tax form, the foundation said that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, it received contributions and grants totaling $76.9 million, with total expenditures of $37.7 million. Those expenses included grants of $500,000 each to Black Lives Matter groups in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and elsewhere.

Jacob Harold, a nonprofit expert, said he was struck in particular by the number of paid employees listed on the form, which was just two, versus the number of volunteers, which was 49,275. That ratio pretty much tells the story right there, Mr. Harold said. Two paid staff members would rarely be enough to manage a $90 million organization. This 990 tells a story of weak nonprofit governance, he said.

Justin Hansford, a professor at the Howard University School of Law, said the stakes were high because the public could not always differentiate between the Black Lives Matter movement and one specific organization. Its extremely important to have transparency and good governance at any organization with this level of global fame, said Mr. Hansford, who is also executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. The credibility of the entire movement is at stake based on these choices, for better or worse.

But he added, They deserve a little grace here. As protesters suddenly given a windfall of money, they had to learn how to manage a large nonprofit on the fly, and its a lot to ask.

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After Raising $90 Million in 2020, Black Lives Matter Has $42 Million ...