Black Lives Matter suspended online fundraising on Wednesday after attorneys general in California and Washington state asked the group to submit delinquent financial disclosures for 2020, according to a report.
A Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) spokesperson told the Washington Examiner, which first reported the move, that the group takes “these matters seriously” and has “taken immediate action.”
“We have immediately engaged compliance counsel to address any issues related to state fundraising compliance,” the spokesperson said. “In the interim, we have shut down online fundraising as we work quickly to ensure we are meeting all compliance requirements.”
The group shut down its fundraising one day after the Washington Examiner published a letter from California Attorney General Rob Bonta telling BLMGNF that it was prohibited from soliciting or disbursing funds because of its failure to submit an annual report for the 2020 tax year. In the letter, which was dated January 31, Bonta threatened to hold individual leaders personally liable for late fees.
Washington demanded BLM “immediately cease” all fundraising activities there on January 5.
The group said at the close of 2020 that after raising $90 million, spending $8.4 million in operating expenses and distributing $21.7 million in grants to 33 other organizations, it closed the year with $60 million. The group was not officially registered as a charity with the IRS until late 2020,…
