- Net Assets: Tides Foundation -
$142,007,356 (2006); Tides Center -
$43,969,744 (2006)
- Grants Received: Tides Foundation -
$68,725,557 (2006); Tides Center -
$49,859,754 (2006)
- Grants Awarded: Tides Foundation -
$67,319,624 (2006); Tides Center -
$5,566,058 (2006)
Established in 1976 by California-based
activist
Drummond Pike, the Tides Foundation was
set up as a public charity that receives
money from donors and then funnels it to the
recipients of their choice. Because many of
these recipient groups are quite radical,
the donors often prefer not to have their
names publicly linked with the donees. By
letting the Tides Foundation, in effect, “launder”
the money for them and pass it along to the
intended beneficiaries,
donors can avoid leaving a “paper trail.”
Such contributions are called
"donor-advised," or donor-directed, funds.
Through this legal loophole, nonprofit
entities can also create for-profit
organizations and then funnel money to them
through Tides -- thereby circumventing the
laws that bar nonprofits from directly
funding their own for-profit enterprises. Pew
Charitable Trusts, for instance, set up
three for-profit media companies and then
proceeded to fund them via donor-advised
contributions to Tides, which (for an 8
percent management fee) in turn sent the
money to the media companies.
If a donor wishes to give money to a
particular cause but finds that there is
no organization in existence dedicated
specifically to that issue, the Tides
Foundation will, for a fee, create a group
to meet that perceived need.
In 1996 the Tides Foundation created, with a
$9 million seed grant, a separate but
closely related entity called the Tides
Center, also headed by Drummond Pike. While
the Foundation's activities focus on
fundraising and grant-making, the Center --
in its role as
fiscal sponsor --
offers newly created organizations the
shelter of Tides' own charitable tax-exempt
status, as well as the benefits of Tides'
health and liability insurance coverage. As
the Capital Research Center explains:
"Under the Tides Center umbrella, the
new group can then accept tax deductible
contributions without needing to apply
immediately to the IRS for tax-exempt
501(c)(3) public charity tax status....
Besides giving a new project its seal of
approval, the Tides Center performs a
notable service in showing new groups
how to run an office, apply for grants,
conduct effective public relations, and
handle the many personnel, payroll, and
budget problems that might baffle a
novice group."
Between 1996 and 2010, the Tides Center
served as a fiscal sponsor to some 677
separate projects with combined revenues of
$522.4 million; in 2010 alone, the Center
was
actively managing nearly 200 projects.
In addition to the foregoing duties, the
Tides Center also functions as a
legal firewall insulating the Tides
Foundation from potential lawsuits filed by
people whose livelihoods or well-being may
be harmed by Foundation-funded projects.
(These could be, for instance, farmers or
loggers who are put out of business by
Tides-backed environmentalist groups.)
The Tides Center’s Board Chairman is
Wade Rathke, who is also a member of the
Tides Foundation Board. Rathke, a protege of
the late
George A. Wiley, serves as President of
the New Orleans-based Local 100 of the
Service Employees International Union,
and is the founder and chief organizer of
the
Association of Community Organizations for
Reform Now (ACORN).
Maya Wiley, daughter of George A.
Wiley, sits on the Tides Center's Board of
Directors.
Chip Berlet sits on the Board of the
Campaign to Defend the Constitution, a Tides
Center project formed in 2005 to combat “the
growing power of the religious right” and to
“fight for the separation of church and
state.” Berlet is a senior analyst for
Political Research Associates, and has
had affiliations with the
American Civil Liberties Union, the
American Friends Service Committee, the
Christic Institute, the Socialist
Workers Party, the
National Lawyers Guild, and the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Tides Foundation promotes a multitude of
leftist agendas, as evidenced by its
assertion: "We strengthen community-based
organizations and the progressive movement
by providing an innovative and
cost-effective framework for your
philanthropy." Among the crusades to which
Tides contributes are: radical
environmentalism; the "exclusion of humans
from public and private wildlands"; the
anti-war movement; anti-free trade
campaigns; the banning of firearms
ownership; abolition of the death penalty;
access to government-funded
abortion-on-demand; and radical gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender advocacy.
The Foundation is also a member organization
of the International Human Rights Funders
Group, a network of more than six-dozen
grantmakers dedicated to finaning
leftwing groups and causes.
Immediately after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, Tides
formed a "9/11 Fund" to advocate a
"peaceful national response." Tides
later replaced the 9/11 Fund with the
"Democratic Justice Fund," which was
financed in large measure by the
Open Society Institute of
George Soros, who has donated more than
$7 million to Tides over the years.
Reciprocally, the Tides Foundation is a
major funder of the
Shadow Party, a George Soros-conceived
nationwide network of several dozen unions,
non-profit activist groups, and think tanks
whose agendas are ideologically to the left,
and which are engaged in campaigning for the
Democrats.
Tides also set up a Peace Strategies Fund
and an
Iraq Peace Fund, the latter of which has
granted money to such groups as
MoveOn.org, the
National Council of Churches, the
Arab-American Action Network,
Physicians for Social Responsibility,
and the pro-Castro
groups
United for Peace and Justice and
Center for Constitutional Rights. In
addition, Tides funds “A Better Way
Project,” which coordinates the activities
of United for Peace and Justice and the
Win Without War Coalition/Keep America
Safe Campaign.
Tides and the organizations it supports
interact closely with one another on a
regular basis.
For example, Drummond Pike sits on the
Board of the
Environmental Working Group along with
David Fenton, founder of
Fenton Communications.
Recent recipients of Tides Foundation grants
include: the
A.J. Muste Memorial Institute; the
American Civil Liberties Union; the
ACORN Institute; the
Agape Foundation;
Alliance For Justice;
American Family Voices; the
American Friends Service Committee; the
American Immigration Law Foundation; the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee;
Amnesty International; the
Border Action Network; the
Brennan Center for Justice;
Campaign for America’s Future; the
Center for American Progress; the
Center for Community Change; the
Center for Constitutional Rights; the
Center for Reproductive Rights;
Changemakers; the
Children’s Defense Fund;
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington; the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (as
revealed in FrontpageMagazine);
Democracy Now!;
Earth Day Network;
Earth Island Institute;
Earthjustice;
Environmental Defense;
Environmental Media Services; the
Environmental Working Group;
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting; the
Feminist Majority Foundation;
Free Press;
Funding Exchange;
Global Exchange;
Grantmakers Without Borders;
Grassroots International;
Greenpeace;
Human Rights First;
Human Rights Watch; the
Immigrant Legal Resource Center;
Institute for America’s Future;
Institute for Policy Studies;
Institute for Public Accuracy; the
Israel Policy Forum; the
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law; the
Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy;
the
Jane Addams Peace Association; the
League of Conservation Voters; the
League of United Latin American Citizens;
the
League of Women Voters; the
Liberty Hill Foundation;
MADRE;
Medecins Sans Frontieres;
Media Matters for America;
Mercy Corps; the
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Fund; the
Mexico Solidarity Network; the
Middle East Children’s Alliance;
Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet;
the
Ms. Foundation for Women; the
NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation; the
National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People; the
National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers; the
National Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty; the
National Council of Churches; the
National Lawyers Guild; the
National Network of Grantmakers; the
National Organization for Women
Foundation; the
National Wildlife Federation; the
Natural Resources Defense Council; the
Nature Conservancy (of California and of
New York); the
New Israel Fund; the
New World Foundation;
Nonviolent Peaceforce; the
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation;
Oxfam America; the
Pacifica Foundation;
Peace Action; the
Peace Development Fund;
People for the American Way;
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals;
Physicians for Social Responsibility;
Planned Parenthood; the
Ploughshares Fund;
Population Connection; the
Progress Unity Fund;
Project Vote; the
Proteus Fund; the
Public Citizen Foundation; the
Rainforest Action Network; the
Rainforest Alliance; the
Rockefeller Family Fund; the
Ruckus Society; the Sentencing
Project; September
11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows;
the
Sierra Club; the
Shefa Fund;
Sojourners; the
Threshold Foundation;
TrueMajority Action;
Trust for Public Land; the
Union of Concerned Scientists;
USAction;
Veterans For Peace;
Waterkeeper Alliance; the
Wilderness Society;
Witness For Peace;
Women's Action for New Directions; and
the
World Wildlife Fund.
Tides also runs a tax-exempt “alternative
media source” called the
Institute for Global Communications (IGC), a leading
provider of Web technology to the radical
left.
Between 1993 and 2003, at least 91
foundations made grants to the Tides
Foundation. These included the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the
Annie E. Casey Foundation; the
Arca Foundation; the
AT&T Foundation; the
Barbra Streisand Foundation; the
Bauman Family Foundation; Ben
and Jerry's Foundation; the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the
Blue Moon Fund; the
Bullitt Foundation; the
CarEth Foundation; the
Carnegie Corporation of New York;
Changemakers; the
ChevronTexaco Foundation; the
Columbia Foundation; the
David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the
Energy Foundation; the
Fannie Mae Foundation; the
Ford Foundation; the
Foundation for Deep Ecology; the
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the
Heinz Family Foundation; the Hoffman
Foundation; the Homeland Foundation; the
Howard Heinz Endowment; the
J.M. Kaplan Fund; the James Irvine
Foundation; the
JEHT Foundation; the
Jenifer Altman Foundation; the
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation; the
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation; the
Joyce Foundation; the
Lear Family Foundation; the
Liberty Hill Foundation; the
Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation;
the
Ms. Foundation for Women; the
Nathan Cummings Foundation; the
New World Foundation; the
Open Society Institute; the
Pew Charitable Trusts; the
Ploughshares Fund; the
Proteus Fund; the
Public Welfare Foundation; the Richard
and Rhoda Goldman Fund; the
Righteous Persons Foundation; the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the
Roberts Foundation; the
Rockefeller Family Fund; the
Rockefeller Foundation; the
Schumann Center for Media and Democracy;
the
Stern Family Fund; the
Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust; the
Summit Charitable Foundation; the
Surdna Foundation; the
Threshold Foundation; the
Turner Foundation; the
Vanguard Public Foundation; the
Verizon Foundation; the
Vira I. Heinz Endowment; the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation;
and the
Woods Fund of Chicago.
One particularly notable donor to the
Tides entities is
Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Senator
John Kerry. From 1994 to 2004, the
Heinz Endowments, which Mrs. Kerry
heads, gave the Tides Foundation and Center
approximately $8.1 million in grants. Until
February 2001, Mrs. Kerry also served as
a trustee of the
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which
has given Tides numerous six-figure grants.
The Tides Foundation and Tides Center also
receive
grants from the U.S. federal government.
Between 1997 and 2001, these grants included
the following: $395,219 from the Department
of Interior; $3,350,431 from the
Environmental Protection Agency; $3,487,040
from the Department of Housing and Urban
Development; $208,878 from the Department of
Agriculture; $39,550 from the Department of
Energy; $93,500 from the Small Business
Administration; $10,986 from the Department
of Health and Human Services; and $84,520
from the Centers for Disease Control U.S.
Agency for International Development.
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