Black Lives Matter spent more than $1.2 million on lobbying members of Congress, with part of that cash going to efforts to impeach former President Donald Trump, public filings show.
In its first disclosures to the IRS Monday, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation spent $1,261,901 in fiscal 2020 to “advance racial justice policies” and to “lobby members of congress to vote in favor of impeachment.”
Trump was impeached for a second time in January 2021 in a largely party-line vote that saw a handful of Republicans join Democrats to blame the outgoing commander-in-chief for sparking the siege on the US Capitol.
Charities are allowed to lobby provided that they do not spend an “excessive” amount of their donations on their efforts. The charity’s lobbying expense represents less than 4 percent of their expenses of more than $37 million, according to tax filings.
“However, … the IRS considers other factors aside from reported lobbying expenses relative to total expenses when deciding whether or not resources spent on lobbying are ‘excessive,'” said Laurie Styron, executive director of Charity Watch, a non-profit that analyzes charities. “There is still much we don’t know about significant portions of this charity’s resources.”
The group did not formally register itself as a lobbyist with federal authorities, public records show.
BLMGNF could not be reached for comment.