Non-profit tied to BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors 'failed to disclose thousands of dollars in donations'

A NON-profit group tied the Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors failed to disclose thousands of dollars in donations to the IRS, a report claims.

Dignity and Power now, a group founded by the former BLM leader in 2013, raked in at least $225,00 in donations in 2016 but told the IRS that it had made less than $50,000, the NY Post reported.

Having failed to meet the agency's revenue threshold of $50,000, the group didn't have to file a tax return outline all of its spending and donations to the IRS.

Cullors, who recently resigned from BLM's leadership amid scrutiny over her lavish spending, is listed as the founder of the group and board chairperson in paperwork from 2018.

She set up the group to help black and minority prisoners.

Despite reporting less than $50,000 in donations, the group received $100,000 alone from the Los Angeles-based Resnick Foundation and $125,000 from the California Initiative, documents show.

The donation from the Resnick Foundation was sent to Dignity and Power Now in January 2016, a spokesperson for the foundation told the Post.

The California Initiative, meanwhile, made two separate donations of $100,000 and $25,000 to Dignity and Power Now in 2016, the Post reports.

Those donations were filtered through Community Partners, a nonprofit that helps distribute funds for grassroots charities.

In addition to allegedly failing to inform the IRS, Cullors' group also did not disclose the cash in filings to the California Attorney General, which regulates the state's charities.

"Dignity and Power Now registered with the Registry of Charitable Trusts in 2017, informing the registry that they first received funds in July of 2017,” a statement from the Attorney General's office read.

On Friday, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a conservative watchdog group, filed complaints to both the IRS and the California Attorney General, demanding an audit of the group's finances.

“The obvious question is what happened to the money. Given these circumstances, we believe that an audit is in order,” said NLPC chairman Peter Flaherty.

"Dignity and Power Now purports to speak in the name of the disadvantaged. The IRS must ensure that no one is taking advantage," he added.

A US Sun request for comment has not been returned by Dignity and Power.

The questions about the group come just weeks after Cullors resigned from Black Lives Matter when it was revealed that she splashed $3.2 million in properties in LA and Georgia in just the last two years.

The self-described "Marxist" contested that she paid for the homes with cash she earned through public speaking engagements and sales from books she had written.

The 37-year-old also claimed that her resignation had been in the works for more than a year and had nothing to do with the reports of her financial dealings – which she said were part of a far-right smear campaign.

"Those were right-wing attacks that tried to discredit my character, and I don’t operate off of what the right thinks about me," Cullors said of the scandal.

"I've created the infrastructure and the support, and the necessary bones and foundation, so that I can leave," she added. "It feels like the time is right."

BLM Global Network took in $90 million in 2020 and was left with a balance sheet of $60 million by January 2021.

Around $8 million of the funds were spent on expenses, including staffing costs with the other $20 million donated to local chapters and nonprofits.

Those figures, in addition to Cullors' spending, have raised questions about how BLM is spending its money and complaints about a lack of transparency.

The BLM movement was created nearly eight years ago to address injustices against black Americans.

After Cullors departed, the organization brought in two new interim senior executives to help steer it in the immediate future.

Monifa Bandele, a longtime BLM organizer and founder of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement in New York City, and Makani Themba, an early backer of the BLM movement and chief strategist at Higher Ground Change Strategies in Jackson, Mississippi, joined the ranks.

"I think both of them come with not only a wealth of movement experience but also a wealth of executive experience," Cullors said back in May.

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