Tish blocks a ‘BLM’ for not registering
The state attorney general ordered a nonprofit that’s collecting money using the Black Lives Matter mantle to stop soliciting donations in New York because it is not registered as a charitable organization locally.
AG Letitia James announced Monday that she sent a cease and desist order to the Black Lives Matter Foundation, which is not affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Every organization that seeks to solicit donations from New Yorkers must follow state laws,” James said. “The Black Lives Matter Foundation failed to register or file any financial documents with the state, and therefore has failed to provide New Yorkers with information on how their donations will be used.”
The California-based Black Lives Matter Foundation has come under scrutiny because, while it is unaffiliated with the movement to end police brutality against blacks, donors are conflating the two groups and sending money. Buzzfeed News first reported on the confusion of the groups and the attorney general’s cease and desist order Monday.
That letter — sent Monday and signed by James Sheehan, head of the attorney general’s Charities Bureau — directs the Blacks Lives Matter Foundation to file financial disclosure reports for any years it made charitable solicitations prior to 2020, register with the state within 15 days and direct thirdparty fundraisers to stop asking for money immediately.
“We will also fight for transparency so that donors’ goodwill isn’t preyed upon by opportunists,” James said in a written statement.
The attorney general’s letter cites similar problems in California, where the foundation’s president, Robert Ray Barnes, is based. According to the letter, California revoked the entity’s tax-exempt status in May 2019 because it failed to register with the state in 2018.
Barnes said he has not solicited donations in New York and that his nonprofit status in California was revoked over a paperwork snafu which he’s in the process of remedying.
“I’m not hiding from anyone,” he said.