Minnesota Freedom Fund exposed

The controversial nonprofit, founded in 2017 “to pay criminal bail and immigration bonds,” is back in the news.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune posted on Twitter (X) yesterday,

Weaponize? The current headline on the actual story is slightly less inflammatory,

GOP criticism of Kamala Harris draws attention to Minnesota Freedom Fund

Readers will recall that during the George Floyd riots in Minneapolis, on June 1, 2020, then-Vice Presidential-candidate Harris posted this on Twitter (X),

As linked above, the original post is still available on Harris’ personal X account. Over the years, much of the criticism lodged against MFF centers on the suspects who were freed with cash from the Fund, who went on to commit even more heinous crimes while out on bail.

Minnesota Freedom Fund was established in March 2017 and received its tax-exempt status from the IRS in August of that year. Early on, it was a rather modest affair. But with the national attention from the George Floyd riots, its fundraising exploded in a one-time revenue tsunami,

The data above appear in the nonprofit’s IRS Form 990 filings. Data for 2023 are not yet available. The company is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.

More than 96 percent of the nonprofit’s total lifetime revenue was received in the single year of 2020. The organization boasts these results,

Their $26 million paid out have not always resulted in good investments. Through 2022, MFF reports losing more than $4.5 million to bail forfeitures.

As a result, MFF’s net assets have continued to drop. The green-eye-shade types among you will notice a curious anomaly about MFF’s 2021 results. The nonprofit lost $4 million that year, while the balance sheet shrank by $7 million. The difference is attributable to a one-time “prior period adjustment” of more than $2.7 million.

The history of the fund is equally interesting. Its original board of directors included a dozen members. By 2020, its big revenue year, the board had shrunk down to nine members, with only three holdovers from the original 12.

Currently, there are only 7 board members of the Fund. Only one board member remains from the 2020 membership and none of the original members remain.

The Fund has diversified its operation by getting into the regifting business. MFF reports having regranted a total of $6,200,705 to other organizations.

The regranting practice began at MFF in 2020. That year, the Fund donated $4,500,000 to the Tides Center of San Francisco, a far-left activist organization.

Also in 2020, MFF records making a grant of $293,205 to an entity named the Minnesota Solidarity Fund, listed with an Eden Prairie address. No taxpayer ID number is listed for this recipient. The Minnesota Solidarity Fund was not incorporated until June 2021. I can find no evidence of this entity applying for tax-exempt status or filing nonprofit tax returns with the IRS.

In the most recent year available, 2022, MFF records making 19 regrants. The largest regrant totaled $1,023,019 to the nonprofit Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB).

CUAPB was incorporated in June 2020, one month after the George Floyd riots began. The organization is located in a south Minneapolis office building housing other far-left entities (bottom left).

In its IRS Form 990 tax returns, CUAPB reports making a $358,000 regrant in 2021 to a nonprofit named Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence (FSFAPV).

Families was incorporated in July 2020 and has a Maplewood mailing address. Families received its tax-exempt status from the IRS in August 2022. However, it appears that this status was revoked in 2023 for failure to file tax returns.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund is a member of Minnesota Voice, a nonprofit network dedicated to electing Democrats to office. At least two of MFF’s 2022 regrants were paid out to fellow members of the Minnesota Voice network.

Also in 2022, MFF incorporated the nonprofit Minnesota Freedom Fund Action, a 501(c)(4) dark money operation. MFF seeded this new entity with a $250,000 grant.

MFF records legislative lobbying expenses, new for 2022, in their tax return on Schedule C.

In Part 2, we will explore MFF’s funding sources.