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It has been suggested that Donors Capital Fund be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2015.

Donors Trust is a conservative-focused donor advised charitable giving vehicle based in Virginia. Donors Trust offers anonymity to individual donors who wish to donate to charities but who do not wish to make their donations public. It is affiliated with Donors Capital Fund, another donor advised fund.

History

Donors Trust was established in 1999 by a small group of donors and nonprofit executives with the common goal of “promoting our free society as understood in America’s founding documents.” According to Donors Trust, the organization was founded "to ensure the intent of donors who are dedicated to the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise." It relies on donors from charitable foundations and independent individuals. The organization assures donors that their donated funds will never be used to support liberal causes. Donors Trust offers anonymity to individual donors, with respect to their donations to Donors Trust, as well as with respect to an individual donation's ultimate grantee.

Donors Trust files with the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization.

Donors

Donors Trust's donors have included Charles Koch, an American businessman and philanthropist. Koch has used Donors Trust as a “pass-through,” according to Marcus Owens, the former director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division. The Knowledge and Progress Fund, whose board of directors includes Koch, gave $1.25 million to Donors Trust and Donors Capital fund in 2007, $1.25 millionin 2008, and $2 million in 2010.

Recipients

Donors Trust has provided funds to numerous conservative and libertarian causes. In 2011, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund granted $6.3 million to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a conservative online news organization, for a campaign against wind and solar power. Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund distributed nearly $120 million to more than 100 climate change denial groups between 2002 and 2010. Donors Trust granted $10 million to the State Policy Network, a national network of conservative and libertarian think tanks focused on state-level policy, between 2008 and 2013. Donors Trust also issued grants to the State Policy Network’s affiliates at the state level during the same period.

Board of directors

The organization's board of directors is:

• Whitney L. Ball, President & CEO of Donors Trust

Ball is formerly the Executive Director of the nonprofit Philanthropy Roundtable and Director of Development at the Cato Institute, a US libertarian think tank. Ball is also a member of the board of directors of the Donors Capital Fund and the State Policy Network.

• Kimberly O. Dennis, Chairman; President of the Searle Freedom Trust.
• James Piereson, Vice Chairman; President of the William E. Simon Foundation.
• William J. Hume, Chairman of the Board of Basic American Foods.
• Jeffrey C. Zysik, Secretary-Treasurer; Chief Financial Officer & Chief of Information Technology of Donors Trust.

References

1. ^ "Donors Trust Officers & Directors". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
2. ^ "2012 IRS Form 990" (PDF). GuideStar. IRS. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
3. Abowd, Paul (February 14, 2013). "Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states". Center for Public Integrity. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
4. Zeiser, Bill (September 4, 2014). "Dark Money". National Review. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
5. ^ "Mission & Principles". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
6. ^ Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 15, 2013). "Media campaign against windfarms funded by anonymous conservatives". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
7. ^ Goldenberg, Suzanne (February 14, 2013). "Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks". The Guardian. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
8. Walter Hickley (February 12, 2013). "Inside The Secretive Dark-Money Organization That's Keeping The Lights On For Conservative Groups". Business Insider. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
9. "The future of donor-advised funds" (PDF). Philanthropy Roundtable. September 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
10. "FAQs". Donors Trust. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
11. ^ Abowd, Paul (February 14, 2013). "Koch-funded charity passes money to free-market think tanks in states". NBC News. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
12. Connor, Steve (January 24, 2013). "Exclusive: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science". The Independent. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
13. Connor, Steve (January 25, 2013). "Top climate scientist denounces billionaires over funding for climate-sceptic organisations". The Independent. Retrieved February 20, 2015.

External links

• Official site
• Organizational Profile – National Center for Charitable Statistics (Urban Institute)
• Nonprofit Explorer - Donors Trust Inc, archive of federal disclosures maintained by ProPublica

• Articles to be merged from January 2015
• Non-profit organizations based in Alexandria, Virginia
• 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
• Organizations established in 1999
• Conservatism in the United States