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Non-profit

Be a Hero Fund

Website:

beaherofund.com/%20
Location:

Washington, DC
Tax ID:

C0-0678995
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(4)

Treasurer:

Jonathan Zucker
President:

Ady Barkan

Be a Hero Fund is an organization that advances left-of-center health care and fiscal policy and opposes right-leaning Supreme Court nominations through media campaigns. The organization also fundraises for ActBlue, a Democratic Party-aligned political action committee (PAC). 1

Funding

Be a Hero Fund is funded by the Be a Hero PAC. 2 Between 2019 and 2020, the Be a Hero PAC received $11,075,269 in contributions and made $10,386,342 in expenditures. 3 The organization’ reported $888,032 in assets as of December 31, 2020. 4

Be a Hero PAC’s largest donors between 2019 and 2020 were the Vote Nurses PAC ($2,200,000), the National Nurses Organizing Committee PAC ($1,750,000), left-of-center philanthropist Megan Hull ($1,347,000), the California Nurses Association ($250,000), and two committees associated with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): her leadership PAC PAC to the Future ($100,000) and Nancy Pelosi for Congress ($100,000). 5

History

Be a Hero Fund was created in 2018 after a video of left-of-center health care activist Ady Barkan accosting former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on a plane and demanding that he vote against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, circulated widely online. 6

Fundraising

Be a Hero actively fundraises against Republican Party candidates and encourages its viewers to donate to ActBlue. Fundraising videos created by Be a Hero are generally negative political advertisements designed to motivate donations to Democratic Party-aligned PACs in order to oppose Republican candidates. Be a Hero has created political advertisements attacking the healthcare policies of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), and former U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ). 7

Of the twenty political advertisements Be a Hero created in 2020, all were created in collaboration with National Nurses United, the main union and professional association of United States nurses. 8

The organization’s latest fundraising drive is designed to oppose the re-election of U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) should they seek re-election. 9

Health Care Series

In a collaboration with the left-of-center, social media-focused news outlet NowThis News, Be a Hero Fund created a series of videos in which Ady Barkan advocates for increased government control over healthcare and the implementation of a universal Medicare program. Barkan’s videos include discussions with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2020 presidential election, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Obama administration Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro. 10

Kavanaugh Nomination

Be a Hero contributed to a broad left-of-center effort to prevent the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to assume Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat on the Supreme Court. 11 Be a Hero joined Maine People’s Alliance and Mainers for Accountable Leadership in a collective effort to intimidate U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) into voting against Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination, leveraging their alleged ability to fundraise for her opponent in the 2020 race to represent Maine in the United States Senate. 12

Leadership

Ady Barkan, a Democratic Party-aligned political activist, is president of Be a Hero. 13 Prior to founding Be a Hero, Barkan worked for Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), a left-of-center election law organization. Before joining CPD, Barkan was a law clerk to Judge Shira Scheindlin of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 14

References

  1. “2020 Ads” Be a Hero. https://uncovered.beaherofund.com/category/ads/2020-ads/
  2. “Footer statement” Be a Hero Fund. https://beaherofund.com/
  3. “Be a Hero PAC” Federal Elections Commission. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00678995/
  4. “Be a Hero PAC” Federal Elections Commission. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00678995/
  5. “Be A Hero PAC PAC -Donors” OpenSecrets. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/be-a-hero-pac/C00678995/donors/2020?start=75&page_length=25
  6. “Our Story” Be a Hero Fund. https://beaherofund.com/story/
  7. “2020 Ads” Be a Hero. https://uncovered.beaherofund.com/category/ads/2020-ads/
  8. “2020 Ads” Be a Hero. https://uncovered.beaherofund.com/category/ads/2020-ads/
  9. “Elect New Senate Heroes” Be a Hero Fund. https://beaherofund.com/#elect-new-senate-heroes 
  10. “UNCOVERED: ADY BARKAN’S INTERVIEW SERIES ON HEALTHCARE” Be a Hero. https://uncovered.beaherofund.com/
  11. “Kavanaugh-fueled bounty awaits challenger to Sen. Susan Collins” Roll Call. July 2, 2020. Accessed July 5, 2021. https://www.rollcall.com/2020/07/02/kavanaugh-fueled-bounty-awaits-challenger-to-sen-susan-collins/
  12. “Kavanaugh-fueled bounty awaits challenger to Sen. Susan Collins” Roll Call. July 2, 2020. Accessed July 5, 2021. https://www.rollcall.com/2020/07/02/kavanaugh-fueled-bounty-awaits-challenger-to-sen-susan-collins/
  13. “Medicare for All activist with ALS Ady Barkan on why he advocates: ‘It gives me a reason to get up every day’” ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/medicare-activist-als-ady-barkan-advocates-reason-day/story?id=65385855
  14. “About” AdyBarkan.com https://www.adybarkan.com/about
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Be a Hero Fund


Washington, DC