Non-profit

Craigslist Charitable Fund

Website:

www.craigslist.org/about/charitable

Location:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Tax ID:

26-3823367

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)-PF

Budget (2015):

Revenue: $18,081,578
Expenses: $9,334,683
Assets: $34,779,218

Formation:

2009

President:

James Buckmaster

Founder:

Craig Newmark

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The Craigslist Charitable Fund is a 501(c)(3) private foundation affiliated with the classified advertisements website Craigslist. The organization is known for donating heavily to nonprofit journalism outlets, gun control groups, and environmentalist groups.

Background

The Craigslist Charitable Fund was founded by Craig Newmark, owner and founder of the classified advertisements website Craigslist.

The organization says it funds groups that promote human rights, “justice,” education, the environment, transportation, non-violence, world peace, veteran’s issues, nonprofit journalism, open source, and the Internet. 1

The organization was founded in 2009. James Buckmaster is the president. 2

Forbes reported the fund gave out $20 million from 2012 to 2014. 3

Donations

Journalism

It backs multiple journalism initiatives. In 2018, it teamed with the Knight Foundation to provide $1.2 million to the Duke University Reporters’ Lab to create a fact-check app called FactStream, to provide real time fact-checking. The information is drawn from three left-of-center journalism outfits: the Washington Post, Factcheck.org, and PolitiFact, a project of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. 4

Among other nonprofit journalism outlets, Craigslist Charitable Fund has made more than $125,000 in donations to the left-leaning ProPublica, at least $70,000 to the center-left Center for Public Integrity, at least $50,000 to the liberal Free Press organization, more than $25,000 to the Center for Investigative Reporting, at least $25,000 to the left-wing Center for Media and Democracy and at least $25,000 to Democracy Now, a left-wing media production outfit. 5

The Craigslist Charitable Fund says it also gives to several left-leaning journalism organization such as Alternet, the media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Mother Jones, and Pacifica Radio. It also funds Poynter Institute, OpenStreetMap.US, Sunlight Foundation and Skeptical Inquiry. 6

It gave $250,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation in 2017 to launch an initiative to combat harassment and toxic behavior on Wikipedia. The Craig Newmark Foundation gave another $250,000 to the effort. The grants were set to be used for developing tools for volunteer editors and staff to block harassers for the user-content-generated online encyclopedia. The focus was to be on detection and prevention, helping victims of harassment report, and blocking harassers and making it difficult for people to engage in trolling and doxing. 7

Policy Advocacy

Craigslist Charitable Fund has financed several gun control organizations, such as the Brady Campaign, Stop Gun Violence, the Gun Safety Fund, and the Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 8 It also funds the anti-war group the Center on Conscience and War.

The Ploughshares Fund, a grant-making foundation dedicated to stopping nuclear weapons that was integral in the Obama administration’s Iran deal “echo chamber,” received between $25,000 and $99,000 from Craigslist Charitable Trust, according to the Times of Israel. 9

Craigslist Charitable funds the left-of-center voter outreach group Voto Latino, the far-left think tank Demos, atheist groups Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Council for Secular Humanism, and large environmentalist groups such as the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists. 10

The fund has given more than $375,900 to the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal legal advocacy group from 2010 through early 2017, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The Craigslist Charitable Fund and the John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation were the largest donors to the League of Women Voters Education Fund. 11

Craigslist Charitable Fund also donates to the group Critical Resistance, which supports prison abolition, according to Politico. 12

References

  1. Foundation Directory Online. Accessed July 3, 2019. https://fconline.foundationcenter.org/fdo-grantmaker-profile/?key=CRAI058
  2. Big Database. Accessed July 1, 2019. http://www.bigdatabase.com/Big-DB/USFoundation-profiles/CRAIGSLIST%20CHARITABLE%20FUND-263823367.HTML
  3. Mac, Ryan. “Craig Newmark Founded Craigslist to Give Back, Now He’s a Billionaire.” Forbes. May 3, 2017. Accessed July 1, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2017/05/03/how-does-craigslist-make-money/#3882e23327b1
  4. Nielsen, Aly. “Liberal Foundations Behind State of the Union Fact-Checking.” Newsbusters. January 29, 2018. Accessed July 1, 2019. https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/aly-nielsen/2018/01/29/liberal-foundations-behind-state-union-fact-checking
  5. Nielsen, Aly. “Liberal Foundations Behind State of the Union Fact-Checking.” Newsbusters. January 29, 2018. Accessed July 1, 2019. https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/aly-nielsen/2018/01/29/liberal-foundations-behind-state-union-fact-checking
  6. Craigslist Charitable Trust Home Page. Accessed July 3, 2019. https://www.craigslist.org/about/charitable
  7. Press Release. “Wikimedia Foundation Receives $500,000 From the Craig Newmark Foundation and Craigslist Charitable Fund to Support a Healthy and Inclusive Wikimedia Community.” Wikimedia Foundation. January 26, 2017. Accessed July 1, 2019. https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/01/26/community-health-initiative-grant/
  8. Craigslist Charitable Trust Home Page. Accessed July 3, 2019. https://www.craigslist.org/about/charitable
  9. Cortellessa, Eric. “Where Did Ploughshares Get Its Money to Sell the Iran Deal?” Times of Israel. May 23, 2016. Accessed July 1, 2019. https://www.timesofisrael.com/where-did-ploughshares-get-its-money-to-sell-the-iran-deal/
  10. Craigslist Charitable Trust Home Page. Accessed July 3, 2019. https://www.craigslist.org/about/charitable
  11. Beachum, Lateshia. “Kochs Key Among Small Group Quietly Funding Assault on Campaign Finance Regulation.” Center for Public Integrity. November 15, 2017. https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/kochs-key-among-small-group-quietly-funding-legal-assault-on-campaign-finance-regulation/
  12. Kenna, Ruairi Arrieta. “‘Abolish Prisons’ is the New ‘Abolish ICE.’” Politico. August 15, 2018. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/15/abolish-prisons-is-the-new-abolish-ice-219361

Donation Recipients

  1. 350.org (National) (Non-profit)
  2. A.J. Muste Memorial Institute (Non-profit)
  3. Advancement Project (Non-profit)
  4. Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) (Non-profit)
  5. Alliance for Justice (AFJ) (Non-profit)
  6. American Atheists (Non-profit)
  7. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation (Non-profit)
  8. American Refugee Committee (Non-profit)
  9. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Non-profit)
  10. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) (Non-profit)
  11. Anita Borg Institute (Non-profit)
  12. Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (Non-profit)
  13. Aspen Institute (Non-profit)
  14. Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (Non-profit)
  15. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) (Non-profit)
  16. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) (Non-profit)
  17. Center for Inquiry (Non-profit)
  18. Center for International Policy (CIP) (Non-profit)
  19. Center for Investigative Reporting (Non-profit)
  20. Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) (Non-profit)
  21. Center for Public Integrity (Non-profit)
  22. Center For Reproductive Rights (Non-profit)
  23. Center for Responsive Politics (Open Secrets) (Non-profit)
  24. Code Pink (CODEPINK) (Non-profit)
  25. Columbia Journalism Review (Other Group)
  26. Columbia University (Non-profit)
  27. Community Initiatives (Non-profit)
  28. Connecticut Voices for Children (Non-profit)
  29. Corporate Accountability International (Non-profit)
  30. Defending Rights and Dissent (DRAD) (Non-profit)
  31. Democracy Now Productions (Democracy Now!) (Non-profit)
  32. Demos (Non-profit)
  33. Drug Policy Alliance (Non-profit)
  34. Earth Island Institute (Non-profit)
  35. Earthjustice (Non-profit)
  36. Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV) (Non-profit)
  37. Electronic Frontier Foundation (Non-profit)
  38. Electronic Privacy Information Center (Non-profit)
  39. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) (Non-profit)
  40. Environmental Working Group (EWG) (Non-profit)
  41. Equal Justice Initiative (Non-profit)
  42. Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (Non-profit)
  43. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) (Non-profit)
  44. FCNL Education Fund (Non-profit)
  45. Food and Water Watch (FWW) (Non-profit)
  46. Free Press (Non-profit)
  47. Freedom Archives (Non-profit)
  48. Freedom From Religion Foundation (Non-profit)
  49. Fund for Wild Nature (Non-profit)
  50. Girls Who Code (Non-profit)
  51. Global Fund for Women (Non-profit)
  52. Government Accountability Project (GAP) (Non-profit)
  53. Green Science Policy Institute (Non-profit)
  54. Grist Magazine (Non-profit)
  55. Guttmacher Institute (Non-profit)
  56. Human Rights Watch (Non-profit)
  57. Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) (Non-profit)
  58. AlterNet (For-profit)
  59. Institute for Nonprofit News (Non-profit)
  60. Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (Non-profit)
  61. League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) (Non-profit)
  62. Lucy Burns Institute (Non-profit)
  63. MADRE (Non-profit)
  64. MapLight (Non-profit)
  65. Mercy For Animals (Non-profit)
  66. Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) (Non-profit)
  67. Mother Jones (Non-profit)
  68. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) (Non-profit)
  69. National Alliance to End Homelessness (Non-profit)
  70. National Audubon Society (Non-profit)
  71. National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (Non-profit)
  72. National Wildlife Federation (Non-profit)
  73. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) (Non-profit)
  74. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) (Non-profit)
  75. New America (New America Foundation) (Non-profit)
  76. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (Non-profit)
  77. Nuclear Information and Resource Service (Non-profit)
  78. Ocean Conservancy (Non-profit)
  79. Oceana (Non-profit)
  80. Organic Consumers Association (Non-profit)
  81. Oxfam America (Non-profit)
  82. Pacifica Foundation (Non-profit)
  83. Partners in Health (Non-profit)
  84. Peace Action Education Fund (Non-profit)
  85. Peace Development Fund (Non-profit)
  86. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (Non-profit)
  87. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) (Non-profit)
  88. Physicians For Reproductive Health (Non-profit)
  89. Physicians for Social Responsibility (Non-profit)
  90. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) (Non-profit)
  91. Ploughshares Fund (Non-profit)
  92. Poynter Institute for Media Studies (Non-profit)
  93. Prison Policy Initiative (Non-profit)
  94. ProPublica (Non-profit)
  95. Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (Non-profit)
  96. Rocky Mountain Institute (Non-profit)
  97. Ruckus Society (Non-profit)
  98. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Non-profit)
  99. Sierra Club Foundation (Non-profit)
  100. Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) (Non-profit)
  101. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (Non-profit)
  102. Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (Non-profit)
  103. Society of Environmental Journalists (Non-profit)
  104. Southern Center for Human Rights (Non-profit)
  105. Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) (Non-profit)
  106. Stony Brook Foundation (Non-profit)
  107. Stop Handgun Violence (Non-profit)
  108. Students for Sensible Drug Policy (Non-profit)
  109. Sunlight Foundation (Non-profit)
  110. TYPE Media Center (Non-profit)
  111. Tides Center (Non-profit)
  112. Transgender Law Center (Non-profit)
  113. Transportation Alternatives (Non-profit)
  114. Trevor Project (Non-profit)
  115. Truthout (Non-profit)
  116. Turtle Island Restoration Network (Non-profit)
  117. Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) (Non-profit)
  118. University of California, Berkeley (Non-profit)
  119. Urban Justice Center (Non-profit)
  120. U.S. Climate Action Network (US-CAN) (Non-profit)
  121. Veterans for Peace (Non-profit)
  122. Violence Policy Center (VPC) (Non-profit)
  123. Voto Latino (Non-profit)
  124. Western States Legal Foundation (Non-profit)
  125. Wikimedia Foundation (Non-profit)
  126. Wilderness Society (Non-profit)
  127. William J. Brennan Center for Justice (Non-profit)
  128. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Non-profit)
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: June 1, 2009

  • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2015 Dec Form PF $18,081,578 $9,334,683 $34,779,218 $8,918,414 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2014 Dec Form PF $6,097,879 $5,830,918 $22,792,762 $5,678,853 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2013 Dec Form PF $9,071,400 $4,715,092 $16,846,802 $-3,147 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2012 Dec Form PF $7,043,679 $2,626,341 $12,512,514 $18,873 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2011 Dec Form PF $3,607,249 $2,122,515 $8,076,589 $286 $0 $0 $0 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Craigslist Charitable Fund

    222 SUTTER STREET 9TH FL
    SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108-4460