Georgia Muslim Voter Project (GAMVP)

The organization receives most of its revenue from contributions and grants from private grantmaking foundations and other organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and Tides Foundation. ^{2 3}

Background

The Georgia Muslim Voter Project (GAMVP) is a left-of-center voter-registration organization that encourages Muslim communities in Georgia to increase civic engagement.

The organization claims it was created in 2015 “in response to the anti-Muslim, Islamophobic rhetoric” used by the 2016 presidential election “primary candidates.” ⁴ GAMVP also claims that, since its inception, the organization has “activated over 100,000 Muslims across Georgia,” which led to a record turnout of Muslim voters in the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterm elections, leading to the election of four Muslim candidates to the Georgia state legislature. ^{4 5}

The organization employs targeted outreach tactics to encourage voting. These tactics include digital advertisements, and canvassing via phone calls, texts, mail, and face-to-face engagement. ⁵

GAMVP works in 12 counties across Georgia, including Fulton, Gwinnett, and Cobb, although it states that it is committed to expanding across the entirety of Georgia. ⁵

Following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel by the terror group Hamas, GAMVP released a statement claiming that the organization, “stands with our sisters, brothers, and kin in Palestine and condemns the state-sanctioned violence perpetrated against Palestinians by the state of Israel.” ⁶ In addition, the organization asked for the Biden Administration, as well as Georgia Senators Jon Osseff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA), to, “stand with us to decry this violence by Israel and its settlers.” ⁶ The GAMVP statement does not mention the attacks committed by Hamas on October 7, the over 1400 Israelis killed in said attacks, nor the over 200 taken hostage into Gaza which include Americans. ^{6 7}

Political Activities

Georgia Muslim Voter Project v. Kemp

The Georgia Muslim Voter Project was involved in a lawsuit against then-Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) in 2018. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of GAMVP by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nearly 100-year-old left-leaning activism organization focused on issues related to civil liberties. During its history, the ACLU has aligned with the ideological Left, becoming a “hub of liberal activism” which declared its intent to spend $25 million attacking Republican candidates during the 2018 election cycle. ^{8 9}

The lawsuit challenged state laws that required election officials to reject any absentee ballot or absentee ballot application if signatures within the paperwork did not match.  ACLU sought a temporary restraining order that would require election officials to provide those with mismatched signatures a chance to prove their identity. The temporary restraining order was approved by federal Judge Leigh Martin May on October 25, 2018. ⁸

Senate Bill 202

The Georgia Muslim Voter Project is one of the organizations that filed a lawsuit against Senate Bill 202 which was enacted in 2021. ¹⁰

The lawsuit was filed by multiple organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and law firms WilmerHale and Davis Wright Tremaine, on behalf of other organizations including GAMVP. ¹⁰

The lawsuit challenged multiple aspects of SB 202, also known as the Election Integrity Act of 2021,  including the ban on mobile voting units, voter identification on absentee ballots, and the reduction of early voting in run-off elections. As of August 2023, the lawsuit was ongoing. ^{10 11}

Partner Organizations

The Georgia Muslim Voter Project co-hosted the Georgia Muslim Advocacy Day alongside the Georgia Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia), and Inner-City Muslim Action Network-Atlanta (IMAN Atlanta). ¹²

Financials

The Georgia Muslim Voter Project receives most of its revenue from contributions and grants. GAMVP had $741,881 in total revenue in 2020, all of which came from contributions and grants. The organization’s expenses amounted to $310,653, of which $192,183 paid for salaries and benefits while the rest was spent on “other” expenses. ¹³

The organization received a total of $656,592 in revenue in 2021, with only $360 via revenue outside of contributions and grants. The organization’s total expenses amounted to $362,302, $60,000 of which was spent on grantmaking activities while the rest, $222,078, was spent on salaries, benefits, and other compensation. ¹³

Funding

The Proteus Fund is a center-left “pass-through” funder and donor-advised fund provider. According to its grantee database, the Proteus Fund made a total of eight grants to Georgia Muslim Voter Project from 2017 to 2020. Although the database does not share how much was granted to GAMVP, the Emergent Fund, a project of the Proteus Fund, granted GAMVP $15,000 in 2018. ^{14 15 16}

The Pillars Fund is a left-of-center Muslim grantmaking organization that provides grants to political organizations that oppose voter integrity laws, establish activist incubators, advocate for race-focused social and economic policies, and seek to extend voting rights to ex-felons, in addition to general funding for the arts and sciences. The organization lists GAMVP as a grantee on its website. ^{17 18}

The Tides Foundation is a major center-left grantmaking organization and a major pass-through funder to numerous left-leaning nonprofits. The organization granted GAMVP $50,000 in 2021. The Southern Poverty Law Center granted $110,000 to GAMVP in 2020, and another $250,000 in 2021. GAMVP is also listed as a grantee of the Southern Partners Fund. ^{2 3 19 20}