Make North Carolina First is a left-of-center non-profit funding and state advocacy organization based in Raleigh, North Carolina. ¹ⁱ

Funding

It has financial ties to numerous left-of-center organizations. In 2015, the Environmental Defense Fund gave Make North Carolina First a cash grant of $50,000. ² In 2016, MNCF received $27,000 in grant money from the Tides Foundation. ³ The Open Society Policy Center, the lobbying arm of the George Soros network of philanthropies, donated $220,000 to MNCF in order “to support policy advocacy in North Carolina” in 2018. ^4viii 

MNCF made a $202,000 donation to the progressive advocacy group known as Color of Change in that year. ⁵  MNCF made another donation of $2,040,000 to the organization called A Better NC. ⁶ It also donated to North Carolina Citizens for Progress in 2016 and 2018. It donated a total of $1,250,000 in 2016⁷ and $1.3 million in 2018. ⁸ MNCF also received a cash grant for $223,000 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund during that year. ^9ix

State Supreme Court Campaigning

In 2016, MNCF was financially involved in an advertisement campaign involving a Republican North Carolina Supreme Court justice named Bob Edmunds. It funded an attack advertisement against Bob Edmunds during his reelection campaign in which it called him a “snake.” MNCF spent approximately $1 million for this ad. ^10x

1. Make North Carolina First.” NCCompanies.com – North Carolina Search Engine. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://nccompanies.com/company/1345865/make-north-carolina-first.html
2. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax: Environmental Defense Action Fund.” Candid. Accessed June 20, 2020. http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/900/900080500/900080500_201609_990O.pdf
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax: Tides Foundation.” Tides. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2016-Tides-Foundation-Form-990.pdf
4. “OSPC Summary of Lobbying Activities: 2018, Fourth Quarter.” Open Society Policy Center. Last modified February 25, 2019. https://opensocietypolicycenter.org/reporting/ospc-summary-of-lobbying-activities-2018-fourth-quarter/.
5. “Make North Carolina First.” OpenSecrets. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/search?cof=FORID%3A11&cx=010677907462955562473%3Anlldkv0jvam&q=make+north+carolina+first&type=donors.
6. “A Better NC.” OpenSecrets. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?cycle=2016&ein=812878634.
7. “North Carolina Citizens for Progress 2016.” OpenSecrets. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?cycle=2016&ein=453626206.
8. “North Carolina Citizens for Progress 2018.” OpenSecrets. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_donors.php?cycle=2016&ein=453626206.
9. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax: Sixteen Thirty Fund” Politico. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://static.politico.com/4b/32/19c3670b41dfa1f8c1b3e0972138/2018-1630-form990.pdf
10. Binker, Mark. “Supreme Court Spending ‘all About Redistricting’.” WRAL.com. Last modified July 13, 2018. https://www.wral.com/supreme-court-spending-all-about-redistricting-/16168892/.