The March for Our Lives Action Fund emerged from the March for Our Lives gun control rally held in Washington on March 24, 2018 in the wake of a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14 of that year. National gun control organizations helped organize the march, and several Californians experienced in left-of-center politics are in the organization’s leadership.

Background

Gun control activists held a large rally, billed as the “March for Our Lives,” in Washington on March 24, 2018. While March for Our Lives lists as its founders numerous students who attended Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School (site of a 2018 spree shooting), national gun control groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords (formerly Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun control organization founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)), as well as liberal groups such as MoveOn, Women’s March LA, and the American Federation of Teachers helped organize the event. Planned Parenthood also reached out to assist the Giffords group in the event. ¹ A number of activists associated with the organization appeared together on the cover of Time magazine to promote the rally. ²

Although the march was promoted as youth event, the average attendee looked much more like a 49-year-old college-educated woman, according to Dana R. Fisher writing for the Washington Post (Fisher is a sociology professor at the University of Maryland who surveyed the crowd). ³

Before the event, the March for Our Lives Action Fund was created as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy group. The action fund was registered with the Washington, D.C., with an address listed in Encino, California. ⁴

March for Our Lives Action Fund listed Jeri Rhodes, who works for the Friends Committee on National Legislation and is a former chief financial officer for Greenpeace, as the executing officers and governor on its registration form. She is a board member of the group. ⁵

March for Our Lives separately established a 501(c)(3) education arm which is not allowed to engage in political advocacy run as a project of Everytown for Gun Safety, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s gun control organization. ⁶

Policy Agenda

The organization’s website lists a number of gun control actions it wants Congress and state legislatures to enact. ⁷ They include increased funding of gun control research through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “universal background checks” on private transfers of guns, bans on standard-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, a ban on semi-automatic rifles in common use, mandatory firearm registration,

“extreme risk protection orders” for family members concerned about someone that poses a risk to self or others, and assorted mandates to regulate gun storage in homes and gun theft reporting.

The group held town halls throughout Florida and visited two dozen states during the summer of 2018 to promote voter turnout. The New York Daily News credited March for Our Lives with spurring Florida’s under-30 voter turnout rising to 37 percent in 2018 from 22 percent in 2014;⁸ anti-gun-rights statewide candidates endorsed by the organization lost elections for Florida governor and U.S. Senator. ⁹

In a New York Times op-ed on the anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, Jacelyn Corin of March for Our Lives praised universal background check legislation set to pass the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, and called on the Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the bill up for a vote. ¹⁰

Leadership

Deena Katz is the president of March for Our Lives Action Fund. Katz, a Hollywood producer, is the co-executive director of the Women’s March Los Angeles Foundation.

The organization has a six-member volunteer board, the Huffington Post first reported. ¹¹

The board members are:

• George Kieffer, chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of California
• Jeri Rhodes, with the Friends Committee on National Legislation
• Aileen Adams, who served under former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D)
• Nina Vinik, an attorney with a background in gun control issues.
• Vernetta Walker, with BoardSource, a company which provides support for nonprofit leaders.
• Melissa Scholz, a lawyer with expertise in nonprofit law.

Funding

Organizers for the March for Our Lives Event in Washington raised more than $3 million for the event using a GoFundMe campaign. A number of celebrities gave financial support to the organization: George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and Kate Capshaw each donated $500,000 for the event. ¹² The clothing company Gucci donated $500,000 to the movement. ¹³ Actress Sara Ramirez notably donated $20,000 to the GoFundMe page. ¹⁴ Professional basketball player Dwayne Wade also donated $200,000 to the organization.¹⁵

1. Georgantopoulos, Mary Ann and Sack Brianna. “The Parkland Teens Fighting for Gun Control Have the Backing of These Huge Organizing Groups. BuzzFeed News. Feb. 27, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2018. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maryanngeorgantopoulos/parkland-teens-organization
2. Alter, Charlotte. “The School Shooting Generation Has Had Enough.” Time. March 22, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2019. http://time.com/longform/never-again-movement/?utm_campaign=time&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&xid=time_socialflow_twitter
3. Fisher, Dana R. “Here’s Who Actually Attended the March for Our Lives. (No, It Wasn’t Mostly Young People). The Washington Post. March 18. Accessed March 2, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/03/28/heres-who-actually-attended-the-march-for-our-lives-no-it-wasnt-mostly-young-people/
4. Gutowski, Stephen and Schoffstall Joe. “’March for Our Lives’ Now Operating Under Dark Money Nonprofit Advocacy Group.” Washington Free Beacon. March 21, 2018. Accessed Feb. 27, 2019. https://freebeacon.com/issues/march-lives-now-operating-dark-money-nonprofit-advocacy-group/
5. Gutowski, Stephen and Schoffstall Joe. “’March for Our Lives’ Now Operating Under Dark Money Nonprofit Advocacy Group.” Washington Free Beacon. March 21, 2018. Accessed Feb. 27, 2019. https://freebeacon.com/issues/march-lives-now-operating-dark-money-nonprofit-advocacy-group/
6. Gutowski, Stephen and Schoffstall Joe. “’March for Our Lives’ Now Operating Under Dark Money Nonprofit Advocacy Group.” Washington Free Beacon. March 21, 2018. Accessed Feb. 27, 2019. https://freebeacon.com/issues/march-lives-now-operating-dark-money-nonprofit-advocacy-group/
7. Policy Agenda. March for Our Lives. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://marchforourlives.com/policy/
8. Dillon, Nancy. “Florida’s youth vote surges after turnout efforts from Parkland survivors.” New York Daly News. January 23, 2019. Access February 28, 2019. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-news-parkland-activists-help-spur-florida-youth-vote-during-midterms-20190123-story.html
9. Beckett, Lois. “Pain for Parkland Students after Pro-gun Candidates Win: ‘I’m Shaking with Anger’.” The Guardian. November 07, 2018. Accessed March 04, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/07/parkland-student-activists-florida-races-pro-gun-nra.
10. Jaclyn Corin. “Would Congress Care More if Parkland Had Been a Plane Crash?” The New York Times. February 13, 2019. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/opinion/parkland-anniversary-guns-reform.html
11. Liebelson, Dana and Wing, Nick. “Behind Millions Of Dollars Raised By Parkland Students, An Adult Board Of Directors.” Huffington Post. March 19, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2018. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/march-for-our-lives-action-fund_us_5ab02dbbe4b0697dfe19a488
12. Farber, Madeline. “March for Our Lives’ Gun Control Rally to Draw Thousands Across U.S.: Everything You Need to Know.” Fox News. March 24, 2018. Accessed March 2, 2019. https://www.foxnews.com/us/march-for-our-lives-gun-control-rally-to-draw-thousands-across-us-everything-you-need-to-know
13. Fisher, Lauren Alexis. “Gucci Donates $500,000 to Gun Control March in Washington.” Harper’s Bazaar. Feb. 26, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2019. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a18726895/gucci-donates-march-for-our-lives/   
14. Georgantopoulos, Mary Ann and Sack Brianna. “The Parkland Teens Fighting for Gun Control Have the Backing of These Huge Organizing Groups. BuzzFeed News. Feb. 27, 2018. Accessed March 1, 2018. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/maryanngeorgantopoulos/parkland-teens-organization
15. Tsuji, Alysha. “D-Wade Gives $200K to ‘March for Our Lives’ Fundraiser.” USA Today. March 10, 2018. Accessed April 26, 2019. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2018/03/10/dwade-gives-200k-to-march-for-our-lives-fundraiser-asks-nba-family-to-join-him/111136444/.