The Indivisible Project (or Indivisible) is a left-of-center 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., and created in late 2016 as a response to the election of President Donald Trump. The Indivisible Project was established to provide liberals a practical guide for “Resisting the Trump Agenda.” ¹ The organization signed a petition supporting the Green New Deal and has opposed the use of nuclear energy. ^{2 3}

The organization was founded by two left-wing activists with congressional experience and ties to the left-of-center economic policy advocacy group Prosperity Now.⁴ According to a spokesperson within the organization, Indivisible’s goal for 2018 is to replace all elected officials who don’t reflect their views with “diverse, progressive, local leaders.”⁵ Since 2016, Indivisible has sponsored events like ResistFest in Santa Cruz, “Cardboard Congressmen” demonstrations in Republican-controlled Congressional districts, and local “Resist Trump Tuesday” meetings.⁶ Indivisible claims to represent over 5,800 groups and has a website that has been viewed over 18 million times.⁷

Founding

Established by left-wing activists Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg in December 2016, Indivisible was originally organized as a movement along the lines of the conservative Tea Party opposition to President Barack Obama’s administration. ⁸ To that end, Levin and Greenberg’s first project was a 26-page political organizing manual entitled “A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.” The manual highlighted the best methods to “beat back” President Trump and defeat the new conservative majority in Congress.⁹ Since that original document was distributed, the movement has evolved into an effort to disrupt civil discourse and “sustain a powerful progressive movement.”¹⁰

Affiliated Organizations

Indivisible’s most prominent allies include the Democratic Socialists of America, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, the Working Families Party, Tides Foundation, among others.¹¹

The Tides Foundation is a funding partner for the Indivisible Fund (now Indivisible Civics), the 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm of the organization.¹² Founded in 1976, the Tides Foundation is a pass-through organization and a pillar of the Left.

Nevertheless, Indivisible claims not to be a part of the Democratic Party establishment. In 2017 the group publicly distanced itself from contributions made from groups that supported Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential bid. An Indivisible spokesperson claims that the group “wanted to make sure to everyone that we are maintaining our independence.”¹³

Kenneth Vogel, a reporter at the New York Times, attributed growth in Indivisible to funding from prominent liberals including “the tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, as well as foundations or coalitions tied to Democracy Alliance donors, including San Francisco mortgage billionaire Herbert Sandler, the New York real estate heiress Patricia Bauman and the oil heiress Leah Hunt-Hendrix.”¹⁴

Indivisible Civics

Indivisible Civics is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the Indivisible Project.

Democracy Alliance

Also see Democracy Alliance (Other Group)

Indivisible has numerous links to the Democracy Alliance (DA), a network of high-profile, wealthy, and institutional donors on the political left. In March 2017, Politico reported on an NTK Network video released from a Democracy Alliance donor summit that reportedly shows Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg networking with DA members.¹⁵

In the past, officials with Indivisible have said that they “would ‘Gladly’ accept a check from Mr. [George] Soros or his foundation.”¹⁶

Present Activities

Indivisible may be best known for their effort to support the Women’s March in February 2017. ¹⁷ The group and its local affiliates also organize gatherings like ResistFest in Santa Cruz, “Cardboard Congressmen” town halls in Republican-controlled Congressional districts, and local “Resist Trump Tuesday” weekly meetings. ¹⁸

These weekly meetings involve Indivisible chapters gathering together in state capitals to lobby legislators to oppose President Trump’s policies and promote liberal platforms. Sarah Dohl, Indivisible’s chief communications officer, has said, “It’s not a secret that we would like to move the Democratic Party further to the left.” ¹⁹

Criticisms of Centralization

The indivisible Project has been criticized for raising “tens of millions of dollars from major donors” while claiming to operate through nearly 6,000 local chapters as a grassroots organization but has been reported to have less than 3,000 groups that do not follow shared goals. In 2019, 17.3 percent of its intake came from small donations, down from 35 percent in 2017. ²⁰

Critics state that the Indivisible Project has increasingly raised money as a grassroots organization but declined to organize its local chapters, spent the majority of its money on funding the national office, and spent an “extraordinarily” excessive amount on salaries. ²¹

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

Indivisible was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ²²

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ²³ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ²⁴

Financial Overview

Indivisible has published the nonprofit’s revenue from both its 501(c)(3) Indivisible Civics, and 501(c)(4) Indivisible Project for 2017.²⁵ In 2017, Indivisible raised “a total of $7.5 million,” with “$2.8 million” through the 501(c)(3) and “$4.7 million” through the 501(c)(4). Over the course of 2017, Indivisible was fiscally sponsored by the Tides Foundation and the Advocacy Fund (a Tides affiliate) until it “was granted 501(c)(4) status from the IRS” during the tax year.²⁶

Of Indivisible’s 2017 revenue, 35 percent was raised through small dollar donations, and 65 percent was received through major gifts and foundation grants.²⁷ Of the $7.5 million raised, $3.4 million was spent on organization expenses.

In June, 2021, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Investing in US, a grantmaking organization co-created by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, had pledged to provide an undisclosed amount of funding to Indivisible in support of its “Truth Brigade” project, a project designed to “monitor” right-wing “disinformation”. ²⁹

Leadership

Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, both former congressional staffers, are career political operatives. Greenberg worked as an assistant in Congress for former Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Virginia), and served as policy director for Perriello’s unsuccessful 2017 Virginia gubernatorial campaign.³⁰ Levin served as deputy policy director for Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), and more recently as associate director for federal policy for Prosperity Now, a left-leaning nonprofit that seeks to expand entitlements and welfare programs.

Angel Padilla, Indivisible Project’s policy director, previously worked as an analyst with the National Immigration Law Center (an organization funded by grants from Soros’ Open Society Foundations) and as an immigration policy consultant at UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza).³¹Schor, Elana, and Rachael Bade. “Inside the Protest Movement That Has Republicans Reeling.” POLITICO. February 10, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/protest-movement-republicans-234863.[/note

1. “Summary.” Indivisible. Archived from the original March 5, 2018. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180305201143/https://www.indivisible.org/guide/summary/.
2. ”Green New Deal Hub.” Influence Watch. https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/green-new-deal/.
3. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
4. “About Us.” Indivisible. Archived from the original October 29, 2017. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20171029212727/https://www.indivisible.org/about-us/.
5. “2018 Is Here.” Indivisible. January 03, 2018. Archived from the original September 25, 2018. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180925141143/https://www.indivisible.org/blog/2018-is-here/
6. “Find an Event: Local Indivisible Actions.” Indivisible Guide. Accessed April 04, 2018. http://act.indivisible.org/event/local-actions/search/.
7. “Stand Indivisible-Coordinate with Other Indivisible Groups!” Indivisible. Archived from the original April 10, 2018. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180410080040/https://www.indivisible.org/resource/stand-indivisible-coordinate-indivisible-groups/.
8. “Our Staff.” Indivisible. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://indivisible.org/staff.
9. “Introduction to the Indivisible Guide.” Indivisible. Accessed April 10, 2018. http://www.indivisible.org/guide/.
10. “About.” Indivisible: Annual Report. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.indivisibleannualreport.org/about/.
11. “Stand in Solidarity with Charlottesville.” Indivisible Guide. Accessed April 11, 2018.  https://act.indivisibleguide.com/event/stand-in-solidarity-with-charlottesville/search/.
12. “I Just Gave to Indivisible Civics!” ActBlue. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/indivisiblec3?refcode=donatepage.
13. Levi, Ryan. “Who’s Funding the Anti-Trump Movement? We Don’t Know.” KQED. June 14, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.kqed.org/news/11501427/whos-funding-the-anti-trump-movement-we-dont-know.
14. Vogel, Kenneth P. “The ‘Resistance,’ Raising Big Money, Upends Liberal Politics.” The New York Times. October 07, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/07/us/politics/democrats-resistance-fundraising.html.
15. Schor, Elana. “Conservatives Try Again to Tie Soros to Anti-Trump Group.” POLITICO. March 23, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/conservatives-soros-indivisible-trump-protest-group-236439.
16. Vogel, Kenneth P. “The ‘Resistance,’ Raising Big Money, Upends Liberal Politics.” The New York Times. October 07, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/07/us/politics/democrats-resistance-fundraising.html.
17. Graff, E.J. “Trump’s Victory Inspired Thousands of Women to Get Involved in Politics.” Mother Jones. July 12, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/indivisible-women-resistance-trump/.
18. “Find An Event.” Indivisible. Accessed April 11, 2018. http://www.indivisible.org/events/.
19. Vogel, Kenneth P. “The ‘Resistance,’ Raising Big Money, Upends Liberal Politics.” The New York Times. October 07, 2017. Accessed April 11, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/07/us/politics/democrats-resistance-fundraising.html.
20. Skocpol, Theda, and Caroline Tervo. “Resistance Disconnect.” The American Prospect, February 4, 2021. https://prospect.org/politics/resistance-disconnect-indivisible-national-local-activists/.
21. Skocpol, Theda, and Caroline Tervo. “Resistance Disconnect.” The American Prospect, February 4, 2021. https://prospect.org/politics/resistance-disconnect-indivisible-national-local-activists/.
22. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
23. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
24. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
25. “Financials.” Indivisible: Annual Report. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.indivisibleannualreport.org/financials/.
26. “Financials.” Indivisible: Annual Report. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.indivisibleannualreport.org/financials/.
27. “Financials.” Indivisible: Annual Report. Accessed April 10, 2018. https://www.indivisibleannualreport.org/financials/.
29. Ross, Chuck. “New Liberal ‘Truth Brigade’ Has Ties to Billionaire Who Peddled Disinformation.” Washington Free Beacon, June 3, 2021. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/new-liberal-truth-brigade-has-ties-to-billionaire-who-peddled-disinformation/.[/note] The Free Beacon also noted that in 2017 Reid Hoffman financed a group that created fake social media accounts specifically designed to suppress conservative voter turnout in Alabama’s 2017 Senate special election and claimed that Hoffman’s funding of the project calls into questions its commitment to “police disinformation”. ²⁸Ross, Chuck. “New Liberal ‘Truth Brigade’ Has Ties to Billionaire Who Peddled Disinformation.” Washington Free Beacon, June 3, 2021. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/new-liberal-truth-brigade-has-ties-to-billionaire-who-peddled-disinformation/.
30. “Staff.” Indivisible. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://indivisible.org/staff.