The United Community Fund is a left-of-center pass-through funding organization associated with Neville Roy Singham, an American businessman and self-described socialist who has been accused of aligning with the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after a New York Times investigative report. ¹

The United Community Fund’s total revenue in 2019 was just under $40 million, $39.9 million of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants. Its total expenses for that year were $38.3 million, just over $38.2 million of which was used to pay for outgoing grants. According to its tax return forms, UCF’s total revenue for 2022 was $6,133, with total expenses of $5,711. ^{2 3}

Background

The United Community Fund (UCF) is a left-of-center pass-through funding organization that is affiliated with Neville Roy Singham, an American businessman and self-described socialist who is married to Jodie Evans, the co-founder of CODEPINK, a left-wing advocacy group created to oppose the 2003 Iraq War that opposes U.S. foreign policies. ⁴

Singham has been accused of being associated with the propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after a New York Times investigative report. The New York Times asserted its investigation “tracked hundreds of millions of dollars” to groups affiliated with Singham. The report notes that the groups, including a political party in South Africa and news organizations in India and Brazil, mix “progressive advocacy with Chinese government talking points.” ⁵

According to the New York Times report, UCF is one of four nonprofit organizations that have “dust-dry names” and are operated by people affiliated with Singham. These organizations had addresses are listed as UPS mailboxes in New York, Wisconsin, and Illinois. ⁶

The report claimed that these organizations “worked like a financial geyser, throwing out a shower of money from an invisible source.” None of the organizations list Singham as a donor or member of the board, however; the report notes that Singham has close ties to these organizations, including UCF. ⁷

While one of the four organizations is run by Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, the other three are operated by former employees of ThoughtWorks, the IT consultancy and software firm Singham founded in 1993. Singham was the chairman of ThoughtWorks until he sold the company to a private equity firm for around $785 million. ^{8 9}

According to its public filings, UCF’s executive director and president is Franziska Kleiner, who is also the social and economic justice Lead at ThoughtWorks Germany. ^{10 11}

Financials

The United Community Fund receives nearly all its revenue from contributions, gifts, and grants.

The organization’s total revenue for 2019 was just under $40 million in 2019, $39.9 million of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants. Its total expenses were slightly more than $38.3 million in the same year, just over $38.2 million of which was used to pay for outgoing grants. UCF’s total assets in 2019, which is the same as its net assets for that year, amounted to just over $1.6 million. ¹²

The organization’s grants and contributions went mostly overseas. In 2019, UCF gave a total of $50,000 in grants to organizations in Central America and the Caribbean, around $1.5 million to organizations in Europe, just over $10.1 million to organizations in South America, and a little less than $22.9 million to groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. ¹³

The United Community Fund also granted large amounts of money to two left-of-center organizations in 2019. ¹⁴

UCF granted a total of $700,000 to the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research in 2019. The Tricontinental Institute for Social Research is a Marxist think tank created by Marxist historian, author, and journalist Vijay Prashad. The organization states that national liberation Marxism “anchors” its work, bases its research approach on the writings of Karl Marx, and notes it is “rooted” in the “traditions of Marxism.” ^{15 16 17}

The United Community Fund also granted just over $3 million to the People’s Forum in 2019. The People’s Forum is a socialist organization that acts as a project incubator and offers left-wing and socialist organizations the opportunity for membership to collaborate on political, economic, and social activism projects. ^{18 19}

The United Community Fund has received very little funding since 2019. Its total revenue amounted to just under $1 million in 2020, $217 in 2021, and $6,133 in 2022. The organization’s expenses also dropped to just under $1.8 million in 2020, around $500,000 in 2021, and $5,711 in 2022. ²⁰

1. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
2. “United Community Fund – 2019” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339/202002309349300500/full.
3. “United Community Fund.” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339.
4. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
5. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
6. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
7. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
8. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
9. “Who is Neville Roy Singham, accused funder of NewsClick’s Chinese propaganda?.” The Statesman. August 8, 2023. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.thestatesman.com/who-is/who-is-neville-roy-singham-accused-funder-of-newsclicks-chinese-propaganda-1503209597.html.
10. “United Community Fund.” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339.
11. “Franziska Kleiner.” Thoughtworks . Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.thoughtworks.com/en-gb/profiles/f/franziska-kleiner.
12. “United Community Fund – 2019” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339/202002309349300500/full.
13. “United Community Fund – 2019” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339/202002309349300500/full.
14. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html.
15. “United Community Fund – 2019” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339/202002309349300500/full.
16. “About.” Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://thetricontinental.org/about/.
17. “Research Agenda.” Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://thetricontinental.org/research-agenda/.
18. ^[1] “United Community Fund – 2019” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339/202002309349300500/full.
19. “Membership.” The People’s Forum. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://peoplesforum.org/about/membership/.
20. “United Community Fund.” ProPublica. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/371913339.