Non-profit

VDare

Website:

vdare.com/

Location:

Litchfield, CT

Tax ID:

22-3691487

Budget (2018):

Revenue: $698,157
Expenses: $681,098
Assets: $187,130

Formation:

1999

Editor:

Peter Brimelow

Type:

Anti-immigration advocacy group

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

VDare is an anti-immigration advocacy group and news site founded by Peter Brimelow. VDare is commonly considered an alt-right or white nationalist organization, though Brimelow denies the designations for himself and the group.

VDare primarily operates as a “forum” and host for political commentary. 1 Its writers blame the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 for causing crime, economic decline, welfare dependency, and other systemic problems in the United States. These writers generally support the deportation of current illegal immigrants and strong restrictions on future immigration.

Writers whose work has appeared at VDare have included nationalist conservatives such as Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan; white supremacists such as Richard Spencer, Jared Taylor, and Kevin MacDonald; and formerly mainstream figures who have turned to or dabbled in far-right extremism including Ron Unz, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, and Steve Sailer. 2 VDare has four full-time staff members; aside from Peter Brimelow and his wife, Lydia Brimelow, the other two staffers remain anonymous. 3

President Donald Trump’s immigration adviser Stephen Miller was criticized for citing sources from VDare and American Renaissance, a white supremacist website run by VDare contributor Jared Taylor, in emails to Breitbart News when he was a Senate aide. 4

History

In 1999, Peter Brimelow founded the Center for American Unity, a think tank dedicated to advocacy for extremely restrictionist immigration policy. The same year, the Center started VDare.com as its publication outlet. The website was named after Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the United States. 5 Brimelow has denied that Dare’s significance is her whiteness, but rather her status as a cultural American. 6

In 2007, VDare separated from the Center, and Brimelow created an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit to operate the website. 7

Ideology

VDare supports the view that the United States is a “nation-state” based on a united culture. They blame liberal immigration policies for numerous systematic problems that are challenging the “viability of the US as a nation state.” 8 VDare editor Peter Brimelow supports a complete and indefinite moratorium on immigration. 9

VDare writers have expressed concern about immigrants displacing Americans from jobs. In a March 2021 article, Brimelow claimed that the presidency of Joe Biden has dramatically increased the rate of American job displacement. 10

VDare has alleged the existence of what it calls “immigrant mass murder syndrome,” meaning allegedly widespread incidents of American immigrants engaging in mass killings. From 1914-1016, the list counts 556 murders, and from 2016-2019, it counts 85 murders. 11

VDare posts guides on how to report illegal immigrants to the federal government. 12

VDare writers have written anti-Semitic articles concerning the influence of Jews in the United States. 13

Peter Brimelow

Peter Brimelow is the founder and editor of VDare. He has described himself as a “civic nationalist.” 14 He has also described himself as a “paleoconservative,” but says he has distanced himself from the term because of its association with “hyper-Catholicism.” Brimelow does not consider himself a part of the “alt-right,” a white supremacist faction of far-right politics. In a 2018 interview, when asked if he was a white nationalist, Brimelow responded, “…my heart is with civic nationalism, but my head is with racial nationalism. Because I think that’s the way things are going—I think the country is precipitating out on racial lines.” 15

Brimelow is an English immigrant who had worked as a mainstream conservative writer in the 1980s and ’90s at Forbes and National Review. In 1995, he published Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster, which criticized liberal immigration policy and would serve as the ideological foundation for VDare. The book was criticized by Foreign Affairs for its association between America’s cultural identity and white racial identity, and marked Brimelow as a far-right figure. 16

In August 2018, the Washington Post reported that Peter Brimelow was invited to the birthday party of Larry Kudlow, an economic adviser to then-President Donald Trump. Kudlow later stated that he would not have invited Brimelow if he knew his political stances. Brimelow would state that he and Kudlow were “dear friends” who had known each other for a long time despite disagreements on immigration. 17

In January 2020, Brimelow filed a $5 million lawsuit against the New York Times for defamation after the newspaper repeatedly referred to him as an “open white nationalist,” and cited the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)’s description of him. In response, the New York Times removed the word “open” from the descriptions but vowed to fight the lawsuit. 18 A year later, a New York court ruled that the original description of Brimelow as an “open” white nationalist would qualify as defamatory, but the removal of the word rendered the description overly broad and acceptable given the newspaper’s citation of the SPLC. The lawsuit was dismissed. 19

Brimelow has five children by his marriage with his first wife, Maggy Laws Brimelow. After her death in 2004, he married Lydia Brimelow, with whom he has three children. Lydia Brimelow is the advancement officer in charge of fundraising, office management, and other tasks at VDare. 20

John Brimelow, a presumed relative of Peter Brimelow, served as a director of VDare as late as 2018. 21

Alignment with “White Nationalism”

VDare founder and editor Peter Brimelow officially considers VDare to not be a white nationalist, white supremacist, or racist organization. He has stated, “Our position is that VDare is a forum site. That we will publish any view as long as they’re critical of the [Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965].” 22

Brimelow has acknowledged that he shares some views with white nationalists like Jared Taylor and hosts their writing, though he maintains a distinction between white nationalists and white supremacists, with only the latter being violent. 23

Numerous critical groups have classified VDare as white nationalist. The left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center considers VDare “white nationalist” and an “anti-immigrant hate” group. 24

The liberal media criticism organization Media Matters for America calls VDare “a racist, anti-immigration website associated with several prominent white supremacists and alt-right leaders.” 25

The Washington Post has characterized Brimelow as a member of the alt-right. 26

Boycotts and Deplatforming

In August 2017, the Chayanne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs cancelled a reservation for a conference VDare had planned to host in April 2018. Since the reservation was made, the resort had faced pressure from the town’s mayor and potential consumer boycotts. 27

In February 2020, VDare purchased Berkeley Castle, a 132-year-old castle home in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The purchase prompted backlash from the local community, which was concerned that VDare would use the site as a launching point for white nationalist conferences and rallies, though VDare denied any such intended use. The sale of the property was facilitated through the lawfirm Trump & Trump, which is run by State Senator Charles Trump (R-Morgan). 28

In April 2020, Facebook removed 19 pages, 15 accounts, and one group connected to VDare. 29

In June 2020, web registrar Network Solutions gave VDare ten days’ notice before it would cancel providing service after twenty years. 30 The cancellation was prompted by pressure from the left-wing Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which sent multiple letters to Network Solutions. 31 While VDare expressed concerns that its website would be taken down entirely if it could not find another registrar, the website was able to migrate to PublicDomainRegistry.com. 32

In August 2020, YouTube permanently banned VDare’s channel. 33

Funding

In 2018, VDare generated $698,157 in revenue, with $500,672 coming from grants and contributions. 34

In 2019, Donors Trust, an ideologically conservative provider of donor-advised funds to prospective contributors, reported making a $1.5 million contribution to VDare. 35 The structure of Donors Trust funds makes it almost certain that this contribution was directed by a donor holding a donor-advised fund account with Donors Trust. 36

In March 2020, an anonymous donor from Spokane, Washington, gave thousands of dollars to VDare through the Innovia Foundation, a local pass-through fund. In response, the Foundation changed its policies to prohibit donations to “groups that promote hate.” 37

References

  1. Nwanevu, Osita. “A Brief Conversation With White Nationalist Peter Brimelow at CPAC.” Slate. February 23, 2018. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/a-brief-conversation-with-a-white-nationalist-at-cpac.html.
  2. “Writers.” VDare. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://vdare.com/writers.
  3. “VDARE Foundation Mission Statement.” VDare. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/about.
  4. Rogers, Katie; DeParle, Jason. “The White Nationalist Websites Cited By Stephen Miller.” New York Times. November 18, 2019. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/us/politics/stephen-miller-white-nationalism.html.
  5. “VDare.” SPLC. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/vdare.
  6. Brimelow, Peter. “Is VDARE.COM “White Nationalist?”” VDare. July 24, 2006. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/is-vdare-com-white-nationalist.
  7. “VDare.” SPLC. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/vdare.
  8. “VDARE Foundation Mission Statement.” VDare. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/about.
  9. Brimelow, Peter. “Is VDARE.COM “White Nationalist?”” VDare. July 24, 2006. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/is-vdare-com-white-nationalist.
  10. Brimelow, Peter. “NATIONAL DATA: The “Biden Rush” Continues – American Worker Displacement Soars As Immigrants Scoop Up ALL New Jobs.” VDare. March 8, 2021. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/national-data-the-biden-rush-continues-american-worker-displacement-soars-as-immigrants-scoop-up-all-new-jobs.
  11. “”What is Immigrant Mass Murder Syndrome?”” VDare. July 30, 2016. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/what-is-immigrant-mass-murder-syndrome.
  12. Mann, Juan. “Reporting Illegal Aliens – 2009 Update.” VDare. April 1, 2009. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/reporting-illegal-aliens-2009-update.
  13. MacDonald, Kevin. “Jewish Fear and Loathing of Donald Trump (5): Would Trump’s Defeat be Blamed on the Jews?” VDare. August 14, 2016. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/jewish-fear-and-loathing-of-donald-trump-5-would-trump-s-defeat-be-blamed-on-jews.
  14. Conklin, Audrey. “New York Times faces $5M lawsuit over labelling author ‘open white nationalist’.” Fox Business. January 11, 2020. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/new-york-times-lawsuit-peter-brimelow.
  15. Nwanevu, Osita. “A Brief Conversation With White Nationalist Peter Brimelow at CPAC.” Slate. February 23, 2018. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/a-brief-conversation-with-a-white-nationalist-at-cpac.html.
  16. Hendrickson, David C. “Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster.” Foreign Affairs. July/August 2005. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1995-07-01/alien-nation-common-sense-about-americas-immigration-disaster.
  17. Costa, Robert. “Trump adviser Larry Kudlow hosted publisher of white nationalists at his home.” Chron. August 21, 2018. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.chron.com/news/article/Trump-adviser-Larry-Kudlow-hosted-publisher-of-13172393.php.
  18. Conklin, Audrey. “New York Times faces $5M lawsuit over labelling author ‘open white nationalist’.” Fox Business. January 11, 2020. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/new-york-times-lawsuit-peter-brimelow.
  19. Russ, Hodgson. “Court Rules that Being Called a White Nationalist is Not a Defamatory Statement of Fact.” JDSUPRA. January 12, 2021. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/court-rules-that-being-called-a-white-7355662/.
  20. “VDARE Foundation Mission Statement.” VDARE. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/about.
  21. “VDare Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/223691487/02_2020_prefixes_22-23%2F223691487_201812_990_2020020717127576.
  22. Nwanevu, Osita. “A Brief Conversation With White Nationalist Peter Brimelow at CPAC.” Slate. February 23, 2018. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/a-brief-conversation-with-a-white-nationalist-at-cpac.html.
  23. Brimelow, Peter. “Is VDARE.COM “White Nationalist?”” VDare. July 24, 2006. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/articles/is-vdare-com-white-nationalist.
  24. “VDare.” SPLC. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/vdare.
  25. “VDare.” Media Matters for America. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.mediamatters.org/vdare.
  26. Weigel, David. “Four lessons for the alt-right’s D.C. coming out party.” Washington Post. September 30, 2016. Accessed March 11, 2021.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/10/four-lessons-from-the-alt-rights-d-c-coming-out-party/.
  27. “VDARE founder blames “communist propaganda” for Colorado Springs event cancellation.” Denver Post. August 21, 2017. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/21/vdare-blames-communist-propaganda-for-colorado-springs-cancellation/.
  28. “LETTER: How could a white nationalist group buy Berkeley Castle?” Charleston Gazette-Mail. March 20, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-how-could-a-white-nationalist-group-buy-berkeley-castle/article_56b884e3-1029-534f-b314-c832e5a62844.html.
  29. Stone, Jeff. “Facebook scrubbed accounts related to QAnon and a designated hate group in April.” CyberScoop. May 5, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.cyberscoop.com/qanon-facebook-removal-vdare/.
  30. Brimelow, Lydia. “BREAKING: Network Solutions Driving VDARE.com to the Dark Web?” VDARE. June 17, 2020. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://vdare.com/posts/breaking-network-solutions-driving-vdare-com-to-the-dark-web.
  31. Kunzelman, Michael. “Online registrar threatens to drop anti-immigration website VDARE.com.” Delaware Online. June 23, 2020. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2020/06/23/online-registrar-threatens-drop-anti-immigration-website-vdare-com/3241116001/.
  32. “Domain Name Registration Data Lookup: VDare.com.” ICANN. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://lookup.icann.org/lookup.
  33. Shwayder, Maya. “Youtube permanently bans white nationalist channel VDARE.” Yahoo Finance. August 10, 2020. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/youtube-permanently-bans-white-nationalist-223201660.html.
  34. “VDare Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed March 10, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/223691487/02_2020_prefixes_22-23%2F223691487_201812_990_2020020717127576.
  35. Kotch, Alex. “”Dark Money ATM of the Conservative Moment” Gives $1.5 million to White Nationalist Hate Group.” Exposed by CMD. December 4, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/12/04/dark-money-atm-of-the-conservative-movement-gives-1-5-million-to-white-nationalist-hate-group/.
  36. Ludwig, Hayden. “Charitable Infidelity: Providing Clear Intent.” Capital Research Center. Capital Research Center, September 20, 2018. https://capitalresearch.org/article/charitable-infidelity-part-2/.
  37. Shanks, Adam. “Innovia changing policy amid reports that it directed money to white nationalist group.” The Spokesman-Review. March 16, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2021. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/mar/16/innovia-changing-policy-amid-reports-that-it-direc/.
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: May 1, 2001

  • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2018 Dec Form 990 $698,157 $681,098 $187,130 $7,309 N $500,672 $4,875 $205 $181,675 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $377,924 $455,391 $173,863 $9,881 N $385,988 $4,726 $1,126 $148,303 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $441,752 $571,642 $184,955 $6,142 N $440,984 $0 $768 $0
    2015 Dec Form 990 $293,663 $533,727 $337,702 $2,384 N $267,038 $0 $7,110 $0 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $234,164 $553,019 $652,428 $2,384 N $228,625 $0 $15,814 $0 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $263,073 $675,175 $1,048,229 $834 N $211,273 $0 $28,735 $0 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $1,814,024 $423,006 $1,522,319 $0 N $1,804,984 $0 $7,967 $0 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $467,376 $425,526 $127,763 $0 N $466,981 $0 $395 $0 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    VDare

    447 SOUTH ST
    Litchfield, CT 06759-4025