Working Families Party Justice Fund

It transferred most of the money it raised to other Working Families Party-controlled political organizations in late 2021 and appears to be inactive. ²

Positioning

The Working Families Party Justice Fund was presented as a “grassroots PAC,” and left-of-center media reported that it would “provide direct financial support to local candidates committed to policies around defunding the police and reinvesting in communities.”  ³

The fund’s website included a form that candidates for local public office or their supporters could fill out to be considered for support, and advertised that candidates had to pledge to “defund the police,” reject donations from police unions and law enforcement-aligned PACs, and commit to left-wing concepts of “racial and economic justice.”  ⁴

Early media coverage claimed the WFP Justice Fund had received $250,000 of seed money from its two parent organizations. ³ However, the fund’s filings with the Federal Election Commission only reported a total of $111,861 raised in its first year, $50,000 of which was contributed by MoveOn.org Political Action.  ⁵

2021 Distribution of Donations

The Working Families Party Justice Fund began 2021 with $109,880 cash on hand. It raised $130,192 that year, almost all of which came from a $100,000 donation from Tides Advocacy Fund (now Beyond Impact). ⁶ No other donor gave more than $6,000 that cycle.  ⁶

While the WFP Justice Fund again reported no donations to any political candidates in the 2021-2022 cycle, it did make a $25,000 donation to Yes 4 Minneapolis, the campaign committee for the unsuccessful Minneapolis Question 2 ballot measure of 2021 that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety and transferred control of the department from the city’s mayor to an appointed commissioner. ^{7  6} The WFP Justice Fund also donated $26,000 that year to left-wing advocacy group TakeAction Minnesota, which supported the ballot question.  ^{7  6}

In October and November 2021, the WFP Justice Fund then distributed almost all of its remaining funds to three organizations controlled by the Working Families Party: $40,000 to the Aurora Working Families Party, which was promoting a slate of five candidates in the Aurora, Colorado city council elections; ⁸ $55,000 to the Working Families Organization (now Working Families Power), a political activism group operated by the Working Families Party; and $75,000 to the Working Families Party National PAC.  ⁹

This total distribution of $196,000 left the WFP Justice Fund with just $11,425.58 cash on hand at the end of 2022.  ⁹ In the 2023-2024 cycle, it reported receiving $13,206 in individual contributions, spending $1,352 on fundraising and administrative expenses, and making no contributions to candidates or committees. ¹⁰ As of May 2026, it had received $4,613 in donations during the 2025-2026 election cycle, made no donations to candidates or committees, and spent $933 on administrative expenses.  ¹¹

The WFP Justice Fund’s website ceased operation in 2024.  ¹²

People

The Working Families Party Justice Fund’s treasurer is Britney Whaley, southeast regional director for the Working Families Party. ¹³

The WFP Justice Fund’s founding advisory committee included a number of high-profile leaders of left-wing organizations, including Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell, Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project co-founder Jessica Byrd, Black Lives Matter Global Network co-founder Patrisse Cullors,  Service Employees International Union (SEIU) secretary-treasurer Gerry Hudson, United We Dream co-founder Cristina Jimenez, Action St. Louis executive director Kayla Reed, and then-Minneapolis city councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, whose father is Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D). ⁴

One of the fund’s early individual donors was Chloe Cockburn, then the criminal justice program officer at Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’s Open Philanthropy.  ¹⁴ According to campaign finance records, Cockburn made two $5,000 personal donations to the WFP Justice Fund in 2020. ¹⁴