Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
The Prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Tradition of Citizen-Led Investigation
The Department of Justice indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on April 21 on 11 counts including wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. The charges stem from the SPLC’s decade-long practice of paying informants — more than $3 million between 2014 and 2023 — to infiltrate white supremacist organizations. The SPLC shared that intelligence with the FBI, contributing to multiple arrests, including the 2019 detention of a man who had planned to firebomb a synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado. Beth Gazley, an Indiana University professor specializing in nonprofit governance, called the indictment “ridiculous.” The Alabama attorney general issued a related subpoena on May 11.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
The United States Labels Nonprofits as Foreign Threats, Borrowing from an Authoritarian Playbook
The Trump administration has applied foreign agent labels and foreign terrorist organization designations to domestic nonprofits, a strategy researchers at Protect Democracy say mirrors authoritarian legislation from Russia, Hungary, and more than 60 other countries. Russia’s 2012 foreign agent law has been used against more than 900 individuals and organizations; Hungary passed “Stop Soros” laws targeting civil society before Prime Minister Orbán’s April 12 election defeat. U.S. November 2025 FTO designations targeted four European antifascist groups — the first time that designation was applied to antifascist organizations. Authors Ellinor Heywood and Michael Angeloni advise maintaining legal compliance while practicing solidarity to resist divide-and-conquer pressure.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab Charitable Funds Blocked SPLC Donations; 75 Foundations Responded with Solidarity Letter
Within days of the April 21 SPLC indictment, Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and DAFgiving360 (the Schwab donor-advised fund) blocked donations to the organization, even though the SPLC remains a 501(c)(3) in good standing. Writing in Nonprofit Quarterly, Democracy Fund President Joe Goldman argues the pattern reflects “anticipatory obedience” — a concept from historian Timothy Snyder — in which institutions preemptively comply with authoritarian pressure before being compelled. More than 75 funders, including Open Society Foundations, Raikes Foundation, Tides Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, signed a solidarity letter. The San Francisco Foundation invited its DAF holders to transfer assets to maintain access.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Curated by JD · samwise.agency