NEA Gave More Than $13 Million to Advocacy Groups
posted at 11:05 am on January 22, 2011 by Mike Antonucci
An Education Intelligence Agency analysis of NEA’s financial disclosure report for the 2009-10 fiscal year reveals the national union contributed more than $13 million to a wide variety of advocacy groups and charities. The total was about half the amount disbursed in the previous year, though more than in 2007-08.
The expenditures fall into broad categories of community outreach grants, charitable contributions, and payments for services rendered. In this list, EIA has deliberately omitted spending such as media buys, or payments to pollsters or consultants that have no obvious ideological component. The grants range from $2.125 million to a California ballot initiative campaign, down to smaller grants to organizations such as People for the American Way, Media Matters and Netroots Nation.
Here is an alphabetic list of the 130 recipients of NEA’s contributions, with relevant web links. All of these were paid for with members’ dues money (the union’s federal PAC is a separate entity funded through voluntary means):
AFL-CIO – $150,000
AFSCME – $90,000
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity – $33,000
America Votes – $300,000
American Constitution Society – $15,000
American Federation of Teachers – $28,365
Arizona State University Office for Research & Sponsored Projects Administration – $325,000
Asian American Justice Center – $7,500
Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund – $5,000
Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies – $5,000
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance – $5,000
Baptist Center for Ethics – $20,000
Campaign for America’s Future – $15,000
Campaign for College Affordability – $25,000
Center for Economic Organizing – $13,200
Center for Independent Media – $5,000
Center for Law and Education – $25,000
Center for Tax and Budget Accountability – $60,000
Center for Teaching Quality – $230,767
Center for U.S. Global Leadership – $10,000
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – $50,000
Children’s Defense Fund – $5,000
Citizens United for Maine’s Future – $25,000
Citizens Who Support Maine’s Public Schools – $250,000
Coalition for Our Communities – $625,000
Coloradans for Responsible Reform – $400,000
Colorado Deserves Better -$50,000
Committee for Education Funding – $25,000
Committee on States – $6,500
Communities for Quality Education – $1 million
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. – $8,800
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute – $50,000
Council of Chief State School Officers – $50,000
Council of State Governments – $34,500
Democracy Alliance – $85,000
Economic Policy Institute – $250,000
Education Commission of the States – $50,000
Education Law Center – $5,000
Educational Policy Institute – $5,000
Educator Compensation Institute – $25,000
Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate – $200,000
Emerge America – $5,000
Employee Benefit Research Institute – $7,500
Everybody Wins DC – $8,000
Excelencia in Education – $47,400
FairDistrictsFlorida.org – $250,000
FairTest – $25,000
Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute – $10,000
Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network – $5,000
Global Institute for Language and Literacy Development – $10,000
Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice – $250,000
Harvard Labor and Worklife Program – $5,000
Health Care for America Now! – $450,000
HEROS, Inc. – $202,835
HOPE (Yes on SQ 744) – $1,758,000
Human Rights Campaign – $15,000
Jobs with Justice – $15,000
Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy – $12,230
KnowledgeWorks Foundation – $75,000
Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State – $5,000
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights – $15,000
Learning First Alliance – $91,199
Lincoln Center Institute – $50,000
Mana – $25,000
MediaMatters – $100,000
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund – $25,000
Midwest Academy – $5,000
Missourians for Early Vote – $41,000
NAACP – $5,000
National Action Network – $10,000
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund – $12,500
National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification – $5,000
National Coalition of ESEA Title I Parents – $5,000
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation – $15,000
National Conference of State Legislatures – $64,043
National Congress of American Indians – $10,000
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education – $381,576
National Council of La Raza – $26,500
National Forum on Information Literacy – $5,000
National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts – $10,000
National Indian Education Association – $50,000
National Latino Children’s Institute – $15,000
National Popular Vote – $5,000
National Public Pension Coalition – $90,375
National Staff Development Council – $25,000
National Urban League – $33,700
National Women’s Law Center – $10,000
Netroots Nation – $15,000
New Democratic Network – $25,000
New Organizing Institute – $65,000
New Teacher Center – $325,000
No on 1033 – $328,600
Organizations Concerned About Rural Education – $5,000
Organization of Chinese Americans – $5,000
Partnership for 21st Century Skills – $61,350
People for the American Way – $64,538
Plan!t Now – $25,000
Progress Now – $60,000
Progress Ohio – $50,000
Project New West – $185,000
Protect Colorado’s Communities – $25,000
Rainbow PUSH Coalition – $5,000
Rebuild America’s Schools – $10,000
Republican Main Street Partnership – $25,000
Ripon Society – $10,000
Robert Russa Moton Museum – $50,000
Roosevelt Institute – $5,000
San Diego Public Library Foundation – $5,000
Stop the Gag Law – $350,000
Task Force Foundation – $5,000
Trans Afro Group of Companies – $7,600
Tribal Education Departments National Assembly – $5,000
United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce – $30,000
U.S. Action – $70,000
U.S. Global Leadership Coalition – $35,000
U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute – $26,447
Vote Yes for Oregon – $200,000
Voter Activation Network – $9,500
WAND Education Fund – $15,000
Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation – $166,666
Washington Families Standing Together – $15,000
Wellesley Centers for Women – $6,151
Wellstone Action! – $47,532
Will Steger Foundation – $15,000
Win Minnesota Political Action Fund – $50,000
Women’s Campaign Forum – $10,000
Yes on 100 – $50,000
Yes on 24 – The Tax Fairness Act – $2,125,000
Many of the largest donations from NEA headquarters went to state ballot initiative groups, but these do not constitute the sum total of the national union’s spending on state political measures. In fiscal year 2009-10, NEA sent an additional $3 million to several state affiliates for the specific purpose of passing or defeating ballot initiatives or legislative measures. These grants went to:
Alabama Education Association – $215,000
Arizona Education Association – $70,980
Colorado Fund for Children and Public Education – $350,000
Florida Education Association – $203,500
Florida Education Association Advocacy Fund – $66,400
Georgia Association of Educators – $84,160
Idaho Education Association – $35,252
Indiana State Teachers Association – $213,500
Louisiana Association of Educators – $225,000
NEA New Hampshire – $35,000
Nevada State Education Association – $187,550
North Carolina Association of Educators – $250,000
Oregon Education Association – $1 million
Vermont NEA – $50,000
In some cases, this spending was augmented by funds raised within the state affiliates.
For further information about the extent and purpose of this spending, you are best directed to my article last year for Education Next, titled “The Long Reach of Teachers Unions.”
All of these figures were culled from NEA’s disclosure report for the U.S. Department of Labor, which also includes confirmation of the existence and $14.9 million in expenditures of NEA Properties, Inc., first revealed here in August 2009 and September 2010.
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How much of this money made it to the kids education?
Wade on January 22, 2011 at 11:09 AM
LOL…yeah the AFL-CIO are some artsy frakkers.
Limerick on January 22, 2011 at 11:10 AM
I don’t understand a lot of these union donations beyond the fact that they must be part of the game. Examples, SEIU -LA donation to RiverKeepers. Our DWP donation to various organization (that’s our money they are donating – not theirs!)
Blake on January 22, 2011 at 11:16 AM
Nothing is more absolutely dumb than for a union to support (abortion) when it means the destruction of its clientele.
Teaching was once in lockstep with family values and now it is radically supportive of the very destruction, not only of the very values which it once held dearly, but it even supports the destruction of the family itself.
Don L on January 22, 2011 at 11:19 AM
Well this explains why educational costs go up – and education continues to decline.
GarandFan on January 22, 2011 at 11:19 AM
Good Lord. I wonder how union members feel about their money going to communist and anti-American organizations.
La Raza?
darwin on January 22, 2011 at 11:21 AM
Nothing for international communists, just domestic? How isolationist….
RBMN on January 22, 2011 at 11:22 AM
Government employees should not be allowed to join unions. Period.
cartooner on January 22, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Excellent work.
motionview on January 22, 2011 at 11:24 AM
When you see this:
Don’t think the Federalist Society, think the ACLU. Their main text was written by Goodwin Liu.
Tim Burton on January 22, 2011 at 11:24 AM
The California Teachers Union dished out some $75 million (in a span of about 10 months) in advertising to malign Schwarzenegger’s attempt to trim the education Budget.
$75 million from union Dues that all members, regardless of party affiliation, are FORCED to pay. They Rule the State.
Geochelone on January 22, 2011 at 11:29 AM
The notion of a PUBLIC UNION is absurd. But when given Collective Bargaining Rights they can crush any attempt to bring their terrible reign of usurped power to a halt.
Geochelone on January 22, 2011 at 11:31 AM
Along with Scarface.
Limerick on January 22, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Rainbow PUSH Coalition – $5,000
Rev. Jesse got his payoff
J_Crater on January 22, 2011 at 11:33 AM
There is an Education Intelligence Agency?
pugwriter on January 22, 2011 at 11:33 AM
If Liu wrote it, it must be intelligent and well-written.
audiculous on January 22, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Okay, I checked out the site. Good stuff. I was afraid it was a government agency.
pugwriter on January 22, 2011 at 11:35 AM
A small said to be shrinking group.
Limerick on January 22, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Same concept as Annenburg Challenge. In that case, it was doling out a dead rich white man’s money to Leftist causes, in this case, the taxpayers’. But what good is the State good for if not advancing the interests of the State?
rrpjr on January 22, 2011 at 11:38 AM
La Raza got some NEA cash. Color this SoCal resident unsurprised.
pugwriter on January 22, 2011 at 11:39 AM
There’s not an intelligent and well-written way to call for reparations.
ninjapirate on January 22, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Public schools are mainly a life-support system for teachers’ unions, and teachers’ unions are a life-support system for the Democrat party.
Defund the taxpayer-supported leftist infrastructure.
petefrt on January 22, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Role model?
katy the mean old lady on January 22, 2011 at 11:52 AM
and what has that to do with Liu? You consider support for integration and equality unintelligent?
audiculous on January 22, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Because a lot of these “Centers for Whatever” are just shells, designed to provide jobs for campaign staff between campaigns and for activists so they can protest and organize rather than work.
You can sue your union if you are forced to pay dues even if you’re not a member because the courts have held time after time you don’t have to pay for political activity.
Starve the beast.
PattyJ on January 22, 2011 at 11:56 AM
I prefer Learned Hand.
audiculous on January 22, 2011 at 11:56 AM
If it is not dealing with the employer of the members, expenditures should be illegal. They are no longer unions they are pacs and the money is stolen.
tim c on January 22, 2011 at 11:57 AM
Great work.
(ps. Media Matters? Really, NEA?)
I believe there are two education unions sponsoring Netroots Nation in 2011.
MayBee on January 22, 2011 at 12:03 PM
Nice work, Mike. More like this.
petefrt on January 22, 2011 at 12:06 PM
Deceiving the public is an art.
profitsbeard on January 22, 2011 at 12:15 PM
You consider reparations support for integration and equality?
darwin on January 22, 2011 at 12:27 PM
When the time comes that the greedy unions have their hands out for our money to bail out their pension funds, let’s add up all the members’ union dues that they have turned over to liberal causes over the years and see how the pension funds would look had that money stayed in the union.
slickwillie2001 on January 22, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Alternate Headline: We Gave More Than $13 Million to Advocacy Groups
The Mega Independent on January 22, 2011 at 12:39 PM
Exactly my thoughts. Dues or not, all of this money originates from tax dollars, and is obviously being used biasedly, to a lot of liberal groups. If they want to donate dues, fine. But I think they should be regulated, and equal amounts to both sides is in order. You can’t over fund one side, without funding for the other. Especially when ALL of OUR tax dollars fund the NEA.
capejasmine on January 22, 2011 at 1:21 PM
I consider that someone needs to show that Liu has called for reparations and can show what Liu means by reparations before we can say that he calls for them and discuss what he’s calling for.
Until then, it’s just blowing hot air.
audiculous on January 22, 2011 at 1:24 PM
If you want to stay in your union but you don’t want to contribute to these groups against your will, the Supreme Court (per the Beck decision) (no, not that Beck) has ruled that you can demand a refund of the portion of your dues that does not go toward proper union activities.
itsnotaboutme on January 22, 2011 at 1:27 PM
uh oh, happyfeces is going to blow it.
Inanemergencydial on January 22, 2011 at 1:30 PM
Yeah, spend thousands to collect hundreds – if you win.
Don L on January 22, 2011 at 1:54 PM
Hey how about a class action of members vs the union bosses, the lawyers should love it!
tim c on January 22, 2011 at 2:22 PM
Depends on your definition of equality. If you mean equality of outcomes then no I don’t support that definition.
chemman on January 22, 2011 at 2:39 PM
The unions should be shoring up their member’s pension plans and spending on items that directly help their members. Donating to left leaning liberal organizations isn’t helping the people it purports to support.
No wonder union membership is declining. They’ve become the problem, not the solution.
iamsaved on January 22, 2011 at 2:49 PM
We need a trademark on three-letter acronyms. I thought the headline was referring to the National Endowment for the Arts, not the National Education Association.
rmgraha on January 22, 2011 at 2:53 PM
chemman
equality of opportunity.
audiculous on January 22, 2011 at 3:22 PM
Pardon me for playing devil’s advocate here, but what is the objection to this, exactly? I wouldn’t expect the union to be spending money on the education system itself because the union represents teachers and not children or state education systems. If the money the union collects should not be going to things like advocacy groups, then where should it be going?
The NEA is a scourge on our education system, without a doubt… I’m just wondering what the expectation is here.
Caiwyn on January 22, 2011 at 4:43 PM
The Department of Education (federal) is a scourge on our education system….
TN Mom on January 22, 2011 at 5:00 PM
Interesting. That is a Marxist “community organizer” training front. See Stanley Kurtz’ Radical-in-Chief.
AshleyTKing on January 22, 2011 at 5:37 PM
and the Annenberg Foundation gave how much to the likes of Bill Ayers and Barack Obama and PBS?
Couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, I don’t think there are too many unions/professional organizations out there that aren’t or historically have been run by Leftists and out-and-out crooks. Those few union higher-ups who are loathe to support shady political organizations probably aren’t around for very long.
Dr. ZhivBlago on January 22, 2011 at 7:30 PM
You pay nothing to sue them; the NRTW pays it all and recovers some costs from litigants and donations. It was very hard to get a class action certified at the time I sued. So what? Get some people together and do it!
PattyJ on January 22, 2011 at 8:47 PM
Jesus H Christ! that’s like the who’s who of people that hate the U.S.
esnap on January 22, 2011 at 10:10 PM
Sigh, your and my tax dollars at work.
These public sector unions should be illegal; the collusion bewteen Dems and PSUs amounts to armed robbery. It’s obscene for them to use our tax money to lobby for more of our tax money.
TallDave on January 22, 2011 at 10:55 PM
Are these the racist black vermin who scar themselves with APA on their arms and march around college campuses wearing combat boots? These guys suck.
Jaibones on January 22, 2011 at 11:46 PM
he’s on the list?
audiculous on January 22, 2011 at 11:51 PM
Political contributions to Leftist organizations. This is not a conflict of interest, with OUR money?
DL13 on January 23, 2011 at 2:08 AM
but…..it’s for the children.
Surely you can see that.
Well, if you can, will you point it out to me????
gordo on January 23, 2011 at 3:53 PM