AFT Tripled Its Donations to Advocacy Groups

posted at 6:38 pm on February 13, 2012 by Mike Antonucci
[ Education ]   

An Education Intelligence Agency analysis of the American Federation of Teachers’ financial disclosure report for the 2010-11 fiscal year reveals the national union contributed almost $7.8 million to advocacy groups and charities – about triple what it gave the previous year.

A $1 million donation to support California’s Proposition 27, a redistricting initiative that failed, was the national union’s largest single contribution. A host of special interest groups, charities and religious organizations also received money from AFT, including Citizens for Strength and Security, Commonsense Ten, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Schott Foundation for Public Education.

Several payments totaling $413,534 were sent to TeamBlue Politics, Inc., an organization responsible for the NoVoucherTax web site in Pennsylvania last year. Many people, including myself, suspected the Pennsylvania State Education Association was behind the effort, but now it looks like it was really AFT.

These figures do not include grants and contributions made to other unions (such as Colorado WINS) or union coalitions such as the AFL-CIO.

Here is an alphabetic list of the recipients of AFT’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):

Alliance for Ethical International Recruitment Practices – $5,000

Alliance for Retired Americans – $35,000

Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment – $28,233

America Votes – $150,000

American Constitution Society – $5,000

American Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin Center – $10,000

American Labor Studies Center – $5,250

The American Prospect – $100,000

American Rights at Work – $50,000

Annenberg Institute for School Reform – $20,667

A. Philip Randolph Institute – $10,500

Apollo Alliance – $15,000

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance – $5,000

The Black Institute – $25,000

Blue Green Alliance Foundation – $96,408

Bnai Zion Foundation – $7,250

Building a Stronger Ohio – $150,000

California Community Foundation – $18,000

Catholics United – $25,000

Center for American Progress – $25,000

Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking – $20,000

Child Labor Coalition – $5,000

Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Fund – $5,000

Citizen Action of New York – $5,000

Citizens for Strength and Security – $500,000

Citizens for Tax Justice – $15,000

Clergy Strategic Alliances – $96,396

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists – $5,000

Coalition of Labor Union Women – $5,000

Committee for Education Funding – $17,713

Common Cause Education Fund – $5,000

Commonsense Ten – $400,000

Community Labor Coalition for Change Committee – $336,368

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. – $46,000

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute – $30,000

Council on Competitiveness – $5,000

Demos – $10,000

Economic Opportunity Institute – $15,000

Economic Policy Institute – $350,000

Economic Research Institute – $5,654

Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate – $250,000

Educators Institute for Human Rights, Rwanda – $10,000

Freedom House – $25,000

Friendship West Baptist Church – $5,000

Gamaliel Foundation – $60,000

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation – $40,000

Good Jobs First – $12,500

Greater Wisconsin Committee – $250,000

Healthy Schools Campaign – $7,500

Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities – $10,000

Hispanic Heritage Foundation – $6,425

The House of the Lord & Church on the Mount, Inc. – $7,500

Imara Soul, Inc. – $5,000

Innovation Ohio – $25,000

International Labor Rights Forum – $12,500

International Rescue Committee – $20,000

James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund – $6,000

Jewish Labor Committee – $8,500

Jobs with Justice – $10,000

Keystone Research Center – $15,000

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement – $5,000

Labor Project for Working Families – $35,000

Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State – $5,000

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights – $50,000

League of United Latin American Citizens – $15,000

Learning Forward – $27,500

Lubavitch Youth Organization – $8,000

Mini Men Mentoring – $7,500

National Action Network – $165,000

National Assembly on School-Based Health Care – $5,000

National Association for Bilingual Education – $10,000

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund – $5,000

National Black Caucus of State Legislators – $10,100

National Coalition on Black Civic Participation – $12,500

National Coalition on Health Care – $10,000

National Conference of State Legislatures – $22,500

National Consumers League – $7,500

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education – $66,638

National Council on Educating Black Children – $5,000

National Democratic Redistricting Trust – $300,000

National Endowment for Democracy – $12,500

National Jewish Democratic Council – $5,000

National Labor College – $226,427

National Newspaper Publishers Association – $220,973

National Public Pension Coalition – $135,000

National State Teachers of the Year – $25,000

National Urban League – $7,840

Netroots Nation – $27,500

New York Charter Parents Association – $5,000

New York Communities Organizing Fund – $10,000

New York Moves – $6,000

No Limits Foundation – $25,000

Organize Now – $50,000

Our Community Votes – $150,000

Parent Teacher Home Visit Project – $25,000

The Peggy Browning Fund – $8,050

Phi Delta Kappan International – $13,400

Policy Matters Ohio – $37,500

PowerPAC.org – $250,000

Pride at Work – $15,000

Rainbow PUSH Coalition – $75,000

Rebuild America’s Schools – $15,000

Reform California – $5,000

Save Our Schools March – $10,000

Schott Foundation for Public Education – $300,000

SHARE – $5,000

Special Olympics Missouri – $60,000

TeamBlue Politics, Inc. – $413,534

Tides Center – $50,000

Tk MaVazi Incorporated – $7,500

The Town Hall – $5,000

United Way of the National Capital Area – $15,000

USAction – $5,000

U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute – $10,000

Wake Youth Program – $5,000

We’re Not Going Back – $150,000

Women’s Campaign Forum – $5,000

Working America – $170,000

YES on 27 (California) – $1 million

 

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