White nationalists raise millions with tax-exempt charities

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The federal government has allowed four groups at the forefront of the white-nationalist movement to register as charities and raise more than $7.8 million in tax-deductible donations over the past decade, according to an Associated Press review.

Already emboldened by Donald Trump's popularity, group leaders say they hope the president-elect's victory helps them raise even more money and gives them a larger platform for spreading their ideology.

With benevolent-sounding names such as the National Policy Institute and New Century Foundation, the tax-exempt groups present themselves as educational organizations and use donors' money to pay for websites, books and conferences to further their ideology. The money also has compensated leaders of the four groups.

New Century Foundation head Jared Taylor said his group raises money for the benefit of the "white race," a mission taxpayers are supporting indirectly with the group's status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

The IRS recognized it, the Charles Martel Society, the National Policy Institute and VDare Foundation as charities more than a decade ago.

Samuel Brunson, a tax-law professor at Loyola University in Chicago, noted the nonprofit status gives these groups a veneer of legitimacy and respectability.

"It should make people uncomfortable that the government is subsidizing groups that espouse values that are incompatible with most Americans," he said.

The IRS has tried to weed out nonprofit applicants that merely spread propaganda. In 1978, the agency refused to grant tax-exempt status to the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group that published an anti-Semitic newsletter. And in 1994, a court upheld the denial of tax-exempt status for the Nationalist Movement, a Mississippi-based white-nationalist group.

Some tax experts said the IRS still is feeling the sting from conservative critics over its 2013 concession it unfairly gave extra scrutiny to tea-party groups seeking tax exemptions.

"I don't think they're feeling very brave right now," said Ellen Aprill, a tax law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

IRS spokesman Michael Dobzinski said he can't comment on individual nonprofits.

The Montana-based National Policy Institute is run by Richard Spencer, who popularized the term "alternative right" about a decade ago. The so-called alt-right is a fringe movement that has been described as a mix of racism, white nationalism and populism.

Spencer's group raised $442,482 in tax-deductible contributions from 2007 through 2012. More recent fundraising figures for the group aren't available in online tax returns, but Spencer said Trump's candidacy already has boosted his group's fundraising.