In 2022, Stand Together Trust and Stand Together Chamber of Commerce contributed over $176 million to groups in Charles Koch’s “Stand Together” constellation of nonprofits as well as to higher education and right-wing policy, advocacy, litigation and media groups, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has found.
The grants are disclosed in the 2022 IRS 990 filing for Stand Together Trust and the comparable filing for Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, both of which were obtained by CMD.
The 2022 filings show that both groups raised tens of millions of dollars in 2022 and are sitting on hundreds of millions in assets. Stand Together Trust brought in $63.9 million and has $329 million in net assets, while Stand Together Chamber of Commerce raised $274.9 million and has $224.5 million in net assets.
An earlier CMD analysis revealed that 27 organizations controlled by the Koch patriarch, his son Chase, and other Koch Industries executives spent a combined net total of $656.8 million on political and charitable causes in 2021.
Koch network spending is showing signs of eclipsing this amount in 2022 with news of Charles Koch’s gift of $4.3 billion of Koch Industries stock to the newly formed group Believe in People, as reported by Forbes in October.
The Charles Koch Foundation contributed $52.6 million to colleges and universities in 2022, CMD reported, and the same year, the Koch donor conduit Unlikely Giving supported the pet project of Charles’ daughter with $60 million, as The Daily Beast exposed.
Charles Koch, the CEO and chairman of Koch Industries, is worth $53.6 billion, according to Forbes.
$107.5 Million to Tax-Exempt Groups in the Koch Network
In 2022, Koch funneled $107.5 million to 10 groups under the Stand Together umbrella through his Stand Together Trust and Chamber of Commerce, CMD has calculated.
Koch’s astroturf operation Americans for Prosperity (AFP) received the largest grant — $60 million — followed by its associated super PAC, Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action), which received a grant of $26.5 million. Stand Together Chamber of Commerce provided both grants.
After revealing in February that it would not endorse insurrectionist Donald Trump for reelection in 2024, AFP Action recently announced its endorsement of Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary. The super PAC also received $20 million from Koch Industries in 2022.
Stand Together Chamber also sent $2.8 million to Koch’s school privatization group yes. every kid.
The following Stand Together tax-exempt groups also received cash through the trust: Americans for Prosperity Foundation ($7.9 million); Bill of Rights Institute ($4.5 million); Stand Together Foundation ($2 million); Yes. every kid. ($2 million); John Quincy Adams Society ($1.1 million); Stand Together Fellowships ($500,000); and the Charles Koch Foundation ($200,000).
$26.3 Million for Higher Education
Stand Together Trust distributed $26.3 million in Koch cash to 17 higher education organizations and schools, CMD calculated. This is in addition to the $52.6 million in higher education grants Koch distributed in 2022 through his personal foundation.
George Mason University (GMU) accepted the highest amount from the trust: $14.9 million for its foundation and Institute for Humane Studies. This is in addition to the $8.2 million Koch contributed to the university through his Charles Koch Foundation in 2022.
For many years, Charles Koch has served on the GMU Institute’s board of directors, which now also includes the Koch Foundation’s Ryan Stower as the current chairman and Stand Together‘s Brian Hooks.
$26.3 Million to Right-Wing Policy and Advocacy Groups
In 2022, Stand Together Trust donated $26.3 million to right-wing policy and advocacy groups working at both the national and state levels, CMD has found.
The $5.8 million the trust funneled to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (rebranded as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) made it the largest grant recipient in this category in 2022. The right-wing-funded group plays an important role in the Right’s promotion of its manufactured free speech crisis on college and university campuses through the publication of its annual “Worst College for Free Speech” rankings and its “Campus Disinvitation Database.”
The numbers produced in these projects aid state lawmakers — usually American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) members — in passing so-called “Campus Free Speech” bills backed by Koch-funded groups such as ALEC, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Goldwater Institute.
Stand Together Trust distributed $5.1 million in grants to 17 of the 64 affiliates of the State Policy Network (SPN), according to CMD’s analysis. SPN is a web of 163 right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations based in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom. These groups play an integral role in ensuring the passage of legislation in state houses by providing academic legitimacy when called on to testify at hearings, producing “studies” or model legislation, and attracting media attention.
In 2022, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a misinformation group that denies climate change, led all SPN affiliate grantees with $2 million from Stand Together Trust. Koch is the largest known funder of TPPF, according to CMD’s research.
$7.4 Million for School Privatization Efforts and Alternatives
Charles Koch has long pushed for school privatization and backed alternatives to public education. In addition to funding his own Stand Together groups dedicated to privatizing the education of America’s children, Stand Together Trust contributed $7.4 million to seven groups committed to the cause, CMD found.
The largest grant from the trust — $6.3 million — went to the Vela Education Fund. “VELA invests in everyday entrepreneurs — students, parents, educators, and community leaders — who are envisioning new approaches that meet learners’ and families’ needs,” the fund states on its website.
Other school privatization grants went to: Available to All ($575,000); Nevada Action for School Options ($205,500); 4.0 Schools ($112,500); Families Empowered ($82,000); West Virginia Families United for Education ($50,000); and Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education ($10,200).
$5.3 Million for Right-Wing Litigation
Koch’s Stand Together Trust sent $5.3 million to right-wing litigation and legal policy groups in 2022, CMD calculated.
The trust gave $2 million — the largest grant in this category — to the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF). This group’s efforts to overturn President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program attracted attention in 2022 when Popular Information highlighted PLF’s primary source of funding, noting that “the Charles Koch Foundation and the Charles Koch Institute donated $2,331,550 to PLF” in 2019 and 2020.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which received $1 million from Stand Together Trust in 2022, has also worked hard to prevent Biden from extending student loan relief to tens of millions of struggling Americans.
Also notable — and a first for Koch — is the $517,000 he contributed through the trust to the designated hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in 2022. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) classifies ADF as a hate group because it “has supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has linked homosexuality to pedophilia and claims that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society. ADF also works to develop ‘religious liberty’ legislation and case law that will allow the denial of goods and services to LGBT people on the basis of religion.”
Other litigation groups receiving grants from Stand Together Trust include: the Federalist Society ($1 million); Becket ($500,000); Judicial Education Institute ($150,000); Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy ($120,000); and the Committee for Justice Foundation ($28,000).
$3.1 Million to Right-Wing Media
Koch’s Stand Together Trust also gave $3.1 million to right-wing media outlets, according to CMD’s analysis.
The Reason Foundation received half — $1.5 million — of the grants to six nonprofits. The foundation publishes Reason, a longstanding monthly print magazine focused on “free minds and free markets,” and backs ReasonTV, a series of online videos promoting libertarianism made in conjunction with the TV personality Drew Carey.
Charles’ brother, the late David Koch, was a trustee of the foundation, and the Koch family has provided the outlet with ongoing support.
Other media nonprofits that received Stand Together Trust grants in 2022 are: Ballotpedia ($497,000); Christianity Today ($457,000); 74 Media ($277,400); American Ideas Institute ($235,000); and Think Freely Media ($100,000).
David,
My name is Rick Brimer. I’m doing some research into the funding of the Mayor’s race in Austin for 2022 and 2024. Specifically for Kurt Watson. He won with substantial backing of a PAC by the name of Stand Together Austin. I am trying to find out if this group is affiliated with any of the similarly named Koch organizations and if so how. Thanks.