Is Dallas Justice Now linked to Keep Dallas Safe and Crowds on Demand?

1. The investigative case that ties DJN into a Crowds on Demand network

Multiple investigative reports—most prominently from the Texas Observer—conclude that Dallas Justice Now was created or amplified as part of a cluster of organizations run through Crowds on Demand (also called Arena/Crowds on Demand in coverage), a firm known for staging supporters and organizing astroturf campaigns, and that emails and documents reviewed by reporters support that connection ^{[1] [2]}. Those reports describe Crowds on Demand projects in Dallas that produced both pro-police groups (Keep Dallas Safe) and ostensibly Black-led groups (Dallas Justice Now), placing DJN within the same production apparatus identified by the Observer ^{[1] [4]}.

2. Keep Dallas Safe: common vendor, disputed relationship, and public denials

Reporting shows Keep Dallas Safe used the same Republican marketing firm as Dallas Justice Now, and later coverage identified Keep Dallas Safe as a Crowds on Demand project; at least one outlet initially reported a relationship between the two groups but later published a correction after Keep Dallas Safe provided documentation denying a direct relationship to DJN and saying its ties to the firm were limited to website design beginning in June 2021 ^{[4] [5]}. Investigators and sources quoted by the Observer, however, contend that the groups were part of a single donor-driven network in which the same backers and vendors circulated messaging and resources across multiple entities ^{[2] [6]}.

3. The funding and donor trail: allegations about Monty Bennett and “astroturf” funding

Sources interviewed for the Observer and Dallas Weekly trace financial backing for Keep Dallas Safe, Dallas Justice Now, and other groups to or through GOP megadonor Monty Bennett or companies connected to him, with former insiders and documents cited to support that claim ^{[6] [2]}. The characterization of these entities as examples of “astroturfing”—groups presented as grassroots but funded and orchestrated by donors—comes from academic and journalistic experts cited in the reporting ^[2].

4. Dallas Justice Now’s public posture and the limits of available evidence

Dallas Justice Now’s own public website and press materials present DJN as a member-driven advocacy group focused on racial justice, education, and public safety, and the group’s leaders have publicly disputed claims that DJN is a “hoax,” with at least one figure saying she was involved in early conception but did not manage the campaign later ^{[7] [2]}. The Dallas Express and other outlets have also pushed back against reporting that ties DJN to the network, producing legal threats or rebuttals, which complicates the record ^{[2] [1]}. Public corporate filings cited by the Observer show DJN incorporated in Delaware as a stock-bearing corporation and that related entities filed as tax-exempt organizations—documents that journalists interpret as part of the funding trail but do not on their own prove operational control ^[3].

5. Synthesis: what can and cannot be said with confidence

With the current public record, it is accurate to say that substantial investigative reporting has produced multiple strands of evidence—emails, documents, insider testimony, shared vendor usage, and Delaware filings—that link Dallas Justice Now to Crowds on Demand and to the same donor-network that created Keep Dallas Safe; these reports frame the pattern as astroturfing ^{[2] [1] [3]}. At the same time, DJN’s public statements deny being managed by outside donors and emphasize independent advocacy work, and some outlets have run corrections or published Keep Dallas Safe’s denials about direct ties to DJN, which means absolute certainty about operational control or funding chains requires more direct documentary proof or admissions than the public reporting currently supplies ^{[5] [7]}.