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Who are the major donors to Indivisible since its founding in 2016?
Executive summary
Reporting shows Indivisible has raised millions from a mix of small online donors and larger foundations and wealthy individuals since its founding in late 2016; major names repeatedly mentioned in the available reporting include Reid Hoffman and donors or foundations tied to Democracy Alliance figures such as Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt‑Hendrix, and organizations like Open Society Foundations are reported as funders in later summaries [1] [2] [3]. However, Indivisible has often declined to publicly name individual high‑net‑worth donors, and some donor details are reported through tax filings and third‑party databases rather than by Indivisible itself [4] [5].
1. How much money and where it came from — headline figures
Early reporting cited nearly $6 million raised since inception mostly via many small donations and “some” larger donors; by later summaries Indivisible Project was reported to have received over $7.6 million from Open Society Foundations since 2017 [2] [1] [3]. KQED’s reporting noted Indivisible telling investigators it raised more than $2.2 million from 30,000 individual donations early on, while also acknowledging “some foundation money and dollars from high net worth individuals” [4].
2. Individual high‑profile donors most often named in reporting
Journalists and watchdogs most often link Indivisible’s larger backers to Reid Hoffman, the tech entrepreneur; and to patrons associated with the Democracy Alliance network, including Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt‑Hendrix [1] [6]. These names appear across InfluenceWatch, Scene in America, and multiple news accounts that trace early donor networks supporting the post‑2016 “resistance” infrastructure [1] [6] [5].
3. Foundation and intermediary funders cited in tax‑data summaries
Analyses of tax and grant data list several institutional channels that have passed money to Indivisible or its affiliates: Open Society Foundations (and Open Society Policy Center), Tides Foundation and related Tides vehicles, and other left‑of‑center grantmakers [3] [7]. InfluenceWatch and the Capital Research write‑ups highlight the role of pass‑through grantmakers (like Tides) and the creation of Indivisible Civics as a charitable affiliate that receives tax‑deductible grants [7] [3].
4. Grassroots vs. deep‑pocket tension — what Indivisible says and critics note
Indivisible’s public materials and spokespeople emphasize many small, individual donors and chapter‑level volunteer power; KQED reported Indivisible claiming tens of thousands of small gifts but declining to disclose names of wealthy donors [8] [4]. Critics and some left‑leaning observers warn that national leaders courted major donors early (e.g., Democracy Alliance gatherings) and that significant sums from foundations and wealthy backers changed resource flows toward national rather than local groups [5].
5. What the PAC and political filings reveal — partial transparency
OpenSecrets maintains profiles for Indivisible Project, Indivisible Action PAC, and related entities that show totals, donors who meet disclosure thresholds, and independent expenditures; these public filings provide some donor and spending detail but do not capture all pass‑through grants or small gifts reported on ActBlue or in nonprofit filings [9] [10] [11]. The political‑entity reporting can show donors of $200+ to federal candidates and PAC activity but will miss many foundation grants unless the foundation names are disclosed elsewhere [11] [12].
6. Disputed claims and recent reporting about Soros
Claims that local Indivisible events were “paid for by George Soros” were directly refuted by local chapters, which said events were funded by hundreds of individual donors; at the same time, some aggregate reporting and tax data summaries later cited substantial Open Society funding to the Indivisible Project over several years [13] [2] [3]. That means local groups deny Soros‑funding for specific events even as third‑party analyses list Open Society grants to national Indivisible entities [13] [3].
7. Limitations and what’s not in these sources
Available sources do not provide a single, fully itemized, donor‑by‑donor ledger of every major gift to Indivisible since 2016; Indivisible has not publicly named all high‑net‑worth donors and uses multiple legal entities and funder intermediaries whose disclosures are scattered across tax filings, news accounts, and grant databases [4] [5]. If you seek a definitive list of “major donors,” available reporting points to several repeat names and foundations (Reid Hoffman; Democracy Alliance‑linked donors; Open Society Foundations; Tides vehicles), but does not present a complete, line‑by‑line authoritative roster [1] [3] [7].
If you want, I can compile the names and institutional grants that appear across the tax filings and OpenSecrets/InfluenceWatch summaries into a single table with citations to each specific claim.