Who organized and financed the No Kings protests?
Executive summary
A broad coalition of progressive and civil‑society groups organized the No Kings protests, with Indivisible, the 50501 movement, MoveOn and roughly 200 allied organizations—labor unions, civil‑liberties groups and advocacy networks—acting as the core coordinators and public face of mobilizations in June and October 2025 [1] [2] [3]. Reporting on direct financing is narrower: press coverage and some outlets point to prior grants from George Soros’s Open Society entities to key partners such as Indivisible, but available public reporting in the provided sources does not establish a single centralized funder underwriting the nationwide days of protest [4] [5] [6].
1. Who built the coalition: an organized constellation, not a single group
No Kings was framed and run as a coalition campaign rather than the product of one lead organization, and reporting repeatedly lists Indivisible alongside 50501 (50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement), MoveOn and a host of partner groups including the ACLU, Democratic Socialists of America, labor unions and advocacy organizations like Planned Parenthood and United We Dream as organizers or co‑sponsors [1] [2] [3] [7]. Mainstream outlets and the No Kings website describe a decentralized structure in which national organizations provided branding, guidance and digital coordination while local groups, unions and grassroots chapters executed local events across thousands of locations [6] [8] [7].
2. Lead groups and their visible roles
Indivisible emerges consistently as a principal organizer and public coordinator—its leaders quoted in interviews and the No Kings site hosting signup and organizing materials—while the 50501 movement is credited with coining the “No Kings” slogan and helping seed local actions; MoveOn and labor and civil‑liberties groups amplified turnout and logistical support through member lists and training programs [6] [9] [3] [8]. Media coverage of successive protest days cites training, de‑escalation protocols and coordinated messaging that reflect the input of legal and union partners like the ACLU and American Federation of Teachers [8] [7].
3. What the sources say about money: grants, claims, and limits
Several outlets, including an Economic Times piece and other international coverage citing Fox News, point to existing grants from Open Society entities to Indivisible—an Open Society Action Fund two‑year grant of roughly $3 million in 2023 is reported in that coverage as support for Indivisible’s social‑welfare activities—which those outlets use to imply Open Society influence on No Kings [4] [5]. Those reports are factual in citing a historical grant to Indivisible, but the materials provided do not document a direct line item paying for specific No Kings events or a centralized “No Kings” bank account; No Kings’ own public organizing materials emphasize digital mobilization and coalition logistics rather than disclosing an overall budget in the cited sources [6] [10]. In short: there is documented philanthropic support to at least one coalition partner, but the available reporting here does not prove that a single donor bankrolled the nationwide demonstrations [4] [6].
4. Competing narratives and political framing
Conservative outlets and critics have seized on Open Society links to portray No Kings as externally funded political agitation, a line amplified in international summaries that highlight Soros’s reputation as a funder of progressive causes [5] [4]. Organizers and neutral outlets framed No Kings as grassroots coalition work—mass participatory events assembled through member outreach, local chapters and allied groups—pointing to millions of participants and thousands of sites as evidence of decentralized, people‑powered mobilization rather than top‑down manufacture [2] [7] [9].
5. What the record in these sources cannot show
The assembled reporting establishes the coalition membership, leadership roles, and prior grants to partner organizations, but it does not supply a complete audited funding trail for the June or October demonstrations nor does it include internal financial disclosures tying specific grants to discrete protest costs; absence of that documentation in the provided sources means definitive claims about a single organizer or financier cannot be substantiated here [6] [4].
6. Bottom line
No Kings was organized by a broad progressive coalition led publicly by Indivisible, 50501, MoveOn and many allied groups—including unions and civil‑liberties organizations—with national coordination and local execution across thousands of sites [1] [2] [3]. Reporting documents prior philanthropic grants—most notably Open Society support to Indivisible—that critics point to as funding links, but the sources provided do not establish that George Soros’s foundations or any single donor directly financed the nationwide No Kings protest days in full [4] [5] [6].