Which local organizations have been coordinating protests in the Twin Cities and what are their funding sources?
Executive summary
Large, coordinated protests across the Twin Cities have been organized by a mix of local progressive groups — notably Indivisible Twin Cities, Sunrise Twin Cities, Unidos MN, Defend the 612, Monarca (as an affiliate rapid‑response arm), and the Racial Justice Network — with backing and public endorsement from labor and faith groups for the January 23 actions [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Reporting shows a patchwork of funding claims: some local groups accept donations through community nonprofits with traceable philanthropic grants, while other accounts and opinion pieces assert larger national “dark money” channels such as the Hopewell Fund/Arabella network — a claim that appears in partisan outlets but is not documented by independent reporting in the material provided [2] [6] [7].
1. Local organizers identified and what they did
Indivisible Twin Cities is repeatedly cited as “one of the groups behind” major protests and publicly promoted marches and strikes in Minneapolis-St. Paul [1] [8] [3], Sunrise Twin Cities is named as a collaborator that ran trainings and action plans aimed at confronting ICE operations [2], Unidos MN is described as an immigrant‑led, BIPOC‑majority statewide organization that coordinates a rapid response network through its affiliate Monarca [2], Defend the 612 ran “ICE Watch” trainings and community response resources including lists for tracking federal agents [2], and the Racial Justice Network is cited as the organizer of a church disruption that drew DOJ attention [5].
2. How unions, faith groups and businesses factored into coordination
Mainstream outlets and on‑the‑ground reporting show organized participation and support from labor and faith sectors during the January 23 actions — the protest was described as part of a larger “general strike”day with labor and faith group backing and businesses closing in solidarity — a dynamic that amplified coordination but is reported distinctly from activist group fundraising [3] [4] [9]. The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation and several unions were mentioned in broader coverage as playing a complicated or cautious role in the strike actions, underscoring that labor’s public posture ranged from endorsement to restraint [10] [11].
3. Documented funding pathways and specific grant trails
Reporting that focuses on nonprofit financial trails identifies at least one clear local conduit: Defend the 612 accepts donations through Cooperation Cannon River, a Minneapolis nonprofit that has reported grant funding from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the Tides Foundation, and the Solutions Project — concrete philanthropic funders named in coverage of the groups’ support networks [2]. Local groups such as Indivisible Twin Cities are chapters of national organizations that typically rely on grassroots donations and national Indivisible infrastructure, as indicated on their site and in press accounts [1] [7].
4. Claims of national “dark money” and countervailing limitations
A narrative appearing in partisan outlets alleges large flows from the Arabella/ Hopewell Fund network into Minnesota organizing; The American Spectator and some right‑leaning reports point to Hopewell/Arabella as a hub for “dark progressive money” funding training projects allegedly used in the region [6]. Other outlets and local reporting cited here do not independently verify that specific Hopewell grants directly financed the Twin Cities protests, and mainstream coverage instead emphasizes local organizing, union and faith coordination, and documented philanthropic support to local nonprofits [9] [3] [2]. Where outlets like the New York Post and affiliates frame the actions as financed by “far‑left groups,” that framing is presented alongside reporting that shows a mix of grassroots organizing and traceable philanthropic donations rather than a single centralized funding stream [7] [2].
5. What is confirmed, what remains unresolved
Confirmed by multiple local and national reports: the main local organizers include Indivisible Twin Cities, Sunrise Twin Cities, Unidos MN/Monarca, Defend the 612 and the Racial Justice Network, and labor and faith groups played visible coordinating roles for mass actions [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Confirmed funding lines include Cooperation Cannon River’s grants from named foundations and routine grassroots/donation models for chapter groups like Indivisible [2] [1]. Unresolved in the materials provided is definitive, independently verified evidence tying the Hopewell Fund/Arabella network directly to the Twin Cities protest operations; that claim exists in opinion and partisan reporting but is not corroborated by the other reporting supplied here [6] [7]. Readers should treat assertions of a single, secret national funding pipeline as contested and follow nonprofit tax filings and local nonprofit disclosures for the clearest documentary trail [2].