The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation (ACF) is a labor union-aligned private foundation that operates donor-advised funds, fiscally sponsors nonprofits that have not received tax-exempt status, and promotes left-of-center causes. ^{1 2 3}  Since it was spun off from the then-Service Employees International Union-owned Amalgamated Bank in 2017, it has become a major force in left-of-center philanthropy, growing its assets from $2.8 million in its first full year of operations in 2018 to $229 million in 2023. ⁴

History

For additional information, see Amalgamated Bank of New York

The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation’s parent company, Amalgamated Bank of New York, was founded in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers labor union, a predecessor of the Union of Needle Trades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE). Control of Amalgamated Bank would become a point of contention in the 2000s during a series of high-profile labor union mergers and subsequent disaffiliations. The Workers United faction of the Unite Here union, which had inherited Amalgamated Bank, split from the merged union to join the SEIU. Ultimately, the courts awarded control of the bank to the SEIU. ⁵

In 2017, Amalgamated Bank spun off the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation as a stand-alone private foundation. The bank still uses ACF as its corporate foundation (donating at least $1 million annually), bank president Priscilla Sims Brown is president of the foundation, and the bank’s first vice president of philanthropy Anna Fink is the foundation’s executive director. ⁴

Growth

The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation reported triple-digit growth in net assets in every year of its existence as a standalone nonprofit: 541 percent in 2019, 271 percent in 2020, 295 percent in 2021, 128 percent in 2022, and 143 percent in 2023. Its grantmaking has grown similarly, from $5,372,932 in 2018 to $181,945,881 in 2023. ⁴  

Much of this has been attributed to the Amalgamated Bank’s relationships and reputation among left-of-center organizations and the Democratic Party. A 2015 profile of the bank referred to it as “the Left’s private banker,” and noted that it served as “a kind of lender of last resort for campaigns and super PACs, organizations with little or no credit history and erratic cash flow.” ⁶

A large component of the ACF’s growth is the support it has received from some of the largest and best-known foundations in the United States, which have made major grants to the ACF to support either its own programs or organizations that it fiscally sponsors. These include the Ford Foundation, Gates Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Tides Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Park Foundation. ^{7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16}

Affiliations

The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation is a member of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation and a sponsor of Jobs for Justice, a union-sponsored advocacy coalition. ¹⁷

The left-of-center grantmaker North Star Fund uses Amalgamated Charitable’s platform to manage its donor-advised funds, which made $9.3 million in grants during the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year. ¹⁸

Advocacy

Ten Percent Policy

Unlike other donor-advised funds that do not have a minimum payout requirement, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation requires donors to spend at least 10 percent of their assets in grants each year. In addition, donors to the ACF have the option to place one percent of their assets in a communal fund to be administered by the foundation’s program officers. ¹⁹

In an interview with the Chronicle of Philanthropy, ACF executive director Anna Fink, formerly with the AFL-CIO and the Wyss Foundation, said that requiring an annual payout rate of 10 percent (which the foundation calls the “10 Percent For Impact Pledge”) was part of the foundation’s goal of being “a financial partner to the social change field so we don’t have an incentive to just keep the resources sitting in investments.” She said her foundation had consulted with two older left-wing donor-advised funds, the Tides Foundation and the Proteus Fund, and might be open to collaborations with these groups in the future. ²

Controversies

Campaign against SPLC-Targeted Groups

In 2019, Amalgamated Charitable Foundation launched the “Hate Is Not Charitable” campaign, in which the foundation contended that donor-advised funds should not give money to 34 organizations branded by the controversial left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups.” ²⁰

Other donor-advised fund providers, typically of a commercial orientation, have not endorsed the ACF’s ideological efforts, preferring to follow legislative and regulatory standards. The Chronicle of Philanthropy contacted large donor- advised funds about the Hate is Not Charitable campaign: Fidelity Charitable said, “Grants are made only to qualified charitable organizations”; Vanguard Charitable said they followed “a strict grant review” to “ensure compliance to IRS guidelines”; and Schwab Charitable said it ensured that its grants “are used only for qualified charitable purposes” and that it blocked any grants used for illegal activity.  ²¹

“As an independent charity that is cause-neutral, it is not Fidelity Charitable’s role to dictate what their values should be,” a Fidelity spokesperson told CBS News in December 2019. “Each of our individual donors has the right to decide which IRS-qualified charities they choose to support.” ²²

Post-Capitol Riot 6 Fundraising

In February 2021, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation announced a campaign to pressure companies to stop making political donations in the wake of the January 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol and instead redirect their giving to nonprofit organizations selected by the ACF’s “Democracy Reinvestment Fund.” ³ The fund’s stated goal was to raise $100 million to support largely left-of-center nonprofits working on topics including voter registration, racial issues, COVID-19 relief, and environmental activism.” ²³

In the wake of the January 6 riots, companies including AT&T, Amazon, Best Buy, Verizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Nasdaq announced they would pause donations to Republican elected officials who had challenged the results of the 2020 election. ³

Allegations of Terrorism Sponsorship

In February 2025, the Orthodox Jewish organization Coalition for Jewish Values published a documentary that claimed to show ties between Amalgamated Bank and the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation and Islamist terrorist organizations in the Middle East. ²⁴

The documentary, titled “Terror Bank,” claimed that Amalgamated Charitable had supported the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a left-of-center organization that the documentary identified as the fiscal sponsor of the Samidoun Palestinan Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Canadian authorities jointly designated as a “sham charity” that was fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization. ^{24 25}

Grantmaking

In 2023, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation reported making grants to 1,429 organizations. ⁴

Its largest grant in 2023 was $3,142,250 to the Tides Foundation. It also donated $2,119,674 to the Tides Center, another organization in the Tides Nexus. ⁴

The ACF’s other grants of $2 million or more in 2023 were $3,000,000 to All Voting is Local, $2,588,910 to the Common Counsel Foundation, $2,508,295 to Thousand Currents, $2,476,500 to the Highlander Research and Education Center, $2,300,500 to the New Venture Fund, $2,054,000 to the Windward Fund, and $2,000,000 to Humans First Detroit.  ⁴

All Voting is Local was the ACF’s largest grant recipient in 2022, when it received $8,565,000. ⁴

Funding

The Amalgamated Charitable Foundation receives funding from major left-of-center foundations and other donors to support its programs. The Ford Foundation has made 56 grants to the ACF or its fiscally sponsored organizations. In 2024 alone, its grants totaled $6,158,901. ⁷

The Gates Foundation has made six grants to the ACF between 2021 and 2024 totaling $26,097,036. ⁸ This included a $20 million grant in 2023 “To improve access to safety net benefits through solutions implementation and state capacity building.” ²⁶

The Tides Foundation made $5,867,083 in grants between 2019 and 2023. ²⁷

The MacArthur Foundation has made seven grants between 2020 and 2025 totaling $10 million. ⁹

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation made 19 grants to the ACF between 2019 and 2024, totaling $36,331,250. ¹⁰

Between 2022 and 2025, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation made eight grants to the ACF totaling $3,720,973. ¹¹

The Rockefeller Foundation made four grants in 2021 and 2025 totaling $6,350,000. ¹²

Other high-profile left-of-center foundations that have made notable donations to the ACF include the Lumina Foundation ²⁸ and Mellon Foundation. ¹³

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has made nine grants between 2020 and 2025 totaling $4,953,859. ¹⁴

In 2023, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation made a grant of $3,381,900. ¹⁶

The Park Foundation has made seven grants between 2021 and 2024 totaling $470,000. ¹⁵

Tax Filings

The 990 tax filings for the organization from 2017 through 2023 are listed below:

• 2017 990 Form
• 2018 990 Form
• 2019 990 Form
• 2020 990 Form
• 2021 990 Form
• 2022 990 Form
• 2023 990 Form

1. “Home.” Amalgamated Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.amalgamatedfoundation.org/.
2. Alex Daniels, “New Donor-Advised Fund Pushed To Keep The Cash Moving,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 11, 2018, https://www.philanthropy.com/article/New-Donor-Advised-Fund-Pushes/243086
3. Schwartz, Brian. “Nonprofit Tied to Amalgamated Bank Looks to Capture Corporate Donors through New Fund Following Capitol Hill Riot.” CNBC, February 3, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/amalgamated-bank-nonprofit-looks-to-capture-corporate-donors-through-new-fund.html.
4. “Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/821517696.
5.  Patrick J. McDonnell, “2 Unions Bitterly Split Over Members,” Los Angeles Times, November 9, 2009, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-nov-09-fi-union-fight9-story.html
6. Confessore, Nicholas. “Owned by Union, Amalgamated Bank Gives Lift to the Left (Published 2015).” The New York Times, August 29, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/us/politics/owned-by-union-amalgamated-bank-gives-lift-to-the-left.html.
7. “Amalgamated Charitable Foundation.” Ford Foundation, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/page/3/?s=amalgamated%2Bcharitable&include_grants=true.
8. “Gates Foundation Committed Grants Database.” Gates Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=amalgamated+charitable.
9. “Amalgamated Foundation.” MacArthur Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/amalgamated-foundation-10115273/.
10. “Grants.” Hewlett Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://hewlett.org/grants/?_grant_search=amalgamated+foundation.
11. “Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc.” The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.packard.org/grantee/amalgamated-charitable-foundation-inc/.
12. “Search.” The Rockefeller Foundation, 2025. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/search/?keyword=amalgamated%2Bcharitable&search=true.
13. “Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Inc.” Mellon Foundation, November 15, 2022. https://www.mellon.org/grant-details/amalgamated-charitable-foundation-inc.-20453414.
14. “Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Inc.” Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.rbf.org/grantees/amalgamated-charitable-foundation-inc.
15. “Grants Awarded.” Park Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.parkfoundation.org/grantees/amalgamated-charitable-foundation-inc/.
16. “Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Form 990, Schedule I .” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/205205488/202413129349304911/IRS990ScheduleI.
17. Hayden Ludwig, “Trade Union Bank Gets Into The ‘Dark Money’ Game,” Capital Research Center, July 10, 2018, https://www.capitalresearch.org/article/trade-union-bank-gets-into-the-dark-money-game
18.  Donor-Advised Funds.” North Star Fund. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://northstarfund.org/give/donor-advised-funds/.
19.   Alex Daniels, “New Donor-Advised Fund Pushed To Keep The Cash Moving,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 11, 2018, https://www.philanthropy.com/article/New-Donor-Advised-Fund-Pushes/243086
20. Stilson, Robert, and Hayden Ludwig. “Amalgamated Bank: ‘Hate Is Not Charitable.’” Capital Research Center, May 25, 2022. https://capitalresearch.org/article/amalgamated-bank-part-3/.
21.    Maria Di Mento, “Campaign Urges DAF Providers Not To Give to Hate Groups,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, March 20, 2019, https://www.philanthropy.com/campaign-urges-DAF-partners/245938
22.  Stephen Gandel, “Fidelity Charitable Fund Bankrolls ‘Hate Groups,’ Critics Say,” CBS News, December 10, 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fidelity-401k-provider-criticized-for-funding-hate-groups
23.  Daniels, Alex. “A Close Look at the Pooled Funds That Are Shaking up Philanthropy.” Chronicle of Philanthropy, March 20, 2025. https://www.philanthropy.com/news/a-closer-look-at-the-pooled-funds-that-are-shaking-up-philanthropy/.
24. New Documentary Ties Amalgamated Bank to Middle East Terrorism.” Coalition for Jewish values, February 18, 2025. https://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/2025/02/new-documentary-ties-amalgamated-bank-to-middle-east-terrorism/.
25. “United States and Canada Target Key International Fundraiser for Foreign Terrorist Organization PFLP.” U.S. Department of the Treasury, October 15, 2024. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2646.
26. “INV-057781.” Gates Foundation, October 2023. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2023/10/inv-057781.
27. Tides Foundation.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/510198509.
28. “250,000.00 Grant to Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Inc..” Lumina Foundation. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.luminafoundation.org/grant/2402-1116866/.