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During the fiscal year covered by the tax form, the only voting board member was Patrisse Cullors, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter. While such a structure is legal in Delaware, where the group is incorporated, charity experts say it is far from best practices, especially for a group with tens of millions of dollars in its coffers.

“Imagine you have the equivalent of a cruise ship with no one at the helm, you have a massive organization, massive amounts of money, no structure, no accountability, no staff,” said Ashley Yates, a St. Louis-born activist who was involved with Black Lives Matter nationally in its early years but has since spoken critically about lack of transparency within the group. “Who even makes the decision on who writes the checks?”

Ms. Cullors, who stepped down as executive director in May 2021, said in an interview last week with The Associated Press that within the group, they often referred to the experience of the past few years as “building the plane while flying it.”

“The only regret I have with B.L.M. is wishing that we could have paused for one to two years, to just not do any work and just focus on the infrastructure,” she said in the interview. Much of the outside critical attention on the group focused on her involvement.

Last month, New York Magazine reported that funds raised by the foundation were used to buy a house in California for nearly $6 million in cash in October 2020. The tax filing shows property worth $5.9 million, held by a Delaware company. The house was to be used, among other things, as an artist retreat, the filing said, but identifying information “is not being released here due to safety and security concerns and threats to B.L.M.G.N.F.’s leadership, staff and creators,” the form said.

The tax form indicated that Ms. Cullors received no compensation during the fiscal year but instead “served as an unpaid volunteer.” A family member, Paul Cullors, was listed on the tax form as receiving payment for “professional security services” amounting to $840,993.

According to the tax filing, Ms. Cullors also paid the organization back for “charter travel,” saying that she “voluntarily reimbursed subsequent to year end.” She also repaid the nonprofit for personal use of its real estate, which appeared to refer to a birthday party for her son held at the $6 million house.

“I think they are doing what a lawyer in this situation would advise them to do, which is be as open as you possibly can be and be as accurate as you possibly can be,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who specializes in nonprofits. “They’re trying to be transparent. They’re trying to right the ship. There’s still work to do.”

The release of the tax filing, Internal Revenue Service Form 990 for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, was the first time the group offered an official accounting of its finances. It is also a delayed snapshot. The form covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, nearly a year ago.

In 2021, the foundation released its own report, not a mandatory federal tax filing but a voluntary accounting of its funds, in which it said that it raised $90 million in 2020, with the average donation being $30.64. At that time, the group said that it spent $8.4 million on operating expenses while disbursing $21.7 million in grants to about 30 organizations and to 11 Black Lives Matter chapters around the country.

On the tax form, the foundation said that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, it received contributions and grants totaling $76.9 million, with total expenditures of $37.7 million. Those expenses included grants of $500,000 each to Black Lives Matter groups in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and elsewhere.

Jacob Harold, a nonprofit expert, said he was struck in particular by the number of paid employees listed on the form, which was just two, versus the number of volunteers, which was 49,275. “That ratio pretty much tells the story right there,” Mr. Harold said. Two paid staff members would rarely be enough to manage a $90 million organization. “This 990 tells a story of weak nonprofit governance,” he said.

Justin Hansford, a professor at the Howard University School of Law, said the stakes were high because the public could not always differentiate between the Black Lives Matter movement and one specific organization. “It’s extremely important to have transparency and good governance at any organization with this level of global fame,” said Mr. Hansford, who is also executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. “The credibility of the entire movement is at stake based on these choices, for better or worse.”

But he added, “They deserve a little grace here. As protesters suddenly given a windfall of money, they had to learn how to manage a large nonprofit on the fly, and it’s a lot to ask.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/17/business/economy-news-stocks-inflation