When the group Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) presented testimony to Congress last summer, it described itself as a “nonpartisan and nonprofit organization … working toward a stable and ethical financial system that can contribute to a just and sustainable economy.” According to its press statements, its mission is to fight for economic justice against the “ultra-rich.”
Whatever the merits of that mission, however, a watchdog report shows AFR and its sister 501(c)(3) project, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, receive funding from partisan donors such as George Soros’ Open Society Action Fund, ClimateWorks, and Public Citizen.
And while the “ultra-rich” may be a menace, it is also a major source of AFR’s funding.
Originally created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, AFR’s coalition members have always included openly left-wing groups such as Common Cause, MoveOn.org Political Action, and Progress Now Action. Far from a nonpartisan approach balancing free-market policies and government oversight, AFR has consistently advocated progressive legislation.
AFR and its sister organization lobbied in favor of granting the government expansive new powers to regulate business and markets through the Dodd-Frank Act and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. AFR officials also worked on a petition campaign supporting Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) push for stricter banking regulations.
More recent lobbying efforts have included opposition to pro-cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-related bills. Earlier this year, AFR officials testified in favor of a Connecticut bill that would tax insurance companies an additional five percent if they supported fossil fuel infrastructure. In August, AFR urged state financial officers who oversee pension funds to oppose Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s pay package.
“This isn’t grassroots reform or ‘watchdog advocacy’; it’s billionaire- and union-backed efforts to entrench the gatekeepers and make it harder for everyday people to build wealth through free markets,” said Eric Ventimiglia, executive director of the Pinpoint Policy Institute (PPI). His organization released the report laying out AFR’s “Funding Paradox: Denouncing Wealth While Being Bankrolled by It.”
Ventimiglia argued that anyone familiar with AFR’s funding and leadership should not be surprised by its lack of nonpartisanship.
The policies advanced by AFR and AFREF give unions and their members greater power and taxpayer funding. According to U.S. Labor Department records, the groups have taken more than $1 million from labor unions such as the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the Communications Workers of America through gifts and political activities.
The labor and progressive advocacy extends beyond funding. The groups’ leadership has deep ties to organizations such as the National Employment Law Project. AFR’s first executive director was Heather Booth, described as one of America’s “most influential organizers for progressive causes.” She previously worked with a range of liberal groups, including USAction, MoveOn, and People’s Action.
The AFR website also touts co-executive director Lisa Donner’s previous work “as a union and community organizer and campaign strategist at ACORN,” the now-defunct far-left group caught up in an embezzlement scandal. Ericka Taylor, the other co-executive director, previously worked to “build progressive political power” through the D.C. Working Families Party.
Beyond accepting donations from union- and progressive-aligned groups, AFR and AFREF have also helped fund like-minded community organizations.
AFREF sent $225,000 to the Action Center on Race and the Economy Institute, a group whose mission is to oppose banks, it says, “are responsible for pillaging communities of color and poor families, subverting voting rights, and destroying our environment.” AFR also donated $100,000 to Demand Progress, another nonprofit funded by Soros-affiliated foundations.
Ventimiglia said the funding relationships demonstrate what he described as hypocrisy in progressive advocacy. “Liberal elites and powerful unions fund groups like AFR to push regulations that concentrate financial control and stifle opportunity for average Americans,” he said.
AFR did not respond to a request for comment.