ADL Crowdfunding Report: How Bigots and Extremists Collect and Use Millions in Online Donations

Key Findings

• Extremists are using online crowdfunding platforms like GiveSendGo and GoFundMe to raise millions of dollars for their ideologically driven activities. Through crowdfunding, extremists have generated at least $6,246,072 from 324 campaigns between 2016 and mid-2022.
• Extremist campaigns found on these platforms espouse hateful rhetoric including antisemitism, white supremacy, QAnon conspiracies and anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, as well as rhetoric from antisemitic sects of Black Hebrew Israelites.
• Crowdfunding campaigns have been used by extremists to fund direct actions and attacks on their perceived enemies or marginalized communities; legal defenses for extremists who face consequences for these actions; propaganda efforts and other expenses.
• GiveSendGo has facilitated the vast majority of these funds, hosting 230 campaigns operated by or for extremists and their causes. These campaigns collected more than 86.5% of the funds tracked by the Center on Extremism. Some extremists have also created their own crowdfunding platforms, but they have been comparatively unsuccessful and short-lived.
• Crowdfunding played a significant role in the January 6 insurrection and Unite the Right rally, as well as other, smaller extremist events. The money made through crowdfunding allowed for travel and supplies, and for legal and medical expenses. 
• Crowdfunding platforms and financial institutions should expand existing anti-hate policies, as well as implement and enforce explicit anti-extremism policies. Broad anti-hate policies are not enough to address the spread of extremism online, and crowdfunding services should determine how to define, act against and identify extremist content on their platforms. Payment processors should reevaluate supporting platforms that allow extremism.

Introduction

In recent years internet crowdfunding, the practice of raising funds via many small donations, has become a go-to funding source for a wide variety of causes, charities and personal projects. Crowdfunding campaigns are generally hosted via online crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, Fundly or GiveSendGo. While much of crowdfunding is used for good, extremists have also leveraged crowdfunding to enable their hateful activities. An analysis by ADL Center on Extremism (COE) found that between 2016 and 2022, extremists raised at least $6.2 million using 10 of these online crowdfunding platforms. Several of the platforms were small, short-lived sites that catered to extremist and hateful causes and have since closed, but major platforms like GiveSendGo and GoFundMe are the predominant facilitators of extremist crowdfunding. GiveSendGo is a singularly important part of the extremist fundraising ecosystem, having facilitated at least $5.4 million raised for extremists and bigots. Across all crowdfunding platforms, the COE tracked 324 campaigns operated by or organized to support extremists.

Extremists use these campaigns to engage followers, further their causes, fund legal battles, and disseminate their hateful rhetoric via online propaganda. Some use crowdfunding to pay for medical expenses for injuries incurred during violent activities. Hundreds of crowdfunding campaigns have ties to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. More than $885,000 has been raised to support individuals charged with seditious conspiracy and another $2 million to defend individuals charged with assaulting law enforcement at the January 6 attack alone. Dozens more crowdfunding campaigns are linked to other extremist events, including the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA.

Extremists and antisemites across the ideological spectrum have used crowdfunding. In addition to January 6 and Unite the Right participants, white supremacists, QAnon extremists, antisemitic Black Hebrew Israelites and others have used crowdfunding platforms to raise considerable sums. To identify these crowdfunding campaigns, we searched common donation-based crowdfunding platforms for campaigns, and other donation-based crowdfunding platforms where extremists were known to be operating. We searched these platforms with search engines and their native search functionalities for language or keywords known to be associated with extremist ideologies. We then manually reviewed each campaign to eliminate false positives. More information about our methodology can be found at the end of this report.

Platforms Used for Crowdfunding

The most important crowdfunding platform for extremists by dollars raised since 2016 has been GiveSendGo, with GoFundMe a distant second. Although a handful of other smaller crowdfunding sites have been set up by extremists themselves, GiveSendGo and GoFundMe have broader appeal, and both have failed to consistently enforce their own stated guidelines against hateful rhetoric and campaigns.

GiveSendGo

GiveSendGo was founded in 2015 as a self-described Christian crowdfunding service, and the company has taken stances against “censorship,” providing a platform for campaigns that the “mainstream media had shut down.” Perhaps because of this laissez-faire moderation policy, GiveSendGo quickly became the platform of choice for extremists and conspiracy theorists seeking to raise funds. Since 2016, using Stripe as their payment processor, the platform has facilitated the donation of $5.4 million to extremist-related causes, 86.5% of the total cataloged in this report, and it has been a significant source of fundraising for January 6 defendants’ legal funds.

GiveSendGo’s official policies prohibit campaigns “that promote hate, violence, racial intolerance, or the financial exploitation of a crime.” Its community guidelines add that it may not be used “to promote violence, degradation, subjugation, discrimination or hatred against individuals or groups based on race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status.” However, GiveSendGo’s founders have repeatedly expressed tolerance towards violent extremism on their platform. Although GiveSendGo co-founder Heather Wilson testified before the Canadian Parliament in March 2022 that the site reviews “every single campaign and recipient who comes on our site,” co-founder Jacob Wells confirmed in that same testimony they were aware of fundraising in preparation for January 6, and that some Proud Boys were crowdfunding on the platform. During the hearing, Wilson and Wells maintained that they would allow the Ku Klux Klan to use their platform as long as it was legal, and in an interview with The Nation, Wells said of the KKK: “I would consider it an honor to have them use the platform and share the hope of Jesus with them.”

GoFundMe

Founded in 2010 to allow people to fundraise for the personal needs, GoFundMe has ballooned into the largest online crowdfunding platform, touting more than $17 billion raised. Described by Forbes as “Free Market Philanthropy,” GoFundMe’s website states they are “committed to making it safe and easy for anyone to give and get help.” COE’s examination of the platform identified at least $579,000 raised for extremist causes with the vast majority going to antisemitic Black Hebrew Israelites.

Like GiveSendGo, GoFundMe’s terms of service appear to prohibit the use of the platform for many such uses, including campaigns “in support of terrorism, hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorist financing or intolerance” or which constitute “an abuse of power relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, disabilities or diseases.” In some cases, GoFundMe appears to have enforced this policy. The Verge reported in 2019 that GoFundMe and one of their payment processors PayPal collaborated to ban a border vigilante group, and The National recently reported that the National Defence League, a British white supremacist group with a history of racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric, was also removed from the platform. Nevertheless, GoFundMe’s efforts to curtail the use of their platform for extremist and hateful causes appear to founder when it comes to movements like antisemitic Black Hebrew Israelites. This movement, with campaigns designated for antisemitic documentaries and propaganda networks, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and constitutes 94% of the extremist or hateful campaigns identified by ADL on this platform.

Alternative Platforms

While GiveSendGo is currently the platform favored by extremist movements, organizations and individuals, this has not always been the case. To avoid deplatforming by mainstream sites, some have attempted to launch their own services. In 2017, white supremacists introduced three extremist-oriented crowdfunding platforms: GoyFundMe, created by members of the white supremacist Traditionalist Worker Party; Hatreon, conceived by anti-government extremist Cody Wilson; and RootBocks, promoted by prominent white supremacists like Andrew Anglin and Richard Spencer. In February 2021, a fourth platform, OurFreedomFunding, was established and served as a haven for deplatformed extremists’ crowdfunding campaigns in the wake of January 6.

These platforms ultimately proved to be ineffective and unsustainable. GoyFundMe was taken down for maintenance purposes in December 2017 and was not reinstated. Hatreon was relegated to obscurity when the website’s payment processor, Visa, suspended service in early 2018. RootBocks has also struggled to maintain relations with a payment processor. OurFreedomFunding was intermittently inoperative throughout 2022.

Crowdfunding Extremist Activities

The Center on Extremism has identified crowdfunding campaigns being operated by extremists rooted in multiple ideologies, including white supremacy, QAnon conspiracies, right-wing extremism, anti-LGBTQ+ extremism and antisemitism. These extremists use crowdfunding to spread their ideologies, engage in direct action and fight legal battles. While these extremists can exist without external funding, crowdfunding can amplify their efforts and impact.

White Supremacist Campaigns

White supremacists have used crowdfunding to enable a range of hateful activities, including harassing marginalized communities, covering legal expenses after violent actions, spreading hateful propaganda and purchasing property and supplies for white “ethnostates” or compounds.

Direct Action by White Supremacists

While white supremacy has long been a problem in the United States, COE has recorded a significant increase in the number of white supremacist motivated incidents in recent years. In 2021, COE’s H.E.A.T. Map project recorded 5,168 extremist incidents like assault, harassment, propaganda distribution and vandalism motivated by white supremacist ideologies. In recent years, these direct actions by white supremacist groups have been made possible through frequent crowdfunding efforts.

The Goyim Defense League (GDL) is a loose network of virulently antisemitic individuals who conduct harassment campaigns targeting Jewish people online and in the real world. They are best known for their “Name the Nose” tours, where the group comes together to intimidate individuals in public, distribute antisemitic propaganda and sometimes drive around in a van shouting profanity-laced slurs from the windows. In June 2021, GDL operated a crowdfunding campaign on GiveSendGo to fund a “Name the Nose” tour, which raised $398.

^{The Goyim Defense League solicits donations to their GiveSendGo campaign to fund their next Name the Nose Tour.}

In October 2017, a White Lives Matter rally took place in Shelbyville, TN. The rally, the largest of its kind since Unite the Right, was attended by more than 200 white supremacists from around the country, including members of the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP). TWP, a now defunct neo-Nazi group, organized several crowdfunding campaigns on GoyFundMe, which solicited funds for transportation expenses including purchasing vans for transporting large numbers of individuals to events. These campaigns do not appear to have raised significant funds.

Extremist crowdfunding campaigns often allude to the possibility of violence or violent intentions. By way of example, a crowdfunding campaign hosted on GoyFundMe by a group called the Nationalist Defense Force, self-described as “the only NS [National Socialist] security task force in Weimerica,” according to their GoyFundMe profile, was raising funds for “equipment such as, uniforms, (more) shields, pepper spray, helmets, goggles, gas masks, batons, and much more.” The only available archive of the campaign does not show any contributions.

Identity Evropa, now known as the American Identity Movement, was a white supremacist group which focused on preserving “white American culture” and promoting white European identity. The group frequently targeted college campuses with propaganda, and in 2017 they established a RootBocks campaign called “Financing the Siege.” The group collected at least $1,675 for “setting up tables and handing out literature, stickers, and thumb drives with educational videos on them while being present to talk to students one-on-one.”

Property, Compounds and Clubs

Some of the white supremacist crowdfunding campaigns identified by COE were slated for the construction and maintenance of real estate, buildings or compounds intended to be used to train, stage meetings or hold religious services. 

In 2022, white supremacist Christopher Pohlhaus purchased land in Maine to establish a compound. Pohlhaus, a prominent neo-Nazi and leader of the white supremacist Blood Tribe gang, started a GiveSendGo campaign for the development of the land and “to have a retreat/ community area we can train on and help families move to the area.” After an outing on his new property, Pohlhaus posted on Telegram that “The Blood Tribe camp hosted a beautiful racist family campout this weekend…”  To date, the GiveSendGo campaign has collected $325.

White supremacist “Active Clubs,” where members train to fight against the “modern world” and the influences of Jews, Muslims and non-white immigrants gained popularity in 2021. White supremacist Juan Cadavid, AKA Johnny Benitez, operated a GiveSendGo campaign to fund one of these clubs, which he called a “Nationalist Homestead,” to purchase training equipment and make facility improvements. The campaign features a photo of a crowded active club with white supremacist logos, including the logo of the Rise Above Movement. To date, no one has contributed to the campaign.

Legal Expenses

Extremists have been known to harass marginalized communities, distribute hateful flyers, vandalize property and engage in violence, and when faced with legal trouble they often turn to other extremists for financial support.

In April 2022, white supremacist and antisemite Michael Weaver was cited for distributing white supremacist flyers in Cartersville, GA. In response, Weaver is suing the municipality over the constitutionality of the citation. To fund his legal expenses, he started a GiveSendGo campaign, which has so far collected $4,660. Comments include antisemitic and white supremacist dog whistles and symbolism; one states that “the country depends on people understanding the [Jewish question]… 14 words.” The “Jewish question” is the antisemitic concept that Jews are a problem to society that needs to be resolved. 14 words is a reference to the white supremacist slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” At least 11 other contributors left comments featuring “Hitler salute” emojis, and other white supremacist, antisemitic or Nazi symbolism.

In July 2021, antisemite Gina Aversano was arrested for distributing antisemitic flyers and placing swastika stickers around Staten Island, NY, in November 2020. Aversano is a member of the Goyim Defense League and the New Jersey European Heritage Association (antisemitic and white supremacist groups, respectively). Her husband, Jason Brown, created a GiveSendGo campaign for her legal defense which has raised at least $1,900. Both Aversano and BrCannabis and Combat own have extensive histories of targeting the Jewish community. Aversano took part in one of GDL’s Name the Nose Tours where the group travels the country and harasses Jewish communities, and Brown was charged for assaulting a man whom he perceived to be Jewish during a National Socialist Movement rally in Florida.

On June 26, 2016, neo-Nazis from groups like the Traditionalist Workers Party converged on the California State Capitol for a white supremacist rally where they met opposition from local antifascist groups. During the ensuing riot, white supremacist William Scott Planer assaulted a counter-protester who was lying on the ground. Planer was charged with striking the counter-protester with a metal pole, knocking her unconscious, and was sentenced to four years in prison. During his legal battle, Planer took to the alt-right RootBocks to raise a legal fund and collected at least $14,827. The campaign calls the trial a “public lynching” of the “peaceful” rally-goers, adding: “In the entire history of the “self-defense” defense, there may not be a more clear-cut open-and-shut case of self-defense than what Will Planer is facing.”

Right-Wing Extremist Campaigns: Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer

Crowdfunding also plays a role in the activities of the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, two far-right groups that have attracted significant attention for their real world and online activities.  The Proud Boys, who describe themselves as “Western chauvinists,” frequently espouse misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigrant ideology, and sometimes initiate street fighting with people whom they identify as their ideological opponents. Patriot Prayer is a putatively religious far-right group claiming to promote free speech while primarily crusading against left-wing/progressive activists. Some members of these groups espouse white supremacist and antisemitic ideologies and/or engage with white supremacist groups.

Direct Action

^{Proud Boys propaganda found on a crowdfunding campaign depicting a Proud Boys branded boot stepping on antifascists.}

In the days and weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Trump supporters protested the results of the election on dozens of occasions. Some of these demonstrations resulted in violence or were met with opposition, leading to conflict in the streets. More than 100 Proud Boys attended a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington D.C. on December 12, 2020, resulting in dozens of arrests, injuries to eight law enforcement officers and the non-lethal stabbings of four Proud Boys.

The two GiveSendGo campaigns created in preparation for the D.C. rally, which villainized “the Left,” liberals and Antifa, raised $195. One campaign stated that the Proud Boys planned to “[protect] innocent families, women, and children from Antifa.”

The second campaign invoked events following the November 2020 “Million MAGA March:” “What we witnessed as the day progressed was pure evil taking place on the streets. Antifa and BLM were brutally attacking Americans of all ages, genders and ethnicities, simply for coming out in support of our country.” These types of statements push the political goals of the Proud Boys, appeal for donations from likeminded individuals and most concerningly, provide the foundation for the rationalization of violence against so-called adversaries.

Medical Expenses

On December 12, 2020, the New York Times reported that counter-protester Philip Johnson was surrounded by Trump supporters, many of whom identified as Proud Boys. Shortly after cornering Johnson, some individuals began to attack him physically, at which time he pulled out a knife. By the time law enforcement intervened and broke up the fight, four Proud Boys had been stabbed and Johnson had been severely injured. Following the altercation, affected Proud Boys established a GiveSendGo to raise funds for their medical expenses. They have also used these campaigns to amplify their political agenda.

Jeremy Bertino, also known as Noble Beard, is a Proud Boy from North Carolina who attended the D.C. rally. He raised $61,255 for medical expenses after Johnson allegedly stabbed him. According to Bertino’s campaign, he was “brutally attacked in Washington D.C. as he was protecting civilians by trying to subdue an armed communist.” Proud Boy Corey Nielsen was also stabbed at the rally, and his GiveSendGo collected at least $13,871 from 263 donors. Nielsen’s campaign paints a picture of a selfless patriot and makes little mention of the events that took place. Nielson was charged with simple assault following the conflict.  A third, catchall campaign for all four stabbing victims, created by Proud Boy Matthew Walter and the Music City Proud Boys chapter, amassed at least $104,527.

Legal Expenses

On August 22, 2022, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, a prominent member of the Proud Boys, led a group of Proud Boys in a violent clash with antifascist counter-protesters in Portland, OR, that resulted in violence, including a shooting. He and one other Proud Boy were charged with multiple counts of assault, unlawful use of a weapon and riot. The Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and the Washington State Three Percenters have all contributed to crowdfunding, online donation collection, and in-person donation drives on Toese’s behalf. At one point, a website called “Free Tiny” functioned as a gateway to donating to Toese’s legal fund, directing visitors to a separate website administered by March for Our Rights, a limited liability corporation closely associated with the Washington State Three Percenters. On the more established GiveSendGo, a bail fund was managed by Joey Gibson of Patriot Prayer. This campaign collected $9,033, and it is estimated that between the GiveSendGo initiative, the March for our Rights website and in-person donation drives, at least $50,000 was raised in support of Toese.

In July of 2021, Joshua Dornon rallied alongside a Proud Boys contingent to protect an anti-abortion demonstration hosted by right-wing pastor Greg Locke in Salem, OR. After a confrontation with antifascist counter-protesters, Dornon was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon, riot and third-degree assault. He pleaded guilty to unlawfully using a weapon and the two other charges were dropped. During the legal proceedings, Dornon ran a GiveSendGo campaign that collected at least $2,911.

On December 21, 2020, far-right protesters breached the Oregon State Capitol in response to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The demonstration took place outside of the Capitol building, and eventually progressed into a riot after State Rep. Mike Nearman opened a door to let the protesters into the building (Representative Nearman pleaded guilty to first degree official misconduct and was expelled from the Oregon House of Representatives). Chandler Pappas, a member of the far-right Patriot Prayer who participated in the storming of the Oregon capitol, attacked a police officer with pepper spray and was convicted of assault and sentenced to 13 months in prison. During the trial, Pappas operated a crowdfund on GiveSendGo to cover legal expenses, raising at least $11,400.

At the December 12, 2020, rally in Washington, D.C., a group of Proud Boys, including then-leader Enrique Tarrio, stole and burned a Black Lives Matter banner from the historically Black Asbury United Methodist Church. In response, the District of Columbia issued a warrant for Tarrio’s arrest. On January 4, two days before the 2021 insurrection, Tarrio returned to Washington, D.C., and was arrested for destruction of property. To cover his legal defense and a countersuit against Washington, D.C., Tarrio took to GiveSendGo, where he collected $113,056 before the campaign was disabled (who disabled it remains unknown). Tarrio’s mother also set up a GiveSendGo for family and legal expenses. While raising funds for life expenses would otherwise fall outside the scope of this report, the campaign states that it is a “legal offense fund,” and the funds are to be used for lawsuits “to right all the wrongs that have been committed against our family.” This campaign raised $4,930 before it was shut down by GiveSendGo’s payment processor, Stripe, according to the campaign’s updated description.

Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

^{Proud Boys and other far-right extremists gather for a rally that ended in violence in Washington D.C. on December 12th, 2022.}
On May 1, 2019, Patriot Prayer members rioted outside of the Cider Riot bar in Portland, OR, during a May Day celebration attended by leftists. Under the guise of protesting, Patriot Prayer members came to the event with weapons and violent intentions according to a filing related to the civil lawsuit submitted by the bar. Mackenzie Lewis, one of six Patriot Prayer members indicted for inciting a riot at the event, started a GiveSendGo to fund his legal expenses and has collected $1,463. In July 2022, a jury found Lewis guilty of inciting a riot.

Many of Lewis’s contributors left comments vilifying Antifa and leftists. One user chose the display name “Fck Antifa [sic]” and left an emoji of an OK hand gesture, which is sometimes used by those on the right, with their $100 donation. Most concerning is a contribution purported to be from white supremacist William Scott Planer, whose own crowdfund is detailed in this report, and who faced charges for assaulting a counter-protester with a metal pole, knocking her unconscious, at a white supremacist rally in 2016. When making their donation, the contributor who claims to be Planer told Lewis to “Google” their name, and left a donation of $88. The number 88 is numerical code for “Heil Hitler,” a common idiom in white supremacist circles. This contribution received five “heart” reactions on the GiveSendGo platform.

QAnon / Conspiracy Campaigns

QAnon is a far-right political movement rooted in a baseless conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against the “Deep State,” a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who control the world and run a global child sex trafficking ring. While not all QAnon adherents are inherently extremist, QAnon is a dangerous movement that has inspired violence and eroded trust in democratic institutions. QAnon has been linked to at least seven murders since 2017, according to data compiled by START, and the FBI considers QAnon a potential domestic terror threat. A large portion of QAnon-affiliated crowdfunding comes from QAnon influencers, individuals who not only push conspiracy theories to their followers but manufacture them as well.

Propaganda Production

One reason QAnon adherents start crowdfunding campaigns is to fund the creation of propaganda. On the most prominent examples of this is QAnon influencer David Hayes’s GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign which has raised at least $192,500. Hayes, also known as Praying Medic, uses these funds to push QAnon conspiracy theories to his more than 100,000 followers via videos, podcasts and articles on his website and social media accounts.

Other QAnon influencers push equally dangerous theories but are not equally successful. Cannabis and Combat was a podcast hosted by Justin Andersch that pushed conspiracy theories like the “plandemic” and Ukrainian bioweapons, and a connected GiveSendGo campaign to fund the podcast collected at least $195. Another QAnon pedaling outlet, the Matrixxx Grooove Show, collected at least $400 via a crowdfunding campaign so they could embark on a multi-state interview tour. Problematic personalities interviewed by the show’s hosts include Roger Stone and “Constitutional Sheriff” Richard Mack..

Memes play a significant role in spreading far right and extremist rhetoric online. Thomas Bowles, also known as “Artful DQdger,” is a propagandist known for creating QAnon memes. Bowles designs QAnon propaganda full-time, boasting on his GiveSendGo about producing ten pieces a day. Bowles started his GiveSendGo campaign to financially supplement his propaganda production and has collected $4,230 so far.

Another QAnon adherent, conspiracy theorist and rabid antisemite Dustin Nemos presides over the Nemos News Network, which he uses to bolster his extremist views. His viewers have access to a wide variety of conspiratorial content, including antisemitic diatribes surrounding Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and his antisemitic social media posts. An examination of Nemos’s Gab shows he has publicized antisemitic content including antisemitic tropes of “Jewish world control.”  Supporters can donate to Nemos’s DonorBox campaign. At least $9,970 has been raised, and of the 235 published donations, 73 recur monthly.

Legal Expenses

Samantha Ricks, a QAnon adherent and former follower of QAnon influencer Michael Protzman, started a GiveSendGo titled “Help Rescue My Children Kidnapped by Traffickers” after she was indicted on kidnapping and firearms charges following her attempt to kidnap her children from their foster family. According to local news reports, Ricks and a man named Elijah Erlebach, who appears to subscribe to the sovereign citizen conspiracy theory, pulled up outside the foster home and grabbed her daughter as she was riding her bike outside. They planned to circle back for her son but were chased down by the children’s foster father. Since the August 2022 incident, the GiveSendGo campaign has collected at least $2,090 from 13 donors.

On February 3, 2021, QAnon influencer Gerald Guy Brummell, also known as Agent Margaritaville, was arrested by Canada’s Ontario Provincial Police for “uttering threats and criminal harassment.” Throughout 2020, Brummell, inspired by conspiracy theories, had allegedly been harassing and sending death threats to a former detective he believed to be part of a conspiracy orchestrated by authoritative figures to traffic children and commit murder. Under his alias, Brummell generated a notable following, and following his arrest, he called on his supporters to fund his legal fight. One of Brummell’s followers and closest comrades, who goes by Agent A1, established a crowdfunding campaign on the FundRazr platform that raised $8,040. An examination of the comments on the campaign shows that donors were motivated by the conspiracy theories Brummell promulgated, with one comment stating, “This is for Guy and to rid the word of this EVIL PEDO CULT [sic].”

Antisemitic Black Hebrew Israelite Campaigns

The Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI) movement is a fringe religious movement that rejects widely accepted definitions of Judaism and asserts that certain people of color are the true “children of Israel.” While not all BHI organizations are extremist, some sects push extremist, antisemitic beliefs, and several of these have launched crowdfunding campaigns to support their outreach efforts. Most of Black Hebrew Israelite extremists’ crowdfunding centers around propaganda production.

Propaganda Production

Crowdfunding has been crucial to the growth of the highly antisemitic programming of the Hebrew Israelite Radio Network, an online platform that hosts videos, music and livestreams preaching BHI ideology. The platform has raised at least $442,900 via GoFundMe, and these funds are used to manufacture media that promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories revolving around the “Synagogue of Satan” and the Rothschild family. For example, the network’s video streaming platform, “Hebrew Tube,” hosts a variety of documentaries attributing historical events like 9/11 terrorist attacks, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the start of World War One to Jews.

In 2017, the antisemitic Black Hebrew Israelite group the “Army of Israel” (AOI) created a GoFundMe titled “Army of Israel Headquarters” for its E37 Entertainment Music operation. To date, it has raised at least $2,900 from 66 donations. Despite the campaign’s name, the description makes it clear the funds are intended to support media production and outreach to enable them to reach “thousands of Hebrews throughout the United States & Abroad.”

Ronald Dalton Jr. is an author and movie maker who established a Black Hebrew Israelite identity brand in 2013. His content is rife with antisemitic ideas, and he created the film Hebrews to Negroes to push these ideas. To fund its production, Dalton started a GoFundMe campaign and collected at least $75,150. Released in 2018, Hebrews to Negroes is based on several namesake books by Dalton and cites core BHI beliefs that certain people of color, including Black Americans, are the true descendants of the biblical Israelites. The film includes claims of a global Jewish conspiracy to oppress and defraud Black people, allegations that Jews are in part responsible for the transatlantic slave trade, and the claim that Jews falsified the history of the Holocaust to “conceal their nature and protect their status and power.” Hebrews to Negroes recently came into the spotlight after professional basketball player Kyrie Irving promoted it on his social media accounts.

^{An image shown in the “Hebrews to Negroes” film promoting the “Khazarian Myth.}

Dalton has since produced sequels, The Curse of Israel and Hebrews to Negroes 3: Sound the Alarm, both of which were supported by GoFundMe campaigns. To host his many movies and “docuseries,” Dalton created his own streaming service, Hebrews to Negroes TV. In August 2020, Dalton established two GoFundMe campaigns to fund the creation of the network. The campaigns have collected $11,877, and the most recent donation was made in October 2022. (Note: Since this report’s publication, GoFundMe has removed Ronald Dalton Jr.’s account from their platform).

Not all BHI crowdfunding campaigns have been successful. The Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK) is one of the most prominent extremist sects in the BHI movement. The sect hosts a podcast where they push their virulent ideology, and to fund this effort they created a crowdfund campaign on GoFundMe where they collected at least $570 before the campaign was shut down. ISUPK has a history of articulating antisemitic tropes and beliefs, including through the production of merchandise describing the African slave trade as the “true Holocaust,” and podcast episodes that discuss “[Comparing] Jewish People & The Real Jews.”

Anti-LGBTQ+ Extremism and Bigotry Campaigns

Attacks on the LGBTQ+ community have increased in recent years, both online and off. In 2022, anti-LGBTQ+ extremist influencers used social media to push narratives that individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ are pedophiles, and these narratives sometimes inspired extremist violence. Like other groups cited in this report, anti-LGBTQ+ extremists have taken to crowdfunding platforms to fund their hatred.

Direct Action

Gays Against Groomers is an anti-transgender group that claims to be “a coalition of gay people who oppose the recent trend of indoctrinating, sexualizing and medicalizing children under the guise of ‘LGBTQIA+.’” To spread their message, the group seeks to travel across the United States and hold events. A GiveSendGo campaign was established by the group to fund these efforts, and it has collected at least $2,700. Group leader Jaimee Mitchell, aka “TheGayWhoStrayed,” has a history of propagating right-wing conspiracy theories. Media Matters for America reported that Mitchell compared gender-affirming medical practices to Nazi medical experiments during an interview on One America News, saying: “Josef Mengele, I believe that was his name, you know, the Nazi doctor. … This [current approach to gender-affirming care] puts him to shame there.”

Legal Expenses

In June 2022, Tyler Dinsmoor was charged with a hate crime for making anti-LGBTQ death threats against individuals at an upcoming Pride festival and for threatening his neighbor. Dinsmoor is a member of the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Movement, which has a prolonged history of preaching antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ hate. Dinsmoor’s bail was set at $1 million, and two GiveSendGo campaigns have since been established to help cover his legal expenses. An initial campaign set up by an associate of Dinsmoor’s collected $30,650 before it was discontinued by Dinsmoor in favor of a second campaign. Dinsmoor himself established this new campaign on GiveSendGo, and it has so far collected $4,000.

Crowdfunding for Major Extremist Events

One of the major purposes of extremists' crowdfunding has been to enable them to attend controversial and even violent events and to raise funds for their legal defense after those events conclude. A Center on Extremism examination shows that this was true of two of the most important extremist events in recent memory: the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, and the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

January 6

COE has identified 179 crowdfunding campaigns linked to extremist participation in the events of January 6, totaling $4,758,836 as of this writing. 168 of these campaigns took place on the GiveSendGo platform. Extremists are believed to have used these funds to purchase equipment for January 6 or for travel and lodging expenses in or around the District. Crowdfunding also appears to have been a crucial means of raising money for legal expenses, including by people who were accused of the most serious crimes in connection with January 6, such as seditious conspiracy and assaulting law enforcement officers.

Jon Cherry/Getty Images

^{A mob of Trump supporters in front of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.}
Preparation for January 6

Proud Boy Ricky Willden of Oakhurst, CA ran a GiveSendGo campaign that read, in part, “It is imperative we make a stand in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, through January 21, 2021. We have found our purpose in life and we know what must be done… Your donation will Assist [sic] 13 Proud Boys from the West Coast with travel and other related expenses. We are no longer Standing By!” According to the campaign website, the fund collected at least $1,300 in the leadup to January 6. At the riot, Willden sprayed what the Department of Justice termed a “chemical irritant” at a U.S. Capitol Police officer, then threw the spray can at the officer. Willden was indicted on several charges in December 2021 and pleaded guilty in April 2022; he is currently serving a two-year prison sentence.

A similar GiveSendGo campaign raised at least $4,800 for the stated purpose of enabling members of the Montana Proud Boys to travel to D.C. The campaign, apparently operated by an individual named Dallas Davis who himself has been photographed wearing Proud Boys paraphernalia, explains: “Proud Boys from Montana have gone out and put their lives on hold as well as risked everything to stand up for America and to fight the stolen election and corruption within our political powers. It’s at this time I would like to ask fellow Americans to help send these boys back to Dc [sic] on Jan 6th.”

Nicholas Ochs, a founding member of the Proud Boys Hawaii chapter who is affiliated with the alt-right social media channel Murder the Media, also appears to have used crowdfunding on GiveSendGo to raise money to help pay for travel to D.C. for January 6. Ochs collected at least $350 for this purpose, stating that he was “going to DC because the president asked and it said was gonna [sic] be wild and that people should wear body cameras.” Ochs is alleged to have thrown a smoke bomb at a line of police during the attack. The Department of Justice indicted Ochs on a litany of federal charges, and Ochs pleaded guilty to one charge of obstruction of an official proceeding.

Ethan Nordean, also known as “Rufio Panman,” the self-described “Sergeant-at-Arms” of the Seattle chapter of the Proud Boys, appears to have collected at least $18,900 on GiveSendGo for “equipment and communications.” Although Nordean did not mention January 6 explicitly in the text of his GiveSendGo campaign, many of the comments from the approximately 275 donors made clear that the funds were indeed intended to be used to support his trip to the District. Nordean, one of the main organizers of the largest Proud Boys contingent to storm the Capitol, was indicted on charges of seditious conspiracy alongside four other Proud Boys.

Legal Expenses

A substantial portion of January 6-related crowdfunding happened after the fact. Of the 179 January 6-related crowdfunding campaigns identified by COE, 169 were for the purpose of supporting the legal defense of  individuals charged with criminal offenses in the wake of the January 6 attack, including 76 campaigns created to support the legal defense of individuals who are alleged to have assaulted law enforcement at the Capitol. Of the 16 Oath Keepers and Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy, 11 are known to have crowdfunding campaigns in their name which have collectively raised at least $879,618.

Proud Boys Christopher Joseph Quaglin and Christopher Worrell were both charged with offenses related to assaulting law enforcement officers. On several occasions during the January 6 attack, Quaglin allegedly pushed and struck Capitol Police officers. He also allegedly stole a riot shield, which he used, along with a chemical irritant, to repeatedly assault Capitol Police officers. Quaglin is currently benefiting from a GiveSendGo campaign that has accumulated at least $66,800. Worrell was charged with assaulting law enforcement, along with other offenses, after allegedly spraying a noxious substance (seemingly pepper spray gel) toward a line of police officers guarding an entryway to the Capitol. Between the two GiveSendGo initiatives created for his benefit more than $180,000 has been raised.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has been convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 attack. A GiveSendGo established to support his legal defense has raised at least $12,500. Oath Keepers member Kenneth Harrelson, who has collected at least $286,900 for his legal defense, is alleged to have been “Ground Team [leader]” of a contingent of Oath Keepers who joined the mob that first breached the barricades on the east side of the Capitol. 

^{Stewart Rhodes’s legal defense fund on GiveSendGo.}

Other Oath Keepers members like Joseph Hackett and Roberto Minuta are the intended beneficiaries of tens of thousands of dollars raised through GiveSendGo campaigns designated to cover their legal expenses. A campaign operated by Hackett’s wife on Joseph’s behalf, for example, has collected at least $120,900. Joseph Hackett is alleged to have helped search for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi after breaching the Capitol; he was later charged with seditious conspiracy and other federal charges. A crowdfunding campaign to benefit Roberto Minuta, another alleged member of the Oath Keepers, was established by his spouse on GiveSendGo, and has collected at least $33,500. Minuta is alleged to have stormed the Capitol alongside other Oath Keepers with the intent of derailing the democratic process.

The Department of Justice charged QAnon adherent Nathaniel J. DeGrave with assaulting at least two Capitol Police officers during the January 6 attack. DeGrave’s GiveSendGo campaign has raised at least $111,500. According to the indictment in the criminal case against him, DeGrave told a fellow rioter that he “punched this guy [a Capitol Police Officer], like, five times.”

Three Percenter Ronald Colton McAbee has a GiveSendGo crowdfunding page in his name to help cover his legal expenses for charges related to his participation in the January 6 attack. The campaign, entitled “The Sheriff of J6,” has collected at least $27,000 so far. At the time of the insurrection, McAbee was a Williamson County, TN Sheriff’s Deputy and he has been accused of wearing his sheriff’s uniform during the riot. McAbee is named in a joint indictment, along with Peter Stager, who has been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer from the Metropolitan (D.C.) Police Department. According to the Department of Justice, Stager “climbed the stairs while holding a flagpole with a United States flag affixed to it and used the pole to repeatedly strike B.M. [Unidentified Law Enforcement Officer] while B.M. remained prone on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building.” Stager was also caught on camera making threatening remarks, such as “death is the only remedy for what’s in that building.” Like McAbee, Stager has a GiveSendGo campaign in his name; it has collected at least $26,900 to offset his legal costs.

Unite the Right

Extremists also used crowdfunding platforms to finance the 2017 white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA. Relying on GiveSendGo and two short-lived alt-right platforms, RootBocks and GoyFundMe, funds collected were used for transportation, equipment and legal costs. Twenty-three extremist crowdfunding campaigns raised at least $76,905.

Transportation Expenses and Equipment Funds

Anthime Joseph “Tim” Gionet, also known by his pseudonym, “Baked Alaska,” was a featured speaker at Unite the Right. Gionet, a prominent white supremacist live streamer who was involved in a violent incident at the rally, collected $1,500.88 on RootBocks in the two weeks leading up to the event to cover his travel costs.

In early August 2017, a RootBocks user under the alias “GlockDoctor” raised $665 for “[a] vehicle rental, gas money, equipment, and lodging expenses” for 12 “goys” (a pejorative term for non-Jews, used, in this case, by antisemitic non-Jews themselves). An update to the campaign posted on August 4, 2017 included pictures of pepper spray and two-way radios with text reading “Your donations at work.”

White supremacist and antisemite Michael Carothers (AKA Michael Weaver), who had previously been sentenced to one year in jail and nine years’ probation for pepper spraying a Black man in Columbus, GA, also attended Unite the Right. Carothers used RootBocks to help finance his travel to Charlottesville, raising at least $200. The white nationalist, Occidental Dissent blogger Brad Griffin, who uses the pseudonym Hunter Wallace, raised at least $360 for transportation and lodging for eight attendees.

Prior to Unite the Right, white supremacist blog Narrative Collapse launched a RootBocks campaign to cover “2 modest cabins for 12+ activists coming to the #UniteTheRight rally [sic].” The campaign, which collected at least $295, featured a picture of a riot shield emblazoned with the #UniteTheRight hashtag.

^{A crowdfunding campaign for Unite the Right featuring Nazi propaganda.}

Legal Expenses

Following the calamitous events at Unite the Right, primary organizers faced a range of lawsuits. They used crowdfunding to help cover their legal expenses.

A GiveSendGo campaign titled Charlottesville Legal Defense Fund was created to cover the legal costs for many defendants in the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit, which was brought against the organizers and major participants of Unite the Right by Charlottesville residents and other affected parties. The campaign, operated by a law firm representing several defendants in the suit, included a link to the white supremacist blog VDARE as well as the conspiracy-laden Gateway Pundit blog, and raised at least $22,270. Many defendants in Sines v. Kessler were eventually found guilty of engaging in a civil conspiracy. Select defendants, including Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer, were found guilty of race-based harassment or violence. The jury awarded millions of dollars in damages to the impacted parties, including $12 million in damages for James Alex Fields’ vehicular assault.

GoyFundMe hosted a legal defense fund which collected at least $1,388 for white supremacist Jacob Goodwin, a member of the Shield Wall Network and one of the six individuals who assaulted DeAndre Harris, a Black man, at Unite the Right. The attack resulted in extensive injuries including broken bones, a concussion and a spinal injury. Goodwin was arrested and charged with felonious malicious wounding. He was found guilty and sentenced to eight years in prison.  One of the comments left on the site read, “My check is in the mail! We Aryans from Calizioncommiefornicatia care about our Brother, Comrade, and Friend, as well! I am a Shield Wall Member and supporter for TRUTH of our Great White Race! 14WORDS✝👍 [sic].” 

Nathan Damigo, founder of the white supremacist group Identity Evropa, was apprehended during Unite the Right by local law enforcement for refusing to disperse after the rally was declared illegal. His RootBocks campaign collected at least $9,700.  One comment left on his page discussing legal strategies that could be employed by participants of the Unite the Right rally read in part: “We must try to get at least a sympathize [sic] judge (nor leftist, black, jew, cuckservative, spic, etc).”

Policy Recommendations

We need a whole-of-government approach to address the threat. ADL strongly recommends urgent action to prevent and counter domestic violent extremism. The framework that ADL has created — the PROTECT plan — is a comprehensive, seven-part plan to mitigate the threat posed by domestic extremism and domestic terrorism while protecting civil rights and civil liberties. Together, focusing on these seven categories can have an immediate and deeply significant impact in preventing and countering domestic terrorism— more so than any one action, policy or law— and can do so while protecting civil rights and liberties and ensuring that government overreach does not harm the same vulnerable people and communities that these extremists target. Our suggestions come under these seven areas:

Prioritize Preventing and Countering Domestic Terrorism

Resource According to the Threat

Oppose Extremists in Government Service

Take Public Health and Other Domestic Terrorism Prevention Measures

End the Complicity of Online Platforms in Facilitating Extremism

Create an Independent Clearinghouse for Online Extremist Content

Target Foreign White Supremacist Terrorist Groups for Sanctions

ADL urges policymakers to address domestic violent extremism, generally, within all of these categories, and specifically as a means to address the crowdfunding of extremist movements through the below recommendations within our PROTECT framework.

Prioritize Preventing and Countering Domestic Terrorism

First, we urge Congress to adopt a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to preventing and countering domestic terrorism.

• In mid-June 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Domestic Terrorism (“Strategy”). The Strategy is laudable, and a step in the right direction. However, many critical details were left unaddressed. Congress must press for further details into how the plan will be implemented, and the steps that will be taken to ensure protection for civil rights and civil liberties. Further, departments and agencies must create their own implementation plans for the Strategy. For example, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) should develop a strategic implementation plan to describe its administration of the Strategy as it relates to the financing of domestic violent extremism.
   
• Treasury should work with law enforcement and financial institutions to better understand the financing of domestic violent extremism. Further, Treasury should review the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations supporting extremist causes, modify Suspicious Activity Report forms to include domestic violent extremism indicator reporting and advise financial institutions on how to identify domestic violent extremism-related risks.
   
• The United We Stand Summit outlined a commitment by the Biden Administration to empower Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to develop a website of key reports and resources on the financing of domestic violent extremism and to engage with financial institutions nationwide.  The Administration must implement this commitment, and Congress must support robust implementation.
   
• In addition to the Strategy to address domestic violent extremism, the Administration announced a national strategy to address antisemitism.  We applaud the Administration for the announcement and look forward to its implementation. Congress and the Administration should work to ensure that the crowdfunding of extremist causes is included as part of a comprehensive plan.

Resource According to the Threat

We must ensure that the authorities and resources the government uses to address violent threats are proportionate to the risk of the lethality of those threats. In other words, allocation of resources must never be politicized but rather based on transparent and objective security concerns.

• Congress was unable to pass the bipartisan Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (DTPA) to enhance the federal government’s efforts to prevent domestic terrorism by formally authorizing offices to address domestic terrorism and requiring law enforcement agencies to regularly report on domestic terrorist threats. Congress must ensure that those offices are created, that they have the resources they need and that they deploy those resources in a manner proportionate to existing threats. Further, the transparency that comes with regular reporting is crucial for civil society, Congress and the public writ large to help oversee the national security process and hold leaders accountable.
   
• Congress must exercise careful oversight to ensure that no resources are expended on counterterrorism efforts targeting protected political speech or association. Investigations and other efforts to mitigate the threat should be data-driven and proportionate to the violent threat posed by violent extremist movements.
   
• Congress should explore tools to address the criminal threat of domestic violent extremist funding, such as the extent to which Section 314 of the USA PATRIOT Act authorizes the sharing of information on domestic violent extremist criminal behavior with financial institutions, though proportionate to the criminality and potential for violence that these movements pose, and not based on political activity.

Oppose Extremists in Government Service

It is essential that we recognize the potential for harm when extremists gain positions of power, including in government, law enforcement and the military.

• To the extent permitted by law and consistent with constitutional protections, policymakers should take steps to ensure that individuals engaged in violent extremist activity or associated with violent extremist movements, including violent white supremacist and unlawful militia movements, are deemed unsuitable for employment at the federal, state and local levels — including in law enforcement. Appropriate steps must be taken to address any current employees, who, upon review, match these criteria. These oversight mechanisms should apply to public officials – such as Treasury officials, and others – with a role in countering threat financing, to ensure that they do not sympathize with the organizations they are charged with holding accountable.

Take Domestic Terrorism Prevention Measures

We must not wait until after someone has become an extremist or a terrorist attack has happened to act. Effective and promising prevention measures exist, which should be scaled.

• Policymakers can provide funding to civil society and academic programs that have expertise in addressing recruitment to extremist causes and radicalization, whether online or offline. By providing funding for prevention activities, including education, counseling and off-ramping, policymakers can help empower public health and civil society actors to prevent and intervene in the radicalization process and undermine extremist narratives that inspire individuals to choose to contribute to extremist crowdfunding campaigns. These initiatives must be accompanied by an assurance of careful oversight with civil rights and civil liberties safeguards.
   
• Policymakers could further reduce demand for extremist funding by expanding communications around the risk.  For example, the SEC – working with FINRA and related entities – could ensure that information provided pursuant to JOBS Act regulations on crowdfunding investment includes domestic violent extremism risk content.
   
• Treasury should issue guidance to financial institutions on specific typologies, methodologies and red flags associated with domestic violent extremism.  This overall awareness of risk and suspicious behavior not only can help identify criminal behavior but can raise overall awareness of malicious behavior and the risk of criminality, reducing the likelihood that individuals choose to engage in supporting extremist causes.  Effective public-private partnerships writ large can facilitate such broad awareness.

End the Complicity of Online Platforms in Facilitating Extremism 

Policymakers must prioritize countering online extremism and ensuring that perpetrators who engage in unlawful activity online can be held accountable. Online platforms often lack adequate policies to mitigate extremism and hate equitably and at scale. Federal and state laws and policies require significant updating to hold online platforms and individual perpetrators accountable for enabling hate, racism and extremist violence across the internet. In March 2021, ADL announced the REPAIR Plan, which offers a comprehensive framework for platforms and policymakers to take meaningful action to decrease online hate and extremism. Like ADL’s PROTECT Plan, REPAIR focuses on domestic extremism and terrorism but goes beyond these issues to address other manifestations and harms of online hate, including online harassment, antisemitism, racism and disinformation. Specific to the crowdfunding of extremism, financial services and related companies and platforms should:

• Streamline, enforce, and expand existing anti-hate policies. Though both GiveSendGo and GoFundMe have anti-hate policies, they are not robust, nor are they consistently and equitably enforced. Both platforms should do a thorough review of their existing anti-hate policies, including how they define hate directed at the specific categories of identity and how that appears in different contexts on their platforms. As part of this review, they should include the perspectives of individuals from those identity groups most impacted by hate in creating and updating these definitions. Additionally, both platforms should investigate how they can expand their anti-hate policies to better protect vulnerable and marginalized groups. For example, GiveSendGo’s policies do not explicitly prohibit hate targeting users because of their sexual orientation. However, platform policies are only as effective as their enforcement. GiveSendGo and GoFundMe should also audit their enforcement practices to ensure that the implementation of their policies is equitable and consistent. 
   
• Implement and enforce explicit anti-extremism policies. Neither of the two major companies described in this report, GiveSendGo or GoFundMe, have an explicit policy prohibiting the funding of extremist activities on their respective platforms. Currently, they only have broad anti-hate policies, which are insufficient to address the spread of extremism online.
   
  1. Implementing an anti-extremism policy should be accompanied by important conversations and decisions about how to define, identify and act against extremist content.  When tech companies do not have an explicit policy that addresses extremism (many online gaming platforms, for example), they do not engage in the subsequent downstream work, and are thus less successful at preventing extremists from abusing their platform.
      
  2. Implementing an anti-extremism policy is an important public sign that a platform is taking the threat posed by extremist ideologies seriously and sends a message to users and all interested public stakeholders that it stands against the continued normalization of these dangerous ideological movements.
      
• Consult with and hire extremism experts. In order to best address extremist abuse of any digital platform, including crowdfunding, tech companies should employ the services of experts who study and understand extremism. This can take the form of consultations with experts such as those at ADL and other civil society and research organizations or hiring in-house resources. In both of these scenarios, experts would be available to help with both policy development around extremism, as well as the ongoing operationalization of those policies on the platform. Tech companies that are serious about addressing the threat of extremism on their platforms must acknowledge that this will require the dedication of significant time, money and resources. 
   
• Payment processors should reevaluate supporting crowdfunding platforms that allow extremism. Crowdfunding platforms are able to operate because the donations given to a particular project on their site are facilitated by digital payment processors, like PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay or Google Pay; or more traditional financial institutions, like Visa and Mastercard. If a crowdfunding company does not seem to be addressing the abuse of their platform to fund extremist activities, payment processors should use their power to investigate the matter. At the very least, payment processors should work with crowdfunding companies to better understand how they address extremist activity on the platform. On the other end of the spectrum, payment processors should consider reevaluating whether it remains appropriate for them to keep processing payments for a company that is taking inadequate steps to address extremism on its platform.

Create an Independent Clearinghouse for Online Extremist Content

Congress should work with the Biden-Harris Administration to create a publicly funded, independent nonprofit center to track online extremist threat information in real-time and make referrals to private sector companies and law enforcement agencies when appropriate.

• This approach is needed because those empowered with law enforcement and intelligence capabilities must not be tasked with new investigative and other powers that could infringe upon civil liberties – for example, through broad internet surveillance. Scouring online sources through an independent organization will act as a buffer but will not prevent the nonprofit center from assisting law enforcement in cases where criminal behavior is suspected. This wall of separation, modeled in part on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), will help streamline national security tips and resources while preserving civil liberties. Such a center could be empowered to make referrals specific to crowdfunding campaigns and transactions.

Target Foreign White Supremacist Terrorist Groups

Congress must recognize that white supremacist extremism is a major global threat of our era and mobilize with that mindset.

• To date, no white supremacist organization operating overseas has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Only one organization has been designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). Congress should review how these designation decisions are made, whether any additional racially or ethnically motivated extremist groups outside the United States, particularly white supremacist groups, have reached the threshold for either designation, and whether such designations would help advance U.S. national interests, such as criminalizing certain crowdfunding actions as material support to a FTO.  Treasury should share whether extremist crowdfunding campaigns in the U.S. may have a relationship to SDGT-designated entities, such as the Russian Imperial Movement, and if so, whether there are implications for financial institutions and law enforcement’s approaches to these crowdfunding campaigns.  Further, Congress and the Administration should explore whether Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act – which authorizes actions against terrorism-related threats to the U.S. financial system – could apply to domestic violent extremist organizations and any potential merits in using it.
   
• The Department of State ("State") was required by the FY2021 NDAA to develop a strategy to counter global white supremacist extremism and to add white supremacist terrorism to annual Country Reports on Terrorism. That State has implemented the Country Reports guidance is laudable, and State may have created the strategy in question. However, the strategy has not been released publicly, making it impossible to evaluate. We urge more transparency from State in this process and for Congress to seek accountability for any gaps in the strategy, and to provide resources to implement it.
   
• The Department of State must mobilize a multilateral effort to address the threat of white supremacy globally. Multilateral best-practice institutions, such as the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund and the International Institute for Justice and Rule of Law, may be helpful mechanisms through which to channel some efforts, including identifying appropriate mechanisms to approach global crowdfunding campaigns.

Methodology

For purposes of this report, ‘crowdfunding’ refers to the use of a third party online fundraising platform to solicit donations for a stated cause. It does not include subscription services (like Patreon), or services used primarily to fund the creation of products (like Kickstarter or Indiegogo). It also does not refer to individuals or groups who solicit funds by sharing methods for sending money directly to bank accounts, credit card accounts or other forms of online payment. Finally, this report also does not cover the phenomenon of extremists who make money as a result of the monetization of streaming video content, including through direct donations such as the ‘superchat’ function on YouTube.

The extremist campaigns that make up this report were identified by searching crowdfunding platforms in mid-2022 for keywords that might indicate the presence of extremism or hate, and manually verifying each campaign to eliminate false positives.

This methodology would not catch campaigns that were expunged from the platforms by users or the site operators. Some campaigns were only available via internet archives, and while they are included in the dataset, total revenues on these campaigns may be greater than what is available from archives. It is also conceivable that the sites were used to fund campaigns that did not include any of the keywords used in our search. For this reason, and because many campaigns are still actively accepting funds, the total dollar values presented in this report represent a minimum; the true totals of extremist funding may be significantly higher.

Acknowledgements

ADL gratefully acknowledges all of our supporters who make the work of the Center on Extremism possible, including:   

Anonymous (4)
The ADL Lewy Family Institute for Combatting Antisemitism
David Berg Foundation
Crown Family Philanthropies
Lillian and Larry Goodman Foundations
Klarman Family Foundation
Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation/Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation
Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation
The Nancy K. Silverman Foundation
The Tepper Foundation
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
 Zegar Family Foundation