Mercer Family Foundation
The Mercer Family Foundation is a private grant-making foundation in the United States. As of 2013, it had $37 million in assets.[3] The foundation is run by Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of computer scientist and hedge fund manager Robert Mercer.[4][5]
| Founder | Robert Mercer |
|---|---|
| Type | Charitable foundation |
| Headquarters | New York, New York |
Director | Rebekah Mercer[1] |
| Disbursements | $13,492,358 (2013)[2] |
| Website | mercerfamilyfoundation |
Under Rebekah’s leadership, the family foundation invested about $70 million into conservative causes between 2009 and 2014.[6] The foundation has also donated to groups that reject the scientific consensus on climate change.[7]
Activities
The foundation's main interests are in the fields of public policy, higher education, and science.[8] The foundation has donated to organizations and institutions including the Heritage Foundation, Illinois Policy Institute, Heartland Institute, and SUNY Stony Brook.[9] Mercer provides funding to the Home Depot Foundation, whose mission is to "improve the homes and lives of U.S. military veterans and their families."[8]
The Mercer Family Foundation has lobbied against efforts to fully fund the Internal Revenue Service.[10]
The organization has been linked to the funding of Donald Trump and other US far-right entities. Similar allegations have been made about links to members of the UK government.[11]
References
- ^ Delevingne, Lawrence (November 8, 2014). "Have Mercer! The money man who helped the GOP win". CNBC. from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ "IRS Form 990 2013" (PDF). GuideStar. Internal Revenue Service. (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ Sellers, Frances (October 6, 2015). "How a reclusive computer programmer became a GOP money powerhouse". Washington Post. New York. from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
- ^ "The Man Who Out-Koched the Kochs". Bloomberg. New York. October 22, 2014. from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
- ^ Johnson, Eliana (April 8, 2015). "Meet Ted Cruz's Billionaire Donors". National Review. from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ Vicky Ward (March 17, 2017). "The blow-it-all-up billionaires; When politicians take money from megadonors, there are strings attached. But with the reclusive duo who propelled Trump into the White House, there's a fuse". The Huffington Post. from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
According to The Washington Post, the family donated $35 million to conservative think tanks and at least to $36.5 million to individual GOP races.
- ^ "The Mercers, Trump mega-donors, back group that casts doubt on climate science". The Washington Post. 2017. from the original on 2019-04-23.
- ^ a b Adeniji, Ade (April 14, 2015). "Meet the New Best Friend of Conservative Policy Groups: Robert Mercer". Inside Philanthropy. from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
- ^ "Robert Mercer". Inside Philanthropy. from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ "Conservative groups mount opposition to increase in IRS budget, threatening White House infrastructure plan". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
- ^ "American Dark Money, the Mercers and the Conservative Party: A Network of Influence". 14 September 2022.