The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, commonly known as the Bradley Foundation, is an American charitable foundation based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that primarily supports conservative causes.[1][2]
The foundation provides between $35 million and $45 million annually to a variety of causes, including cultural institutions, community-based nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee, and conservative groups. It has been active in education reform including school choice, and efforts to change election rules.[1][3] Approximately 70% of the foundation's giving is directed to national groups while 30% is Wisconsin-based.[1] The foundation had about $850 million in assets as of 2021.[3]
The foundation was established in 1942, shortly after the death of Lynde Bradley, to further the philosophy of the Bradley brothers. The foundation's credo is "The good society is a free society."[4]
In 1965, after the death of Harry Lynde Bradley, Lynde's brother, the foundation expanded and began to concentrate on public policy.[5] The 1985 acquisition of the Allen-Bradley Company by Rockwell International Corporation resulted in a portion of the proceeds going to expand the foundation, swelling its assets from $14 million to over $290 million.[6] In 1986, the foundation gave away $23 million, more than it had in the previous four decades.[5]
The Bradley Foundation's former president, Michael S. Joyce, helped to create the Philanthropy Roundtable, a group of American philanthropists that, as of 2018, has 660 members (consisting of both individuals and organizations).[7]
In August 2021 New Yorker magazine, Jane Mayer wrote that the Bradley Foundation "has become an extraordinary force in persuading mainstream Republicans to support radical challenges to election rules—a tactic once relegated to the far right" and "funds a network of groups that have been stoking fear about election fraud, in some cases for years. Public records show that, since 2012, the foundation has spent some eighteen million dollars supporting eleven conservative groups involved in election issues."[3] On the foundation's board of directors is attorney Cleta Mitchell, who joined Donald Trump on his phone call on 2 January 2021 when Trump pressured Georgia election officials to find 11,780 votes to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results.[3]
Funding areas
The foundation describes itself as supporting limited government.[8]The New York Times described the Bradley Foundation as "a leading source of ideas and financing for American conservatives."[9] A 2013 report from the Center for Public Integrity found that the Bradley Foundation was a contributor to Donors Trust, a right-wing think tank which has been described as the "dark money ATM" for conservative billionaires, enabling them to make sizable donations to conservative causes without attracting public scrutiny.[10][11]
^ abcdMayer, Jane (2 August 2021). "The Big Money Behind the Big Lie: Donald Trump's attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs". Newyorker.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021. (...) the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Based in Milwaukee, the private, tax-exempt organization has become an extraordinary force in persuading mainstream Republicans to support radical challenges to election rules—a tactic once relegated to the far right. With an endowment of some eight hundred and fifty million dollars, the foundation funds a network of groups that have been stoking fear about election fraud, in some cases for years. Public records show that, since 2012, the foundation has spent some eighteen million dollars supporting eleven conservative groups involved in election issues.
^Gonzalez, George (2013). Energy and the Politics of the North Atlantic. SUNY Press. p. 147. ISBN9781438447957.
