Mercer Family Foundation

Mercer Family Foundation
Formation14 June 2004 (20 years ago) (2004-06-14)
FounderRobert Mercer
Founded atNew York City, U.S.
Typecharitable foundation
20-1982204
Legal status501(c)(3)
Purposephilanthropy
Headquarters51 Sawyer Rd, Waltham, Massachusetts, 02453-3448, U.S.
Director
Rebekah Mercer[1]
Disbursements$13,492,358 (2013)[2]

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]

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 critical of climate change activism.[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 U.S. far-right entities. Similar allegations have been made about links to members of the UK government.[11]

References

  1. ^ Delevingne, Lawrence (8 November 2014). "Have Mercer! The money man who helped the GOP win". CNBC. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. ^ "IRS Form 990 2013" (PDF). GuideStar. Internal Revenue Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  3. ^ Sellers, Frances (6 October 2015). "How a reclusive computer programmer became a GOP money powerhouse". Washington Post. New York. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  4. ^ "The Man Who Out-Koched the Kochs". Bloomberg. New York. 22 October 2014. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  5. ^ Johnson, Eliana (8 April 2015). "Meet Ted Cruz's Billionaire Donors". National Review. Archived from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  6. ^ Vicky Ward (17 March 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. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 19 March 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.
  7. ^ "The Mercers, Trump mega-donors, back group that casts doubt on climate science". The Washington Post. 2017. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019.
  8. ^ a b Adeniji, Ade (14 April 2015). "Meet the New Best Friend of Conservative Policy Groups: Robert Mercer". Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Robert Mercer". Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Conservative groups mount opposition to increase in IRS budget, threatening White House infrastructure plan". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  11. ^ "American Dark Money, the Mercers and the Conservative Party: A Network of Influence". 14 September 2022.

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