By She might be the greatest “activists” to ever do it. A nonprofit organization with connections to Democratic activist Stacey Abrams is under scrutiny after receiving a $2 billion federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This funding, part of the $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, was intended to support clean energy initiatives and reduce carbon emissions. However, concerns are mounting because the nonprofit, Power Forward Communities, was founded only months before the grant was awarded and reported just $100 in revenue during its first three months.
The situation became more complicated when EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the new EPA chief, disclosed that the previous administration had transferred the entire $20 billion to an external financial institution before leaving office in hopes of avoiding scrutiny, writes The Washington Free Beacon.
Power Forward Communities’ grant was one of just eight Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants that the EPA doled out in April 2024 and that, altogether, totaled $20 billion. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced on Feb. 13 that his staff and Department of Government Efficiency officials discovered that the Biden administration parked that same $20 billion at an outside financial institution before leaving office, limiting the federal government’s oversight of the program.
The revelation that Power Forward Communities is among the beneficiaries of the funds Zeldin’s team located raises ethics questions about how the Biden administration selected recipients of such massive grants and whether it played favorites when doling those grants out. Abrams was a vocal proponent of the Biden administration’s green energy agenda and campaigned for former vice president Kamala Harris.
It also appears to validate concerns expressed for years by Republicans that Biden administration allies would prop up organizations that were specifically designed to receive federal funding under programs like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created to operate as a “green bank” by Democrats’ behemoth Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“I made a commitment to members of Congress and to the American people to be a good steward of tax dollars and I’ve wasted no time in keeping my word,” Zeldin told the Washington Free Beacon. “When we learned about the Biden Administration’s scheme to quickly park $20 billion outside the agency, we suspected that some organizations were created out of thin air just to take advantage of this.”
The nonprofit, established as a coalition led by “Rewiring America,” describes its mission as helping homeowners and renters transition to cleaner energy through services like solar panel installation, electric vehicle charger deployment, and home weatherization. Despite these goals, the group’s limited operational experience and financial history have raised serious concerns.
“For an organization that has no experience in this, that was literally just established, and had $100 in the bank to receive a $2 billion grant—it doesn’t just fly in the face of common sense, it’s out and out fraud,” Daniel Turner, the executive director of energy advocacy group Power the Future, alleged in an interview with the Free Beacon.
Zeldin has made it clear that retrieving the funds is now a top priority for the EPA. The grant money, currently held in an account at Citibank, remains largely untouched by Power Forward Communities and other grant recipients, including groups like the Climate United Fund and Justice Climate Fund.
This is hardly the first time Abrams has found herself in a financial scandal with one of her “nonprofits.” The New Georgia Project, a nonprofit founded by Stacey Abrams and formerly led by current Senator Raphael Warnock, admitted in 2024 to violating Georgia state laws during Abrams’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign. The organization confessed to funding campaign materials and canvassing efforts without registering as a political committee, which is required for entities engaging in political campaigning. A related group, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, also admitted to similar violations.
The two nonprofits agreed to pay a record $300,000 fine, the largest in the state ethics commission’s 38-year history, resolving a six-year legal battle that began with accusations in 2019. The groups acknowledged failing to disclose $3.2 million spent on campaign-related activities, with the commission’s executive director, David Emadi, describing it as the largest misuse of election-related funds the commission has uncovered.
The violations didn’t stop in 2018. In 2019, the same organizations were found guilty of failing to disclose nearly $820,000 related to campaigning for a public transportation referendum in Gwinnett County, which ultimately failed. Additionally, another group, Gente4Abrams, was fined $50,000 for not registering and reporting over $240,000 spent supporting Abrams’ 2018 campaign.
Although Abrams and Warnock weren’t personally penalized, the scandal raises potential federal tax law concerns, as nonprofits are barred from endorsing political candidates. A spokesperson for Warnock stated he had no involvement in compliance decisions during his time with the organization.
In 2022, the Democrat’s voting rights group, Fair Fight Action, faced scrutiny for paying $9.4 million in legal fees to a firm owned by her close friend and campaign chair, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy. The payments were tied to a failed lawsuit challenging Georgia’s election laws.
The mounting controversies have cast a shadow on Abrams’ advocacy work and financial growth, with critics highlighting her shift from debt in 2018 to a net worth of over $3 million.
What’s a few billion between friends, anyway?
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