By Another apparent liberal money laundering scheme using taxpayer funds has been discovered. Over the past decade, the State Department and USAID, two federal agencies responsible for distributing foreign aid, have sent over $27 million to organizations affiliated with the Tides Foundation and Tides Center, entities known for funding progressive activist groups.
Since 2014, federal spending records show that Tides-affiliated groups have received nearly $28 million in grants, ostensibly for humanitarian initiatives and civil society programs both domestically and internationally. While much of this funding was awarded before the Trump administration sought to reduce foreign aid, significant portions were distributed during his tenure through USAID’s Civil Society Innovation Initiative. This program aimed to advance democracy, economic development, and global health, aligning with broader U.S. foreign policy objectives.
Critics argue that federal funds have indirectly supported domestic political activism, including movements that oppose law enforcement and Israeli policies. Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center, condemned the grants, stating that Tides is as left-wing as a donor-advised fund can be and has no business receiving a penny of federal grant money, regardless of what cause the money is being funneled into, reports The Daily Caller.
“If a conservative donor-advised fund like DonorsTrust was raking in million-dollar grants from a government department the Left and the media would be hysterical with outrage,” Parker Thayer, investigative researcher at Capital Research Center, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Tides is about as left-wing as a donor-advised [fund] can be, and has no business receiving a penny of federal grant money, no matter what cause the money is being funneled to through them.”
The State Department and USAID allocated the funds as early as 2014 to groups under the Tides label that help drive anti-police, anti-Israel activism. The purposes of the awards include “humanitarian activities,” supporting “civil society organizations” and other projects both foreign and domestic, according to official descriptions. The government has paid the Tides groups 72% of the grants so far.
A majority of funds the State Department and USAID marked for Tides organizations were distributed under the first Trump administration. The largest of all grants was for the Tides Center as part of USAID’s “Civil Society Innovation Initiative” under its “Foreign Assistance Program.”
The program aimed “to support long-term and equitable economic growth and advance U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health; and democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance,” a federal spending record says.
Beyond direct grants, an additional $4.06 million reached Tides-affiliated organizations through subgrants and subcontracting agreements. Among the more controversial beneficiaries is Palestine Legal, a group that provides legal defense for anti-Israel activists.
Last year, The Tides Foundation came under scrutiny from the House Ways and Means Committee for allegedly obscuring the identities of donors behind organizations promoting the anti-Israel activism on college campuses that occurred on some of the nation’s most prestigious campuses, according to Jewish Insider.
Committee Chairman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, pressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for transparency regarding $12 million it received from Tides, arguing that such funding arrangements may violate tax-exempt regulations. “Getting $12 million from Tides and then trying to say it’s really not from Tides, it’s from someone else, that makes me want to look harder,” Smith stated.
The cash for burning down some of America’s colleges may have come directly from bureaucrats in our own government.
Tides has funneled resources to various groups involved in recent campus protests, including Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). It also sponsors organizations such as Palestine Legal and the Adalah Justice Project, which have played active roles in demonstrations following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
The Tides Foundation has not publicly responded to the allegations. Meanwhile, the State Department has not indicated whether it will honor pending financial commitments to Tides-affiliated groups.
USAID’s headquarters remain shuttered by the Trump administration as legal battles over its dissolution continue.
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