Pro-Palestinian protesters are backed by a surprising source: Biden's biggest donors

Some of the most outspoken groups against Biden and Israel get funding from 
foundations attached to some of the biggest names in Democratic circles.

President Joe Biden has been dogged for months by pro-Palestinian protesters 
calling him “Genocide Joe” — but some of the groups behind the demonstrations 
receive financial backing from philanthropists pushing hard for his 
reelection.

The donors include some of the biggest names in Democratic circles: Soros, 
Rockefeller and Pritzker, according to a POLITICO analysis.

Two of the organizers supporting the protests at Columbia University and on 
other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by 
the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros 
and was previously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It in 
turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change.


Soros declined to comment, but a spokesperson with the Open Society 
Foundations, of which Soros is the founder and chairman, said in a statement 
that it “has funded a broad spectrum of US groups that have advocated for the 
rights of Palestinians and Israelis and for peaceful resolution to the 
conflict in Israel.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has 
previously funded the Tides Foundation and other groups, said it no longer 
has active grants to Tides. It also does not support Jewish Voice for Peace 
or IfNotNow.

Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the 
protest movement is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the 
Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It has given nearly $500,000 directly to Jewish 
Voice for Peace, which explicitly describes itself as anti-Zionist, over the 
past five years. Rockefeller Brothers has separately given grants to both the 
Tides Foundation and the Tides Center.

Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a 
foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire 
— and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 
to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 
2020 campaign.

The trail of donations shows a series of blurred lines when it comes to 
liberal causes and Democratic politics. The money is sometimes, but not 
always, directed toward specific issues — even if it is, it contributes to an 
organization’s larger pool of funds, which could go toward opposing causes. 
Often, missions between the donors and nonprofits are aligned, but they also 
sometimes have different and — particularly when it comes to Gaza — 
conflicting agendas and tactics. And a small group of wealthy heavyweights 
are often playing an outsize role funding many of them.

But as protester tactics have grown more intense, like taking over university 
buildings and shouting antisemitic remarks, the groups behind them are now 
attracting criticism from prominent donors on the left.

“Why [is the Rockefeller Fund] giving significant grants to Jewish Voice for 
Peace, [which] blamed the horrific Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the United 
States rather than Hamas?” said Elisha Wiesel, a Democratic donor who chairs 
the Elie Wiesel Foundation, an organization that supports anti-genocide work.

Jewish Voice for Peace, which did not return a request for comment, has been 
a leader in disruptive protests against Biden, including shouting “genocide 
supporter” at his glitzy fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York in 
March. It protests on campuses across the country, and its statement 
immediately following the Oct. 7 attacks said that “the source of all this 
violence” was “Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States 
complicity in that oppression.”

The complex funding system in the nonprofit space sometimes means that groups 
are funded by grants — or even subgrants — from a larger organization that 
isn’t involved in granular, day-to-day management of an activist group’s 
work. In a statement to POLITICO, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund noted it 
cannot support political activity or campaigns and is not involved in the 
personal political giving of trustees.

“Our grantees in all three portfolios support a broad range of policy ideas—
some align with the Biden administration’s agenda and others conflict. This 
complexity is part and parcel of our nonpartisan work,” said Sarah Edkins, 
the fund’s communications director, in a statement.

Some advisers to left-leaning causes say that’s just part of the way things 
work when it comes to philanthropic giving.

“There may be times where a donor may give to an organization or candidate 
that sometimes does something that clashes with their personal view,” said 
Kevin Conlon, who has been a bundler for Biden as well as for Democratic 
presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now advises 
nonprofits.

Still, some donors say they feel conflicted as they watch the protests 
unfold.

“We’re hearing from folks who want to make sure that their dollars aren’t 
supporting people who are supporting Hamas and shouting antisemitic things,” 
said Daniel Goldwin, public affairs executive director of the Jewish United 
Fund in Chicago, which issues grants to small local nonprofits and to larger 
national nonprofits. “If it’s an organization they’ve been giving to for a 
long time, we encourage them to call and communicate their concerns.”

Biden is struggling to regain support from young people, who went 
overwhelmingly for him in 2020, and the protests may complicate that effort. 
As Israel faces increasing criticism from around the world amid the high 
numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza, demonstrations in the United States 
are only growing more intense. Those at Columbia University, in particular, 
have emerged as a thorn in the side of Biden, who finally weighed in on them 
on Thursday.

“Destroying property is not a peaceful protest, it’s against the law,” Biden 
said. “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, 
forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation, none of this is a 
peaceful protest.”

Some Democrats are downplaying the protests as a problem for Biden.

“Elections aren’t determined on foreign policy issues,” said Jill Zipin, co-
founder and chair of Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania, a political 
action committee that works to elect Democrats in Pennsylvania. “The protest 
movement and the encampments probably won’t be an issue in November, but it’s 
really hard to say because things can change quickly.”

The liability for Biden could be more pronounced if the protests continue 
throughout the summer and fall, as the election draws closer.

“If it continues through November, then yes, it’s likely to be more salient,” 
said Omar Wasow, a scholar who studies protest movements and their political 
effects. “And if it somehow winds down, you see Americans don’t care a lot 
about foreign policy, and it’s likely to not to play out in the election.”

Many of the nonprofits that receive grants that are now involved in the 
protests also have missions that are mostly unrelated to foreign policy. But 
as the conflict in the Middle East takes up a greater space at the center of 
the nation’s political debates, nonprofits with other missions have been 
drawn to the cause.

“A lot of our members are supporting actions that are trying to hold Biden 
accountable, which is not the same thing as opposing Biden. It’s saying we 
desperately don’t want the alternative,” said Barni Qaasim, a spokesperson 
for Solidaire Action, a group that funds social justice movements.

Solidaire has received financial support from the Pritzkers, who also founded 
the Libra Foundation, which funds smaller nonprofits that address criminal 
justice, environmental and gender justice issues. Susan Pritzker declined to 
comment for this story. Some of the groups funded by Libra have also been 
involved in protests against Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

For instance, The Climate Justice Alliance took part in pro-Palestinian 
marches that have used the phrase “Genocide Joe.” Black Organizing for 
Leadership and Dignity, another group backed by the Libra Foundation, 
promotes pro-Palestinian demonstrations on its website. And a third, the 
Immigrant Defense Project, was part of a protest in Washington that saw 13 
activists arrested by Capitol police after demanding a permanent cease-fire 
in Gaza.

The Tides Foundation, funded by the Prizkers, has also supported the Adalah 
Justice Project, which has also been part of protests at Columbia University. 
The group wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “universities are hedge funds, 
deeply embedded with weapons manufacturers.” Tides also supports Palestine 
Legal, a legal defense fund that is offers legal assistance to “students 
mobilizing against genocide.”

The Tides Foundation issued a statement about funding groups that protest, 
saying it is “committed to advancing social justice,” adding that its 
“community of fiscally sponsored projects, donors, and grantees represent a 
wide range of perspectives on what social justice looks like.”

Palestine Legal has been a fiscally sponsored project of the Tides Center 
since 2013, and Adalah Justice Project since 2016, according to a 
spokesperson. Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow “are grantee partners.”

Some donors may use this moment to reevaluate where their money goes, 
something that Conlon, the Democratic bundler, acknowledged.

“They might be less inclined to give [in the future] if they feel strongly 
about it. Inevitably, there will be conflicts,” he said. “You’re not going to 
sync perfectly all the time.”

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Let's go Brandon!