There’s been a lot of stuff in the news the past five weeks about public money, the political-nonprofit industrial complex, and the resulting waste and abuse.
Sometimes it’s helpful to see these things through case studies, perhaps through the experiences of a given person.
A certain name has come up several times in the news over the past month regarding non-profits: Stacey Abrams, the celebrated author and twice-failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate. No word yet if she will team up with Beto O’Rourke to do a lecture tour on how to keep losing election campaigns and still remain popular.
My bad, it’s now twice-failed candidate, celebrated author, and successful businesswoman Stacey Abrams. Because she was the senior counsel for Power Forward Communities’ parent organization, Rewiring America.
Rewiring America went from $100 in revenue to $2 billion in three months (take that, Elon):
DOGE discovered $2 billion in taxpayer funds set aside for a fledgling nonprofit linked to perennial Georgia Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams.
The Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration awarded Power Forward Communities the grant in April 2024 as part of the agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program. Power Forward Communities received the green energy grant despite the fact that it was founded months earlier in late 2023 and never managed anywhere near the grant’s dollar figure—it reported just $100 in total revenue during its first three months in operation, according to its latest tax filings.