Soros and other left-wing megadonors contribute $20 million to groups funding protests against federalization in DC

Several left-leaning organizations, including George Soros's Open Society Foundations, contributed some $20 million to groups funding the recent protests against the federalization of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), revealed The New York Post in an exclusive report.

Activists from Free D.C., a project sponsored by left-leaning nonprofits Community Change and Community Change Action, rallied Monday in the capital against the Trump administration's decision to deploy the National Guard in Washington.

According to an analysis shared with The New York Post, Community Change and Community Change Action have benefited from millions of dollars in donations coming from progressive organizations such as Open Society Foundations, the Tides Foundation and Arabella Advisors.

In 2023 alone, Community Change and Community Change Action received $4 million from Open Society Foundations, $680,000 from Arabella and $145,000 from the Tides Foundation, Americans for Public Trust discovered in financial documents shared with The New York Post.

"DC is facing shootings, carjackings, and assaults, and yet progressive groups like The Pritzker Foundation, George Soros, and the Arabella Network all spend millions of dollars to manufacture protests that weaken our communities," said Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust.

Arabella Advisors is a D.C.-based consulting firm that advises donors and progressive organizations on where to put their money. According to The New York Post, this consulting firm manages several funds that finance progressive groups, including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Windward Fund and the New Venture Fund, which have also given money to Community Change and Community Change Action since 2020.

"It is ironic that a protest to ostensibly 'Free D.C.' was hosted by Community Change, a group funded by massive amounts of outside dark money to push a pro-crime agenda," Sutherland added in remarks to The New York Post.

Between 2020 and 2023, Community Change and Community Change Action received $12.6 million from the Open Society Foundation, $5.5 million from Arabella and $1.9 million from the Tides Foundation under numerous grants that, according to The New York Post report, have been categorized for purposes such as “civil rights, social action, advocacy” and “social welfare activities.”

According to The New York Post, it is not really clear how much of this money has been used directly by Free D.C.