The Funding Behind “No Kings”, Anti-ICE, and ANTIFA.
Funding Networks Behind the “No Kings” Protests, Anti-ICE Activity, and Antifa
A documentation of the financial infrastructure — foreign and domestic — behind coordinated U.S. protest movements, 2025–2026
Investigative reporting, congressional testimony, and financial disclosures reveal that large-scale anti-Trump protest movements in the United States — including the “No Kings” rallies, anti-ICE demonstrations, and activity linked to the Antifa network — are substantially underwritten by a coordinated infrastructure of domestic dark-money nonprofits, major philanthropic foundations, and at least two foreign billionaires.
Researchers at the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), the Capital Research Center (CRC), and the Washington Free Beacon have traced approximately $294 million in documented grants from six major donor networks to over 100 organizations identified as official “No Kings” partners (The Town Hall News, 2026). An estimated network of approximately 500 progressive organizations with $3 billion in combined annual revenues forms the organizational backbone of the movement (Fox News Digital, March 27, 2026). Federal investigators — including a joint FBI-IRS task force launched in March 2026 — are now examining whether any of these funding flows constitute financing of domestic terrorism or violations of tax-exempt status (Fox News Digital, March 19, 2026; CBS News, 2026).
I. The Six Major Domestic Funding Networks
1. Open Society Foundations (George Soros)
Open Society Foundations (OSF) is the most extensively documented domestic funder of the protest infrastructure. OSF provided $7.61 million in total grants to Indivisible — the primary organizing entity for the No Kings movement — including a $3 million two-year grant issued in 2023 through the Open Society Action Fund “to support the grantee’s social welfare activities” (Fox News Digital, October 16, 2025). OSF granted Indivisible funds every year since the organization’s founding in 2017, with total allocations to No Kings-affiliated partner organizations traced at approximately $72 million across the 2017–2025 period (The Town Hall News, 2026).
In the anti-ICE context, tax filings reveal $3.3 million in cash and non-cash assistance provided by OSF to the Headwaters Foundation for Justice in Minneapolis since 2014 (Hungarian Conservative, 2026). Headwaters then distributed those funds to at least 16 local anti-ICE activist groups in the Twin Cities, including Mizna, Unidos MN, CAIR Minnesota, Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action (COPAL), Minnesota Freedom Fund, OutFront Minnesota, and Gender Justice (Hungarian Conservative, 2026).
Capital Research Center’s investigation found that since 2016, OSF poured over $80 million into groups tied to extremist violence, including the Center for Third World Organizing, the Ruckus Society (which trained activists in property destruction during the 2020 riots), the Sunrise Movement (which endorsed the Antifa-linked Stop Cop City campaign involving 40+ domestic terrorism charges), and the Movement for Black Lives ($18 million) (Capital Research Center, 2025). OSF contributed $25.8 million to the Tides Foundation in 2020–2021 (Jewish Insider, 2024).
OSF Position: Open Society has stated it did not provide grants specifically designated for No Kings rallies, and that its grants fund broader organizational activities rather than individual protest events (The Town Hall News, 2026).
2. Arabella Advisors / Sixteen Thirty Fund Dark Money Network
Arabella Advisors — now operating as Sunflower Services — is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit LLC founded in 2005 by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler (Wikipedia, 2020). It manages four primary nonprofit entities: the New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund, Hopewell Fund, and Windward Fund. These nonprofits fund and staff “pop-up” groups that do not file IRS disclosures, making their financial trails difficult to trace (Tablet Magazine, 2022).
Between 2005 and 2021, the Arabella network raised $6.5 billion. In the 2019–20 election cycle alone, it collected $2.4 billion — nearly twice as much as the Republican and Democratic national committees combined (Tablet Magazine, 2022). The network distributed approximately $79 million to No Kings partner organizations per GAI analysis (The Town Hall News, 2026). Indivisible received $107,000 directly from Arabella, while the Legal Rights Center — a Minnesota nonprofit promoting anti-ICE bail funds — received nearly $460,000 from Arabella’s New Venture Fund between 2021 and 2024 (New York Post, February 3, 2026; Washington Free Beacon, January 19, 2026).
3. Tides Foundation and Tides Network
The Tides Foundation and its affiliated entities — Tides Network, Tides Center, Tides Inc., and Tides Advocacy — have a combined annual budget of nearly $1 billion (NGO Monitor, 2025). The Tides Foundation is particularly significant for its use of fiscal sponsorship, a mechanism allowing organizations to operate under Tides’s 501(c)(3) umbrella without filing their own IRS disclosures, effectively shielding donors, donation amounts, staffing, and expenditures from public scrutiny (NGO Monitor, 2025).
Tides serves as fiscal sponsor for over 80 “changemaker” organizations and granted $80.5 million in fiscal sponsorships in 2023 alone (NGO Monitor, 2025). Documented recipients include CodePink ($54,500–$104,500/year), the Alliance for Global Justice ($625,000–$1.9 million/year), Palestine Legal, and the Adalah Justice Project (NGO Monitor, 2025). The Community Justice Exchange — which ran legal defense and bail funds for the “Strike 4 Gaza” blockade campaign — is a Tides Center fiscal sponsorship (Tablet Magazine, 2024). In 2022–23 alone, Tides received $17.8 million from OSF (NGO Monitor, 2025). Tides’s traced funding to No Kings partner organizations totals approximately $45 million (The Town Hall News, 2026).
4. Ford Foundation, Rockefeller, and NoVo Foundation
Major legacy foundations complete the identified six-network structure. The Ford Foundation contributed approximately $51 million to No Kings coalition-affiliated organizations in grant cycles from 2017 to 2025, including $100,000 to Voices of Florida, a partner organization of the 50501 movement (The Town Hall News, 2026; New York Post, February 3, 2026). The Rockefeller Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund contributed approximately $26–$28 million to No Kings-affiliated groups, with Rockefeller Brothers Fund contributing close to $1 million to Tides earmarked for Palestine Legal in 2023 (The Town Hall News, 2026; Jewish Insider, 2024). The NoVo Foundation, associated with the Warren Buffett family, contributed approximately $16 million to No Kings-affiliated organizations (The Town Hall News, 2026).
Table 1. Documented Funding: Six Networks to No Kings Partner Organizations
| Funder / Network | Traced Amount | Notable Recipients |
|---|---|---|
| Arabella Advisors Network | ~$79 million | Indivisible ($107K), Sunrise Movement ($2M+), Legal Rights Center ($460K) |
| Open Society Foundations (Soros) | ~$72 million | Indivisible ($7.6M), Tides ($25.8M), MN anti-ICE groups ($3.3M) |
| Ford Foundation | ~$51 million | Voices of Florida ($100K), activist coalitions |
| Tides Foundation | ~$45 million | CodePink ($54K–$104K/yr), Alliance for Global Justice ($625K–$1.9M/yr) |
| Rockefeller Foundation / Brothers Fund | ~$26–$28 million | Palestine Legal via Tides ($1M), activist groups |
| NoVo Foundation (Buffett family) | ~$16 million | Progressive coalitions |
| Total Traced (6 Networks) | ~$294 million | 100+ identified No Kings partner organizations |
Source: GAI analysis, Government Accountability Institute / Rep. Anna Paulina Luna disclosure, as reported in The Town Hall News (2026) and Louisiana Policy Review (2025).
II. Foreign Influence: The Neville Roy Singham Network
The most extensively investigated foreign-influence thread involves Neville Roy Singham, a 72-year-old American-born tech entrepreneur who sold his company, Thoughtworks, in 2017 for approximately $1 billion and subsequently relocated to Shanghai, China (Wikipedia, n.d.; City Journal, 2026). Congressional investigators, GAI, CRC, and multiple investigative outlets have documented his financial and ideological network in depth.
Scope of the Network
Fox News Digital analyzed 223 transactions totaling $591 million across five continents from 2017 through 2025, flowing through a pipeline of 11 core U.S. nonprofit organizations, with approximately $401 million flowing into those U.S. entities (Fox News Digital, March 12, 2026). Three Singham-linked U.S. nonprofits sent a total of $9.1 million in seven payments to Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications Co. Ltd. — a pro-China propaganda firm — in transactions not previously reported (Fox News Digital, March 12, 2026).
Table 2. Key U.S. Recipient Organizations — Singham Network
| Organization | Total Received | Directly from Singham |
|---|---|---|
| People’s Support Foundation | $181.8 million | $167.5 million |
| Justice and Education Fund | $74.2 million | $68.7 million |
| People’s Welfare Association | $70 million | — |
| People’s Forum Inc. | $28 million | $22.4 million |
| BreakThrough BT Media | $3.5 million | $1.1 million |
| CodePink Women for Peace | $1.8 million | $1.3 million |
| Progress Unity Fund | $442,524+ | — |
Source: Fox News Digital analysis of 223 transactions, 2017–2025 (Fox News Digital, March 12, 2026).
Notable: The People’s Support Foundation — which held over $143 million in assets — was operated out of a UPS mailbox on East Wacker Drive in Chicago. The U.S. State Department submitted a report linking CodePink and the People’s Forum to operations influenced by China (New York Post, February 17, 2026).
CCP Connections
The House Ways and Means Committee’s February 2026 hearing documented that Singham attended Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda trainings, shared offices with Chinese state media in Shanghai, and exploited U.S. tax law to move tens of millions of dollars through donor-advised funds, primarily via Goldman Sachs (U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, February 11, 2026). In 2019, Singham started a consulting business with partners in the CCP’s propaganda apparatus (Wikipedia, n.d.). He chairs the Tricontinental Institute’s international advisory board; his son is employed there as a researcher (Fox News Digital, February 8, 2026).
Brian Becker — national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition and co-founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — hosts a show on Singham-funded BreakThrough News, sits on the advisory board of Singham’s Tricontinental Institute, and is a member of the International Peoples’ Assembly media network (City Journal, 2026). Ben Becker, editor-in-chief of BreakThrough News, is Brian Becker’s son; BreakThrough News and the People’s Forum share the same address (WHMI, 2026).
III. Foreign Influence: Hansjörg Wyss (Swiss Billionaire)
Hansjörg Wyss is a Swiss billionaire who has publicly confirmed he is a foreign national (Wikipedia — Berger Action Fund, 2025). Foreign nationals are prohibited under U.S. law from directly contributing to candidates or political committees; however, they may contribute to 501(c)(4) “dark money” nonprofits not required to disclose their donors. Wyss channels money through two primary vehicles: the Wyss Foundation and the Berger Action Fund (Nebraska AG, 2025).
Between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, the Berger Action Fund disbursed $57.3 million to 11 activist groups, including $3 million to the ACLU, $2 million to the League of Conservation Voters, and $1 million to the Indivisible Project (Washington Free Beacon, March 3, 2026). The fund’s single largest payment in that period was a $27 million check to Arabella’s Sixteen Thirty Fund (Washington Free Beacon, March 3, 2026). The fund reported a single inbound contribution of $176.7 million — almost certainly from Wyss himself — bringing its net assets to nearly $400 million (Washington Free Beacon, March 3, 2026). From 2016 to 2023, over $500 million combined flowed from Wyss’s organizations, OSF, and Arabella into various progressive organizations (New York Post, May 5, 2025).
Nebraska’s Attorney General filed suit in November 2025 against the Wyss dark money web, documenting the specific fund flow: Wyss → Wyss Foundation/Berger Action Fund → New Venture Fund/Sixteen Thirty Fund → Nebraska Appleseed, Civic Nebraska, and Nebraska Abortion and Reproductive Justice Fund — all of which contributed to Nebraska ballot question committees (Nebraska AG, 2025).
IV. Key Activist Organizations in the Network
Indivisible
Indivisible is the lead coordinator for the No Kings protests and was listed as the permit holder for the flagship March 28, 2026 rally in St. Paul, Minnesota (Fox News Digital, March 27, 2026). Annual revenue is approximately $12 million (Economic Times, 2025), substantially underwritten by OSF ($7.61 million total), Wyss entities ($6.5 million), and Arabella ($107,000) (New York Post, February 3, 2026).
The People’s Forum
The People’s Forum is a New York-based 501(c)(3) that serves as an incubator for socialist groups, funded almost entirely by Neville Singham ($22.4–$28 million documented) (Fox News Digital, March 12, 2026). In 2021, the organization publicly acknowledged on X (formerly Twitter) receiving funding from Singham, calling him “a Marxist comrade” (U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, September 3, 2025). The People’s Forum worked alongside the PSL and the ANSWER Coalition in organizing anti-ICE rallies nationwide (Yahoo News, 2026).
ANSWER Coalition and Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)
The ANSWER Coalition is a Marxist-aligned nonprofit whose national coordinator, Brian Becker, simultaneously co-founded the PSL and maintains multiple roles within the Singham media ecosystem (City Journal, 2026). The PSL has been identified by congressional investigators as having Singham as its “main backer,” and the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into PSL’s role in organizing the 2025 Los Angeles riots (U.S. House Oversight Committee, 2025). In February 2026, ANSWER announced emergency nationwide protests coordinating with People’s Forum, CodePink, Palestinian Youth Movement, American Muslims for Palestine, the 50501 movement, and the National Iranian American Council (WHMI, 2026).
CodePink
CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans is married to Singham (Fox News Digital, March 27, 2026), and Singham-linked sources account for roughly 25% of CodePink’s funding since 2017 (City Journal, 2026). CodePink received $1.8 million from the Singham network directly and additional Tides Foundation funding ($54,500–$104,500 annually) (Fox News Digital, March 12, 2026; NGO Monitor, 2025). The U.S. State Department identified CodePink as connected to CCP-influenced operations (New York Post, February 17, 2026).
50501 Movement
The 50501 Movement — named for its goal of 50 protests in 50 states — has no publicly disclosed leadership or funding sources (InfluenceWatch, 2026). It is partnered with Political Revolution (a former Bernie Sanders PAC), Voices of Florida (Ford Foundation-funded), No Voice Unheard, and Build the Resistance (InfluenceWatch, 2026). The movement operated alongside ANSWER, PSL, People’s Forum, and CodePink in organizing anti-ICE and anti-Iran-strike protests throughout 2025 and 2026 (WHMI, 2026).
National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
The National Lawyers Guild is described by the Capital Research Center as the “legal auxiliary for Antifa,” operating the Mass Defense and Legal Observer Programs and providing free attorneys for protest-related cases (The National Desk, 2025). Congressman Lance Gooden (TX-05) sent a letter to AG Pam Bondi in October 2025 urging DOJ investigation of NLG’s ties to Antifa, citing its “pattern of legal and logistical support to left-wing extremists engaged in violence and property destruction” (Gooden.house.gov, 2025). NLG’s subsidiaries include the National Lawyers Guild Foundation, National Immigration Project, National Police Accountability Project, and Mass Defense Project (Gooden.house.gov, 2025).
V. Anti-ICE Protest Infrastructure
Minnesota: The Central Case Study
Minneapolis emerged as a focal point of anti-ICE activity in early 2026. The “ICE Out” protest drew approximately 15,000 activists, organized under the 50501 network in coordination with PSL, People’s Forum, and other Singham-affiliated entities (New York Post, February 3, 2026). The Headwaters Foundation for Justice received $3.3 million from OSF since 2014 and channeled funds to 16 local anti-ICE organizations (Hungarian Conservative, 2026). Additional funding flowed through Unidos MN’s anti-ICE faction (Monarca), supported through Arabella-linked intermediaries (New York Post, February 3, 2026).
A taxpayer-funded catch-and-release ecosystem enabled repeat offenders to return to protests after arrest. The Legal Rights Center received nearly $5.7 million — roughly two-thirds of its total revenue — in government grants between 2021 and 2024, including at least $400,000 in sub-grants from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (Washington Examiner, 2026). That same organization promoted the People’s Bail Fund of Minnesota specifically for anti-ICE protest cases, and also received $460,000 from Arabella’s New Venture Fund in the same period (Washington Free Beacon, January 19, 2026). Minnesota Governor Tim Walz publicly urged residents to “resist ICE” the evening before the Legal Rights Center updated its website with links to the anti-ICE bail fund (Washington Free Beacon, January 19, 2026).
Bail Fund Infrastructure (National)
The national bail fund infrastructure enabling the protest revolving door is itself heavily networked. The Bail Project — active in 17 cities — receives funding from Borealis Philanthropy (Capital Research Center, 2022). The “Atlanta Solidarity Fund” supported arrested Stop Cop City protesters, while the related “Forest Justice Defense Fund” reimbursed activists — including Antifa-affiliated members — for purchase of tents, camping supplies, surveillance equipment, shortwave radios, drones, and ammunition (Tablet Magazine, 2024).
VI. Antifa Funding and the “Protest Industrial Complex”
GAI’s “Riot Inc.” Framework
Government Accountability Institute Research Director Seamus Bruner presented findings to a White House Antifa roundtable in October 2025, describing the “protest industrial complex” or “Riot Inc.” — a corporate-style operation with boots on the ground, professional marketing, and legal support infrastructure (Government Accountability Institute, October 17, 2025). Bruner identified “dozens of radical organizations that have received more than $100 million from the Riot Inc. investors,” naming as major funding sources OSF, the Arabella network, the Tides network, and Neville Roy Singham’s network (The National Desk, 2025).
GAI investigations documented coordination across cities including Portland, Seattle, and Chicago, involving people who were paid and transported to participate in unrest, including homeless individuals who were allegedly exploited for participation in civil disturbances (Fox News Politics, October 8, 2025).
Capital Research Center Findings
The Capital Research Center identified the National Lawyers Guild as the legal backbone of the Antifa movement and noted that radical organizations are increasingly blending with mainstream unions such as the American Federation of Teachers (The National Desk, 2025). CRC’s investigation found consistent Tides Network and Arabella funding flowing to radical organizations in the homelessness and community organizing space aligned with extremist ideologies (Fox Baltimore, 2025).
The Opacity Mechanism: DAFs and Fiscal Sponsorship
A critical mechanism enabling this network is the donor-advised fund (DAF), which allows for anonymous donations and makes funding flows difficult to trace. Singham exploited this by moving tens of millions through Goldman Sachs-administered DAFs (U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, February 11, 2026). The Tides Foundation’s fiscal sponsorship model further obscures funding by allowing organizations to operate under Tides’s IRS umbrella without filing their own disclosures (NGO Monitor, 2025). The Arabella network’s use of pop-up groups that never file IRS disclosures adds a third layer of opacity (Tablet Magazine, 2022).
VII. Federal and State Government Responses
FBI–IRS Joint Task Force (March 2026)
The Department of Justice, FBI, and IRS launched a joint investigation in March 2026 into nonprofit organizations alleged to be involved in organizing or funding political violence (Fox News Digital, March 19, 2026). The initiative stems from National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) and a December 4, 2025 memorandum from Attorney General Pam Bondi directing federal law enforcement to probe Antifa funding sources and investigate potential tax crimes by “extremist groups” (WFMD, 2026; Fox Rothschild Tax Controversy Blog, 2026). IRS Criminal Investigation confirmed: “IRS-CI is collaborating with federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to investigate individuals and entities that may be funding domestic terrorism or political violence” (WFMD, 2026).
House Ways and Means Committee (February 10, 2026)
The House Ways and Means Committee held a formal hearing titled “Foreign Influence in American Non-profits: Unmasking Threats to National Security” on February 10, 2026, chaired by Rep. Jason Smith (Wyatt Firm, 2026). Key findings included that Singham attended CCP propaganda trainings, shared offices with Chinese state media, and exploited Goldman Sachs donor-advised funds to move money without transparency (U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, February 11, 2026). The committee issued subpoenas to People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, and Tricontinental (Fox News Digital, February 8, 2026).
House Oversight Committee and Senate Judiciary
The House Oversight Committee launched a formal investigation in June 2025 into the funding behind the Los Angeles riots, citing Singham’s PSL as the primary organizer (U.S. House Oversight Committee, 2025). The Senate Judiciary Committee opened a parallel investigation into Singham’s role in organizing anti-ICE protests and domestic unrest, with congressional letters requesting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent investigate freezing Singham’s assets (Yahoo News, 2026).
Nebraska Attorney General Lawsuit (November 2025)
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers filed suit against the Wyss dark money web in November 2025, documenting the specific fund flow from Wyss through his foundation vehicles to Arabella’s nonprofits and onward to Nebraska ballot question committees (Nebraska AG, 2025). Ethics watchdog Americans for Public Trust described Wyss as “exploiting loopholes to funnel foreign dark money into important policy fights” (Washington Free Beacon, March 3, 2026).
VIII. Primary Data Transparency Resources
The website DataRepublican.com compiled an interactive database tracking every nonprofit with reconstructable federal grant flows to entities involved in the June 14, 2025 No Kings demonstration, including Sankey diagrams showing full grant flow trees for each organization (DataRepublican, 2025). Listed entities include 350.org (EIN: 26-1150699, federal grant exposure: $19.9 million) and A Jewish Voice for Peace (EIN: 90-0018359, $3.3 million) among dozens of others with documented federal grant linkages (DataRepublican, 2025).
IRS Form 990 filings for all 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations are publicly available through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, providing the foundational source data from which most of the financial flows described in this article have been reconstructed by investigators and researchers.
1. Grant timing vs. specific protest funding: Organizations such as OSF have stated they did not provide grants specifically designated for No Kings rallies. Many traced grants span 2017–2025 and supported general organizational operations rather than individual protest events. Critics argue, however, that funding an organization funds its capacity to mobilize regardless of grant designation (The Town Hall News, 2026).
2. Antifa’s decentralized nature: Antifa is not a formal membership organization with a budget, but a decentralized movement. “Funding Antifa” therefore typically means funding organizations and infrastructure that support or enable activists who participate in Antifa-affiliated activity — a distinction that complicates direct attribution (The National Desk, 2025).
3. Foreign national contribution restrictions: Wyss, as a confirmed foreign national, is legally prohibited from contributing to U.S. political campaigns and committees but may donate to dark money nonprofits under current law. He has denied breaking laws governing foreign money in American politics (Washington Free Beacon, March 3, 2026).
4. FARA applicability: Whether Singham’s activities constitute violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act is under active congressional and DOJ investigation and has not been adjudicated (Yahoo News, 2026; City Journal, 2026).
5. Source considerations: Many of the most detailed investigations come from right-leaning outlets (Fox News, Washington Free Beacon) and partisan research organizations (GAI, CRC). The underlying primary data — IRS 990 filings, foundation grant disclosures, and congressional hearing testimony — are verifiable public records, but characterizations of intent and motive vary between sources.