Koch group's income plummeted in non-election year
Revenue at the Center to Protect Patient Rights, once a nerve center of the Koch brothers-affiliated nonprofit network, plunged in 2013, a non-election year, according to new federal tax filings reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity.
The Center to Protect Patient Rights reported just $2.2 million in income during 2013, the group’s lowest haul ever for one year.
Comparatively, the group raised $146.6 million during 2012, when it helped fund numerous groups active during presidential and congressional elections.
Related: Koch-linked operative mum on mystery millions
The group is a “social welfare” nonprofit organized under section 501(c)(4) of the U.S. tax code. That means it is not required to reveal the identities of its donors. Likewise, while it may not have a “primary purpose” of engaging in political activity, it is allowed to engage in politics as part of its overall activities.
And engage in politics it has, albeit indirectly: the Center to Protect Patient Rights has given hundreds of millions of dollars to other nonprofits since its 2009 formation, much of which appears to have been spent on election ads and political activity.
In 2013, Center to Protect Patient Rights, which earlier this year changed its name to American Encore, reported receiving all its money from just four donors who gave $1.78 million, $265,000, $150,000 and $40,000, respectively.
Related: Koch-linked organization uses ‘dark money’ to fight political disclosure
It reported expenses last year totaling more than $9 million, far higher than its revenue, and gave $4.6 million, more than it raised, to other nonprofit organizations.
Roughly a quarter of the grant money, about $1.33 million, went to a group called Prosper, Inc., another 501(c)(4) nonprofit.
Prosper Inc. was founded in 2013 by Kirk Adams, a former speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, who this month was appointed as the new chief of staff to Arizona Gov.-elect Doug Ducey, a Republican.
Related: Nonprofits spend money on campaigns despite benefactors' warnings
The Center to Protect Patient Rights reported giving $529,000 to another Koch-affiliated nonprofit, the 60 Plus Association.
Both Prosper Inc. and the 60 Plus Association poured money into an Arizona campaign aimed at making customers who use solar power pay more.
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Primary Source. Primary Source keeps you up-to-date on developments in the post-Citizens United world of money in politics. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
