The Investigative Journal’s weekly review of notable activity across the nonprofit sector, drawn from IRS filings, state attorney general enforcement records, and campaign finance disclosures.
Dark money network channels a record $33 million into midterm super PACs
A network of loosely connected 501(c)(4) nonprofits has contributed more than $33.1 million to federal super PACs in the 2026 election cycle, according to an August analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) of Federal Election Commission records. That figure already exceeds the more than $14.6 million the same network contributed in the full 2024 cycle and the more than $22 million it moved in the 2022 midterms. Thirteen nonprofits in the network have directed funds to 31 federally registered super PACs this cycle, with the majority of the money supporting Republican U.S. Senate candidates, the analysis found.
The largest single-race commitment identified was Kentucky’s Senate primary, where CREW’s review of FEC data shows five network nonprofits channeled more than $14.5 million. Keep America Great PAC, Inc., which backed Rep. Andy Barr’s winning primary campaign, raised more than $16 million through June 30, 2026 — with $10.64 million, nearly two-thirds, coming from three network nonprofits: American Jobs and Growth Fund, Conservative Agenda for America and Defend US, Inc., per their filings indexed in ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.
Because 501(c)(4) organizations are not required to disclose donors, the original sources of these funds remain unknown. CREW’s report notes structural features common across the network: most groups have a single board member, no employees, rented mailboxes for addresses, and the same accountant preparing their annual returns. IRS filings cited in the report show the 13 nonprofits collectively reported controlling 30 “disregarded entity” subsidiaries — a structure that tax-law specialists say can further obscure the flow of funds.
Corporate election spending hits $517 million — with the dark money total unknown
Separately, corporations have reported spending $517 million to influence the 2026 midterms as of mid-year, a 12% increase over the $461 million spent across the entire 2024 cycle and nearly triple the $184.1 million spent in the 2022 midterms, according to a June report from Public Citizen based on FEC data. Cryptocurrency firms account for roughly 37% of the total ($189 million), with Big Tech, AI and online betting companies pushing the sector-driven share to $294 million.
The relevance for nonprofit watchers is in the report’s caveat: these totals capture only disclosed contributions. Public Citizen notes that corporate-backed dark money groups organized as 501(c)(4) nonprofits — and 501(c)(6) trade associations — conceal their funders entirely, meaning the true corporate influence total “is unknown, and certainly higher” than what FEC disclosures show. Data from both reports suggest the 2026 cycle is on track to be the least transparent midterm on record for tracing money back to its source.
DC attorney general sues nonprofit founder over $125,000 in diverted addiction-treatment grants
On August 31, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed suit against Allyson Abrams and two nonprofits she founded — Empowerment Justice Center (EJC) and Empowerment Liberation Cathedral (ELC) — alleging she misused nonprofit funds and then breached a settlement agreement meant to resolve the matter. According to the office’s investigation, the District paid the two organizations more than $475,000 between 2019 and 2025 to provide addiction treatment and counseling services, and Abrams took more than $125,000 for personal use through cash withdrawals and transfers to herself, her spouse, and her real estate businesses. Investigators also allege she submitted tens of thousands of dollars in falsified invoices supported by fake checks.
Under a December 2025 settlement, Abrams agreed to repay $110,000 on an 11-month plan and give up control of both organizations’ funds. The new complaint states she has made none of the payments — missing eight installments — dissolved EJC without notifying the office, and that ELC continues to solicit donations on its website. The office’s filings frame the case as breach of contract; the claims in the underlying investigation were resolved by settlement rather than adjudicated in court.
The suit extends an active enforcement streak for the office, which recently obtained a judgment against the former executive director of a DC affordable-housing nonprofit who, according to the office, diverted more than $1.25 million to pay himself unauthorized bonuses.
Minnesota’s $6.5 million case against We Push for Peace moves through court
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office is litigating one of the year’s larger state charity cases: a May lawsuit against We Push for Peace and two former leaders, Trahern Pollard and Jaclyn McGuigan, alleging misuse of more than $6.5 million in charitable assets. The complaint alleges more than $6 million benefited Pollard personally — spent on luxury cars, Las Vegas trips, child support payments, and his for-profit liquor store and car dealership.
The filing also alleges a pattern of concealment: Pollard is accused of telling investigators, under penalty of perjury, that a child support payment was nonprofit overhead and that a $35,000 payment to friends was “Chicago Payroll.” He allegedly formed a for-profit entity days after the office made contact, then a second company to divert the nonprofit’s contracts — draining the organization until it collapsed. These remain allegations in a pending civil case; Minnesota’s Charities Division enforces civil, not criminal, law, and no court has yet ruled on the claims.
The federal enforcement climate: record False Claims recoveries and an unprecedented indictment
State cases are unfolding against a backdrop of intensified federal activity. The Justice Department reported more than $6.8 billion in False Claims Act settlements and judgments in fiscal 2025 — the highest on record — and 2025 also brought guilty verdicts in Minnesota’s roughly $250 million Feeding Our Future child-nutrition fraud, one of the largest nonprofit fraud schemes ever prosecuted, according to an accounting professor’s analysis published by Fortune and The Conversation.
The same analysis notes that in April the Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on fraud charges — charges the organization denies — an unusual step given that federal prosecutions of nonprofits have historically been rare, and one that has drawn scrutiny across the sector. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has defended the broader crackdown, saying “public money and tax-exempt status demand public accountability.” Alabama’s attorney general has separately opened a civil investigation. The case remains pending, and the allegations are unproven.
Notably, the data does not show nonprofit fraud itself is surging — enforcement is. Association of Certified Fraud Examiners research cited in the analysis puts the typical nonprofit fraud loss around $76,000, roughly half the $145,000 average across all sectors, while the IRS audited only about 660 of the nation’s estimated 1.9 million tax-exempt organizations in 2024. State-level capacity is thinner still: the most recent comprehensive survey found only about 355 people monitoring charities across 48 states and territories.
Executive pay: what 990s show, and what counts as normal
Dollar figures in this week’s cases are best read against sector benchmarks. Candid’s 2025 Nonprofit Compensation Report, drawn from more than 217,000 compensation records in IRS filings, puts median nonprofit CEO pay at $110,000 for fiscal 2023 — up from $97,000 in 2019 — with medians ranging from roughly $69,000 at religion-related organizations to about $202,000 at science and technology research groups. Washington, DC posts the highest geographic median at about $189,000.
Those norms make the outliers legible. The more than $6 million that Minnesota’s complaint alleges flowed to one nonprofit director would equal roughly 55 years of median nonprofit CEO pay. And at the dark money end of the spectrum, the pattern inverts: American Jobs and Security’s most recent 990 shows the group raised and spent more than $9.8 million in 2024 while reporting no employees and a sole board member who dedicates about two hours per week to the organization — multimillion-dollar throughput with almost no reported human infrastructure at all.
Philanthropy ledger: V Foundation commits $16.2 million to pediatric cancer research
On the grantmaking side, the V Foundation for Cancer Research announced $16.2 million on September 8 for 18 scientists through its Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund, including nine $1 million “All-Star” grants paid over five years. The foundation says it has awarded more than $107 million across 264 pediatric grants through June 2026, and crossed the $500 million all-time grantmaking milestone in August. The awards span 16 NCI-designated cancer centers — a data point worth noting because pediatric cancer research remains an area where private philanthropy fills gaps in federal funding.
On TIJ’s radar
Several threads from this week’s records warrant deeper reporting. First, the renamed nonprofits in the CREW-documented network — including the Coalition for American Prosperity & Growth, formerly the Coalition for Ohio Prosperity and Growth, and America Works Fund, formerly Ohio Works — whose name changes and multistate activity make year-over-year 990 comparisons difficult by design. Second, Empowerment Liberation Cathedral, which DC’s filings say continues to solicit donations while its founder faces breach-of-settlement claims; as a religious corporation it faces lighter reporting obligations, a recurring blind spot in charity oversight. Third, the successor entities alleged in the Minnesota complaint, which raise the question of how often collapsed nonprofits’ government contracts quietly migrate to their former officers’ for-profit ventures. TIJ will follow the dockets.
Methodology and right of reply: This digest is compiled from public records — IRS Form 990 filings via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, state attorney general releases and complaints, FEC data, and the cited analyses. Claims drawn from pending lawsuits are allegations, not adjudicated findings. The organizations and individuals named were not contacted for comment for this digest; where parties have publicly responded (as the Southern Poverty Law Center has, denying the charges against it), that response is noted.