So how does it work?
Have you wondered why so many organisations that aren’t directly involved in LGBT activisim are calling for a Yes vote in #marref? It seems to work like this….
(i) Organisation gets millions of dollars from Atlantic Philanthropies
(ii) Organisation calls for Yes vote in #marref
(iii) Organisation gets a pat on the back from Atlantic
And a lot more organisations funded by Atlantic Philanthropies are calling for a Yes vote. Here’s some of them.
ISPCC $2.2milion from AP
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantee/irish-society-prevention-cruelty-children-0
Barnardos, $18 million from AP
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantee/barnardos
Foróige, $6.5 million from AP
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantee/foroige
Children’s Rights Alliance $4.1million from AP
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantee/childrens-rights-alliance
Migrants Rights Alliance $2.9million from AP
http://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantee/migrant-rights-centre-ireland
Here’s a question: Has any organisation funded by Atlantic Philanthropies called for a No vote?
Updated 15th May 2015 – So it just got a lot more interesting…..
So this just got a whole lot more interesting….
You may have read about the announcement by Tusla (The Child and Family Agency) confirming they are cutting funding to the marriage counselling services provided by ACCORD, the Catholic agency.
Apparently the cuts were made due to budget constraints.
That’s coincidental since Atlantic Philanthropies, the same organisation that has gifted $17,000,000 over recent years to the organisations behind YES Equality has just announced that it is going to gift Tusla €8,300,000.
You can read more about that major funding boost here and here
Norah Gibbons, the head of Tusla is busy campaigning for a Yes vote herself – hardly appropriate.
Separately, Minister For Children, James Reilly TD announced last October that his department was going to boost Tusla’s funding by €26,000,000.
Unusual then that budget constraints played a part in the ACCORD decision.
We’re not saying that the Atlantic money had anything to do with the domestic decision but you would have to start asking questions….
Children’s Rights Alliance
And while we’re still talking about Atlantic, it’s worth commenting that the Children’s Rights Alliance, the body who with BelongTo have organised children’s charities to promote a YES vote on 22nd May also benefited very significantly from Atlantic Philanthropies itself. Interestingly the current chairperson of the Children’s Rights Alliance formerly worked for Atlantic Philanthropies. See here
You can see here that they got $4,194,963 from Atlantic and here’s a photo.
If you combine that with the nearly $17,000,000 Atlantic gave the YES Equality organisations, you wield a whole lot of influence…
More to come…
How to buy an Irish referendum
Have you been wondering why we are having a referendum on same sex marriage in 2015 – when families nationwide struggle to pay mortgages, household bills and endless new taxes and charges?
Have you been wondering why the Government is so committed to changing the definition of marriage for evermore, has pushed through important legislation about children in jig time, and why every organ of the state including a large portion of the media, CEO’s of multinational companies, state agencies, retired judges and even elements within the Gardaí are pushing a YES vote?
Could it be that money tells the story?
This post demonstrates the effective champerty that has resulted in the Irish public being rail-roaded into a referendum costing the taxpayer 20 million euros at a time when families around Ireland are struggling to pay their household bills.
This information demonstrates how private interests in Ireland and abroad are, through spending millions promoting one side, distorting the democratic process and potentially changing the course of Ireland’s social history.
Let’s have a look at some of the main organisations campaigning for a Yes vote and how they have been resourced.
The main organisation campaigning for a Yes vote is Yes Equality. It’s an umbrella group and a cooperative project between:
- Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) a registered charity CHY 16635
- Marriage Equality (ME) – Marriage Equality Ltd, a lobby group
- The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) a lobby group with a charitable affiliate (The Irish Trust for Civil Liberties, Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.)
Other major campaigners in favour of a Yes vote in Ireland are
- Amnesty International Ireland
- BelongTo Youth Services
The main sponsor of the referendum you will be voting on on 22nd May is US based fund Atlantic Philanthropies
On Saturday, 9th May, the Irish Times published an article by columnist Breda O’Brien titled ‘Asking Questions about Funding for Referendum Campaign’. The piece which you can read here would be have more appropriately headlined ‘How to buy an Irish referendum’ as it revealed how the organisations who form Yes Equality have received approximately $17,000,000 from US based billionaire Chuck Feeney’s entity Atlantic Philanthropies.
The article outlined how Atlantic have, via their millions, brought on the referendum and even got the name of one organisation they support (Marriage Equality) on the ballot paper.
All of the information about how and why this money was granted is clearly set out in documents which Atlantic Philanthropies proudly boasts on its website. In the glossy 2014 report Catalysing LGBT Equality and Visibility in Ireland, some choice quotes demonstrate very clearly that the money was intended to ‘deliver’ same sex marriage.
The full document which can be accessed here confirms that the money was for the purposes of campaigning and contains some choice quotes including this one which explains that as a result of the American millions:
“LGBT organisations are supported by a new generation of activists who are out, politicised, trained, and supported to take on inequality and restore dignity for themselves, their families, and their communities. In most cases they are succeeding, often dramatically. Irish people in same-sex relationships have civil partnership rights, and the political foundation is rapidly being built for social support and legal endorsement of civil marriage through a public referendum in 2015. The Republic of Ireland will be the first country in the world to put the issue to a national public vote”
Here’s the link to the confirmation that $475,215 was granted to Marriage Equality and below is a photo of it.
Interestingly, GLEN, one of the main beneficiaries of the US millions is a charity registered with the Irish Revenue Commissioners. (Glen Limited – HY 16635 ). In short, GLEN has received many millions from the US to develop what Atlantic says
“enabled them to ramp up their work into a full-time highly professionalized lobbying machine. It works “inside” the machinery of government where it uses a “principled pragmatist” model in which it consolidates support, wins over the doubtful and pacifies those who are opposed.”
Does this go some way towards explaining why we are where we are in May 2015 having a referendum pushed at us from every angle, and at every level?
Here’s the link to the $4,727,860 that GLEN received from Atlantic and a photo of it.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) received $7,727,700 which you can see detailed here and here’s a photo just in case…
The ICCL also operates another entity for which they have Charity Number. The Irish Trust for Civil Liberties, Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This entity has received $3,829,693 from Atlantic. Here’s the link to it and here’s a photo.
Atlantic Funding of Amnesty International Ireland
Though originally founded to lobby for the release of political prisoners, in recent years, Amnesty International Ireland has come under much criticism from its members for losing focus on its main mission. More on that here. Though not a part of Yes Equality, Amnesty is campaigning hard on this referendum, a notable recent intervention being the issuing of a Press Statement on behalf of some upset stock photography models.
Here’s the link confirming that Atlantic gave Amnesty International Ireland $5,105,170 and here’s a photo.
But that’s not all..
Other foreign money helping to achieve a Yes vote on May 22nd.
Yes, there’s even more money from outside the state playing a part.
The Ford Foundation give ICCL a ‘network building’ grant of $250,000 in 2013. Details here and here’s a photo.
Here’s a snip from the Marriage Equality Website from a few weeks ago. It’s been removed since. It shows some of the other funders of Marriage Equality.
The Ireland Funds is based primarily in the US and donated money to Marriage Equality under the Promising Ireland initiative. Details here
The British Council The British Council describes itself as “an executive non-departmental public body, a public corporation (in accounting terms) and a charity under registration numbers 209131 (England and Wales) and SC037733 (Scotland).” It’s patron is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It is sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is answerable to parliament for the policies, operations and performance of the British Council.
Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Dutch government is clearly invested in the outcome of the referendum.
The Urgent Action Fund. This is a Canadian fund. On their website here they state as follows: “Marriage Equality (ME) requested funds to initiate an awareness-raising campaign to raise the visibility of same-sex couples and families in Ireland. ME will also work to inform elected representatives on the issue of discrimination same-sex couples face under the current Civil Partnership legislation. It has planned meetings with government representatives, publication of articles on same-sex marriage, and community engagement events. The mission of human rights organization ME is to achieve equality for same-sex couples in Ireland through equal access to civil marriage.”
European Commission Bizarrely, money was granted to both Marriage Equality, and GLEN by the State body, the Equality Authority using funds from the European Commission. Presumably the figures are obtainable. The state funding of Marriage Equality, a lobby group set up with the express purpose of changing the constitution is certainly irregular. More details here
Domestic Funding towards organisations campaigning for Yes
There has been lots of money sloshing about for political activism on this issue here at home too. Here’s one.
The Community foundation is a philanthropic foundation and a registered charity with the Irish Revenue Commissioners (CHY 13967). It’s six member grants assessment panel has consistently had at least one if not two representatives of Ireland’s LGBT organisations including representatives of organisations that benefitted directly from its grants.
Here are some details of grants given by the Community Foundation to Marriage Equality and GLEN
2013: Marriage Equality 20,000, GLEN 35,000 – More details here
2012: GLEN 29,200 – More details here
2011: Marriage Equality 20,000 (Notably this sum was “To cover the costs for activities under the Mobilisation Strategy for the next 2 years 2012-2013”) More details here
2010: GLEN 76,829, Marriage Equality 1640 – More details here
2009: GLEN 76,952, Marriage Equality 3,300 – More details here
It’s clear beyond doubt that the Yes campaign have masses of money to fund this campaign. Organisations may say that the money they were granted was used for other purposes. However, one thing is patently clear. These groups aren’t funded by the ordinary people of Ireland.
Do we really want to change the constitution based on the campaign being funded by powerful interests at home and abroad?
More information re funding of these organisations via various Government Departments to follow. If you have validated information about other funding received by the organisations outlined please submit it via the comments below and if it is verifiable, admins will add it to this report.
yesfundingexposed 