Unmasking Fidelity DISCLOSE Letter Individual Sign-on

Dear Fidelity Charitable Board of Trustees, Jacob Pruitt (Fidelity Charitable President) and Abigail Johnson (Fidelity Investments CEO),

We are writing on behalf of the Unmasking Fidelity campaign, which is anchored by Action Center on Race & the Economy, Asian American Resource Workshop, Community Labor United, Muslim Justice League, Political Research Associates, and Resource Generation. We are members of the dozens of local and national organizations listed below, community members impacted by the violence that is being funded by Fidelity Charitable Donor Advised Funds, and account holders witih Fidelity Charitable and Fidelity Investments. Our organizations collectively represent thousands of community members, including hundreds of account holders with $7Mil in Fidelity Charitable DAF accounts and $53Mil in Fidelity Investment accounts, along with Financial Advisors who manage $1.6 Bil in Fidelity Investment accounts. 

We are writing to you about our continuing concern that Fidelity Charitable's Donor-Advised Funds (FC DAFs) contribute to tax-exempt non-profits that promote anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Black or anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies that enable white supremacist and fascist violence. This includes Turning Point USA, an organization that is connected to the January 6th attacks on the Capitol, Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that defended forced sterilization of transgender people  and, Center for Security Policy, whose biased research underpinned the recently overturned Muslim Ban. 

In the two years since members of our coalition met with Fidelity and Fidelity Charitable leadership about this issue, we have seen no evidence of alteration of policy or practice.  The most recent publicly available records suggest that FC has continued to direct millions of dollars in grants to organizations promoting rhetoric and policies that enable white supremacist and fascist violence. Such inaction will further challenge Fidelity Charitable's standing as a reputable organization in the philanthropic sector. 

FC DAFs also play a significant role in granting money to a US-based tax-exempt non-profit, Central Fund of Israel, that funds internationally illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land and another organization, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, that enables the growth of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which has reportedly overseen a drastic increase in anti-Muslim violence in India.

We are calling on Fidelity Charitable to take the following actions by October 25th: 

  1. Publicly disclose all contributions in the last five years, from FY16-FY21, to the ten organizations we've identified below.
    1. Alliance Defending Freedom
    2. Americans for Peace and Tolerance
    3. Center for Security Policy
    4. Central Fund of Israel
    5. David Horowitz Freedom Center
    6. Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation
    7. Family Research Council 
    8. Federation for American Immigration Reform
    9. Turning Point USA
    10. VDARE Foundation
  2. Publicly disclose all related fees for contributions listed above. 
  3. Share publicly about policies or screens that are currently being used to determine which organizations can receive DAF grants, and provide examples of organizations you have determined will not receive DAF grants based on your criteria. 

Fidelity Charitable has in the past defended its actions on the ground that “Fidelity Charitable is cause-neutral.” Our concern has never been about the legality of what Fidelity Charitable is doing, but rather if it is moral and reflects the public charity's own stated values. In a report FC itself released earlier this year about the “seismic shifts to redefine philanthropy,” it was stated that donors are “increasingly prioritiz[ing] social good in everyday decision making…. One-in-five donors have engaged in impact investing and considered social or environmental implications when making investment decisions [and] seven-in-ten donors said that it's important to work for a company engaged in corporate social responsibility.” This should push FC to reconsider its “cause-neutral stance.” 

On September 13, 2019 representatives from the Coalition met via Zoom with Nabil Ashour, Jacob Clauson, Steve Neff, and Catherine D'Amato, employees and trustees of Fidelity Charitable and Fidelity Investments. Following this meeting, Fidelity Charitable responded with the following: 

Fidelity Charitable's mission is to grow and further philanthropy as donors seek to make the world a better place... As we hope you heard from our own stories during our meeting, we also care deeply about the issues you raise; however, our responsibility is to all of our donors and the broader nonprofit community. 

We appreciate that donor-advised funds such as the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund can support important social change efforts; however, allowing these funds to act as conduits to support organizations that promote anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Black or anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies actively contradicts that intended goal. It is also unacceptable for Fidelity Charitable to earn money from such activities, either through management fees or investment products. Instead, Fidelity Charitable should take leadership in the philanthropic sector by publicly disclosing its role in enabling violence along with the current policies and procedures it is utilizing. These actions will allow Fidelity Charitable to take first steps towards addressing harm that has been caused by its actions. 

We look forward to hearing back from Fidelity Charitable by October 25th. 

---

Anchor Organizations: Action Center on Race & The Economy, Asian American Resource Workshop, Community Labor United, Muslim Justice League, Political Research Associates, Resource Generation

Supporting Organizations: A Black Education Project, Access Strategies Fund, BDS Boston, Boston Democratic Socialists of America, Boston Liberation Health, Boston Immigration, Justice Accompaniment Network, Boston Workers Circle, Center for Constitutional Rights, Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota, Chinook Fund, Good Shepherd Collective, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Herman & Frieda L. Miller Foundation, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice For Peace: Havurah Network, Boston, NC Triangle and NYC Chapters, Jobs with Justice, Kavod Boston, Massachusetts Peace Action, Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, Massachusetts Voter Table, Melody B. Hernandez Consulting, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Natural Investments, Never Again Action, Palestinian Youth Movement, PRBB Foundation, Public Accountability Initiative / LittleSis, Resource Generation: National, Boston, North Carolina Triangle and Connecticut Chapters, Showing Up for Racial Justice: National and Boston Chapter, Social Justice Fund Northwest, Solidaire Network, Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call to Human Rights, The Greystocke Project, The Network/La Red, Tufts Asian Student Coalition, Tufts for a Racially Equitable Endowment, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Unitarian Universalist Mass Action, Unitarian Univeralist Justice Ministry of North Carolina, United for a Fair Economy

Sources: 

? Take future action with a single click.
Log in or  Sign up for FastAction

Contact Information
Additional Information