In response to a series of incriminating under-cover videos from The Center for Medical Progress about the major abortion provider, organizations have been cutting ties [1] -- or denying ties -- to Planned Parenthood. But where nonprofits are concerned, tax records keep the story straight.
Between 2010 and 2013, no fewer than 966 individual organizations donated to Planned Parenthood. Of those, 31 gave more than $1 million each during those four years, totaling $374,199,059. The seven highest donors made up $324.8 million of that.
These largest Planned Parenthood donors include Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bill Gates, and others. A summary of the top seven funders follows.
The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation -- $230,915,706
Warren Buffett’s Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation is by far the largest donor [2] to Planned Parenthood in America. The President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway gave a total of $231 million to Planned Parenthood between 2010 and 2013. That’s over ten times as much as the next largest donor.
What’s more, Buffett’s contributions [3] comprised over one fourth of Planned Parenthood’s private donations [4] in 2013.
Buffett has always been tight-lipped about his abortion support [5] and channels most of the money through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named after Buffett’s late wife, who was a strong supporter of abortion.
The Foundation’s staff has ties to Planned Parenthood as well. Tracy Weitz, the Director of Domestic Programs at the Foundation, served as the manager [6] of a San Francisco based Planned Parenthood for six years.
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation -- $22,827,000
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has a long history of funding Planned Parenthood. Grant records [7] starting in 2001 show millions of dollars in donations to Planned Parenthood’s “Population” program.
In the four years from 2010 to 2013, the Hewlett Foundation gave $22.8 million to Planned Parenthood. The Planned Parenthood support is part of Hewlett’s larger Global Development and Population Program [8], which claims to “expand women’s choices about whether to have children [8].”
Hewlett is one of the core organizing groups for the 2015 International Conference on Family Planning [9]. In 2013, Hewlett was listed as a Core Donor [10] and in 2011 as a Sponsor [11]. The conference promotes population control [12] through abortion and contraception.
Planned Parenthood, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation have also been part of each conference’s International Steering Committee since 2009 [13].
In mid 2014, Hewlett Packard hired Christine Clark, a previous Planned Parenthood employee, as a Program Officer [14] in the Global Development and Population Program.
Open Society Institute -- $18,350,000
Liberal billionaire George Soros [15] is the third largest donor to Planned Parenthood. His Open Society Institute gave $18.4 million to the abortion giant. In 2011 alone, Open Society pledged to give Planned Parenthood $20 million [16] over a four-year period. The grant was specifically to build centers in the “south and southeast regions” of the U.S.
There are staff connections between Open Society Foundations and Planned Parenthood as well. David Berry [17], the Senior Communications Officer at Open Society, and Magda Ali [18], an Advisory Board Member were both previously employed by Planned Parenthood.
Eric Ferrero [19], the current Vice President of Communications at Planned Parenthood, was previously employed as the Deputy Director of U.S. Programs at Open Society Foundations.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation -- $14,691,659
Planned Parenthood’s “Population and Reproductive Health [20]” program is near and dear to The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Of the $14.7 million they gave between 2010 and 2013, nearly all went to that single program.
Since 2013, The Packard Foundation has added another $1.5 million in donations to Planned Parenthood - bringing their total financial support to $16.2 million since 2010.
The Packard Foundation’s own Population and Reproductive Health program seeks to “stabilize population growth [21],” among other things. Subprograms within that program include promoting abortions in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the United States.
Packard has also partnered with Planned Parenthood in the International Conference on Family Planning [9].
Previous Planned Parenthood employees now working at the Packard Foundation include Lisa Dacey [22], Program Operations Manager for the Population and Reproductive Health program; and Felicia Madsen [23], Communications Director.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- $14,521,748
In December 2014, Melinda Gates [24] attempted to argue that her foundation only supported the contraception element of Planned Parenthood - not the abortion side. Unfortunately for her argument, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was the fifth largest Planned Parenthood donor between 2010 and 2013 -- giving over $14.5 million.
Abortion’s biggest funder -- Warren Buffett -- is also a Gates Foundation trustee [25], and helps “shape and develop strategies” for the Foundation. Buffett is also a large contributor to the Gates Foundation.
The Foundation has also been heavily involved in supporting and sponsoring each International Conference on Family Planning [26].
Like the other major Planned Parenthood donors, The Gates Foundation has also hired previous Planned Parenthood employees. A non-exhaustive list includes Clarissa Brundage [27], Associate Program Officer for Family Planning; Emily Lockwood [28], Program Officer; Mariah Richardson [29], Associate Program Officer for Global Policy & Advocacy; and Meg DeRonghe [30], Senior Program Officer for Global Policy & Advocacy. Laura Tolosa-Leiva [31], Program Assistant, is so on the Board of Advocates for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands.
Ford Foundation -- $13,486,250
The liberal Ford Foundation (not associated with Ford Motors) has one of the most direct and strong connections to Planned Parenthood. Not only did the Ford Foundation given $13.5 million to Planned Parenthood between 2010 and 2013, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s own president, Cecile Richards [32], is on the Ford Foundation’s Board of Trustees [33].
Similar to the other organizations who fund Planned Parenthood, The Ford Foundation has its own Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Justice [34] program which promotes the idea that “sexuality and the right to reproductive health are fundamental to the human experience.”
Since 2013, the Ford Foundation has donated another $1.4 million dollars -- bringing their total Planned Parenthood support to $14.9 million.
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program -- $10,031,210
The last group which gave over $10 million is the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program. Unlike the six other largest donors, Vanguard is a donor-driven [35] fund, meaning that individual donors -- not Vanguard -- chose Planned Parenthood as the recipient of their money.
Donors who give to Planned Parenthood through Vanguard have the option of giving anonymously [36], therefore the actual sources of the $10 million Planned Parenthood donations are impossible to find.
Together, these top seven funders gave Planned Parenthood a total of $324.8 million between 2010 and 2013.
Funding organizations that gave more than $1 million in 2010-2013 are listed below:
The Huber Foundation | $6,200,000 |
The Educational Foundation of America | $3,478,800 |
The JPB Foundation | $3,323,993 |
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation | $2,900,000 |
Dyson Foundation | $2,463,000 |
George D. Smith Fund, Inc. | $2,200,000 |
Houston Endowment Inc. | $2,200,000 |
The Grove Foundation | $2,164,500 |
The Holland Foundation | $2,055,000 |
James and Rebecca Morgan Family Foundation | $1,985,000 |
Tulsa Community Foundation | $1,951,296 |
Peierls Foundation | $1,848,600 |
The Perot Foundation | $1,780,000 |
Boston Foundation, Inc. | $1,779,300 |
The California Wellness Foundation | $1,550,000 |
The Minneapolis Foundation | $1,509,142 |
The New York Community Trust | $1,456,450 |
The Offield Family Foundation | $1,350,000 |
F. M. Kirby Foundation, Inc. | $1,325,000 |
Erik E. and Edith H. Bergstrom Foundation | $1,316,676 |
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation | $1,200,000 |
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Inc. | $1,140,000 |
Weingart Foundation | $1,132,600 |
Greater Kansas City Community Foundation | $1,066,129 |