Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation

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Learn more about how the State Policy Network aids ALEC and spins disinformation in the states.

The Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation is a 501(c)(3) grant-making foundation located in Plano, Texas. Many of the foundation's contributions are given to conservative organizations seeking to promote private schools and public voucher school programs, in addition to the donor-advised conservative DonorsTrust fund and the State Policy Network web of right-wing "think tanks."

In 2012, the foundation reported $1,636,517 in revenue (book value), $2,145,391 in expenses (book value), and $47,503,276 in assets (fair market value).[1]

Ties to DonorsTrust, a Koch Conduit

DonorsTrust is considered a "donor-advised fund," which means that it divides its funds into separate accounts for individual donors, who then recommend disbursements from the accounts to different non-profits. Funds like DonorsTrust are not uncommon in the non-profit sector, but they do cloak the identity of the original donors because the funds are typically distributed in the name of DonorsTrust rather than the original donors.[2] Very little was known about DonorsTrust until late 2012 and early 2013, when the Guardian and others published extensive reports on what Mother Jones called "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement."[3][4]

Americans for Prosperity, an organization founded and funded by the Koch brothers, received nearly $9.5 million from DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund from 2010 to 2012.[5]

DonorsTrust Funding

The Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation contributed $$425,000 to DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund between 2009 and 2012 (see links to the foundation's IRS forms 990 below).

A report by the Center for Public Integrity exposes a number of DonorsTrust funders, many of which have ties to the Koch brothers. One of the most prominent funders is the Knowledge and Progress Fund, a Charles Koch-run organization and one of the group's largest known contributors, having donated nearly $9 million from 2005 to 2012. Other contributors known to have donated at least $1 million to DonorsTrust include the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, Donald & Paula Smith Family Foundation, Searle Freedom Trust, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the John M. Olin Foundation.[6]

Since its inception in 1999, DonorsTrust has been used by conservative foundations and individuals to discretely funnel nearly $400 million to like-minded think tanks and media outlets.[6] According to the organization's tax documents, in 2011, DonorsTrust contributed a total of $86 million to conservative organizations. Many recipients had ties to the State Policy Network (SPN), a wide collection of conservative state-based think tanks and media organizations that focus on shaping public policy and opinion. In 2013, the Center for Media and Democracy released a special report on SPN. Those who received DonorsTrust funding included media outlets such as the Franklin Center and the Lucy Burns Institute, as well as think tanks such as SPN itself, the Heartland Institute, Illinois Policy Institute, Independence Institute, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, South Carolina Policy Council, American Legislative Exchange Council, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, and the Cascade Policy Institute.[7]

The Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation donated $685,000 from 2009 to 2012 to two associate members of the State Policy Network: the Cato Institute and the National Center for Policy Analysis.[1][8]

Contributions and Grants

Many of the foundation's grantees include universities and colleges, in addition to organizations devoted to educational reform. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, previously known as the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, received the largest contribution from the foundation from 2009 to 2011, at $1.15 million .[8] The Friedman Foundation is a prominent advocate for parental choice programs, similar to provisions described in American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) "model" legislation. The foundation describes its founders' opinion regarding parental choice programs as one of improving public schools by having them compete with private voucher schools:

"The major objective of educational vouchers is much more ambitious. It is to drag education out of the 19th century -- here it has been mired for far too long -- and into the 21st century, by introducing competition on a broad scale."[9]

The foundation's second largest donation during these years was to the Children's Scholarship Fund, an organization that places children from low-income families into private schools. CSF describes its mission on its web page:

"CSF knows that despite recent public education reforms, privately-funded choice is still the only way for thousands of children to have immediate access to a safe environment where they can get a quality education. In fact, a child who finishes 8th grade in a private school is twice as likely to graduate from high school and attend and graduate from college."[10]

Other large donations went to the Hoover Institution, a pro-GMO conservative think tank organization located on the Stanford University campus.

Other grants from 2009 to 2010 include but are not limited to:

  • East Meets West Foundation received $126,000.
  • Children's Scholarship Fund received $1.1 million.
  • Columbia Business School received $100,000.
  • Commonweal Foundation received $120,000.
  • CPR Education Inc. received $100,000.
  • Endowment for Inner City Education received $75,000.
  • Floridians for School Choice received $45,000.
  • Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank in California, received $550,000.
  • Kappa Delta Foundation received $110,000.
  • Miami University Farmer School of Business received $239,027.
  • Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, previously known as the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation received $1.15 million.
  • National Academies received $190,600.
  • Vanguard Charitable Endowment received $961,000.

Key Personnel

Board of Directors

According to irs 2011 tax filing, the Board of Directors included:[8]

  • Jack R. Anderson, director and President
  • Rose-Marie Anderson, director
  • Neil R. Anderson, director, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary
  • Barbara Anderson McDonald, director Assistant Secretary, Assistant Treasurer
  • Gail Anderson Canizares, director Assistant Treasurer, Secretary
  • Neil R. Anderson, director

Forms 990

  • Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation, 2012 Form 990, foundation's IRS filing, November 13, 2013.
  • Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation, 2011 Form 990, foundation's IRS tax filing, November 13, 2012.
  • Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation, 2010 Form 990, foundation's IRS tax filing, November 21, 2011.
  • Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation, 2009 Form 990, foundation's IRS tax filing, November 19, 2010.

Contact Details

Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation
5000 Legacy Drive
Plano, Texas 75024
(972) 248-7350[8]

Articles and References

Related SourceWatch Articles

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation, 2012 Form 990, organizational annual IRS filing, November 13, 2013.
  2. ↑ Rebekah Wilce, A Reporters' Guide to the "State Policy Network" -- the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States, PRWatch.org, April 4, 2013.
  3. ↑ Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
  4. ↑ Suzanne Goldenberg, "Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks," The Guardian, February 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ Center for Media and Democracy, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund Grant Recipients, SourceWatch.org, accessed December 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Paul Abowd, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, Center for Public Integrity, February 14, 2013.
  7. ↑ Donors Trust, GuideStar.org, IRS form 990, 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Rose-Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation, 2011 Form 990, organizational annual IRS filing, November 13, 2012.
  9. ↑ Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, The Friedmans on School Choice, organizational website, accessed July 2013.
  10. ↑ Children's Scholarship Fund, Children's Scholarship Fund: Why CSF, organizational website, accessed July 2013.
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