Mercer Family Foundation

The Mercer Family Foundation is the vehicle for right-wing hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer to influence politics through contributions to like-minded advocacy groups. Robert Mercer and his foundation rose to prominence as a political kingmaker in the 2016 election due to his early support of Donald Trump's candidacy for president. In total it is estimated that Robert Mercer has contributed $100 million to right-wing groups, most of it going through the Mercer Family Foundation, which is directed by his daughter Rebekah Mercer. Some of the right-wing groups backed by the Mercer Family Foundation include the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. The foundation was established in 2004.

The Mercer Family has close ties to current and former Trump administration advisors, such as Stephen Bannon, and Kellyanne Conway, and the Foundation has donated to causes and candidates tied to these advisors.

News and Controversies

Paradise Papers Leaks

In November 2017, the Paradise Papers data leak disclosed information about the hidden wealth of some of the richest and most famous individuals across the world, including Robert Mercer. The Paradise Papers demonstrated that much of the assets held under the Mercer Family Foundation are kept in offshore accounts and shell corporations. The foundation used what was termed “feeder funds”— or offshoots of the main hedge fund owned by Mercer: Renaissance Technologies. These feeder funds are registered to Bermuda law firm Appleby, one of the main sources of the Paradise Papers. The Mercers then sold off their Bermuda investments in the feeder funds and put the proceeds in the Mercer Family Foundation. This avoided up to 39% in U.S. taxes that is normally levied on nonprofits funded by investments financed through debt. According to a financial advisor speaking to the Guardian “this is simple, but ingenious. You take retirement plans or foundations, you invest them in a hedge fund, and even if the value rises 100 percent, you can sell off the investments with no tax consequences.”

Connections to Stephen Bannon

Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah have used the Mercer Family Foundation to funnel money to their ally Stephen Bannon, former Editor of Breitbart News Network and Chief Strategist for President Trump. In the early years of Bannon's leadership at Breitbart, the Mercer Family invested heavily in the struggling news outlet. It is reported they injected over $10 million in the company, which allowed Bannon to build it into one of the most recognizable right-wing media outlets in the country. The Mercer Family Foundation also bankrolled Bannon's behind the scenes effort to produce the book "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich." The book was authored by Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and a former William J. Casey Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. The book included many dubious claims about the Clintons, including the charge that mining executives contributed to the Clinton Foundation to assist their lucrative sale of a uranium company to a Russian state energy agency.

Funding Climate Science Denial

The Mercer Family Foundation is one of America's major sources of dark money pushing denial of climate science. Between 2003 and 2010, the foundation spent at least $3.824 million funding groups with a primary objective of sowing doubt about climate change. These groups include:

• The Heartland Institute
• The Manhattan Institute
• The Media Research Center
• The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine

In a 2016 tax filing document obtained by BuzzFeed News, additional large donations to climate denier groups were detailed. In 2016 alone, the Mercer Family Foundation contributed nearly $4 million to groups fighting climate science. Groups which have a near-exclusive focus on this issue included the CO2 Coalition, which received $150,000, and the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, which received $125,000. The rest of the funding was given to groups that address other issues, such as the Media Research Center ($2 million), the Heartland Institute ($800,000), the Heritage Foundation ($500,000), the Cato Institute ($300,000), the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research ($200,000), and the Oregon Institute for Science and Medicine ($200,000).

Citizens United

The political 501(c)(4) group Citizens United has received millions of dollars from the Mercer Family Foundation. The group is known for its role in the landmark Supreme Court case ''Citizens United v. FEC''. Citizens United has used much of the funding from the Mercer Family Foundation and other sources to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. One such attack, Hillary: The Movie was the subject of that case. In 2012, the Mercer Family Foundation contributed $2 million to Citizens United, largely to continue attacks against Clinton. Hillary Clinton has long been an enemy of the Mercers. During the 2016 campaign season, the Mercers claimed that Hillary Clinton "would repeal both the First and Second Amendments" if elected president.

American Museum of Natural History Controversy

The Mercer Family Foundation has been a supported of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, contributing $575,000 in 2015. Rebekah Mercer also serves on the board of the museum. In January 2018, protests against the Mercer family's involvement in the museum erupted, calling for Rebekah Mercer's removal from the board. The protests were motivated primarily by Mercer's funding of anti-science and climate change denial advocacy groups. A letter signed by 200 scientists and academics who had advocated for action to stop climate change called on the museum to “end ties to anti-science propagandists and funders of climate science misinformation.” Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University climate scientist and one of the letter’s signatories said "Rebekah Mercer is one of the greatest funders of the bad faith attacks on climate science and climate scientists." As of October 24, 2018, Rebekah Mercer continues to sit on the board.

Ties to the Council for National Policy

The Mercer Family Foundation has provided funding to the Council for National Policy.

Council for National Policy

The Council for National Policy (CNP) is a secretive, Christian Right organization of funders and activists founded in 1981 by activist Morton Blackwell, commentator Paul Weyrich, direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie, right-wing activist Phyllis Schlafly and Left Behind author Tim LaHaye. Anne Nelson's book about CNP, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, describes how the organization connects "the manpower and media of the Christian right with the finances of Western plutocrats and the strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives.” CNP membership as of September 2020 is available here.

Grants

2021 Contributions

• American Association for Aerosol Research: $9,000
• DonorsTrust: $5,800,000
• Explorer's Club: $100,000
• Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America: $100,000
• Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine: $250,000

2020 Contributions

• American Association for Aerosol Research: $19,000
• DonorsTrust: $19,250,000

2019 Contributions

• American Association for Aerosol Research: $9,000
• DonorsTrust: $1,400,000
• Marine Corps University Foundation: $20,000

2018 Contributions

• DonorsTrust: $8,150,000
• The Chadwick Foundation: $25,000
• Job Creators Network: $250,000
• Center for Urban Renewal and Education: $200,000
• American Association for Aerosol Research: $9,000
• Fiver Childrens Foundation: $20,000
• Tamil Nadu Foundation: $5,000
• Mathematical Sciences Research Institute: $603,000
• Kings College: $300,000
• Government Accountability Institute: $500,000
• Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine: $300,000
• Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies: $250,000
• Reclaim New York: $48,000
• Ohio State University Foundation: $1,000,000
• Berkeley Earth: $250,000
• World Science Foundation: $100,000
• American Museum of Natural History: $145,000
• Columbus Zoological Park Association: $21,100
• Empire Center for Public Policy: $100,000
• New York Botanical Gardens: $15,000

2017 Contributions

• Heartland Institute: $800,000
• Museum of Natural History: $625,000
• Media Research Center: $2,000,000
• Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: $450,000
• Foundation for Cultural Reviewing: $150,000
• The Becket Fund: $400,000
• The Calvin Coolidge Foundation: $130,000
• Law Enforcement Education Fund: $635,802
• OISM: $500,000
• Government Accountability Institute: $1,725,000
• Cato Institute: $300,000
• Success Academy Charter Schools: $550,000
• Gatestone Institute: $200,000
• Reclaim New York: $1,760,000
• Center for Union Facts: $150,000
• Texas Freedom Network: $10,000
• DonorsTrust: $500,000
• Mathematical Sciences Resarch Institute: $400,000
• CO2 Coalition: $170,000
• The Frick Collection: $20,000
• The Family Leader Foundation: $25,000
• Empire Center for Public Policy: $100,000
• JDRF: $132,000
• World Science Foundation: $294,500
• American Association for Aerosol Research: $30,000
• The Anglosphere Society: $25,000
• The Energy and Environment Legal Institute: $200,000
• Vision Mexico: $25,000
• Susan B. Anthony List: $500,000
• New York Botanical Garden: $10,000
• The Peconic Land Trust: $15,000
• The Leadership Institute: $15,000
• American Principals Project: $25,000
• The Federalist Society: $500,000
• Cold Spring Harbor Lab: $750,000
• United States Common Sense: $100,000
• Hospital for Special Surgery: $1,000,000

2016 Contributions

• The Heartland Institute: $800,000
• American Museum of Natural History: $625,000
• Media Research Center: $2,000,000
• The George W. Bush Foundation:$1,972,245
• The Barry Goldwater Institute: $500,000
• Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: $300,000
• Foundation for Cultural Reviewing: $150,000
• Cherish Fredom Foundation: $50,000
• The Becket Fund: $250,000
• Heritage Foundation: $500,000
• Moving Pictures Foundation: $800,000
• The Calvin Collidge Foundation: $80,000
• Law Enforcement Education Fund: $204,837
• OISM: $200,000
• Government Accountability Institute Tallahasse: $2,000,000
• Classroom, Inc.: $40,000
• The Philanthropy Roundtable:$10,000
• Young America's Foundation: $100,000
• Cato Institute: $300,000
• King's College: $300,000
• Success Academy Charter Schools: $50,000
• Gatestone Institute: $100,000
• Reclaim New York Inc.: $1,600,000
• American Transparency: $250,000
• Center for Union Facts: $250,000
• Texas Freedom Network: $5,000
• Job Creators Alliance: $100,000
• Donors Trust: $2,250,000
• Mathematical Sciences Resarch Institute: $400,000
• Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation: $50,000
• Compact for American Education Foundation: $13,500
• Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide: $125,000
• The American Conservative Union: $250,000
• CO2 Coalition: $150,000
• Cleveland 2016 Host Committee Inc.: $500,000
• London Center for Policy Research: $150,000
• The Frick Collection: $20,000
• The Family Leader Foundation: $750,000
• Rev the Vote Foundation: $500,000
• The Rockefeller University: $10,000
• Alliance for School Choice: $100,000
• Walking with the Wounded: $100,000
• The Land Trust of Napa County: $20,000
• Lincoln Network: $100,000

2015 Contributions

• The Heartland Institute: $100,000
• American Museum of Natural History: $75,000
• Media Research Center: $3,000,000
• The George W. Bush Foundation: $5,000,000
• The Stony Brook Foundation: $2,099,970
• The Barry Goldwater Institute: $300,000
• The World Science Festival: $100,000
• Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: $300,000
• Citizens United Foundation: $250,000
• Foundation for Cultural Reviewing: $100,000
• Encounter for Culture and Education: $25,000
• Cherish Freedom Foundation: $250,000
• The Becket Fund: $250,000
• Reason Foundation: $50,000
• Heritage Foundation: $500,000
• Moving Pictures Institutes: $500,000
• The Calvin Coolidge Foundation: $273,000
• Empire Center for Public Policy: $100,000
• Law Enforcement Education Fund: $231,600
• OSIMPO: $200,000
• Government Accountability Institute: $1,735,000
• The Federalist Society: $2,300,000
• National Youth Science Fund: $100,000
• Families for Excellent Schools: $250,000
• Classroom Inc.: $40,000
• Berkeley Earth: $250,000
• Texas Freedom Network: $5,000
• The Philanthropy Roundtable: $260,000
• Young America's Foundation: $1,100,000
• Cato Institute: $300,000
• King's College: $300,000
• Success Academy Charter Schools: $500,000
• Gatestone Institute: $100,000
• Reclaim New York: $1,250,000
• American Principles Project: $250,000
• Wildlife Conservation Society: $25,000
• William F. Buckley Jr. Program: $10,000
• Cold Spring Harbor Labone: $250,000
• American Transparency: $250,000
• ACU Foundation: $120,000
• Susan B. Anthony Education Fund: $300,000
• Center For Union Facts: $500,000
• International Center for Preservation of Wild Animals: $50,000
• Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute: $25,000
• The Fund for American Studies: $10,000
• American Educational Foundation: $50,000
• Massachusetts General Cancer Center: $10,000

Core Financials

2021

• Total Revenue: $49,236,529
• Total Expenses: $7,065,095
• Total Assets: $96,828,870

2020

• Total Revenue: $30,192,782
• Total Expenses: $19,813,822
• Total Assets: $45,700,689

2019

• Total Revenue: $13,219,449
• Total Expenses: $2,233,011
• Total Assets: $24,998,118

2018

• Total Revenue: $7,376,852
• Total Expenses: $12,530,220
• Total Assets: $24,996,218

2017

• Total Revenue: $9,359,788
• Total Expenses: $15,226,088
• Total Assets: $30,151,485

2016

• Total Revenue: $32,315,575
• Total Expenses: $19,026,871
• Total Assets: $36,017,785

2015

• Total Revenue: $13,553,806
• Total Expenses: $24,558,570
• Total Assets: $33,733,845

Personnel

As of December 2021:

• Rebekah Mercer, Director
• Robert Mercer, Director
• Jennifer Mercer, Director
• Heather Mercer, Director

Articles and Resources

IRS Form 990 Filings

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Articles

• Alex Kotch, The Dirty Dozen: The Biggest Nonprofit Funders of Climate Denial ExposedbyCMD, March 21, 2022.