Dear Friend,
I don’t need to tell you that these are frightening times. We are hearing from too many of our supporters who work with the federal government and have had their lives thrown into disarray.
Last week, my colleague, Melina Cohen, wrote to you about recent attacks on our freedom of speech. She mentioned a few efforts aimed specifically at weakening the influence of nonprofit organizations. And this week, they are coming for our donations.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the Capital Research Center or CRC, a right-wing think tank and propaganda outlet founded by a former Heritage Foundation executive, “recently briefed senior White House officials on a range of donors, nonprofit groups, and fundraising techniques.”
Elon Musk, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect President Trump, expressed his support for federal investigations into fundraising platform ActBlue, claiming it’s part of a “left-wing NGO cabal” organizing protests of Tesla. He even called the protests “terrorist activity.”
Speaker Mike Johnson and several Republican lawmakers have been pushing for a congressional investigation into ActBlue since last December. More recently, the Treasury Secretary has been urged to look into the fundraising platform for “allegations of the provision of… payment processing for terror-linked organizations and nonprofits.” Senator Ted Cruz has also suggested ActBlue might be held criminally liable and has threatened another private tech company that provides services to nonprofits, Bonterra, with investigations.
To my knowledge, there is no evidence to support claims of any corruption or illegal activity at ActBlue or Bonterra. And I should know: American Atheists uses both platforms (and others) to securely manage our fundraising efforts on a daily basis. Instead, they are being threatened precisely because they provide the infrastructure necessary for nonprofit organizations like ours to operate.
American Atheists was made for this moment. We were forged out of the anti-atheist McCarthy Era, and we’ve been leading the fight to advance equality for nonreligious Americans and safeguard the separation of religion and government ever since.
In state after state, our policy team is achieving major victories this legislative session. American Atheists’ testimony and action alerts have helped defeat dozens of harmful bills — from religious denial of care laws in Colorado, Tennessee, and New Hampshire to a school chaplain proposal in North Dakota and another failed attempt by Oklahoma to display the Ten Commandments on public grounds. Our legal team filed an amicus brief earlier this month, but they’re only getting started. By June, they’ll have filed three more in defense of your civil rights. Since 1963, this organization has consistently shown its strength and staying power.
American Atheists receives exactly zero public dollars. So since they can’t “DOGE” and defund us, they are going after the processing firms to undercut us. As one commentator said, “It’s part of them trying to chill dissent… Whether or not they have any actual legal success, they’ll make it hell in the process, eating up resources.”
I want you to know that every dollar we receive goes directly to the work we’re doing every day to defend and advance the civil rights of nonreligious Americans. We take our donors’ support seriously and strive to be transparent and trustworthy stewards of your dollars. Our finances are audited annually by an independent financial services agency to ensure we’re complying with best practices. And we abide by a Donor Bill of Rights because we consider every one of our supporters to be a valued partner.
I understand the concerns I’ve heard from our members and from the greater philanthropic community. While I can’t assuage them all, I can assure you American Atheists will continue to protect our community. We refuse to be intimidated or soften our criticism of the White Christian Nationalist movement’s Project 2025 agenda.
Remembering that authoritarianism thrives on intimidation, I want to challenge us to be inspired instead — inspired to stand even more steadfast with the nonprofits that bring hope, joy, or meaning to our lives.
Compared to the well-funded and billionaire-backed movement that produced Project 2025, we simply don’t have the same level of financial resources. But we win — and will continue to win — because of our members and supporters like you.
And in these uncertain times, the team we’ve built here at American Atheists gives me hope and confidence that we’ll get through this, together. So, you know you can count on us. Can I count on you? If so, please make a generous donation in support of our work today – $20, $50, $100, or whatever is best for you. It’s more important now than ever.
With many thanks,
Martina Fern
Senior Director of Development
P.S.: We’re less than a month away from our national convention in Minneapolis. If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, now’s the perfect time. We hope to see you there!
American Atheists is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization that relies on the support of members like you. Contributions are tax-deductible. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 74-2466507 and our Combined Federal Campaign number is 52217.
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