UPDATE: For post-election summary information, please see this link.
At 40%, Mormon donations make up largest group of donors to Prop. 8
- Individual Donors, Mormon - 40.40% ($7,615,842.43)
- Individual Donors, Other* - 29.94% ($5,643,497.71)
- Non-Mormon Organizations - 29.66% ($5,592,015.24)
*Includes “probable” Mormons not yet confirmed.
That is the breakdown of donations as of 9:15 pm Pacific Time on September 28th.
Non-LDS Organizational Donors break down as follows (percentages are the portion of their nearly $5.6 million total donations):
- National Organization for Marriage, CA - 26% ($1.4 million)
- Knights of Columbus - 18% ($1 million)
- Fieldstead & Co. - 16% ($900,000)
- Elsa Prince - 12% ($650,000)
- American Family Association - 9% ($500,000)
- Focus on the Family - 8% ($441,364)
- Concerned Women for America - 7% ($409,000)
- Other organizations - 4% ($250,517)
Who are these other large donors?
National Organization for Marriage (www.nationformarriage.org), Maggie Gallagher, President
NOM (a 501(c)4 organization) was founded in response to the growing need for an organized opposition to same-sex marriage in state legislatures, NOM serves as a national resource for marriage-related initiatives at the state and local level. NOM works to develop political messaging, build its national grassroots email database of voters, and provide political intelligence and donor infrastructure on the state level, with a focus on developing new strategies for increasing influence in the Northeast and West Coast, where marriage is most under threat. NOM has created a list of talking points about Same-sex Marriage.
Knights of Columbus (www.kofc.org)
The Connecticut state legislature officially chartered the Knights of Columbus as a fraternal benefit society on March 29, 1882. The Order is still true to its founding principles of charity, unity and fraternity. The Knights was formed to render financial aid to members and their families. Mutual aid and assistance are offered to sick, disabled and needy members and their families. Social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works. The results of the Order’s annual Survey of Fraternal Activity for the year ending Dec. 31, 2006, show that total contributions to charity at all levels reached $143,816,004 – exceeding the previous year’s total by more than $4 million.
Knights of Columbus spokesman Patrick Korten said that the million dollar donation from the Knights “is both an indication of how important we believe this referendum to be, and an encouragement to other groups and individuals of all faiths to lend their support as well.” He noted that “From the day we were founded 126 years ago, strengthening and protecting the family has always been central to the mission of the Knights of Columbus. Preserving marriage as the indispensable institution in which children are conceived, born and raised to adulthood by a loving father and mother is vital to a healthy society. It is also the most favorable environment in which to protect the rights and best interests of children. We are proud to join the Catholic bishops and priests of California, and so many other people of good will, in this effort, on which so much depends.”
Fieldstead & Co.
A Wikipedia Article includes the following about this organization: Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Jr (born 1950) is an heir of the Home Savings bank fortune built by his father, Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Sr. Ahmanson Jr. is a multi-millionaire philanthropist and financier of the causes of many conservative Christian cultural, religious and political organizations. Howard and Roberta Ahmansons’ personal philanthropic organization is Fieldstead and Company, AKA the Fieldstead Institute, an unincorporated entity which has never had an online presence or telephone number. Fieldstead’s Senior Program Officer is Steven Ferguson, an expert in public policy funding and a member-at-large of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS). OCMS is part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Mission Theologians network (INFEMIT), which previously shared its address with the Ethics and Public Policy Institute. Ahmanson has been the major funder for the Capitol Resource Institute, the California political front of Focus on the Family; the Western Center for Law and Religious Freedom, and the California Pro-Life Council.
Elsa Prince
According to this site Elsa Prince is the mother of Betsy DeVos and Blackwater founder Erik Prince, as well as Emilie Weirda. She has generously funded the religious right through the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation. In 2004 she was the top individual contributor to Citizens for the Protection of Marriage, contributing $75,000 to the campaign to ban same-sex marriage in Michigan. Elsa’s husband, Edgar Prince co-founded the Family Research Council.
American Family Association (www.afa.net), Donald Wildmon, Chair.
AFA (a 501(c)3 organization) represents and stands for traditional family values, focusing primarily on the influence of television and other media – including pornography – on our society. Wildmon is an ordained United Methodist minister who founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977. That organization became the AFA in 1988. The American Family Association believes that God has communicated absolute truth to man through the Bible, and that all men everywhere at all times are subject to the authority of God’s Word. Therefore, a culture based on Biblical truth best serves the well-being of our country, in accordance with the vision of our founding fathers.
The AFA sees fights cultural wars on the following battlefronts: Preservation of Marriage and the Family; Decency and Morality; Sanctity of Human Life; Stewardship; and Media Integrity. AFA regularly sends out Action Alerts in addition to its AFA Journal to encourage support of its positions and to encourage voters and citizens to take action in pressuring advertisers, businesses and politicians.
Concerned Women for America (www.cwfa.org), Beverly LaHaye, founder; Wendy Wright, President
The mission of CWA is to protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens - first through prayer, then education, and finally by influencing our society - thereby reversing the decline in moral values in our nation. The vision of CWA is for women and like-minded men, from all walks of life, to come together and restore the family to its traditional purpose and thereby allow each member of the family to realize their God-given potential and be more responsible citizens.
CWA focuses its work on six core issues: Family (one man and one woman); Sanctity of Human Life (protect innocent life from conception to natural death); Education (return authority to parents); Pornography (fight all pornography and obscenity); Religious Liberty (supports individuals to pray, worship and express beliefs without fear of discrimination or persecution); and National Sovereignty (UN shouldn’t have authority in US and US has right and duty to protect national borders).
Please note: Comments discussing the data and interpretation of same are welcome, but comments debating the issues or discussing the righteousness (or lack thereof) of people on either side will be deleted.