FAIR's CEO responds through a letter to his Board of Advisors

Bion Bartning leaves more questions than answers about the inner workings of the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism.

This is the third in a series of articles about one of the largest anti-woke non-profits, the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR). Read the first and second articles for complex context.

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Yesterday’s, FAIR’s CEO sent the following email to his Board of Advisors (not to be confused with the Board of Directors discussed in a previous article) responding to some of the work I’ve done. Sadly, his response leaves more questions than answers.

Here is the letter, obtained from an internal whistleblower:

Let’s work our way through this letter, bit-by-bit, because (predictably) I have some questions. FAIR has raised millions of dollars in the anti-woke space. I believe they owe us some answers about what they are doing with that money.

Bion says: “You may have noticed some noise on social media about FAIR over the weekend, including questions raised about our governance and organizational structure.”

In fact, most of my questions are in regards to Bion’s competence to run the organization. This effort began because of FAIR’s pathetic response to the letter from the DOJ declaring parents speaking out at school board meetings domestic terrorists. I demanded to know who had approved the letter? Was it just Bion, or was it reviewed by FAIR’s Board of Directors, which appear to include Melissa Chen and Bari Weiss according to the initial incorporation documents?

To be blunt, if we cannot expect that FAIR is going to produce a strongly worded memo in response to the chilling of free speech from the Justice Department, what can we expect them to accomplish? What, specifically, have they accomplished? Has there been any sort of accounting to the people who have donated money to the organization regarding what they’ve achieved so far with their millions?

Bion says: “For utter clarity, I want to explain the relationship between FAIR and our fiscal sponsor, United Charitable, and why we filed a certificate of incorporation for a future 501(c)(3) entity in New York. Nonprofits such as FAIR often begin as a “fiscally sponsored” program of an organization that already has 501(c)(3) status, such as United Charitable. That fiscal sponsorship enables programs to operate and receive tax-deductible donations while in the process of receiving their own 501(c)(3) status.”

Whether FAIR was being fiscally sponsored by United Charitable was never in question. We already knew that. It’s literally listed on their website. What I questioned was the following:

• Who is overseeing Bion’s leadership of FAIR? Who is he accountable to? Is United Charitable aware of the very real questions regarding his leadership?

• Who approved that horrid, weak response to the DOJ? Was it Bion himself, or someone above him?

• Why are Bari Weiss and Melissa Chen listed on FAIR’s Board of Directors in the initial filing (documents here)? Did Bari and Melissa know they were on the Board of Directors? What oversight activities have they engaged in?

Bion continues: “During this sponsorship period, the fiscal sponsor’s board of directors is also the board of directors of the non-profit program. The fiscal sponsor administers and exercises fiduciary responsibilities over all funds and activities of the program. FAIR launched in March as a fiscally sponsored program of United Charitable and not an independent 501(c)(3). During this fiscal sponsorship period, all of our staff are either employees, contractors, or volunteers of United Charitable, and I am the program manager”

Bion is being very careful with his words here, specifically referencing that United Charitable is overseeing their non-profit program.

However, I’m much more interested in their Advocacy Fund. The Advocacy Fund is not the same thing as the non-profit program that is being overseen by United Charitable.

When you visit FAIR’s website, scroll down to the bottom and click on Donate to FAIR.

The form you are taken to when you click on that link is NOT FAIR’s non-profit. You are taken to the donation form for FAIR’s Advocacy Fund, which is NOT a tax-deductible non-profit donation. It says so right on the page.

When you click on the link at the bottom to make a tax-deductible donation, then (and only then) are you taken to the page that United Charitable oversees:

This is a critical distinction that Bion attempts to explain away in the next part of his letter: “Once the IRS approves 501(c)(3) status for our own legal entity — and we are hoping that will happen for us next year — we will begin operating as an independent, tax-exempt organization with our own board of directors. Many nonprofits also establish separate advocacy funds because 501(c)(3) organizations can engage in only limited legislated activities. We did just that for FAIR so that we can lobby and support school board candidates. Our intention is for FAIR to operate as both a 501(c)(3) and a 501(c)(4) organization, just like the ACLU and many other nonprofits.

And here is where the rubber starts to meet the road.

The other day, I held my nose and made two $5 donations to FAIR - one to the Advocacy Fund and one to the non-profit. Here is how they show up on my bank statement:

This means that the money is going into two distinct funds, which is how it should be. However, it also means that United Charitable is NOT overseeing donations to the Advocacy Fund.

• Who is overseeing the money donated to the Advocacy Fund? Who is Bion accountable to for money generated in that account?

• Why is the Advocacy Fund placed more prominently on FAIR’s website than the non-profit fund? Why has Bion placed a greater priority on this fund than the one United Charitable is overseeing?

• What percent of FAIR’s donations have been made through the Advocacy Fund compared to the non-profit fund? Where does the money in that account go?

• In his letter, Bion claims that the money in the Advocacy Fund is to “lobby and support school board candidates.” Why is lobbying and school board supporting school board candidates considered a higher priority than their non-partisan work? What have they lobbied for? What school board candidates have they supported? Is that all they’ve done with that money, or are they engaging in other activities? Where are the receipts? Why isn’t all of this being done transparently?

Finally, I have questions about their 501(c)(3) filing status. Bion says his intention is to operate as a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4), and they hope to achieve that next year. My questions are in regard to what he has done so far.

• Has Bion filed for 501(c)(3) status yet? When did he file the paperwork?

• If he has not yet filed, what is he waiting for?

• If he has filed, then it would have to declare an initial Board of Directors in his application. So, if the paperwork has already been filed, who did he list as his initial Board?

• Has Bion filed for 501(c)(4) status for the Advocacy Fund yet?

• If so, who is named as the Board of Directors for that fund (which is a separate and distinct legal entity with a different Board)?

• If not, then who is Bion accountable to in regards to the money in the Advocacy Fund, given that it is separate from United Charitable?

It is absolutely true that the IRS is backlogged in terms of processing applications, so it is possible that the paperwork may be filed and is waiting to be processed.

I have multiple people looking into the paperwork to see if there is a filing from FAIR in process and we have yet to find it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, it just means we haven’t found it yet. If it does exist, we will find it and I’ll report on it at that time.

However, since Bion seems so quick to answer questions in regard to this matter, he could clear a lot of things up by releasing the paperwork that has already been filed.

Ultimately, all of these questions lead up to this:

• Who is overseeing the millions of dollars that have been donated to FAIR since it launched?

• Who is Bion accountable to, and what have they done to hold his feet to the fire in regard to how the organization is being operated?

• Why is “who is running the organization” such a difficult question to answer for what should be a transparent, non-profit enterprise?

Your move, Bion. I eagerly await for your next statement to be leaked to me.

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