The Minnesota Freedom Fund pulled in more than $30 million in donations following the death of George Floyd, but the non-profit bailing out jailed protesters faced backlash on Tuesday after revealing it has paid out $200,000 so far, as calls grew for transparency about how the donations are being spent.
What We Know:
- The non-profit, which pays criminal bail and immigration bonds, initially posted a couple of tweets on Tuesday addressing how the donations had been spent so far.
- The fund was established in 2016 and has seen a huge boost following the death of Floyd on May 25th in police custody, which sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
- Critics questioned why more had not been spent and suggested some of the funds could be redirected to other causes or small businesses in the community. Others defended the organization for trying to establish the infrastructure to deploy the millions of dollars.
- The fund’s FAQs page states that up until recent events, they would pay out a maximum of $1,000 in a given day. “We’re adapting quickly to handle the volume and scale of the current need.”
- Tens of thousands of people from all over the world donated and called on others to do so, including celebrities such as Jameela Jamil and Seth Rogen. On its website, MFF wrote: “We know that many people have donated to us to support those protesting George Floyd’s murder and generations of police violence. We will prioritize posting bail for those arrested demanding justice for George Floyd.”
- Twitter users slammed the MFF for not directing funds to bail out protesters faster.
https://twitter.com/tariqnasheed/status/1272768860236611585
https://twitter.com/kathbarbadoro/status/1272736102785433608
- Critics also called out an apparent lack of diversity on the fund’s leadership, while its “Meet Our Team” page appears to have been taken down as of Tuesday afternoon.
- Others defended the fund, saying it was likely having trouble scaling up its operation. “Maybe they’re scammers but it’s also likely they have never had to manage more than like 1/100th that amount of money at once.”
- More than 10,000 people were arrested in the first 10 days of demonstrations decrying police brutality across the nation sparked by Floyd’s death, according to Associated Press.
On Tuesday morning, the Minnesota Freedom Fund addressed the backlash on Twitter. The organization said it paid all protest bails that came its way and would continue to do so.
