NAR is a non-profit organization that supports conservative groups
Everyone knows about it The National Association of Realtors’(NAR) is a political action committee, but few know about the nonprofit organization it is affiliated with American Property Owners Alliance.
While NAR’s PAC supports political candidates whose beliefs and goals align with those of the trade group and its spending is almost entirely different, NAR’s nonprofit, the American Property Owners Alliance, is a different story.
Created by the NAR in 2020, the American Property Owners Alliance, which is solely funded by a trade group, appears to support Republican-backed causes.
In the examination of the tax record of non-profit organizations, The New York Times found that in its first four years of existence, the group distributed $12.8 million in grants, about $10 million of which went to Republican-aligned super PACs and groups with conservative agendas.
Of the groups that received grants, they were aligned with the Republic only Americans for Tax Reformwhich received $25,000, lists the development of real estate rights as one of its goals.
According to a New York Times analysis, this donation method appears to be politically motivated and inconsistent with the stated mission of the American Property Owners Alliance to advocate for “the rights of all property owners.” Contrary to its mission, a nonprofit may attract unwanted attention from Internal Revenue Service.
In a statement to the New York Times, the American Property Owners Alliance wrote that it “acted as a 501(c) (4) advocacy organization,” and that its grants “advance APOA’s agenda.” and, although it does not direct the work of the system, it promotes the interests of property owners and their rights.”
By far, the largest recipient was One Nation, which received a total of $7 million from the American Property Owners Alliance.
One Nation is a so-called dark-money group, which uses dollars to influence elections and regularly donates to the Senate Leadership Fund, which is the largest PAC of Senate Republicans.
Other groups that have received grants from the American Property Owners Alliance include the Douglass Leadership Institute, a Christian group focused on reducing the number of abortions, and abortion providers, in the Black community; the American Unity Fund, a Republican-aligned LGBTQ group that supports same-sex marriage; and the American Action Network, a Republican advocacy group founded by former Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota, and Fred Malek, who served as an adviser to President Richard Nixon and President George HW Bush.
Despite its large contributions to Republican-leaning campaigns, the American Property Owners Alliance also gave nearly $3 million to Lots of Homes Moving Forwarda significant donor to the Democratic House Majority PAC, and the Democrats’ top PAC. I National Council for the Advancement of Blacks and receive a small grant. The nonpartisan group lists closing the wealth gap between black Americans and other groups as a primary goal.
In addition to their findings about the American Property Owners Alliance, a Times investigation also found that Walt Witek, the NAR’s former senior vice president of public and political affairs, was fired from his position in 2018 because of his opposition to the organization’s founding. non-profit.
The idea for the American Property Owners Alliance came from Bill Malkasian, who created the Wisconsin Homeowners Alliance in 2005 when he served as the chief executive officer of Wisconsin Association of Realtors. According to tax records, most of the nonprofit’s money went to support conservative groups. When he began serving as NAR’s vice president of political strategy in 2011, Malkasian brought his vision to the national trade group.
“He wanted to use soft money and make it really dark. He didn’t want it written with the word Realtor,” Witek told the Times of Malkasian about the program. “He wanted to make it untraceable.”
Malkasian went on to become the first executive director of the American Property Owners Alliance, but retired in 2020. However, he still leads the NAR as a “former official.”
A previous Times investigation found that NAR executives and leaders enjoy lavish benefits unmatched by other industry trade groups.
NAR did not return a request for comment.
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