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Tides Foundation is a left-leaning donor advised fund based in the United States that manages over $1.4 billion in assets. It was founded in San Francisco in 1976 by Drummond Pike. Tides distributes money from anonymous donors to other organizations, which are often politically progressive. An affiliated group, Tides Advocacy, is a "massive progressive incubator."
Pike envisioned using fiscal sponsorship for progressive political activism. Fiscal sponsorship uses a Tax exemption charity to provide financial support to a non-exempt project or organization, thereby lending it tax exemption as long as the charity retains control of the way its funds are spent. In The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age, David Callahan wrote that Pike was an "entrepreneurial activist" and that Pike and his "wealthy friends" united to create Tides which "used donor-advised funds to direct resources to progressive causes." Callahan, who is the co-founder of the think tank Demos, contrasted this with a similar approach taken by Donors Trust, an American non-profit donor-advised fund founded in 1999 to safeguard the "intent of libertarian and conservative donors".
In 1980, Tides founded People for the American Way with Norman Lear and the National Network of Grantmakers. By the 1990s, Tides was providing more than 10 million in grants annually. In 2000, Tides launched a program called "Bridging the Economic Divide." It focused on funding living wage campaigns and economic justice coalitions. Tides also launched the Tides Death Penalty Mobilization Fund, which supports the anti-death penalty movement. The Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence was founded with support from Tides.
By 2009, Tides allocated $75 million per year in donor money, most of which went to fund progressive political causes. In 2011, Tides received about $90 million in funding, and awarded about $96 million to various individuals and organizations.
In 2024, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation sued the Tides Foundation, saying that Tides had "egregiously mismanaged" more than $33 million in donations earmarked for Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter and Tides had been partners, with the former acting as the fiscal sponsor for the latter while the organization awaited its tax-exempt status. Black Lives Matter ended its partnership with Tides in 2022 and alleges that Tides has refused to transfer millions of dollars that are owed to the group. Black Lives Matter alleges that Tides "is operating as an unregulated financial institution that derives significant financial benefit at the expense of the Black-led organizations it sponsors."
In 2000, Tides launched a program called "Bridging the Economic Divide." It focused on funding living wage campaigns and economic justice coalitions. Tides also launched the Tides Death Penalty Mobilization Fund, which supports the anti-death penalty movement. The Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence was founded with support from Tides.
In 2023, the Washington Examiner, a U.S. conservative news outlet, reported that the Tides Foundation and its affiliate, the Tides Center, had donated over $1 million to anti-Israel groups behind demonstrations pushing for a Gaza war ceasefire.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that in 2023, the Tides Foundation gave $286,000 to the Alliance for Global Justice, a group best known for serving as the fiscal sponsor of Samidoun. Samidoun has been designated as a terrorist group by Canada and Israel. Samidoun was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in October 2024 and labeled a "sham charity" for providing material support to a Palestinian terrorist organization that participated in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.
In 2024, Jewish Insider reported that the Tides Foundation had funded a number of organizations involved in anti-Israel protests on college campuses and was "facing scrutiny from the House Ways and Means Committee for serving as a conduit to hide the identity of donors to its grantees." Organizations supported by Tides include Jewish Voice for Peace, the Council on American Islamic Relations, IfNotNow, Code Pink, Palestine Legal, the Adalah Justice Project, and the Westchester County Peace Action Committee, which supports National Students for Justice in Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund contributed nearly $1 million to Tides in 2023, earmarking the majority of it for Palestine Legal and the Adalah Justice Project. The Open Society Foundations, funded by George Soros, contributed $25.8 million to Tides between 2020 and 2021, earmarking some of its donations for pro-Palestinian causes. The Ford Foundation is also a donor to the Tides Foundation.
In May 2024, Politico reported that the Tides Foundation was "seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros." Politico reported that Tides was funding Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus protests and occupations during the Gaza war via its donations to Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Jewish Voice for Peace led protests against President Joe Biden, including shouting "genocide supporter", and blamed the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on "Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression."
The New York Post reported in September 2025 that according to federal tax filings $2 million of donations to the Obama Foundation, earmarked for a 19-acre campus Obama Library, were transferred instead to Tides Foundation in amounts of $1 million each in 2022 and 2023.
In 2008, the Advocacy Fund contributed to campaigns opposing Colorado Amendment 46, Colorado Amendment 47, Colorado Amendment 49 and Colorado Amendment 54. The Advocacy Fund distributed $11.8 million in grants in 2013 to groups promoting mass amnesty for illegal immigrants, increased worker protections, chemical safety legal reform, and increased investment in the solar energy industry.
Advocacy Fund
Tides is affiliated with the Tides Advocacy Fund (also known as Tides Advocacy), a liberal lobbying group. In the 2012 election cycle, the Advocacy Fund gave $11.5 million to 501(c)(4) organizations, including $2 million to the League of Conservation Voters, $1.8 million to America Votes and $1.3 million to the Center for Community Change. The Advocacy Fund has also supported the environmentally-focused groups Bold Nebraska, National Wildlife Federation Action Fund, NRDC Action Fund, and the Sierra Club.
Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization which manages Wikipedia, has worked with the Tides Foundation since 2016. The multimillion-dollar Wikimedia Endowment was created in 2016 to support the Wikimedia projects and was managed by Tides until 2023, when it was spun off into its own nonprofit. In 2019, Wikimedia's incoming general counsel, Amanda Keton, had previously served as the general counsel of the Tides Network, the head of Tides Foundation, and the CEO of Tides Advocacy. In 2020, Wikimedia established a $4.5M donor-advised fund, the Wikimedia Foundation Knowledge Equity Fund, at Tides Advocacy.
See also
Further reading
(2025). 9781134197651, Routledge. ISBN 9781134197651
(2025). 9780742549883, Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742549883
External links
Categories: Www.tides.org Official Website, 1976 Establishments In California, Charities Based In California, Fiscal Sponsorship Organizations, Non-profit Organizations Based In New York City, Non-profit Organizations Based In San Francisco, Organizations Established In 1976, Progressive Organizations In The United States, Wikimedia Foundation, Left-wing Organizations In The United States
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