Board Members of the RI Foundation Are Significant Democratic Donors

Monday, November 13, 2023

GoLocalProv News Team

 

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PHOTO: RI Foundation

There are 14 members who serve on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island Foundation — an organization that hands out about tens of millions of dollars a year in charitable donations and has assets of more than $1.3 billion — money provided to the organization from donors over more than 100 years.

In 2022, the Foundation awarded nearly $84 million in grants to approximately 2,400 nonprofit organizations.

The board members are expected to be non-political in their role as the directors of the organization. The board is comprised of a range of community leaders — bankers, investors, and healthcare professionals.

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Of the 14 board members, 12 are active Democratic donors; one has been a donor to a corporate political action committee (PAC), and the other board member is former Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, who is now CEO of the organization.

Not counting Cicilline’s political fundraising and donation — the other 13 members of the Board combined have individually donated nearly $100,000 to candidates in Rhode Island and federal candidates. Overwhelmingly, those donations have been to Democrats.

Less than 10% of those political dollars were donated to Republicans  — and the majority of those dollars were made to then-Governor Don Carcieri in the early 2000s. And none of the board members have donated to a Republican or independent candidate for any political office in the past decade.

There is nothing illegal or improper about the donations, but for an organization that has historically shied away from politics, it is now under scrutiny after hiring Democrat Cicilline, his political activism and the organization's recent hiring of Democratic staffers.

 

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Cicilline fundraiser for the RI Democratic Party - the event was canceled after a GoLocal report.

Democratic Congressman, Fundraiser, and Staff

In February, eyebrows were raised as it was announced that Democratic Congressman David Cicilline — one of the partisan members of Congress, would take over as CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.

As GoLocal reported in 2015, Cicilline was one the most partisan members of the House of Representatives, according to a study. Cicilline was ranked 362 out of 435 in the House for willingness to work in a bipartisan manner (putting him in the bottom 17% of the highly fractionalized House). This ranking was developed by the Lugar Center at Georgetown University.

Since he took over, he has hired two of his former Democratic political staffers and was the headliner at a Democratic fundraiser.

The event was canceled after a GoLocal report unveiled the potential conflict issue for the RI Foundation.

 

IRS Limits Political Activities of Non-profits

According to the IRS, “Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity.  Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes.”

 

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L-R Members of the RI Foundation gave almost exclusively to Democrats including former Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and now, Foundation CEO David Cicilline

Big Political Donors, Big Democrat Supporters

While all of the Board members of the RI Foundation have made political donations, three have given the lion’s share.

One of the RI Foundation board members who has been a significant political donor is Ann-Marie Harrington, who used to run a web development company. She has donated more than $20,000 to Democrats and was a significant donor to Cicilline while he served in Congress. She had donated ten times to Cicilline — totaling $3,050.

Another RI Foundation Board member who has been an active political donor is Jonathan Fain, the Chair of Teknor Apex. He has cumulatively donated just under $20,000 — approximately $3,000 went to Republican candidates.

Edward “Ned” Handy, the CEO of Washington Trust — the bank has been embroiled in an enforcement action by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegations that the bank violated redlining laws. Handy’s bank was forced to pay $9 million to settle the issue with the government.

Handy has donated more than $40,000 — the vast majority has gone to Democratic candidates. Approximately $7,000 was donated to Republican candidates. He also donated $2,000 to Cicilline.

But the other members of the board were completely void of donations to the GOP.

- Former New York Times President Janet Robinson, who serves on the Board, has donated $6,250 to Rhode Island Democrats, including Gina Raimondo, Brett Smiley, Clay Pell, and others. She has not donated to any Republicans in RI.

- Yudis “Tony” Mendez, the founder of the Hispanic media company Poder has donated more than $2,800 to RI Democrats, including Angel Taveras, Matt Brown, and Cicilline, to name a few.

- Megan Hughes, the former President of CCRI and now an executive with Bank of America, has donated $1,700 — all to Democrats, including Barak Obama, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Jack Reed.

- Board member Theresa Moore, the president of T-Time — a video production company, has donated more than $2,200 all to Democrats — the majority of those donations were to Nellie Gorbea.

- James Wright, the CEO of Bridge Technical Talent, has donated $1,300 to politicians in Rhode Island — all of it to Democrats, including Raimondo, Helena Foulkes, and former Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts.

- Carrie Bridges Feliz, a vice president at Lifespan, has donated $4,750  to state candidates — all Democrats.

- Board member and District Court Judge Melissa R. DuBose, prior to serving on the bench, donated $125 to Democrats.

- Business strategist and Foundation board member Michael Allio donated $500 to Raimondo.

- Board member, Dr. G. Alan Kurose, the former president and CEO of Coastal Medical — which recently merged into Lifespan, has donated $1,000 to U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and another $1,100 to state candidates -- all Democrats -- including Speaker Joe Shekarchi.

- And, board member Peter Phillips, now a senior leader at Washington Trust with Handy, was formerly at Amica. He has donated $1,725 in political donations — all of those dollars were given to the Amica corporate PAC. And, according to Open Secrets the vast majority of Amica's PAC donations have gone to Democrats over the past four years.

GoLocal reviewed Rhode Island Campaign Finance records, Federal Election Commission data, and the transparency website Open Secrets.

The Rhode Island Foundation’s spokesperson, Chris Barnett, did not respond to questions, GoLocal asked:

Not counting Cicilline, the other 13 board members have personally donated about $100,000 in political donations.

About 90% has been donated to Democrats.

While the individual board members have the right to make such donations, does the overwhelmingly partisan donation pattern send a message to the community that the organization is a Democratic-leaning organization?

Many of the donors were donors to Cicilline.

Since taking the CEO position, Ciclline has scheduled partisan fundraisers. And, he has hired his former political staffers.

What message is this sending to Rhode Islanders?

 

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