Liberal Nonprofits Ride the Anti-Trump Donation Wave

The morning after Donald Trump’s victory, a picture of his face was splashed across the front page of the American Civil Liberties Union website next to the words “See you in court.” Beneath the all-caps declaration was a donate button. Within 24 hours, 14,000 people had given more than $940,000 online, far exceeding the organization’s record for contributions in a single day, according to Mark Wier, chief development officer at the ACLU. By Monday the following week, that figure had reached $7.2 million from 120,000 donors.

Planned Parenthood received 128,000 donations within those same five days, 30 times the normal number for that span. The organization’s donors included Sarah Wexler, a freelance writer in Portland, Ore., who also gave to a handful of other nonprofits. (Bloomberg Philanthropies, the private foundation of Michael Bloomberg, provides financial support for Planned Parenthood. Bloomberg is majority owner of Bloomberg LP, publisher of Bloomberg Businessweek.) “It felt a little like playing Oprah,” says Wexler. “ ‘You get $100! And you get $100!’ ”