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After Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, some pundits and news organizations suggested without evidence that "woke" investments contributed to the collapse.

"Silicon Valley Bank "donated $73M to BLM Movement," one March 15 Newsmax headline circulating on social media read.

Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Jesse Watters also made similar claims.

"Silicon Valley Bank brace yourself spent more than $73 million on donations to BLM and related organizations," Carlson said March 14.

The Newsmax article and similar posts were flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The Newsmax article pointed to a database from the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank. The database tracks pledges and contributions to the "BLM movement and related causes," according to the institute.

In the databases "explanatory notes," the institute said its definition of the "BLM movement" includes organizations such as Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation; Movement for Black Lives; "grassroots" groups; "independent BLM chapters;" the "fiscal sponsors of BLM organizations;" and "BLM partners" such as the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Claremont Institute defined Black Lives Matter "related causes" as "organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda." However, Black Lives Matter is not one entity with a set agenda. It is a decentralized international activist movement with no formal hierarchy.

The Claremont Institute and Silicon Valley Bank did not respond to PolitiFacts requests for comment.

An institute spokesperson told MarketWatch that most of Silicon Valley Banks roughly $70.5 million in contributions fell in the "related causes" category. He also said the bank donated to the NAACP and ACLU.

The banks charitable contributions included in Claremonts $70 million-plus total went primarily to groups and initiatives with no clear tie to the Black Lives Matter movement:

A 2021 pledge to "invest more than $50 million" over five years into the banks Access to Innovation program, which works to connect people who are often underrepresented in the "innovation economy" including women, Blacks and Latinos with hiring, mentorship, educational and networking opportunities.

A $20 million donation that the bank said would be used to support COVID-19 relief; a needs-based scholarship program; economic development; and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

A 2-to-1 matching campaign the bank created in 2020 for employees who donated their money or time to social justice organizations.

A $250,000 allocation from the Silicon Valley Bank Foundation to support grants for social justice organizations where bank employees volunteer.

A prominent Black Lives Matter organization, Black Lives Matter Global Foundation Network, told PolitiFact in a statement that the Black Lives Matter movement includes thousands of organizations, so there is no way for the group to say with certainty whether Silicon Valley Bank donated to any one of them. The group also said the banks possible contributions to Black causes are irrelevant to what caused the banks collapse.

Flags fly in Black Lives Matter Plaza as President Joe Biden is sworn in during 59th Presidential Inauguration, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP)

A report in the newsletter Popular Information found an error in the databases calculations: Nearly $3 million in contributions that the database had initially counted occurred in 2019, not 2020. The Claremont Institute, which started tracking this data in 2020, updated the database to reflect that information, meaning the banks total contributions for 2020 were $70.65 million, rather than over $73 million, as the initial claims said.

As of March 22, Newsmax had not corrected its headline to reflect that change.

Our ruling

Facebook posts claimed Silicon Valley Bank "donated $73M to 'BLM Movement.'"

The claim stemmed from a database kept by the Claremont Institute. It showed that since 2020, Silicon Valley Bank had donated or pledged to donate more than $70 million to causes "related" to the Black Lives Matter movement. The institute defined "related causes" as "organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda."

Black Lives Matter is not one entity with a set agenda; it is a decentralized international activist movement with no formal hierarchy.

A close look at the Claremont list shows that Silicon Valley Banks charitable contributions went primarily to groups and initiatives with no clear association to the Black Lives Matter movement.

We rate this claim False.

RELATED: Was Silicon Valley Bank demise caused by Trump easing regulation, 'woke' efforts, or something else?

Read more from the original source:
Claim that Silicon Valley Bank donated $73 million to Black Lives Matter is unsupported - PolitiFact

After Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, some pundits and news organizations suggestedwithout evidencethat woke investments contributed to the collapse.

Silicon Valley Bank donated $73M to BLM Movement, one March 15 Newsmaxheadlinecirculating on social media read.

Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson andJesse Wattersalso made similar claims.

Silicon Valley Bank brace yourself spent more than $73 million on donations to BLM and related organizations, CarlsonsaidMarch 14.

The Newsmax article and similarpostswere flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about ourpartnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The Newsmax article pointed to adatabasefrom the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank. The database tracks pledges and contributions to the BLM movement and related causes, according to the institute.

In the databases explanatory notes, the institute said its definition of the BLM movement includes organizations such as Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation; Movement for Black Lives; grassroots groups; independent BLM chapters; the fiscal sponsors of BLM organizations; and BLM partners such as the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Claremont Institute defined Black Lives Matter related causes as organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda. However, Black Lives Matter is not one entity with a set agenda. It is a decentralized international activistmovementwith no formal hierarchy.

The Claremont Institute and Silicon Valley Bank did not respond to PolitiFacts requests for comment.

An institute spokespersontold MarketWatchthat most of Silicon Valley Banks roughly $70.5 million in contributions fell in the related causes category. He also said the bank donated to the NAACP and ACLU.

The banks charitable contributions included in Claremonts $70 million-plus total went primarily to groups and initiatives with no clear tie to the Black Lives Matter movement:

A prominent Black Lives Matter organization, Black Lives Matter Global Foundation Network, told PolitiFact in a statement that the Black Lives Matter movement includes thousands of organizations, so there is no way for the group to say with certainty whether Silicon Valley Bank donated to any one of them. The group also said the banks possible contributions to Black causes are irrelevant to what caused the banks collapse.

A report in the newsletterPopular Informationfound an error in the databases calculations: Nearly $3 million in contributions that the database had initially counted occurred in 2019, not 2020. The Claremont Institute, which started tracking this data in 2020, updated the database to reflect that information, meaning the banks total contributions for 2020 were $70.65 million, rather than over $73 million, as the initial claims said.

As of March 22, Newsmax had not corrected its headline to reflect that change.

Facebook posts claimed Silicon Valley Bank donated $73M to BLM Movement.'

The claim stemmed from a database kept by the Claremont Institute. It showed that since 2020, Silicon Valley Bank had donated or pledged to donate more than $70 million to causes related to the Black Lives Matter movement. The institute defined related causes as organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda.

Black Lives Matter is not one entity with a set agenda; it is a decentralized international activist movement with no formal hierarchy.

A close look at the Claremont list shows that Silicon Valley Banks charitable contributions went primarily to groups and initiatives with no clear association to the Black Lives Matter movement.

We rate this claim False.

Read the original:
Claims that Silicon Valley Bank donated $73 million to Black Lives ... - Poynter

Quick Take

A database that claims to show corporate contributions to the BLM Movement & Related Causes doesnt show any contributions from Silicon Valley Bank to Black Lives Matter. But some conservative commentators are citing it to falsely claim that the bank gave more than $73 million to the organization.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank has drawn commentary from across the political spectrum. But some conservatives have highlighted a false claim connecting the bank to Black Lives Matter.

Shortly after federal regulators took control of SVBs assets on March 10, making it the second-largest bank failure since at least 2001, some conservative commentators began claiming that it had donated millions to BLM, the social justice organization that began after the vigilante murder of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2013 and gained widespread attention after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, for example, told his audience on March 14, Silicon Valley Bank brace yourself spent more than $73 million on donations to BLM and related organizations. Wow. And this is not personal funds, apparently these were bank funds. Might be kind of nice to have that money now.

And the conservative website Breitbart ran a headline claiming: Failed Silicon Valley Bank Gave Black Lives Matter over $73 Million.

But thats not true.

Those claims and many others like them are based on an analysis from the conservative Claremont Institute. The organization recently posted a database purporting to show corporate contributions to the BLM Movement & Related Causes.

Despite the name of the project the BLM Funding Database direct donations to BLM groups account for about 2% of the total amount included in the database for all corporations.

So, the vast majority of the funding went toward related causes. In the case of SVB, all of it did. The bank didnt donate anything to BLM, according to the database.

The Claremont Institute defined related causes as organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda.

In a March 14 opinion piece announcing the database, the institute described BLM as encompassing the full range of leftist causes, saying, its goal is to undermine capitalism, the nation state, and Western civilization.

Thats a broad mandate. After looking into what met that threshold for SVB, we found that the institute had included a need-based scholarship program, a commitment to lend to and support underserved borrowers, and a program to match employees charitable donations.

Its also worth noting that, while its true that the database had originally listed SVB as having donated about $73.5 million to the BLM Movement & Related Causes since 2020, Claremont Institute later amended the entry and removed funds that went toward an internal program within the bank to support diverse, emerging talent and gender parity because the spending predated 2020.

That brought the total to about $70.7 million, which is what well examine below.

SVB announced a plan in 2021 to invest $50 million in its diversity and inclusion programs over the following five years. In its 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report, SVB touted its Access to Innovation program, which had started in 2019 with the aim of increasing opportunities for underrepresented individuals in the innovation economy.

The program focuses on women, Black and Latinx individuals, according to the 2021 report. This includes hiring and mentoring, educational and networking opportunities, expanding access to capital and diversifying the venture capital (VC) ecosystem.

The report then said, We plan to invest $50 million in our programs and partnerships in the next five years to change more than 25,000 lives.

So, more than two thirds of the total amount the Claremont Institute listed was a pledged contribution to the banks effort to diversify the innovation economy through investments to underserved small-business owners and increase training and hiring opportunities for disadvantaged young people, specifically women, Blacks and Hispanics.

And, on top of that, the commitment was to spend $50 million on the program over the course of five years, but the bank folded just two years after making the pledge.

The next largest chunk identified by the Claremont Institute was $20 million, although its description of it is unclear. We asked for details about how they calculated the total, but the institute responded only with a prepared statement and didnt respond to follow-up questions.

Heres what the institute wrote in its explanation included in the database: SVB donated $20M in net fees paid to them by the Small Business Administrations Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to support additional COVID-19 relief; a new $5M, full-ride, needs-based University Scholarship program to students at four universities, including two HBCUs; economic development; and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts through 2022.

Well unpack that.

The Small Business Administration paid processing fees to lenders, like SVB, that provided Paycheck Protection Program loans to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, a bank received a 5% fee on each loan of up to $350,000.

At the end of 2020, SVB gave $20 million of the amount it had collected in processing fees to its charitable foundation, the Silicon Valley Bank Foundation, for diversity and community causes over the next two years, according to the proxy statement issued by the bank ahead of its 2021 shareholder meeting. The proxy statement was included in Claremonts database.

The SVB Foundations 990 tax form, which is required of all registered nonprofit organizations, shows that the foundation in 2020 did receive a $20 million donation from the bank. But none of the foundations grants that year went to Black Lives Matter. According to the 990 filed for 2020, the foundation gave a total of $132,000 to 10 organizations, including a group supporting wildlife affected by the wildfires in Australia, a hospice care project and various childrens organizations. There are no more recent 990 forms available yet.

Later, in May 2021, SVB announced another initiative funded by fees it collected from the SBA for PPP loans. The bank said in a press release that it would commit $5 million to fund 25 full undergraduate scholarships at four universities Arizona State University, Tulane University, Florida A&M University and Xavier University of Louisiana. The last two, as the Claremont Institute noted, are historically Black universities.

The scholarships were open to anyone who met the financial need and academic performance criteria, according to the press release. SVB also said that it chose those four universities because of their direct and measurable impact to students, the majors and programs that align with SVBs future employment needs and their geographic distribution.

Its possible that the scholarship fund came out of the $20 million given to the SVB Foundation. But we cannot tell without reviewing more recent 990 forms, which are not available.

In any case, SVB did use money that it received for providing PPP loans for charitable causes, but theres no evidence that any of it went to Black Lives Matter.

Finally, the last portion of the total amount listed in the database for SVB was $650,000 in donations from SVB and its employees to various social justice organizations.

According to the Claremont Institutes explanation, SVB also created a 2:1 employee charitable gift matching program for donations supporting justice and equity for Black Americans, which raised nearly $400K. It allocated a further $250K from the SVB Foundation to support grants for social justice organizations including the NAACP, ACLU, and National Urban League. Notably missing from the institutes list is Black Lives Matter.

That breakdown is largely supported by SVBs 2020 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion brochure and its 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report, which the Claremont Institute included as support.

Corporate responsibility reporting is standard business practice in the Banking sector, according to a report from KPMG.

SVBs 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report said, In 2020, our employees rallied behind causes important to them and the communities they serve. Through one of several two-to-one giving opportunities, SVBers donated $401,188, which supplemented SVBs corporate donations to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American Civil Liberties Union, National Urban League and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

But neither the institute nor the bank show that any of the money from the matching program went to BLM.

And, regarding the $250,000 spent on supporting social justice organizations, that number comes from the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion brochure, which said, We also allocated $250k from the SVB Foundation to support grants for social justice organizations where SVB employees volunteer. The institute included the brochure in the database for support.

But, similarly, none of the organizations listed by either SVB or the Claremont Institute specify that Black Lives Matter was a recipient.

So, while its possible that some of the employee matching donations may have gone to BLM, none of the evidence provided by the Claremont Institute supports that.

When we reached out to the institute for more details, as we said, we were provided with a statement that said, in part (emphasis theirs), Claremonts BLM Funding Database tracks contributionsand pledgesmade to the BLM movementand related causes, which we define on our database as organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLMs agenda, and which were made in the wake of the BLM riots of 2020.

Even so, its a stretch to include a needs-based college scholarship fund as a donation to the BLM movementand related causes. Similarly, including a pledge to increase economic diversity through a program the bank, itself, initiated also suggests that the threshold for what goes into the database is overly broad.

And, importantly, the database shows no contributions from SVB went to BLM.

So its just plain false to claim, as Breitbart did, that the total amount shown in the database more than $70 million represented how much SVB Gave Black Lives Matter.

Editors note:FactCheck.orgis one of several organizationsworking with Facebookto debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be foundhere. Facebook hasno controlover our editorial content.

Farley, Robert. What to Know About Trump-Era Bank Deregulation and Bank Failures. FactCheck.org. 16 Mar 2023.

Americans Deserve To Know Who Funded BLM Riots. Newsweek. 14 Mar 2023.

Center for the American Way of Life. Claremont Institute. BLM Funding Database. Accessed 15 Mar 2023.

Center for the American Way of Life. Claremont Institute. BLM Funding Database. Accessed 16 Mar 2023.

Silicon Valley Bank. Corporate Responsibility Report 2021. 2021.

Silicon Valley Bank. Press release. Silicon Valley Bank Introduces Access to Innovation to Increase Opportunities for Underrepresented People in the Innovation Economy. 1 Oct 2019.

Claremont Institute. Email response to FactCheck.org. 16 Mar 2023.

U.S. Department of the Treasury. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Information Sheet Lenders. Accessed 16 Mar 2023.

Silicon Valley Bank. 2021 Proxy Statement. 4 Mar 2021.

Silicon Valley Bank Foundation. 990 2020. 8 Nov 2021.

Silicon Valley Bank. Press release. Silicon Valley Bank Expands COVID-19 Response & Community Support. 27 Apr 2020.

Silicon Valley Bank. Press release. SVB Financial Group Announces Full-Ride Undergraduate University Scholarship Program. 12 May 2021.

Silicon Valley Bank. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Aug 2020.

Silicon Valley Bank. Corporate Responsibility Report 2021. 2021.

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Diversity Programs Supported by SVB Wrongly Labeled as ... - FactCheck.org

Isnt it strange that none of us talk about Black Live Matter anymore? It felt like our lives were completely dominated by the subject in 2020.

Back then, The New York Times told us that Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History. According to Wikipedia There were upward of 26 million protest participants.

That part is true. But everything else in the Black Lives Matter narrative begins to fall apart from there.

As reported by Time Magazine in September of 2020 The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) analyzed more than 7,750 Black Lives Matter protests in between May 26 and August 22.

In this story, we were told that fewer than 220 protests reported violent demonstrations among the protests. The report created a riot focused definition of violence. Then were told, 2,400 protests reported being peaceful.

For some reason we are told to ignore the widespread physical attacks on individuals and property at thousands of other protests. Like that isnt violent. Then adding insult to injury the mainstream political/media elite stealthily refused to tell us about the Marxist agenda of the Black Lives Matter leaders.

Marxism attempts to disrupt traditions and institutions that lend themselves to certain groups having more power or money than other groups. What Marxists describe as inequity most of us would simply describe as differences.

Marxism suggests that we must redistribute power, wealth, and status to make our society fairer. Which is fine. Americans have the right to subscribe to whatever ideology that they want.

But why lie about it? Back in 2015, Patrice Cullors describes BLM leaders saying, We are trained Marxists. In a video. No disputing that.

The next Black lives Matter Marxist tie was more disturbing. Under fire, Black Lives Matter scrubbed a page on its website demanding the disruption (of the requirement) of the Western-prescribed nuclear family. A position clearly articulated in Marxism.

Marxism co-founder Friedrich Engels wrote in The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, the modern family contains in germ not only slavery (servitus), but also serfdom, since from the beginning it is related to agricultural services, it contains in miniature all the contradictions which later extend throughout society and its state.

As if this level of deception wasnt enough, startling financial revelations began rocking the organization. In 2021, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrice Cullors, left the organization after funneling millions into real estate holdings in her name.

Under her tenure, Cullors also authorized a six-figure payout to be given to her childs father for assorted reasons, made her brother BLMs highest paid employee (for security?) and paid $1.8 million to companies owned by her relatives.

This is not very equitable to other Black families in America. Do the rest of our Black Financial Lives Matter?

Meanwhile, the 26 Local Black Lives Matter chapters across the country took legal action against their lead organization accusing them of financial impropriety while raising over $90 million. They are suing for unpaid wages.

Arent Marxists supposed to distribute money fairly? Especially, to working class Black people? Or their own employees?

Even the families of the causes visible symbols Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown have filed lawsuits. They are demanding that they be compensated for the cause being perpetrated in their loved ones names. The family of Breonna Taylor hasnt sued yet but has meted out some harsh criticism for BLM. The Taylor family was denied by the leaders, the funds to buy a van to use for speaking engagements.

This Black Lives Matter movement needs to move away. From us.

The truth is, that no person of good conscience can object to the idea that Black lives matter as much as other lives. Its common sense.

Most agree that race cannot be a reason to kill anyone with impunity. But it is time to face that the original moral concern of Black Lives Matter has been exploited by greedy, oppressive leaders who are clearly dishonest.

Everything Marxism presents itself as against. Consequently, the scandals are overshadowing any progress of the movement. At this rate, in a few years there will little left besides the catchy slogan.

Rachel Stovall is an event manager, entertainer and community advocate in Colorado Springs.

Rachel Stovall is an event manager, entertainer and community advocate in Colorado Springs.

Originally posted here:
Black Lives Matter The lies, the scandals Stovall - Colorado Springs Gazette

WOODBRIDGE, VA.The plastic sign displayed prominently on DeAna Forbes classroom door is especially fitting this week. In big bold letters: Warning! History Teacher Zone. Your understanding of the past may be corrected at anytime.

Its early in this sleepy suburb 45minutes outside Washington, D.C., and the sun is still rising over Freedom High School as students jog inside from late-arriving buses, backpacks half-hung over shoulders with winter coats swinging. They push through crowded hallways and hurry to firstperiod.

Forbes, 28, who teaches U.S. history and social studies, is one of many teachers across the country participating in the annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, held this year February 610. As her students settle in to watch avideo about the history of Black fraternities and sororities, Forbes prepares an interactivelesson.

The work of telling Black stories, celebrating diversity and inclusivity, and making sure that [students] understand that their lives do matter, is important, Forbes says. It naturally fits in the context ofhistory.

The Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action traces its roots to aBlack Lives Matter organizing campaign at John Muir Elementary in Seattle in 2016 and when, later that school year, educators in Philadelphia organized aweek of teaching surrounding the principles of Black Lives Matter. Teachers in Rochester also held aday of action in 2017. Then, in 2018, it exploded, with educators in more than 20 cities participating in the Week of Action, and it has remained popular sincethen.

Black Lives Matter at School is an act of resistance, says Awo Okaikor Aryee-Price, amember of the inaugural steering committee for Black Lives Matter at School. Its arefusal to accept the ways that we are perpetually dehumanized. Its astatement that we exist, that we are here, and that we are going to fightback.

During the week, teachers often share curriculum and host both virtual and in-person events. This year, events included afair about historically Black colleges and universities, an abolitionist poetry workshop, and an Imagination Lab Listening Project for students, teachers, parents and school staff to envision safe schools andfutures.

The week also centers around key movement demands, including ending zero tolerance policies, ending policing in schools and funding counselors instead, reducing the pushout of Black teachers, promoting restorative justice approaches to discipline, and mandating Black history and ethnic studiescourses.

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Go ahead and share with us, out loud, some things that youve learned so far about the Divine Nine, Forbes instructs, referring to her lesson on historically Black fraternities and sororities. She picks astudent sitting toward the back of theroom.

Theyre there to create social change for future generations, the student says eagerly, glancing up from the jotted-down notes in front ofhim.

Forbes classroom is decorated with artwork made by her studentsthose assigned to her classes, and others whove poked their heads in during free periods or after-school club activities. Earlier in the week, Forbes organized aschoolwide paint-and-sip as part of the Week of Action, in which students detailed on small canvases colorful interpretations of the Black power salute, ornate impressions of the Black Lives Matter slogan, and atraditional Sankofa symbol (from the Akan people of Ghana) meaning go back and getit.

This day, other teachers at Freedom High join in midway through the class to support Forbes lesson, answering questions about Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Zeta Phi Beta, all three of which were founded on the nearby Howard University campus by Black students in the early 1900s to promote public service, community, and politicalaction.

But the Week of Action is about more than classroom lessons. Earlier in the week, teachers throughout D.C. and the surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia met at Creole on 14th, apopular brunch and happy hour spot in the busy, racially diverse neighborhood of Columbia Heights to call each other to action. Vanessa Williams, 31, who works as program manager for Teaching for Changes D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, organized an unapologetically Black educator story lounge event with Empower Ed to offer teachers amicrophone to share personal narratives to highlight the importance of liberatory teachingpractices.

Oftentimes, were not present at the table when these decisions are being discussed about policy, legislation, et cetera, shared Gabrielle Dubose, an educator at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and aspeaker at the story lounge. They need to hear fromteachers.

The theme of silence and resistance was mentioned repeatedly throughout thenight.

Its harder to do this work on an island or in asilo, Williams says. Its so important to center educators voicesgiving Black educators space where there are no stakes. This is not astaff meeting. Its an opportunity for people to relate to one another and find thatcommunity.

Events like the story lounge, and lessons like Forbes, are exactly what Aryee-Price had hoped for. Revolution stemming from class lessons, spilling out through the hallways and into the streets is exactly what Black Lives Matter Week of Action isabout.

This goes beyond just the week, says Aryee-Price. Its alifetime ofpractice.

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Black Educators Are Reimagining A Better School System - In These Times