Episode 613 Show Notes- Exposed: The Multi-Billion Nonprofit Grift You’re Paying For
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Episode Description
In this episode of The P.A.S. Report, Professor Nick Giordano explores the dark underbelly of the nonprofit world – a multi-billion-dollar taxpayer-funded racket where political elites funnel public money to so-called nonprofits that push a political agenda and are packed with cronies, former officials, and even their own family members. While the public believes nonprofits serve the vulnerable, the reality is far murkier. Professor Giordano breaks down how massive grants, like the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, are quietly handed to nonprofits enriching the politically connected and do little to serve the public good. Instead, they operate as ideological slush funds by distributing billions of tax dollars with little oversight, reward insiders, and advance partisan agendas, at the taxpayer’s expense. This is the episode the government doesn’t want you to hear.
Episode Highlights:
- Discover how nonprofits have evolved from serving the needy to becoming vehicles for political influence, activism, and partisan agendas.
- Learn how billions in taxpayer dollars are being funneled to nonprofits with direct ties to political insiders, former officials, and family members of elected leaders.
- Expose how your tax dollars are being weaponized as ideological slush funds to reward allies and advance left-wing priorities, with little oversight or accountability.
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Show Notes- Exposed: The Multi-Billion Nonprofit Grift You’re Paying For
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the PAS Report Podcast
01:53 The Nonprofit Scam: An Overview
09:57 The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: A Case Study
16:57 The Political Agenda Behind Nonprofits
25:22 Demand for Accountability and Reform
Welcome to The P.A.S. Report Podcast
[Auto-Generated Transcript]
Welcome to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. This is your host Professor Nick Giordano. Make sure you follow and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. Also, visit the P.A.S. Report website at pasreport.com, and share this episode with your family and friends.
Also, if you haven’t had a chance to listen, I dropped the second episode of the America’s Founding Series on Thursday. I focused on Crispus Attucks to tell his fascinating story. It’s one you will certainly want to hear, so check it out, and I’ve got a great episode lined up for this Thursday that will focus on a little-known founding father who had a profound impact on our country, especially our Constitution. Trust me, you won’t want to miss that, so keep it tuned in here at The P.A.S. Report podcast.
Getting to today, people are still talking about Trump administration officials using the messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive information. Some have even dubbed it as Signal-gate, and Democrats are hoping that this is the thing that begins to allow their party to recapture the narrative, but it isn’t working. Also, I spoke to George Hill, someone whose analysis I deeply respect, and he cautioned that there may be more than meets the eye here. I’m going to have him on to discuss, because his explanation is one that makes the greatest sense and is more thoughtful than anything I have heard so far.
In any event, I will let you know when he’s coming on. For today, I want to talk about the nonprofit scam because billions of our tax dollars are flowing into these so-called nonprofits, and so it’s important to look at what they do and what they don’t do, especially the ones that portray themselves as charities.
You know, when most people think of nonprofits, they think of selfless organizations doing critical, often thankless work, like feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, responding to natural disasters, supporting our veterans, and protecting victims of domestic abuse. That’s the image we all carry. Thinking of soup kitchens or providing shelter to those in need. Those are noble endeavors. But something sinister has happened over the years.
And to be fair, you still have many exceptional nonprofits that do incredible work. There are countless dedicated people out there on the frontlines who genuinely care about helping others, and they deserve our respect, gratitude, and support.
But there is an uglier side to this. A side that can no longer be ignored because it has been going on for far too long.
There are some nonprofits that have quietly evolved into something else. Something far more complex and, frankly, far more corrupt. What was once a network of grassroots efforts driven by service and goodwill has ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar industry. In many cases, it’s become a sophisticated scheme to funnel money to enrich others. Even worse is when public money, our tax dollars, are being funneled into the hands of political allies, former government officials, well-connected insiders, and even family members of sitting lawmakers.
In other cases, nonprofits have become vehicles to push a political agenda under the guise of charity. And the worst part? There’s almost no accountability. These organizations rake in taxpayer money while operating in the shadows, with little transparency and even less scrutiny.
Even in cases where it’s not about cronies or politics, the nonprofit world – what we used to call philanthropy – has become incredibly lucrative. Remember when philanthropy meant sacrificing for a cause? Giving generously, making an impact, serving others? That’s largely disappeared.
Today, it’s about making bank. Let me give you just a couple of examples:
The CEO of the Red Cross makes over $780,000 a year.
The CEO of Feeding America pulls in nearly $970,000 annually.
The average executive compensation for executives at Catholic Charities USA, yes, the same Catholic Charities that John Fawcett talked about two weeks ago on this show, the average executive compensation is approximately $238,000.
Now ask yourselves, these are nonprofit organizations. I don’t begrudge anyone for making a living, but when executives at so-called charities are making double or even triple what the President of the United States earns, we have a problem. These were never meant to be high-rolling positions. Yet that’s exactly what they’ve become. They are lucrative, elite gigs, and some of them are supported by your tax dollars.
And that brings me to the real kicker in all of this. Something you probably haven’t heard much about: the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. I want to talk about this fund because it goes to the heart of the nonprofit scam.
The Biden administration created this $27 billion fund as part of its so-called climate agenda. But in the final days before leaving office, $20 billion of that was rushed out the door to a handful of hand-picked nonprofit organizations, many of which were barely even in existence a few months earlier, and are loaded with political operatives, Democratic donors, and insiders.
We’re going to dig into that in detail in the next segment. But I want you to keep this question in mind:
Is this really charity… or is it just a taxpayer-funded slush fund disguised as public service?
Break
The Nonprofit Political Pipeline
Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. So now that we’ve exposed the myth of the modern nonprofit, let’s dive into one of the most egregious examples, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund because this organization serves as a great real-world example for what I’m talking about.
The Fund was created under the Inflation Reduction Act, which, as most of us know, had very little to do with reducing inflation and a lot more to do with growing the size and reach of government, all in the name of climate change. One of the selling points of this fund was “climate justice,” a vague term that they try to make sound noble but is nothing more than an attempt to justify funneling massive amounts of tax money into ideological pet projects.
This fund totaled $27 billion, and here’s where it gets really interesting: $20 billion of it was rushed out the door right after Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election but before President Trump could take office. That’s right. During the lame-duck period, when the Biden administration knew their time was up, they fast-tracked billions of your hard-earned tax dollars to a handful of hand-picked nonprofits.
One of the selling points of this fund was “climate justice,” a vague term that they try to make sound noble but is nothing more than an attempt to justify funneling massive amounts of tax money into ideological pet projects.
And these weren’t your typical household names. Most of these groups were formed just months earlier and had no prior track record managing anything close to this level of funding. They also had little to no prior experience within the climate change industry itself. What they did have in common was that many of these groups were deeply embedded with Democratic political operatives and donors.
Let me highlight one of the biggest winners: Climate United, which was awarded $6.9 billion in tax dollars.
Climate United is not a long-established, time-tested nonprofit. It’s a coalition of three nonprofits that conveniently joined forces in June 2023, right after it became clear that the grant money was up for grabs because, in government, timing is everything, and there are no such things as coincidences.
Among the three is the Community Preservation Corporation, which snagged $2.4 billion of the pot. And here’s where things get even more disturbing.
Climate United’s CEO is Beth Bafford, who served in the Obama administration in the Office of Management and Budget.
Their chief strategy officer, Phil Aroneanu, worked as a “strategic adviser” to the Department of Energy during the final two years of the Biden administration.
The reason I point that out is that it demonstrates the revolving door in action. You have government officials move into nonprofits, and suddenly those nonprofits are first in line when the taxpayer money starts flowing. And I do want to make it clear that its not just about nonprofits. We see something similar when a General retires and then they go sit on the board of a defense contractor. It’s the same thing, but at least it’s not pawned off as charity.
Now let’s talk numbers. The CEO of Community Preservation Corporation, that’s one of Climate United’s partners, made $1.5 million in 2023. And this is supposedly a nonprofit.
Does any of this sound like a charity to you?
Because here’s what’s really going on. These so-called nonprofits are actually pass-through entities. They apply for massive federal grants. Once approved, the executives pay themselves hefty six- or seven-figure salaries off the top, then turn around and distribute whatever money’s left to smaller organizations in the form of “subgrants.”
That way, on paper, it looks like they’re meeting the requirements of the grant. But in reality, they’re just middlemen, siphoning off taxpayer dollars and enriching themselves along the way. The public gets sold on climate progress. What we really get is a new class of elite bureaucrats cashing in on our dime.
And worst of all? There is virtually no oversight. No transparency. No follow-up to ensure the money is being used as intended. The government throws money at these groups and walks away. It’s the perfect racket. They’ll say it’s about climate justice. What I see is legalized theft of our hard earned money.
So, where is our money really going? We’ll get into that next because once you follow the money trail, you’ll see its not about charity. It’s about enriching elites or pushing an ideological agenda, and in many cases, its both of those things so everyone hang tight, and we will be right back.
Break
Beyond the Grift: Weaponizing Nonprofits for Ideological Control
Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report. Last segment I talked about the grift, and using one example.
I want to reiterate that, used one example, think about how many more examples exist out there, we uncovered how billions of taxpayer dollars were funneled to newly formed, politically connected nonprofits with almost no oversight.
Nonprofits with little to no infrastructure, run by the politically connected, many of whom are making six- or seven-figure salaries on the taxpayer’s dime. But this isn’t just about corruption. It’s not just about rewarding your friends and cronies with taxpayer money.
This segment is about something even more disturbing: how that money is being used to target you.
Yes, these nonprofits enrich the politically connected, but they also advance a highly ideological agenda. An agenda that is increasingly hostile to dissent. An agenda that promotes government overreach, censorship, and the reengineering of society under the banner of climate justice, social justice, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. And this isn’t just about enriching elites; it’s about using your money to fundamentally reshape society.
Let’s take Power Forward Communities, which was awarded $2 billion. It’s a coalition of five nonprofits, including Rewiring America, Enterprise Community Partners, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity. On paper, that sounds great, right? But dig deeper.
Rewiring America was formed in August 2023, just weeks after the grant window opened. It was awarded nearly $490 million through Power Forward. Its goal? Replace fossil fuel-powered appliances in your home with electric ones, all in the name of “climate equity.”
Its special counsel is Stacey Abrams, and its CEO is an Obama White House alum who donated thousands to Kamala Harris’s campaign. This has nothing to do with efficiency. This is about control over what you drive, what you cook with, even how you heat your home. It’s actually insulting; they are paying themselves enormous sums of money from tax-paying Americans, and then dictate to us how we should live our lives.
Then there’s the Coalition for Green Capital, awarded $5 billion despite reporting only $2.4 million in total expenditures the year before. Its CEO, Richard Kauffman, donated over $600,000 to Democrats since 2020 and served as Emperor Cuomo’s “energy czar.” Its board includes Biden appointees and former Obama officials.
This isn’t charity. These are political operatives.
But it gets worse.
This money isn’t just being used to push climate policy or green energy. It’s being used to fund the very institutions that are working to suppress your voice and censor your views.
In fact, the alliance between nonprofits, government agencies, and the academic elite has become one of the greatest threats to free speech and individual liberty in America. As I’ve written before in Fox News, we’ve seen a coordinated effort to outsource government censorship to nonprofit groups and university “disinformation labs.”
Their efforts include flagging social media posts, blacklisting news outlets, branding dissenting voices as “extremists,” and developing tools to silence Americans.
Your tax dollars funded that.
They call it “civic integrity.” They call it “climate equity.” But it’s really a soft-authoritarian apparatus, cloaked in moral language because remember, these are the moral holy warriors of the 21st century. And it’s all designed to silence you, to surveil you, and to fundamentally transform the values of this country without your consent.
Just look at how these nonprofits describe their missions: “Environmental justice.” “Rewiring communities for equity.” “Combating disinformation.”
These are all sanitized phrases for government-funded ideological enforcement. It’s not about helping the poor anymore. It’s about reprogramming society, and ensuring that only one worldview, one agenda, is allowed to thrive. And while they’re busy doing all this, they’re getting rich off it too.
Let me bring in one final example: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
His wife, Sandra, has received nearly $2.7 million from a nonprofit called Ocean Conservancy—either directly or through her consulting firm, Ocean Wonks. Ocean Conservancy received over $14 million in federal grants, including a $5.2 million grant funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Senator Whitehouse voted for. Another grant came from the EPA, again funded by legislation Whitehouse supported.
So let’s break this down:
A U.S. Senator votes to approve taxpayer funding → the government awards a grant to a nonprofit → that nonprofit pays his wife millions of dollars.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s a fact. The numbers are real. The names are real. The grants are real.
And finally, some people in power want to end the grift. You people like EPA administrator Lee Zeldin working hand in hand with the DOGE team, and that’s how we know about the climate scam, where billions of dollars are being funneled to the politically connected.
We need to stop the gravy train of our tax dollars going to political elites and ideological agendas, and I will talk about how we break this cycle after a quick break. So, hang tight,t and we will be right back.
Break
The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. So, let’s bring this full circle.
What we’ve exposed in this episode isn’t charity, it’s not to fill a void or help those in need – it’s a political racket. A taxpayer-funded scheme masquerading as altruism.
We’ve seen how billions of dollars have been handed to politically connected nonprofits, tied to former administration officials, political donors, and activist insiders. These groups aren’t out there feeding the poor or housing the homeless or helping victims of domestic abuse. Instead, they’re pushing an ideological agenda, enriching their leadership, and acting as middlemen in a money-laundering operation with a tax-exempt stamp.
And all of this is being done out in the open.
The public pays the bill, while a small class of elites walk away with the money, the power, and the narrative. This is the game. And it’s played in plain sight.
Frankly, this issue deserves the full force of investigative journalism. It’s tailor-made for a major outlet with the resources, the research teams, and the funding to track where this money goes, who’s really benefiting, and how deep the rot goes. Because I guarantee you, what we’ve covered today is just the tip of the iceberg.
I wish I had the time, the staff, and the access to pour through every grant the government issues, every contract awarded, and every nonprofit on the receiving end of your hard-earned tax dollars. But I’m just one person that believes the truth matters.
And I would bet that this game is played on both sides of the aisle, but it doesn’t mean we can’t call them out regardless of if they are Democrats or Republicans. There should be zero tolerance for any public official uses their power and influence to enrich themselves, their families, and their friends. Enough is enough.
Nor should our tax dollars be used to fuel political agendas. I would bet any of you Democrat listeners would not like it if your tax dollars were being used to fund conservative causes and issues.
This is no different and all of us can demand oversight, transparency, and reform. We also need to demand accountability as well. If there is any criminality involved, those involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Contact your elected officials. Ask them tough questions. Where is this money going? Who’s profiting from it? Why aren’t these nonprofits being audited and held accountable?
And share this episode. If it opened your eyes, it’ll open someone else’s. The only way to break this cycle is expose it and make sure more Americans know what’s happening with their tax dollars.
Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just about waste. It’s about power. It’s about how the government is using so-called nonprofits to enrich its allies, silence its critics, and reshape the country.
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I want to thank you for joining me and I have a great interview lined up for Wednesday so make sure you tune in.
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