Fidelity is blacklisting the civil rights organization that bankrupted the Klan.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent decades exposing violent white supremacists, and its lawsuits have put the Klan and neo-Nazi groups out of business. This April, Trump's Justice Department indicted SPLC in a politically motivated attack meant to shut that work down. 

Then, before a court or jury heard a word, Fidelity Charitable blocked its donors from sending money to SPLC through their donor-advised funds (DAFs), one of the largest sources of charitable giving in the country. 

It's up to us to make sure Black-led and Black-serving organizations have the financial infrastructure to keep serving our communities and defending our rights. Together, let's show financial institutions they can't fall in line with Trump and expect to get away with it.

Our message to the board is simple: Fidelity cannot blacklist civil rights organizations and build the machinery Trump needs to silence the groups willing to stand up to him.

More than 40,000 people have already signed our petition demanding Fidelity reverse course. Fidelity's Board meets this October, and Color Of Change will be there to deliver those signatures in person. We want your name on that petition when we do—help us gather 30,000 more signatures ahead of the next Board meeting!

Here is the Petition:

Trump's Department of Justice is targeting the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the nation's most prominent civil rights organizations, in a blatantly politically-motivated attack. For decades, SPLC has done the critical work that the FBI should be doing—tracking violent extremists before they act. White supremacist violence has been the deadliest domestic terror threat in this country for years. Instead of stopping that violence, Trump’s DOJ is trying to tear down the systems meant to hold white supremacist organizations accountable. Trump dismantled the component  built to investigate such organizations and pushed out the seasoned and specialized attorneys. Trump’s DOJ doesn't prosecute white supremacists. Trump pardons them instead. And now his Justice Department is going after organizations that have kept watch when the federal government wouldn't.

Trump is testing whether corporations, banks, tech platforms, and wealthy institutions will go along with him and help cut off resources to groups challenging racism and authoritarianism. No court has found SPLC guilty of anything, yet despite the presumption of innocence fundamental to our justice system, Fidelity has led the charge to punish SPLC before a jury hears any evidence. SPLC's trial has been delayed to next year, leaving SPLC without funding from DAFs for more than a year.

Fidelity moved first, then Vanguard Charitable, Charles Schwab's DAFgiving360, Goldman Sachs Gives and Thrivent Financial followed. Benevity, the workplace giving platform much of the Fortune 500 uses to process employee donations and company matches, has frozen gifts to SPLC too, so workers who choose to give through their paychecks, no longer can. Plenty of donor-advised fund sponsors have not frozen funding to SPLC, and Groundswell, a workplace-giving platform, has kept honoring those gifts. Nothing is stopping Fidelity from doing likewise, other than Fidelity’s own policies, which have been interpreted differently for right-wing organizations. 

Fidelity's actions to block donations to SPLC are aiding Trump's efforts to take away our collective power to create positive change for all. This is just the latest escalation in the Trump Administration’s attacks on groups that support abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, sex education access, gun control, justice system reform, racial and gender justice, voting rights, climate justice, and more.

The question this raises is bigger than one organization. It's whether Black people will be allowed to organize, advocate, and build power without being punished for it. 

It is time to decide which side of history Fidelity will be on. Fidelity cannot blacklist civil rights organizations and build the machinery Trump needs to attack the groups willing to stand up to him. We stand with the SPLC and call on Fidelity Charitable to demand they reverse course and remove any and all restrictions on funding to the SPLC. 

Color Of Change and its members will continue to stand with partners like the SPLC against the right-wing authoritarian efforts to suppress the movement for civil and human rights for all. We are not backing down from the fight to defend our communities from harm. We stand together, united with allied organizations, more committed than ever.