The political nonprofit aligned with outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., saw a spike in contributions through the middle of last year, as Republicans were adjusting to President Trump’s unorthodox leadership.
American Action Network will report raising $41.9 million from July 2016 through the end of June of last year, a period that covered Trump’s accepting the Republican presidential nomination through the first few rocky months of his administration. The previous 12 months, the group raised just $14.5 million.
“This past year AAN has set, and met, record-breaking fundraising goals, which will allow us to continue educating Americans on the benefits of meaningful, pro-growth tax reform, and advocate for center-right policies in the coming year,” AAN executive director Corry Bliss said in a statement shared first with the Washington Examiner.
As a political nonprofit, American Action Network can raise money in unlimited amounts and does not have to disclose its donors; invited to reveal contributors for this story, the group declined to do so.
However, political nonprofits are prohibited from engaging in overt political activity and must center their advocacy around policy. Money raised by AAN was invested in advertising that encouraged members of Congress to support the Republican agenda on Capitol Hill, with an emphasis on legislation to overhaul the tax code and reform healthcare.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, AAN’s affiliated super PAC, handles the direct politicking.
Under rules for political nonprofits, such organizations are able to offer financial grants to other committees or organizations. AAN took advantage of that by giving $6.6 million to CLF; $2.1 million to Ending Spending, a Republican big money group linked to the Ricketts family; and $1 million to the committee that paid for Trump’s inauguration.
Ryan, who is set to step down as speaker and retire from Congress at year’s end, has proven a fundraising juggernaut, helping direct millions of dollars toward AAN and CLF. As he transitions out, the groups are going to have to rely on his possible successors to keep donors interested in contributing to these groups.
