After wildfires devastated Southern California in January 2025 — killing hundreds and destroying nearly 20,000 homes by some estimates — a nonprofit organization called FireAid held a celebrity-studded benefit concert to raise funds and provide relief to those affected.
A report released by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday alleges that the “funds raised for fire victims have been used for purposes wholly unrelated to fire relief” and, as evidence of this, cites a number of racial advocacy groups that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants out of the roughly $100 million raised in support of victims.
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“[B]ased on internal documents reviewed by the Committee, instead of helping fire victims, donations made to FireAid helped to fund causes and projects completely unrelated to fire recovery, including voter participation for Native Americans, illegal aliens, podcast shows, and fungus planting,” Judiciary Committee staff wrote in their report.
Materials published by the nonprofits that took money from FireAid, however, claim that those groups indeed mobilized to assist victims of the January 2025 wildfires.
As one example, the House committee report pointed to the Black Music Action Coalition receiving $500,000 from FireAid. The report detailed how the organization’s mission is to “create a unified force of action for racial equity and justice within the music industry” and zeroed in on its policy advocacy activities.
“It is unclear how the Black Music Action Coalition spent its FireAid grants,” the report reads.
BMAC 2025 impact report, however, claims that the organization raised $400,000 to launch its “ReStore and ReBuild LA Fire Fund.” The organization, according to its year-end report, raised a further $500,000 to provide cash transfers and support services to families impacted by fires — including $10,000 grants intended to assist single mothers. BMAC also held fundraising events for the benefit of fire victims, raised awareness for them at music events, and invited artists to visit their communities.
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Recovery efforts in the Los Angeles-area towns hit by the fires last year have been stubbornly slow. Fewer than a dozen homes have reportedly been rebuilt, although the fires destroyed thousands. And bureaucracy has held back the progress significantly, with local government officials struggling to issue building permits through a maze of red tape.
FireAid featured a massive concert in January 2025 and was one of many private efforts to raise money for victims.
My Tribe Rise, another African American activist organization, was also listed in the House Judiciary Committee report as receiving $200,000 from FireAid. Committee staff highlighted the fact that the organization’s mission is to create “programs that meet the immediate needs of working-class, elderly, and disabled Black residents of Altadena and Pasadena.”
The webpage that the committee cited to pull My Tribe Rise’s mission statement, however, includes details about how the organization has assisted in wildfire recovery efforts. According to the organization, it has provided direct funding to fire victims to assist them in covering rent and mortgage payments. It has also held registration drives to connect those affected by the fires with relevant resources, per the webpage cited in the committee report.
A request form maintained by the nonprofit suggests that they provided food, transportation, clothing, furniture, legal assistance, therapy services, security, and construction assistance to people affected by the fires.
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Community Organized Relief Efforts, another organization named in the committee report for receiving $250,000 from FireAid, was deeply involved in efforts to assist fire victims from the very beginning. During the initial phase of its fire relief efforts, the nonprofit distributed “thousands of cases of water, hygiene kits, N95 masks, kid-friendly gift bags, air purifiers, and feminine sanitary products” to those affected.
The nonprofit also provided $2.4 million in cash assistance to victims during its initial phase, an average of $760 per person, according to a press release.
As months have passed since the fires, CORE’s assistance has grown to $3.6 million in cash assistance and 44,000 units of supplies. The organization is now focusing on a five-year community recovery plan that combines rebuilding residences, continued cash assistance, mental health support, and case management.
Judiciary committee staff specifically took issue with the fact that CORE listed “undocumented migrants” as one of their priority groups. CORE explained that illegal immigrants are at “high risk of housing instability, economic hardship, exploitation, and homelessness” and should thus be prioritized in relief efforts.
Some of the organizations singled out in the House report, however, do not have well-documented efforts aimed at assisting victims of the 2025 wildfires, whereas others are less clear-cut.
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The NAACP Pasadena, for instance, received $100,000 from FireAid, per the report. While the NAACP’s Pasadena chapter does not appear to have posted about wildfire relief on its website, the NAACP has reported wildfire relief efforts in the area on its main website. Other groups, like the CA Native Vote Project and the Los Angeles Black Workers Center, do not have wide-spread reports attesting to their wildfire recovery efforts. Absence of evidence to that end, however, does not prove that these groups misused funds.
The House Judiciary Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
