John, in this email, we’re going to ask you to make a monthly donation to CREW to help us keep fighting dark money in politics over the long term.

If you know our work, and you’re ready to make a monthly donation now, you can click here to donate. But if you want to learn more about our work first, we’ll explain more below:

Why does CREW care about dark money?

The Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowed corporate entities and certain tax-exempt groups to spend money to influence elections. That has led to an increase in these groups being used to get around campaign finance laws that require donor disclosure by political actors.

Since these groups don’t disclose donors, it is nearly impossible for the public to know the interests behind them that are trying to influence their votes. But politicians who benefit may know and those interests may be buying influence.

We believe that our politicians should be acting for and representing the people, not their biggest donors. So we’re fighting back against dark money in politics – and we have a lot of ways to do it.

We file complaints, launch investigations and reach out to press to spread the word about dark money. We also advocate for legal and policy changes to increase transparency.

Does CREW’s work make a difference?

Yes! That’s why we’re asking for your support to continue the work.

Since 2010, CREW has filed nearly two dozen complaints with the FEC targeting dark money, making us one of the biggest players when it comes to fighting back on secretive spending in our elections.

The FEC is notorious for inaction, but even in that difficult environment, we’re making a real difference.

• In cases that have been closed, the FEC’s Office of General Counsel has recommended finding reason to believe a violation occurred in roughly 2/3 of CREW’s dark money complaints.
• The FEC has launched investigations in HALF of CREW’s dark money cases that earned that recommendation.
• And CREW dark money complaints have led to a total of $583,000 in fines.

And that’s just our FEC work! Since 2010, CREW has also filed 34 complaints with the IRS requesting that they investigate whether politically-active section 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6) nonprofits are violating their tax-exempt status or failing to accurately report their election-related activity.

We’ve also supported legislation in Congress that would limit the influence of dark money and require donors be disclosed.

Basically, we’re pursuing any—and every—avenue we can to fight the influence of dark money in politics.

Congress has repeatedly failed to pass legislation reigning in dark money groups. The IRS and FEC won’t take action. And the courts don’t always help.

So it’s up to us to make a difference, John. And that’s why we’re asking for your help.

Since 2010, CREW has been committed to fighting big money and dark money in politics – and we want to continue the work. But these fights take years, and we need resources to keep them up over the long term.

That’s why today, we’re asking you to make a monthly donation to CREW. Your donation will help us in the months and years to come as we continue to fight for transparency and get dark money out of politics.

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Thanks for your support,

CREW HQ