The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit known for its work against hate groups, reported an endowment exceeding $700 million and over $30 million in offshore accounts, likely in the Cayman Islands, according to its latest IRS Form 990 filing for November 2023 to October 2024.
Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, expressed concerns about these foreign accounts, stating, “It’s very odd and frankly raises suspicion that a nonprofit organization would have accounts in places like the Cayman Islands, or as they reported $30 million in Central America.”
He added, “The Cayman Islands has always been known as one of these places that people select to hide their money from the government.”
Staver, representing the Dustin Inman Society in a defamation lawsuit against the SPLC, called for the organization to explain why a public charity maintains such offshore investments, questioning the transparency of its financial practices.
Revenue, Expenditures, and Leadership Compensation
The SPLC’s financial filing reveals significant revenue and spending, with $106 million in contributions and $129 million in total revenue, including investment interest, for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
The organization allocated $47 million to salaries and wages and $94 million to program service expenses, maintaining net assets of $786.8 million and endowment funds of $738.4 million.
Leadership compensation is notably high, with President and CEO Margaret Huang earning a base salary of $466,934 plus $55,806 in benefits, far exceeding Montgomery, Alabama’s median income of $60,739.
Most SPLC leaders earned over $200,000, though Interim CEO Rebecca Latin and Chief Communications Officer Julian Teixeira received $161,050 and $189,592, respectively.
Despite its wealth, the SPLC laid off roughly 25% of its staff last fall, with former employees alleging the layoffs targeted union members, raising questions about internal management practices.
Controversial Practices and Grant Allocations
The SPLC, historically recognized for bankrupting Ku Klux Klan groups, publishes an annual “hate map” that lists mainstream conservative and Christian organizations, such as Turning Point USA, Focus on the Family, and PragerU, alongside extremist groups.
Critics, including a former employee who dubbed the SPLC a “poverty palace” in 2019, have called its hate accusations a “highly-profitable scam.”
The organization’s grant activities include $106,000 to eight educational institutions through its Learning for Justice program, which promotes progressive educational initiatives, and $275,000 to the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit tied to Arabella Advisors that supported Biden administration advisors.
The SPLC’s $30.7 million in offshore investments, primarily in the Cayman Islands, and $186,000 in North American investments outside the U.S., continue a decade-long practice of offshore holdings, prompting calls for greater accountability from a nonprofit benefiting from public support.
