logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in Fiscal Distress

Rick Cohen
December 14, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

December 10, 2011; Source: New York Post | The Rev. Al Sharpton has had a number of lives, emerging as a player in national politics defending President Obama in the African-American community against criticisms from Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, and, most recently as the host of the MSNBC show “PoliticsNation.” Those of us with New York City histories remember Rev. Al’s nonprofit provenance, his National Action Network, an activist group that provided the organizational structure for many of Sharpton’s protests. Even now, with Sharpton increasingly on the national scene, the Network is still actively conducting demonstrations around social and economic issues, for example the National Action Network Jobs and Justice rallies in twenty-five cities, a campaign to remove two Morehouse Parish school board members in Louisiana, and the Shake-Off the Violence tour in Harlem, involving NAN’s twelve-year-old Northeast Regional Director of the Youth, Victoria Pannell.

NAN is also financially troubled, according to an article in the New York Post. The Post’s investigative team, led by Isabel Vincent, reports that the National Action Network and two for-profit Sharpton companies were together $5.3 million in the red. The Post cites a debt of $1.6 million—$880,000 in unpaid federal payroll taxes (plus interest and penalties) and $206,252 in loans to the two for-profit Sharpton entities (Bo-Spanky Consulting and Sharpton Media LLC). Another entity, the defunct Rev-Al Communications, owes New York State $176,000. Despite his salary of $241,732 from NAN, Sharpton personally owes the IRS $2.6 million and the state $900,000 in income taxes. Sharpton representatives say that Rev. Al is on a repayment plan for his personal debts and that the Network is working on a plan to pay off its federal debt.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

These are big numbers for a modestly sized organization to be in the hole for. Sharpton is articulate and quick-witted, but the mosaic of indebtedness of the nonprofit and other Sharpton-affiliated groups—as well as his own debts due to reneging on his taxes—makes it hard to believe that the long-troubled NAN can right itself financially as well as disgorge its tendency toward business dealing with for-profit organizations linked to the controversial activist himself.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about:

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Forerunners of Food Justice: Black Farmer Movement Spans Generations
Demetrius Hunter
What Would a Social Justice Investment Ecosystem Look Like?
Steve Dubb
Measuring Healthcare Equity in North Carolina
Sonia Sarkar
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Remaking the Economy: Caring for the Care Economy
Steve Dubb, Adria Powell and Jenn Stowe

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Fundraising Medicine: Creating Gift Acceptance Policies
Rick Cohen
A Veterans Day Call for Cleaning Out Scamming Faux Veterans...
Rick Cohen
A City in Remission: Can the “Grand Bargain” Revive...
Rick Cohen

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.