Hiring Our Heroes: False Claims vs. Facts

FALSE CLAIM: The U.S. Chamber Foundation is receiving funds from the Tides Foundation, a “left-wing activist group.”

FACT: No, the Tides Foundation operates donor-advised funds that manage charitable contributions on behalf of clients. The Chamber Foundation received money from corporations who choose to support our work and used their Tides accounts to do so. The terms of the grants are discussed between the corporate donor and the Chamber Foundation.

• The Tides Foundation Is a Donor-Advised Fund that Allows “An Individual or Company to Give Money to One Nonprofit and Direct Those Funds as Grants to Other Nonprofits …” (Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 05/06/24)

FALSE CLAIM: The Chamber Foundation is receiving funding from and being influenced by organizations and individuals antithetical to its stated pro-business mission.

FACT: No, the Chamber Foundation has long-established programs and priorities, and companies choose to support them financially, in this case principally the Hiring Our Heroes program.

• Through The Tides Foundation, Corporations Have Given Grants to the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Foundation for its Hiring Our Heroes Program. “Both Tides and the Chamber say the primary purpose of the grant was to support the foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program, which connects the military community with employment opportunities, training and resources.” (Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 05/16/24)
• Since 2011, Hiring Our Heroes “Has Provided Free Training to More Than 9,000 Service Members, Issued More Than 5,000 Certificates and Reported Nearly 2,400 Positive Job Outcomes Including Job Offers and Promotions as a Result of Those Certificates.” (Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 05/16/24)
• Breitbart Admits “The Money from the Tides Foundation … Went to Support the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Work on It's ‘Hiring Our Heroes’ Veterans Jobs Program.” (Matthew Boyle, Breitbart, 05/16/24)

READ MORE:​ U.S. Chamber Foundation Letter to Ways & Means Committee

FALSE CLAIM: The Chamber is obligated to disclose more information to get to the truth of this matter.

FACT: No. The Chamber Foundation is in full compliance with our obligations regarding donor disclosure. To ask for more disclosures goes against the Constitutional rights that protect nonprofit donors’ privacy.

• A Recent Congressional Letter to the Chamber and Its Foundation “Does Not Outline Specific Allegations That Either Organization Ran Afoul of Rules Governing Nonprofits.” (Alex Daniels, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 5/8/24)
• Bipartisan Consensus Supports Recent Supreme Court Decisions Protect Rights Relating to Donor Privacy. “‘There’s a pretty strong left-center-right consensus about the importance of First Amendment freedom of associational rights and not being required to disclose,’ Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the Chamber, told The Hill. In recent years, the Supreme Court has upheld the privacy of donors to tax-exempt organizations, striking down a California law requiring nonprofits to disclose their donors in 2021.” (Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 05/16/24)
• Even The House Ways and Means Committee Supports Legislation Banning the Federal Government from Collecting Information from American Donors to Nonprofits. “The Ways and Means Committee marked up a bill Wednesday focused on transparency into foreign funding of tax-exempt organizations, which included a provision that would prevent the federal government from collecting or requiring ‘the submission of information on the identification to a tax-exempt organization.’” (Taylor Giorno, The Hill, 05/16/24)