An Augusta community foundation acted as an unwitting pass-through for $25,000 in donations to white nationalist Richard Spencer's organization, according to the Los Angeles Times:
The Georgia group, the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, which promotes philanthropy to a wide range of causes and counts the Masters golf tournament as one of its biggest donors, is based in Augusta and gives away between $5 million to $9 million a year.
Its chief executive, Shell K. Berry, said the donations to Spencer's group came from a "donor-advised fund" — a common arrangement in the charity world in which a donor gives money to one group with the intention of having it forwarded to others. The arrangement can offer the donor tax benefits as well as anonymity.
The Foundation serves as administrator of what is, in essence, a community endowment, a collection of gifts, large and small, unrestricted and donor advised, given to enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Richmond, Columbia, McDuffie and Burke Counties in Georgia, and Aiken and Edgefield Counties in South Carolina.
A list of the foundation's board members can be found here. They include the vice chairman of the state Board of Regents, James M. Hull. Among those listed as honorary board members: former Georgia congressman Doug Barnard and William Morris, chairman of the Morris newspaper chain.
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