John William Pope Foundation

The John William Pope Foundation is chaired by North Carolina businessman Art Pope. A 2010 Facing South analysis of the Pope Foundation's tax filings shows it has given over $1.3 million to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation since 2004, making Pope the group's second largest institutional backer in the country. In an April 9, 2009 article on ThinkProgress.org, Lee Fang reports that the principal organizers of Tea Party Patriots events are Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works.

Overall, the 2010 Facing South analysis of tax records found that the Pope Foundation supplies about 90 percent of the income of leading conservative nonprofits in North Carolina, such as the John Locke Foundation and the Civitas Institute, as well as the N.C. branch of Americans for Prosperity. These groups have been active in opposing climate change legislation and renewable energy.

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