American Family Association

American Renewal Project

 

The American Renewal Project is a project of the American Family Association, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as a hate group. In the words of the SPLC, “The ARP is designed specifically to drive evangelical pastors into politics in an attempt to establish a Christian theocracy in America.” Funded with seed money from conservative megadonor Bob Perry, and headed by “Christian-nation extremist David Lane,” the group seeks to motivate pastors into turning their pulpits into GOTV operations for Christian conservative candidates.

Lane “has also been called in as a weapon for the right, helping in special-issue campaigns like the successful 2010 unseating of three Iowa state supreme court justices who upheld gay marriage in that state.” Lane’s rhetoric is often incendiary; in one World Net Daily essay, he called on Christians to be “retrained to war for the Soul of America, and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the ‘Separation of Church and State…’” and further “hinted at Christian martyrdom to stop same-sex marriage.”

ARP is heavily involved in helping the Republican party win elections. In 2014, ARP worked with Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, and Mike Huckabee – all seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination – to produce radio ads urging “God’s people” to vote in the midterms. However, Lane has also “complained that the Republican Party establishment was not taking a strong enough stand against homosexuality.”   Similarly, he has “complained bitterly about Jeb Bush’s hiring of pro-marriage-equality campaign staff.”

Funding has come from the Thirteen Foundation, formed by conservative megadonor Farris Wilks. The Thirteen Foundation contributed significant funding to Life Dynamics, who assisted in the release of the Center for Medical Progress videos attacking Planned Parenthood.

13 transactions on record as a recipient.

Ordered By: Year (Newer to Older)

#
Donor
Recipient
Amount
Year
Link
1National Christian Charitable FoundationAmerican Family Association$12,808,3492014+
2Center to Protect Patient RightsAmerican Family Association$50,0002012+
3It Takes A Family FoundationAmerican Family Association$100,0002012+
4National Christian Charitable FoundationAmerican Family Association$419,6172012+
5National Christian Charitable FoundationAmerican Family Association$419,6172012+
6Donors Capital FundAmerican Family Association$25,0002007+
7It Takes A Family FoundationAmerican Family Association$100,0002007+
8Bill and Berniece Grewcock FoundationAmerican Family Association$20,0002003+
9Bill and Berniece Grewcock FoundationAmerican Family Association$20,0002002+
10Bill and Berniece Grewcock FoundationAmerican Family Association$20,0002001+
11Bill and Berniece Grewcock FoundationAmerican Family Association$10,0002000+
12Bill and Berniece Grewcock FoundationAmerican Family Association$10,0001999+
13Bill and Berniece Grewcock FoundationAmerican Family Association$10,0001998+
The transactions in Conservative Transparency are based on information reported by the donors and exclude 'dark money' raised by the recipients from unknown donors that are not in the database. For more information about our methodology, visit our about page.