MAGA influencer who crowdfunded almost $200K for charity still sitting on bulk of cash

10 February 2024

Conservative social media darling CJ Pearson raised almost $200,000 for small businesses on GoFundMe in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the country in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The young MAGA celebrity is now seeking elected office, but questions still linger about his stewardship of money donated to that effort and various other crowdfunding campaigns.

The Daily Beast recently reported that Pearson — who is running for the Georgia state legislature in a three-way GOP primary for a special election in a safe Republican House district this Tuesday — has still not distributed the bulk of the money raised from the viral GoFundMe effort. Pearson initially launched the campaign in the summer of 2020 to help Black-owned businesses that had suffered damages from anti-police brutality riots, and by the end of that year, had raised roughly $182,000.

"Over the course of the next few days, I will be working to identify black owned businesses—throughout the country—that suffered damages due to recent events of rioting and looting in their city," Pearson wrote on GoFundMe. "These funds will be used to offset the cost of damages, renovations, and loss of business.

"This is an opportunity for conservatives to show the black community that we stand in support of them, capitalism, and the sacrifices they made to become entrepreneurs in the first place," he added, saying that he would be "partnering with the Georgia Association of Minority Entrepreneurs — a registered 501c(3) nonprofit organization — to do this." The Beast noted that Pearson lied about GAME being a c(3) — which is for charitable organizations — whereas it is actually a c(6) organization, which is for commercial purposes.

Moreover, the Beast reported that roughly six months after launching the campaign, Pearson had only distributed $10,000 to one business — Wilbourn Sisters Designs. However, this earned the conservative influencer a flattering profile in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, complete with a photo-op of him handing a giant check to Wilbourn's owners.

In tax years 2021 and 2022, GAME only distributed a combined $47,000 in funds, and distributed $0 in grants in all of 2023. Because each individual grant was so small, the organization wasn't required to name the recipients, so who benefited from those disbursements remains unknown. GAME's 2021 filing shows a $30,000 expenditure for "marketing and PR," but did not name who was paid. It likewise spent $10,000 on marketing and PR expenses in 2023.

"While GAME raised small amounts each year after 2020—such as $20,000 in 2022—it’s clear the huge sum it raised to help victims of property damage has sat largely unused four years later, long after most businesses would have needed those funds to recover," the Beast's Sam Brodey wrote.

Click here to read the Beast's report in full (subscription required).

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