EXC: Minnesota Somali “Charities” Routed Donations Through ActBlue, Records Show

Minnesota-based organizations that receive government grants are also raising money through ActBlue, the same platform synonymous with Democratic campaign fundraising. These donations are run through ActBlue Charities, the platform’s 501(c)(3) “charitable giving” arm. But these groups are still tapping the ActBlue infrastructure, branding, and donor rails while simultaneously drawing down taxpayer funds.

This revelation comes as authorities have started investigating troves of financial fraud plaguing Minnesota-based NGOs and daycare centers run by Somali migrants. The newfound ActBlue ties adds a political dimension to this scandal.

The following Minnesota groups are listed on ActBlue’s directory:

• Sabathani Community Center

• Isuroon

• Alight

• African Career Education & Resources

• Al-Maa’uun

Let’s dive deeper.

Sabathani Community Center: ActBlue fundraising + major government-backed “green economy” buildout

Sabathani is not merely “in the directory.” Its ActBlue donation page is live: “Donate to Sabathani Community Center,” processed through ActBlue Charities.

On the taxpayer side, Sabathani publicly touts major public funding for its “Community Energy Project,” including a statement that it secured $6 million in EPA funding and also references $6 million in Minnesota Legislature appropriations for the geothermal project.

The City of Minneapolis also has a public record approving a $547,978.26 forgivable loan to Sabathani Community Center (or a related entity) for building improvements.

So you have a single Minnesota nonprofit simultaneously positioned inside three lanes at once: federal funding, state appropriations, local forgivable financing—and a donation pipe running through ActBlue Charities.

Isuroon: Somali women advocacy + a $3 million appropriation + ActBlue Charities fundraising

Isuroon’s own language is not ambiguous about who it exists to serve: it describes its mission as seeing the world “through the eyes of Somali women” and removing barriers faced by Somali and other ethnic women.

Minnesota lawmakers then wrote that mission directly into the public record. Legislative text shows a $3,000,000 grant to Isuroon tied to a property project in Minneapolis, explicitly “to carry out the mission of the organization to support immigrant women and provide mental health counseling.”

At the same time, Isuroon’s ActBlue donation page is live—“Donate to Isuroon”—and the contribution rules section again states the donations are processed by ActBlue Charities.

That means Isuroon sits at the intersection of state-directed cash and a national progressive fundraising infrastructure while branding itself as an empowerment organization for Somali women in Minnesota.

Alight: refugee infrastructure + federal refugee career pathways funding + ActBlue Charities

Alight’s identity is refugee work. The organization states it provides humanitarian support for “refugees and other displaced communities.”

But the key detail for Minnesota is not its overseas footprint—it’s the federal funding tied to Minnesota-based refugee programming. HHS TAGGS lists an award titled “STAR: Strengthening Refugee Talent, Advancement, and Retention in Minnesota,” and the award description frames it as part of the Refugee Career Pathways program.

Then there’s the fundraising channel: Alight has an ActBlue donation page (the URL even references its prior name, “American Refugee Committee”), and the page again states donations are processed by ActBlue Charities.

So while federal refugee workforce dollars flow through one pipeline, ActBlue Charities donations flow through another—and they meet on the same balance sheet.

African Career Education & Resources: immigrant workforce pipeline + DEED grant + ActBlue fundraising

ACER positions itself as a community-based organization focused on access to jobs, housing, and wealth-building, and its ActBlue donation page includes that self-description directly on the form.

On the public money side, Minnesota reporting and DEED communications identify a $350,000 DEED award to ACER for workforce development and explicitly describe its work connecting African immigrants to employment opportunities.

This is the same core architecture repeated again: immigrant workforce programming funded by taxpayer dollars, while the organization also operates a donation channel through ActBlue Charities.

Al-Maa’uun: “New Americans” CNA training in Somali + DHS grants + ActBlue Charities

Al-Maa’uun’s government-funded work is spelled out by the Minnesota Department of Human Services itself.

DHS lists Al-Maa’uun as a recipient of $277,025 under its “Supporting New Americans in the Long-Term Care Workforce” grant—and DHS’s description states that the funded activities include CNA training designed for “Somali, Hmong, and Spanish-speaking New Americans.”

Separately, DHS documentation for a Home and Community-Based Services connector grant describes Al-Maa’uun distributing materials in Somali, Arabic, and Spanish and doing community outreach to connect residents with services.

And yes, Al-Maa’uun also has an ActBlue donation page: “Donate to Al-Maa’uun,” again processed through ActBlue Charities.

This is as direct as it gets: state taxpayer funds underwriting programs explicitly designed around Somali-language access and “New American” pipelines, while ActBlue Charities processes the group’s outside fundraising.