ActBlue Unfairly Targets Union Members With Layoffs, Employees Say
ActBlue’s leadership is handsomely compensated. At least 11 employees raked in over $200,000 in 2021, tax forms show. The company hired its first black female CEO in January after its prior leader stepped down after a 14-year stint. The new ActBlue CEO, Regina Wallace-Jones, is the former mayor of East Palo Alto, Calif., and has also held executive positions at Facebook, Yahoo, Ebay, and Lendstreet.
ActBlue said Monday the layoffs were part of a “restructuring” effort to ensure it can best deliver a strategic fundraising advantage to Democrats. The union’s allegations of ActBlue financial difficulties come as somewhat of a shock, however. ActBlue is the predominant fundraising vehicle for the progressive movement, having raised nearly $12 billion for left-of-center groups and politicians at the local, state, and national levels since 2004. ActBlue charges a flat 3.95 percent fee on every dollar it raises, which has enabled the organization to accumulate a veritable boatload of cash as it solidified its monopoly in the progressive fundraising scene.
ActBlue reported sitting on a cash reserve of $68.7 million at the end of 2022, according to its latest available Federal Election Commission filing.
But that’s just half of the picture. ActBlue Technical Services, the nonprofit organization that manages ActBlue’s technology infrastructure, reported holding net assets of $92.8 million at the end of 2021, according to its latest available financial disclosure.
