Funds from Fire Aid concert went to non-profits—not LA wildfire victims: report

Sue Pasco, the editor at Circling the News who also lost her home in the Palisades fire, spoke with Fox 11 on the discovery. She said that a reader had sent her a message saying, "I’ve never seen any Fire Aid money. How do I apply for Fire Aid money?"

What she discovered was that the initial $50 million given in the first round of distributing the $100 million raised at the benefit concerts went to 120 nonprofits.

"I looked at these nonprofits, and one of them said we help mobile home parks. And there were two mobile home parks in the Palisades, all low income. And so I contacted the people there. They had never received any money. They had never heard of that," said Pascoe. She added that one of the nonprofits listed "cleans preschool bathrooms." Fire Aid says on its website that the first round of grants reached over 150,000 Angelenos through the 120 nonprofits.

According to Fire Aid’s website, of the first $50 million in grants issued, $3.6 million went to nonprofits associated with children and families, $4.3 million went to community hubs and conveners, $7.6 million went to disaster relief, $3.9 million went to food access and security, $4.8 million went to health and housing, $3.3 million went to musicians and artists, $2.3 million went to public resources and benefits navigation, $6 million went to continued relief for wildfire victims and communities, $3.8 million went to students and schools, $1.1 million went to supportive services to vulnerable populations, $3.1 million went to symbols of hope, $5 million went to community grants, and $6.7 million went to frontline and displaced workers and small businesses.

The second round of grants, $25 million, saw $17 million given to nonprofits associated with wildfire recovery, $700,000 to critical information for fire victims, $6 million for continued relief for wildfire victims and communities, $500,000 for symbols of hope, and $1 million for the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.

To apply for consideration in the third round of funding, prospective nonprofits must give over some contact information as well as basic information about their group, including the estimated number of people served in fire areas.

Among the nonprofits listed as received funding is CalVolunteers, which is described on its website as "the state office tasked with engaging Californians in service, volunteering and civic action to tackle our State’s most pressing challenges." The group is led by a 25-member Board of Commissioners that is appointed by the Governor. California First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom serves as an honorary chair.

A spokesperson for CalVolunteers told The Post Millennial in a statement, "California Volunteers, Office of the Governor, is not a recipient of FireAid. The nonprofit California Volunteers Fund has been publicly identified as a potential grantee. We are in the process of requesting this listing be corrected. While we are independent of the nonprofit, they financially support volunteer efforts in California, including our programs."

Another group that received funding is the Altadena Talks Foundation, which states on the Fire Aid grant page that it "supports fire-impacted families in Altadena through sustainable recovery efforts and fire-related podcast programming hosted by Toni Raines, with funding restricted exclusively to fire-related podcasts."

On the group’s website, it states that it is focused on "community-driven recovery," "empowering resources," and "engagement through community events."

In June, the Pacific Palisades Community Council demanded more transparency in how the money from the benefit concerts were being distributed, requesting a full report answering why so little of the funds have reached victims, per Fox 11.

The Post Millennial has reached out to the Altadena Talks Foundation for comment.