Legal Insurrection Foundation is One Year Old

Legal Insurrection Foundation is One Year Old

Time flies when you’re having fun.

While the Legal Insurrection website dates back to October 12, 2008, the tax-exempt Legal Insurrection Foundation was launched on March 1, 2019. Donations are tax-deductible.

In The Beginning

For the full story behind the decision to launch the Foundation, see my March 1, 2019, post, Introducing the Legal Insurrection Foundation. Here’s the short version.

The Foundation is a research, investigative, and educational project that was been years in the making for me. I first considered forming such an entity in 2014, after the fights involving the American Studies Association adoption of the anti-Israel academic boycott. I’ve always been most proud of our original research, reporting, and investigation, but I was frustrated that our lack of resources did not allow us to do as much as we wanted in that and subsequent efforts.

Faced with the somewhat daunting task of putting it all together, my own tendency towards procrastination, and then family health issues, things got delayed. By years.

We finally filed in September 2017, and received IRS approval in March 2018. Even with that IRS approval in hand, it was uncertain whether the vision ever would become reality. Planning remained on hold through the summer and fall of 2018. Finally, in December 2018, with improvements in my wife’s health, we decided to go for it.

The legal, regulatory, accounting and operational requirements were more daunting and expensive than I anticipated. I made a substantial personal donation to the Foundation to get us started.

Someone once described us as “disrupters,” a characterization I hadn’t thought of before that. It is this spirit of disruption and impact that drove the website for a decade, and now drives the Foundation. Grabbing onto an issue, digging into an issue, driving a narrative, and not letting go, is what we do best. With the Foundation, we hoped to have more resources to do more.

Soft Rollout, Fast Start

That ‘soft’ March 1, 2019, rollout turned into a fast start. Here is a partial list of what we did in the year since launch:

• We were the only national news outlet with a reporter in the courtroom covering the Gibson’s Bakery vs. Oberlin College trial. Our exclusive coverage gained national attention and helped hold the mainstream media accountable. It also led to multiple appearances on Tucker Carlson show about the case, a lecture in D.C.  for the James Wilson Institute, an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal, and an on-stage discussion in Austin at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

[Featured Image Courtesy James Wilson Institute, with permission]]

• I spoke at the DOJ Summit on antisemitism in July 2019 on the role of intersectionality.

• I was named one of Algemeiner’s “Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life 2019”

• Samantha and I attended the national conference of Alums for Campus Fairness, where I appeared on a panel regarding legal strategies for fighting the anti-Israel boycott movement.

• We successfully exposed American Muslims for Palestine and the far-left anti-Israel groups it coordinates with, resulting in Samantha getting booted from their conference.

• I have appeared several times as a guest on Fox News shows hosted by Tucker Carlson and Shannon Bream, on topics such as Elizabeth Warren, Oberlin College, and political issues.

• We held our first ever Reader Reception in Houston, and another in Los Angeles. This is part of our strategy of building our community. We’re coming to Florida! (see below).

[Reader Reception, Los Angeles, February 2020]

[Reader Reception, Los Angeles, February 2020]

• • We have exposed and pushed back against the call-out and cancel cultures that have moved from campus to culture, and that is a theme about which I’m speaking at various events, including in Houston, Sharon, MA, and Orange County recently.

• Website traffic was up in 2019 by 25% over 2018, to over 21 million page views. That’s not an end in itself, but an integral part of our ability to push our research and message out. In any given month, we have 400-500,000 unique visitors. It sets us apart from other research and investigative groups.

What’s Ahead

Florida here we come: I have campus appearances on March 24-35-26 in Boca Raton, Gaineswille and Tallahassee, in that order. At the moment, we’ll likely have a reader ‘meet-and-greet’ in Boca Raton on March 24 from 5:00-6:30, location tba. We’ll have a separate announcement when details are worked out. We’re still considering the other locations. Let us know in the comments or by email if you are interested in Gainesville or Tallahassee get-togethers, so we can gauge interest.

Donations

Reader donations are so important to our efforts. I’m not understating it when I say we can’t do it without you. Our donation page allows donations by credit card or PayPal, or you can mail checks to Legal Insurrection Foundation, 18 Maple Ave #280, Barrington, RI 02806. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Donate Now!

A Personal Note

As many of you know, I didn’t plan to start Legal Insurrection. It just happened after an argument with a liberal friend. I have told the story many times, but if you are not sick of it yet, you can listen to my on-stage conversation in Austin.

I can’t imagine not having started voicing my opinions. It would have been so much easier just to keep my mouth shut.

But maybe this all was meant to be. I have come to cherish so many of the people I have met along the way — bloggers, authors, readers, vendors, and now donors. The Foundation is a continuation of the Legal Insurrection mission. I’m honored to have your support.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.