kimberly dennis

Primary residence:  Mclean, Virginia

Current role: Chairman (and co-founder) of DonorsTrust and President/CEO/Executive Director of Searle Freedom Trust (1999-present)

Net worth/salary: Searle Freedom Trust: 2022 compensation = $527,460; other = $103,601; total = $631,061 (propublica)

Education: BA in Sociology from Bowdoin College 

Board memberships, affiliations, and roles:

• Member of Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) 

• National Council member of American Enterprise Institute

• Member and Executive Director of the Philanthropy Roundtable

• Director Emeritus at Independent Women’s Forum (IWF)

• Trustee of the Federalist Society

• Director of the Clemson University Foundation  

Past roles: 

• Secretary of Board of Visitors of George Mason University

• President of Philanthropy Roundtable from 1991-1996 (1991-1996)

• Board member of Arthur N. Rupe Foundation 

• Board member of Earthart Foundation

• Board member of W.H. Brady Foundation

• Director of National Research Initiative (Searle funded program of American Enterprise Institute)

• Staffer for John M. Olin Foundation 

The Searle Freedom Trust

• The Searle Freedom Trust is one of the primary foundations funding right-wing, free market, climate change denying groups. Over the years, the Trust has given “hundreds of millions of dollars” to groups “leading climate denial.” According to the Trust’s tax records for 2022, it distributed a total of $24.4M in grants. 

• Top grant recipients in 2022 include:

  • George Mason University Foundation – $1,600,000. GMU has received significant funding from Koch Industries and is home to the Mercatus Center, which has consistently lobbied against GHG reduction policies. 

  • State Policy Network – $1,320,000. SPN has supported climate skepticism groups like the Heartland Institute, Cato Institute, and Heritage Foundation.

    • In regards to climate change, SPN has stated that “... the planet is believed to be experiencing a global cooling-not a warming.”

  • American Enterprise Institute – $1,000,000. AEI has been described by GreenPeace as an “avid opponent of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as most other environmental regulations.”

    • AEI has featured many climate skeptics including James Glassman and Lee Raymond, the former CEO of ExxonMobil.

  • Federalist Society – $980,500. The Society has published numerous articles questioning the existence of man-made climate change. 

  • Reason Foundation – $807,500. Since 1997, the Foundation has received over $2.3M from Koch-related foundations. David Koch is also a Trustee of the Foundation.

  • Cato Institute – $600,000. The Institute was founded by Charles Koch in 1977 and has received millions in support from the Koch Brothers. The organization regularly releases op-ed pieces on climate change. 

  • Competitive Enterprise Institute – $500,000. ExxonMobil has been one of the largest funders of CEI, donating at least $2.1M from 1997-2006.

    •  Myron Ebell, ”one of America’s most prominent climate change skeptics”, is the Director of CEI’s Center for Energy and Environment. 

• In 2020, the Director of Special Investigations at the Center of Climate Integrity stated that Searle Freedom Trust has no “material interest in fossil fuels” but are fundamentalists when it comes to “hating the government, hating regulation, and trying to stop any progress on things like climate change.”

DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund

• DonorsTrust has been dubbed as the “dark-money ATM of the right” due to its funding of numerous right-winged climate denialism think tanks and groups.

• Since its start in 1999, DonorsTrust has been used as a discrete funnel for wealthy conservative individuals and their foundations, sending nearly $400M to “like-minded think tanks and media outlets.”

• In 2012, a sociologist from Drexel University stated in PBS Frontline that “by 2009, about one-quarter of the funding of the climate countermovement is from the Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.”

• According to an article by the Guardian in 2013, roughly $120M from “conservative billionaires” was routed through DonorsTrust and the Donors Capital Fund as a “secretive funding route” to fund over 100 climate skepticism and denialism groups. Funds sent to DonorsTrust and the Donors Capital Fund from 2002-2010 reportedly help to create a large network of think tanks and groups “to redefine climate change from neutral scientific fact to a highly polarizing ‘wedge issue’ for hardcore conservatives.”

Wealth

• In 2022, Kimberly Dennis earned a total of $631,061 in compensation from Searle Freedom Trust. 

• In 2023, Searle Freedom Trust had a total of $54.5M in assets and roughly $220,000 in revenue.

• In 2023, Donors Trust had a total of $1.29B in assets and $158M in revenue.   

Recognition

• In 2024, Kim Dennis received the William F. Buckley Jr. Prize for Leadership in Supporting Liberty from the National Review Institute. 

• In 2019, Dennis received the 2019 Thomas A. Roe Award from the State Policy Network. 

Searle Freedom Trust

• Kim Dennis is the President/CEO of the Searle Freedom Trust, a Foundation responsible for donating “hundreds of millions” to climate change denial groups. 

• The Trust was founded in 1998 by Daniel C. Seale for the to “foster research and education on public policy issues that affect individual freedom and economic liberty. Searle Freedom Trust is closing on December 31, 2025. 

• It does not appear that Searle Freedom Trust publishes annual sustainability reports or disclose the emissions of the groups it funds. 

DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund

• Kim Dennis is the Co-founder, alongside Lawson Bader, and Chairman of DonorsTrust,  a “donor-advised fund for conservative policy reform”. The Trust was established in 1999 and has grown into one of the largest funders of climate denialism. 

• Donors Capital Fund was created to assist DonorsTrust with its large donor accounts. 

• It does not appear that DonorsTrust publishes annual sustainability reports or disclose the emissions of the groups it funds. 

• In 2021, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) directly referenced DonorsTrust and Searle Freedom Trust as the “big funding guns included in the Koch network” during a speech on the Senate floor.

• DonorsTrust has been exposed by investigative groups, including the Center for Media and Democracy and DeSmog, for their large quantity of donations to climate denialism groups. 

• Both DonorsTrust and Searle Freedom Trust have been featured on sourcewatch.org for their donations to various right-winged groups. 

Government ties 

Kimberly Dennis’ Political Donations

• $250 to Kenneth T Cuccinelli II Campaign Committee (R) on 8/30/2013

• George Allen (R)

  • $250 on 7/17/2006

  • $250 on 4/26/2006

  • LCV Lifetime Environmental Score: 4%

  • LCV Environmental Score in 2006: 0%

Law firms

Institute for Justice (non-profit, libertarian law firm)

• DonorsTrust has provided financial support to the Institute for Justice. According to an article written by the Center for Public Integrity in 2017, DonorsTrust has donated to the Institute for Justice every year since 2004, providing the firm with over $1.6M. The Institute has also received funding from the Koch organization over the years, reportedly receiving $9,600 in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, the David H. Koch Foundation gave the Institute $250,000 in 2001. 

Think tanks / think tank networks / policy institutes / research centers 

Kimberly Dennis’ Memberships

• Kimberly Dennis is a member of Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), which is a Koch-funded climate denial front group that “touts the potential economic benefits to American farmers as a reason not to act against climate change. 

• Dennis is a National Council member of the American Enterprise Institute and a Director Emeritus at Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), both of which are recognized climate denial front groups for Koch Industries. 

  • IWF is funded by foundations including the Koch Brothers’ Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Between 1998-2014, the Forum accepted $844,115 from the Koch Family foundations, and roughly half of IWF’s full-time staff used to work for Koch-groups or Koch-funded groups. 

  • DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund donated over $5M to IWF from 2002-2014

Searle Freedom Trust receives funds from many right-winged think tanks and policy institutes, including:

• Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a Koch-founded organization that has consistently opposed government regulation on oil & gas. 

  • In regards to legislative attempts at making a binding climate treaty, AFP stated that “so far every attempt has failed, in large part because the American public is just not convinced..”

• American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a not-for-profit research institute with members that question the science behind man-made climate change.

  •  In 2001, AEI published a piece titled “The Kyoto Treaty Deserved to Die.”

• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that has worked with corporations like ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and Peabody Energy.  

  • Between 2006-2018, Searle Freedom Trust donated $2,234,500. The Center for Media and Democracy described ALEC as “not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that.”

  • ALEC has described climate change as a “historical phenomenon” and that “the debate will continue on the significance of natural and anthropogenic contributions.”

• Heartland Institute, a think tank that is “at the forefront of denying the scientific evidence for man-made climate change.” The organization has received $676,500 from ExxonMobil between 1998-2007.

• State Policy Network, a think tank that has supported numerous climate change skepticism organizations like the Cato Institute, Heartland Institute, and Heritage Foundation.  

Searle Freedom Trust Grants Distributed in 2022

• Searle Freedom Trust donated $3,636,000 to DonorsTrust & Donors Capital Fund between 2009 & 2013 

• American Enterprise Institute: $1,000,000

• Cato Institute: $600,000

• Heritage Foundation: $750,000.

  • The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank that has publicly opposed the Kyoto Protocol and created Project 2025. The Foundation has numerous members who are avid climate change skeptics, including Fred Singer and Patrick Michaels. 

• Heartland Institute: $81,000

• State Policy Network: $1,320,000 

DonorsTrust funding

• $9M from the Knowledge and Progress Fund, a Charles Koch-run organization

DonorsTrust donations

• Donated $107,500 to Frontiers of Freedom

  • In the organization’s mission statement, they described themselves as “the antithesis to the Sierra Club and Vice President Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance.”

  • The organization used to have a list of “Global Warming Papers”, which included articles written by numerous climate change skeptics.”

• Donated $9.5M to Americans for Prosperity, a Koch Brothers founded organization

• 2021 Donations through its Growth and Resilience Project

  • Competitive Enterprise Institute: $50,000

  • Texas Public Policy Foundation: $50,000

  • Reason Foundation: $50,000

  • Tax Foundation: $50,000

Trade groups / industry associations 

DonorsTrust has financed grants to ALEC and the State Policy Network, 

DonorsTrust donated roughly $9.5M to Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-founded organization, from 2010-2012.

Searle Freedom Trust Donations to Industry Associations

• $2,234,500 the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) from 2006-2018

• $3,636,000 to DonorsTrust and its Donors Capital Fund from 2009-2013

• $100,000 to State Financial Officers Foundation

Private foundations

• Board member of Arthur N. Rupe Foundation 

• Board member of Earthart Foundation

• Board member of W.H. Brady Foundation

• Staffer for John M. Olin Foundation (closed in 2005)

  • Over the years John M. Olin Foundation donated over $9M each to the American Enterprise Institute and to the Heritage Foundation

  • The John Orlin Foundation was one of the first nonprofits to donate significant money to conservative groups and was one of the first funders of the Federalist Society.

Donors trust: 

• The Knowledge and Progress Fund, a Koch-run organization, donated roughly $9M from 2005-2012

DonorsTrust has received donations of at least $1M from:

• The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation

• Donald & Paula Smith Family Foundation

• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

• John M. Olin Foundation

Searle Freedom Trust Grants Distributed in 2022

• Federalist Society – $980,500

Higher education related institutions

Kim Dennis is a director at the Clemson University Foundation.  

Searle Freedom Trust Grants Distributed in 2022

• Clemson University: $500,000

• George Mason University Foundation: $1,600,000

• Georgetown University Center for the Constitution: $310,000

• George Washington University: $200,000

• Prager University Foundation: $150,000

• UC Berkley: $130,00

DonorsTrust Donations in 2021

• DonorsTrust donated $30,000 to George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, a Koch Industries-funded organization. Since 1998, the Center has received at least $330,000 from ExxonMobil. In regards to climate change, the Center argues that science on global warming and human involvement is mixed and that “as forecasts of anthropogenic warming get more refined, they predict less extreme warming.”

Astroturf organizations

• DonorsTrust and Searle Freedom have funded Statistical Assessment Services (STATS). The majority of STATS’ funding comes from climate denialism groups and has been described as a “major player in the public relations campaign to discredit concerns."