The Levi Strauss Foundation, which is wholly funded by the clothing corporation bearing the same name, donated millions to nonprofits that facilitate or promote abortions, tax forms and public statements show.
Levi Strauss’ philanthropic arm approved over $4 million in donations to groups like the Abortion Care Network and the International Planned Parenthood Federation between December 2021 and December 2023, according to tax filings and charity documents. Funds The Levi Strauss Foundation donated to pro-abortion organizations came from the corporate coffers of Levi Strauss & Co., one of the largest apparel companies in the United States.
One hundred percent of the contributions to The Levi Strauss Foundation between Dec. 1, 2021, and Nov. 30, 2022, or $9.3 million, came from Levi Strauss & Co., tax forms show. Levi Strauss & Co. has consistently been the sole funder of its charity.
The Levi Strauss Foundation lists “reproductive justice” as one of its four focus areas on its website. The foundation seeksto “advance the rights and power of those who most experience reproductive oppression and face the greatest barriers to reproductive freedom and justice.”
Those rights encompass ensuring “access to direct services, including abortion,” according to the foundation’s website.
The Levi Strauss Foundation paid out $650,000 in 2022 to organizations that provide, facilitate or pay for abortions, according to tax forms.
The foundation also invested heavily in pro-abortion activism.
One of the largest grants paid out by The Levi Strauss Foundation, worth $507,000, went to the Center for Reproductive Rights to support the organization’s “efforts to protect women’s reproductive rights” in the United States, according to tax forms.
The center “works to protect and advance abortion rights around the world by removing restrictive laws and policies, promoting measures to improve access to safe and legal abortion and countering efforts to undermine access to abortion care,” according to its website. The organization vowed to “advocate in all ways to advance stronger legal protections for abortion in the future” after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The Levi Strauss Foundation spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on other pro-abortion activism programs.
Neo Philanthropies received $100,000 from the foundation to “destigmatize abortion” by “elevating the voices of diverse storytellers,” according to tax filings. Spark Reproductive Justice Now received an additional $100,000 to “provide leadership training for young queer and trans people of color in the reproductive justice movement.”
The Levi Strauss Foundation has yet to release its 2023 tax filings, so the specific pro-abortion groups it donated to that year are unknown. A summary document produced by the charity, however, indicates that it gave $2 million to “reproductive justice” groups in 2023.
One of the foundation’s goals in 2023 was to “strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of organizations providing financial, logistical, and emotional support for individuals seeking [abortions],” according to the summary document.
In addition to pouring millions of dollars into abortion, The Levi Strauss Foundation bankrolled several left-of-center advocacy groups in 2022 and 2023.
Tax forms show that the foundation gave $150,000 to Fair Count, an organization founded by then-Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, for its civic engagement operations in 2022, a midterm election year. The Levi Strauss Foundation also gave $120,000 to the American Press Institute that year to “amplify the voices of journalists of color.”
The foundation focused heavily on making grants that worked toward racial and gender justice in 2023, according to the summary document.
“Racial justice is essential for bringing into view the confrontation of power, the redistribution of resources, and the systemic transformation necessary for real change stemming from a history of white supremacy,” according to The Levi Strauss Foundation.
The Levi Strauss Foundation did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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