Braver Angels

Civility Nonprofit

Background

Braver Angels is a dialogue-based pluralism nonprofit founded in 2016. The group’s co-founder and president, David Blankenhorn, is also the founder of an organization called the Institute for American Values, which The Chronicle of Philanthropy described as a “family-values think tank.” According to the Chronicle, that group's “collapse” was tied to internal strife over whether or not to support same-sex marriage. More than 75 college campuses have reportedly hosted Braver Angels’ College Debates & Discourse programming, which is carried out in partnership with BridgeUSA and the right-wing advocacy group American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA).

Notable People

Glenn T. Stanton

serves on the board of directors of Braver Angels

Stanton is the director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, an organization that the SPLC designates as an “anti-LGTBQ” group that promotes “pseudoscience” and spreads “disinformation.” According to SPLC, Stanton has incorporated pseudoscience into his writing, alongside research from an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. Stanton has claimed that “DEI officials and gender ideologues” are running medical schools.

Manu Meel

serves on the board of directors of Braver Angels

According to Meel, he founded BridgeUSA in response to seeing some of his fellow UC Berkeley students protest a 2017 talk by far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. Meel has been featured in numerous articles and videos put out by conservative groups—including the right-wing advocacy group, American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA). In 2018, the same year he launched BridgeUSA nationally, Meel served as a research intern at the right-wing think tank American Enterprise Institute. In an April 2024 op-ed framed around campus activism, he argued that the public narrative about colleges is defined by “a loud minority of voices on campus” who are “temperamentally extreme” and “united in their rigid, zealous commitment to an ideology,” along with their “unwillingness to entertain any challenge to their opinion.” By contrast, he described members of BridgeUSA as “temperamentally moderate” and able to “disagree productively.”

See also: BridgeUSA.

Anne Ferrell Tata

serves on the board of directors of Braver Angels

Tata is a Republican lawmaker in the Virginia House of Delegates. Her financial disclosures list her paid attendance ($1000) at the 2025 summit of the heavily Koch-subsidized American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). That meeting was headlined by Trump’s Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon. In February 2023, Tata was the chief sponsor of legislation under which the Commonwealth of Virginia adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism—a definition that is promoted by some pro-Israel and right-wing groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and The Heritage Foundation, but which has been criticized by human rights groups and scholars for the risk that its Israel-related examples can be used to suppress criticism of Israel.

Notable Funders

Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

~$1.36 million (2021-2024)

AVDF has made significant grants to Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization) and Tablet magazine (a self-described “Jewish, Zionist publication” whose editor-in-chief has called on Jewish communal groups to replace leaders who do not explicitly support Israel). Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on AVDF’s giving.

John Templeton Foundation

~$1.25 million (2023-2024)

Established by billionaire investor John Templeton. The foundation was led from 2015 to 2025 by his granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill. It is now headed by the former CEO of Christianity Today, which describes itself as a “globally minded evangelical magazine.” Templeton makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy organizations such as State Policy Network and Mercatus Center, and Atlas Network (all three of which are described by Greenpeace as “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Groups”). The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Templeton’s giving.

Lilly Endowment

$500,000 (2023)

Established by the Lilly family, whose fortune Forbes estimated at $1.8 billion in 2013, through gifts of stock in Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups, including American Enterprise Institute, Atlas Network, and Manhattan Institute. For reference, see Lilly’s tax filings for 2023, 2022, and 2021.

Sumners Foundation

$344,000 (2020-2024)

Sumners has made significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as The Heritage Foundation, James Madison Institute, and Steamboat Institute. For reference, see Sumners Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021.

Andrew and Corey Morris-Singer Foundation

$170,000 (2023)

Led by the eponymous couple. Andrew Morris-Singer is the son of billionaire hedge fund founder Paul E. Singer; as of 2024, Andrew was listed on tax filings as “President/Director” of the three-person Singer Family Charitable Foundation board, which also includes Paul. The Morris-Singer Foundation has made significant grants to the politically conservative and Zionist Tikvah Fund, Orthodox Union (an explicitly anti-BDS organization), and The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland (an explicitly anti-BDS organization). In addition to its support for Braver Angels, the foundation’s 2022 tax filing lists a $400,000 grant to David Blankenhorn’s previous organization (see “Background” sub-section, above), Institute for American Values. For reference, see the Morris-Singer Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, 2022.

See also: Moral Courage College.

F. M. Kirby Foundation

$135,000 (2022-2024)

Kirby makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing groups such as Manhattan Institute, American Enterprise Institute, and the Federalist Society, along with the anti-union advocacy group National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Refer to UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Kirby’s giving.

Corinthian International Foundation

$100,000 (2021)

The foundation makes significant grants to conservative and Zionist groups such as Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (which collects donations for IDF soldiers), JewBelong (which The Forward has described as “openly hostile to Palestinian activists”), University of Austin (which reporting by The Nation and an investigation by the Center for Media and Democracy have tied to right-wing networks), and FAIR (an anti-CRT group which SPLC describes as “a key voice amplifying anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience”). For reference, see Corinthian’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Sarah Scaife Foundation

$100,000 (2022)

Established by the late billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, Scaife is “one of the largest foundations focused on supporting right-wing causes.” The foundation is a major donor to conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, as well as climate change denial groups like Global Warming Policy Foundation and the nativist/anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Scaife’s giving.

Achelis & Bodman Foundation

$50k to Braver Angels’ College Debates program (2020)

Makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, and Manhattan Institute. The foundation also supports climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Achelis & Bodman’s giving.

The Snider Foundation

$50,000 (2021-2022)

Established by the late billionaire Ed Snider. The foundation makes significant grants to right-wing and pro-Israel advocacy groups such as the David Horowitz Freedom Center (described by SPLC as a sponsor of “anti-Muslim fear mongers”) and the Lawfare Project (described by the National Lawyers Guild as a “right-wing anti-Palestinian group”; not to be confused with Lawfare, the nonprofit online publication focused on national security issues). Current and former Snider Foundation board members, including Craig Snider and Tina Snider, have documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Snider’s giving.

Considine Family Foundation

$40,000 (2021)

Established by real estate investor Terry Considine and his wife, Betsy Considine. Terry is a former board chair of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. In 2017, the Considine Family Foundation endowed the Antonin Scalia Professorship of Law at Harvard Law School and Terry praised the staunchly conservative Scalia's approach to constitutional interpretation. The foundation also makes significant grants to conservative groups such as Foundation for Excellence in Higher Education (FEHE), where the Considine’s president, Thalia Considine (daughter of Terry and Betsy) sits on the board, and the Jack Miller Center, where she serves on the National Civics Council. For reference, see the Barnes Family Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Mercatus Center

$35,000 (2023)

In January 2023, this conservative think tank, housed at George Mason University, announced a grant for Braver Angels to deliver its “Citizen Enrichment Seminars” in partnership with BridgeUSA. Koch Foundation president Brian Hooks serves on Mercatus’ board, and Charles Koch, himself, is listed as an emeritus board member. Greenpeace USA describes Mercatus as a “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group.”

See also: Constructive Dialogue Institute.