Report details funding that fuels Islamophobia

A small number of conservative foundations are propelling a handful
of anti-Islamic activists who are fueling rising levels of
Islamo­phobia, according to a report issued by the left-leaning Center
for American Progress.

The 130-page report identifies seven
conservative funding groups that between 2001 and 2009 gave $42.6
million to eight anti-Islamic causes, most of them headed by individuals
who critics say form an organized network.

The document, released August 26, is the latest among recent reports by CNN, the New York Times and the Tennessean
that scrutinize these orga­nizations. Authors of the CAP report hope
the public pressure will persuade donors to stop funding them.

"The intention of this report is simple. We want to end Islamophobia," said Faiz Shakir, a report author.

The
Donor Capital Fund in Alex­andria, Virginia, was the single biggest
funder and made the single biggest gift, $18 million, to the Clarion
Fund, which in 2008 paid millions of dollars to advertise and
disseminate an anti-Muslim DVD through local newspapers.

The next
three largest funders named in the report were foundations belonging to
newspaper publisher Richard Mellon Scaife ($7.9 million), the Lynde and
Harry Bradley Foundation ($5.4 million) and the Russell Berrie
Founda­tion ($3.1 million).

Besides the Clarion Fund, other
funding recipients include the website www.jihadwatch.com; the Middle
East Forum, headed by academic Daniel Pipes; the Investigative Project
on Terrorism, headed by former CNN reporter Steven Emerson; and the
Center for Security Policy, headed by Frank Gaffney, a former defense
official in the Reagan administration.—RNS