Pacific Palisades business destroyed by wildfire, Feb. 7, 2025. (Photo: Katy Grimes for California Globe)
$100 Million in FireAid Relief Funds Went to Non-Profits Instead of Fire Victims
Rep. Kevin Kiley calls for federal investigation into donation spending
By Evan Symon, July 25, 2025 2:45 am
According to several independent investigations, the $100 million raised during the FireAid benefit concerts held in January 2025 has not gone to fire victims as promised, but rather to non-profits who then get to decide where the money goes.
In early January, the Eaton and Palisades wildfires raged across parts of Los Angeles. By the time they were fully extinguished in late January, 31 people died, over 18,000 structures were destroyed, and tens of thousands of residents were displaced with destroyed or damaged homes. Total property and home loses have been estimated to be between $76 billion and $131 billion.
Inspired by the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, the non-profit Annenberg Foundation setup and sponsored FireAid with the help of billionaire and Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and others, with all money raised going towards victims. Held on January 30, 2025 at the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum in Inglewood, the concert boasted dozens of artists including Billie Eilish, Rod Stewart, Lady Gaga, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Nirvana, and Stevie Nicks. The concert wound up exceeding expectations, with $100 million raised for wildfire victims.
However, months afterwards, several investigations, including one by Circling the News journalist Sue Pascoe, began after word reached them that victims never saw a penny of benefit relief funds reaching them. As it turns out, funds didn’t go directly to victims, but were sent to dozens of non-profit groups linked to the Annenberg Foundation. Half of the funds, $50 million, were released during the first round of grants in February, with 120 non-profit organizations getting funds. Some of the beneficiaries are known, with groups like the Pasadena Humane Society receiving $250,000 to treat pets and animals harmed by the fires. In total Investigations by Pascoe, ABC affiliates, and others confirmed that money was received with the groups, with many adding how it was spent.
“We received $250,000,” said Pasadena Humane Society spokesman Kevin McManus. “We were able to save a lot of animals’ lives in part because of that donation. We got exactly what we were promised and we’re putting it to good use.”
Later in 2025 round two of the funding was released, with an additional $25 million going once again to third party non-profits and not individuals. Round 3 funding is currently in the works, with the last of the $25 million to be given away. As of Thursday, applications are still open for groups interested in receiving funds.
Despite this, the investigations pointed out that funds were not directly provided, with worries that charities could significantly reduce the amount going to fire victims through administrative fees and employee costs. FireAid spokesman and Los Angeles Clippers’ communication chief Chris Wallace said that every dollar was being set aside for the community, and not for administrative costs. When pressed, Wallace sent detailed emails on where funds were going. For example, in a May 2025 inquiry from the Pacific Palisades Community Council, Wallace gave an itemized list of where the phase 1 funding being sent to in the Palisades area, showing where each group got their allotted slice of the $21 million going to fire relief in the area.
Questions over FireAid relief funds
“We understand and respect the concerns of the Palisades community,” Wallace said in the letter. “The FireAid grantmaking process was extensive and community-informed. It involved local outreach, feedback from those directly affected, and collaboration with nonprofit organizations embedded in fire-impacted neighborhoods. Grant recommendations were developed by an experienced operations team, reviewed by an independent advisory committee with deep familiarity across the region—including site visits and conversations with fire victims—and ultimately approved by the FireAid Board.”
However, in a later statement, Wallace confirmed that direct payments to individuals was not happening, and was never planned in the first place.
“As a newly formed 501c3, FireAid does not have the capability to make direct payments to individuals and that was never the plan,” added Wallace. “To deliver aid into the community, we partnered directly with trusted local nonprofits who have the capacity to reach the communities in need, to provide food security, housing, and resources for schools. Each dollar was intended for the community, and a stipulation of the funds was that not a single dollar was spent on administrative costs.”
This admission has caused many to call FireAid a scam, also decrying that their donations may have gone to non-profits that they are ideologically against. In addition, the growing scandal has drawn the attention of lawmakers, with Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) officially asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into the matter.
“We’ve learned that of the $100 million raised at the celebrity “Fire Aid” concert, none actually went to LA fire victims,” posted Kiley on X. “Instead the money went to nonprofits, many that have nothing to do with fire relief. I’ve asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation.”
“We just want to get answers because a lot of people really gave generously to this cause,” Kiley said on Wednesday following a response from the Clippers offering to show him al receipts. “The organizers themselves gave very generously. When you see reports that maybe the money didn’t end up going to the folks that it should have, or the victims haven’t been given the help that was intended. The organization itself has actually reached out and offered to provide some visibility into how they handled the funding. I think that’s the important thing is just restoring public confidence.”
With a possible federal investigation looming and even organizers willing to show them the books, investigators, organizers, and lawmakers all hope to have this figured out soon. However, the lack of transparency when it came to where the funds would go, with organizers waiting to after the concert to admit that funding wouldn’t be going directly to victims, is likely going to continue to fuel animosity between victims and organizers for some time to come.
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April 5, 2023
And my two favorite NGO’s who got money based on only a cursor search (who knows what you would find once you start digging) is an eco org that want to “rewild” areas like the Santa Monica Mountains. and a “disadvantaged groups” pre school activist orgs in – Culver City. Who knows if you dig deep enough you might find NGO’s in Bakersfield or Orange County who got money.
Fraud pure and simple
And the people at Annenberg see nothing wrong with this. Because this is what happens all the time with this kind of money. Or rather mostly tax payers money. This is what business as usual look like for these “charatable” foundations.
Time to audit all 940’s. A good 90% of them are just grifts or scams. The ones that arent are usually the traditional faith based organizations. Like the Salvation Army. Good people. Very good people.
went to fund newsom for president?
Fraud is a pretty serious accusation. Think about this from a logistical perspective. The Foundation doesn’t have the capacity to make individual grants (background checks, the viability of the claim requested, etc.) to tens of thousands of people.
The best way to get money out into the community fast is to use nonprofits already in place with the expertise and resources to do these kinds of things. Moreover helping the fire victims as described by you is giving them cash. How could the Foundation be sure that the victims would not simply gamble their money away? These things are much more complicated than most people realize. That’s why we need people experienced in helping the community. For example Rewilding the Santa Monica Mountains is an important step in making sure that they are safe for repopulation and home building, to avoid any future mudslides. Many people were displaced from their homes, lost their jobs, and moved to places like Culver City (which is not that far from where the fires were in the grand scheme of things.) Paying for free preschool for their children (think child care) is aid. You may think it’s a stretch but it does not make it fraud. I would like to know where the Foundation has been enriched by unlawful gain. Because without that there is no evidence of fraud.
Thank you, Evan Symon, for covering this. This is not only fraud, it is super-disgusting fraud. But where now in California are we NOT seeing this nowadays? Slush funds aplenty, and I am really glad Rep. Kevin Kiley is calling for an investigation of this from the (U.S.) DOJ, because the more you know about this the more you condemn what has happened here. Many many victims of Altadena’s Eaton Fire, who had to run to evacuate to save their own lives with only the shirts on their backs, and who LOST EVERYTHING, were not even insured, had been dropped by their insurance right before the inferno or likely couldn’t afford sky-high rates anymore, have received NOTHING, NADA, ZERO, SQUAT from this fund. But useless and possibly completely phony word-salad non-profits that have nothing to do with the fire or any fire, or even the area affected sure did received LOTS-O-MONEY.
To learn more outrageous details, which contain results of further digging, as tfourier referenced above, listen to this from the John Phillips Show, KABC 790:
“Where did all of the FireAid money go?”
(Begin at the 1:45 marker, segment goes about 20 mins)
https://omny.fm/shows/the-drive-home-with-jillian-barberie-and-john-ph-1/where-did-all-of-the-fireaid-money-go?in_playlist=the-morning-drive-with-jillian-barberie-john-phill
who goes without insurance and expects someone else to pick up the tab? Year after year it’s fires, landslides,….
@Laurie, Exactly! Insurance companies don’t just drop you instantaneously. You are given plenty of notice to find a new insurer. Also how many of of them were dropped for non-payment?
It is irresponsible to not have homeowner’s insurance.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Why don’t you educate yourself before spouting misinformation about people being dropped from their insurance companies for non-payment.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fires-california-palisades-fire-homeowners-insurance-state-farm-fair-losses/
Not fraud when the money was distributed to the organizations that could reach the communities in need. This is a close to 36 billion dollar disaster and 100 million dollars was for the immediate needs and help for the community. The State will have to foot the larger portion and who knows if there are funds coming from FEMA. Look at the bigger picture and people who donated dont like where the funds go, they should have handpicked their preferred organizations. Thank you.
This money could have rebuilt at least 100 homes and probably many more if directly granted to people who lost their homes. Instead almost all of it has gone to leftist political activists.
You’re right, CW, and in the meantime as a practical matter, before rebuilding, people who had to evacuate and whose homes burned to the ground, needed quick funds to at least buy clothes and other necessities and to pay for a place to stay EVEN IF they were insured, never mind the undeserved hell if they weren’t, because of that feckless on-the-take Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and his need to party and travel and do absolutely nothing required of him.. FireAid was advertised as just that kind of a stopgap to those who contributed to it. And THIS is what happens to the funds. It’s truly shocking. It’s not as though they didn’t have a way to DIRECTLY send the money! The information, the names, all of it, was there to be had by the fund.
By the way, take a look at what ELSE our corrupt leaders, well really NEWSOM as usual, are up to, as also recounted by Rep. Kevin Kiley, who wants a special election to stop it:
“The Height of Corruption”
https://blog.electkevinkiley.com/the-height-of-corruption/
Has there ever been one of these aid concerts that actually delivered? As far as I know every single one has been a scam.
You could be right although I don’t remember details of each star-filled “aid” concert. You know, like the various starvation and disease and save the farms concerts? But whenever I see that one of these is going to happen I do know that I experience a deep cynicism. It could just be me or more likely it is leftover negative sentiment from the vague memory of all the other “aid” concerts that may not have delivered.
There should be a class action suit brought against numerous entities and contributors should be part of the plaintiffs and also see if there were any Federal laws violated. What a purely disgusting, manipulative crime this was and where are all the entertainers that gave their time. Their silence is deafening!
There should be a class action suit brought against numerous entities and contributors should be part of the plaintiffs and also see if there were any Federal laws violated. What a purely disgusting, manipulative crime this was and where are all the entertainers that gave their time. Their silence is deafening!
This is nothing new. All a person has to do is look at the USAID funds going to so-called “non-profits” like Stacy Abrams’ “non-profit” which she had recently started with $100! She got $2 BILLION!! OUR taxpayer dollars at work! Taxpayer funds, as well as donated funds, often go to high salaries, travel, and other “expenses”, while little of it goes to the people for which it was earmarked.
The Red Cross is a case in point, spending millions on inflated salaries, travel, and the like, while in many cases very little, if any, is spent on the victims that donors expect to help. The RC is just an example; there are thousands more that live off donors or taxpayers and fail in their “mission”.
Do your homework when it comes to contributing to causes!
Actor Spencer Pratt has publicly accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of benefiting from a nonprofit organization, FireAid, which raised funds for victims of the Palisades wildfires. In an Instagram video, Pratt, who lost his Pacific Palisades home in the fire, questioned Newsom about the use of FireAid funds, specifically mentioning that Newsom and his Cal Vols office had taken a FireAid grant.
“The second round of $50 million funding, guess who took a FireAid grant? Let me tell you… Gavin Newsom and his Cal Vols office took a FireAid grant,” Pratt fired off in an Instagram video. “So that’s cool; we’d like to know how much you took and exactly what you did with the money. And I mean, dollar for dollar, what you did with it. Thank you!”
(https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMYfcLZBx3o/)
Wow TJ, this is GOLD.
Gavin’s office mixed up with one of the most disgusting and unforgivable scandals of fund-diversion we’ve heard of in the aftermath of the horrifying and devastating and sad, sad, sad Eaton Fire in Altadena and Pasadena, significantly affecting God-only-knows how many hundreds, possibly thousands, of people, desperate and frightened and scrambling around for basic sustenance through no fault of their own. This is adding insult to injury, Gavin, for a LOT of people in Altadena who already think their homes could very well still be standing but for your negligence. How many, like this Instagram guy, will now go on a rampage to see to it that you are finally held responsible for your games and skullduggery?
This is truly shameful and bottom-feeding and beyond, beyond, beyond.
Enjoy your liquor, Gavin!
I believe Cal Volunteers has been removed from the Fire Aid site – can you confirm.
Most of what’s wrong with California originates with legislators from San Francisco. This is a perfect example. Distribution of the funds directly to the citizens could have been perfectly managed by an accounting firm. Instead, the funds are being filtered through a series of nonprofit organizations who undoubtedly have political connections to Newsom.
One time I told one of those oh-so-annoying anonymous callers representing a California agency funding solar panels (and other expensive, unnecessary energy upgrades) that I would rather just have a tax refund check. “But, this is the same, but you get solar panels instead of a check.”
we were a sign to the so-called money $$$$ I would like to know why the government have rights to a property that was owned and paid insurance to protect your property and tell you how it going to go down we got caught up in a wrongful bankruptcy with the PG&E the people that we had to deal with is no way seeing this point of pain we bare of what we worked our whole life to have and dreamed of having but that’s ok for all us to not matter they I can say are wrong of what they do all of they this is $$$$$$$ more important than life because not once have they really notice the wild life starving and not having a healthy environment they don’t see what I see l see greedy selfish unprofessional people that don’t care as long as the government gets paid I am FED UP as far as I am concerned I will be better off without the government I have not got a $$$$$ from PG&E NOW 7 YEARS ago this happen come November 8TH 2018 . I now lost my mom and dad and the sad part is they were the owners of the Property in Paradise we all paid to rebuild our of are own pockets and still waiting for a miracle to happen Remind you people here in Paradise are doing the same because PG&E hasn’t paid enough with there pro rated payments to even start to rebuild and that is wrong as far as this bankruptcy it’s says to be make whole and satisfied it is what I sign and that is what I would expect so do your math because you are milking the cow on are entrest as well and we should have entrest coming as well on the determination signed
Thank you so much.. Funding his own presidential campaign and a bit of the chaos out here perhaps to help boost his image?
Found these recipients in this article, https://www.circlingthenews.com/fireaid-state-receives-fireaid-money/
I don’t see what these groups have to do with fire victims. The bottom line is the Communists (Democrats) can never be trusted.
* Pathways LA reaches primarily single-parent families with a median family income of $12,096.
* California Native Vote Project click here, which is sponsored by another nonprofit Community Partners. click here. “The mission is to achieve justice and self-determination for Native American Communities through multigenerational power building, organizing, and civic engagement.”
* IDEPSCA (Instituto de Education Popular del Sur de California)click here received FireAid money. Its mission is “To create a more humane and democratic society by responding to the needs and problems of disenfranchised people through leadership development and educational programs based on Popular Education methodology.
* State of California’s CalVolunteers. California Volunteers is the state office “tasked with engaging Californians in service, volunteering and civic action to tackle our State’s most pressing challenges. Jacqueline Yannacci, the head, appointed by Newsom, receives a salary of $141,420, and this group serves under the office of the governor.
Hey, Cmon man.. it’s Cali. Did anyone out there on the left coast really expect a different result. Yet another method they use to continue to fleece the people’s will and money beyond the tax base. Cake only goes so far people. Que the props and big teeth smilers. May bad things come their way. Those who guide us and watch over us know this kind well.