Questions are being raised about how the roughly $100 million raised by “Fire Aid” concerts in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires earlier this year is being spent — with some claiming victims are receiving nothing.
The star-studded bill for the benefit concert, held on two separate stages, raised a massive sum. But many residents of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu (Palisades Fire), and of Altadena and Pasadena (Eaton Fire), say they have not benefited.
There have been two significant local investigations by local news outlets, each of which came to different — though not necessarily contradictory — conclusions about Fire Aid’s money.
The first, by ABC affiliate KABC-7, concluded that the money was being well-spent — on organizations:
Roughly 120 organizations split $50 million when the first round of FireAid funds was released in February. 7 On Your Side tried reaching out to every single one of them, and heard back from more than 50 to find out how the money is being used.
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The Pasadena Humane Society used $250,000 from FireAid to treat and house pets burned and left homeless by the flames.
Heal the Bay received $100,000 and used it to test for contaminants along our coast.
However, Circling the News, as highlighted by local Fox affiliate KTTV, found that few victims had benefited:
Via Yahoo! News:
This ‘benefit concert’ might be one of the biggest scams in disaster fundraising history,” said independent journalist James Li on X.
Thanks to Li and Sue Pascoe, an investigative journalist for Circling The News, we now know that FireAid funds have not gone directly to residents, but instead to nonprofits selected by a charity based on the other side of the country.
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As Pascoe reports, The Annenberg Foundation was tasked with managing the FireAid funds. Pascoe emailed the organization asking, “How much of the funds were spent specifically for the Palisades and which nonprofits in that community are receiving money?” But Pascoe didn’t get a reply, and no one answered when she called several of the company’s extensions.
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However, when Pascoe spoke with Wallace, she was shocked to learn that the FireAid proceeds would not go to residents affected by the devastating fires. Instead, the money would be distributed to several nonprofits affiliated with the Annenberg Foundation.
In sum, the question of whether Fire Aid funds are being spent properly comes down to whether they should have gone directly to residents who lost their homes and possessions, or whether they should have helped organizations helping fire victims in a general or indirect sense, or helping related, worthy causes.
Pascoe says it is too easy for organizations to become eligible for Fire aid funding, and more oversight is needed.
