NYT investigation: NAR’s nonprofit funds conservative groups

Everyone knows about the National Association of Realtors’(NAR) political action committee, but few know about its affiliate nonprofit the American Property Owners Alliance. 

While NAR’s PAC supports political candidates whose beliefs and goals align with those of the trade group and its spending is almost perfectly bipartisan, NAR’s affiliate nonprofit, the American Property Owners Alliance, is a different story.

Created by NAR in 2020, the American Property Owners Alliance, which is solely funded by the trade group, appears to throw its support in favor of Republican-backed causes. 

In an examination of the nonprofits’ tax record, The New York Times found that in its first four years of existence, the group distributed $12.8 million in grants, nearly $10 million of which went to Republican-aligned super PACs and groups with conservative agendas.

Of the groups who received grants, only the Republican-aligned Americans for Tax Reform, which received $25,000, identifies promoting housing or property rights as one of its goals. 

According to the New York Times’ analysis, this pattern of donations appears to be politically motivated and not inline with the American Property Owners Alliance’s stated mission of advocating “for the rights of all property owners.” By going against its mission, the nonprofit could potentially draw unwanted attention from the Internal Revenue Service. 

In a statement to the New York Times, the American Property Owners Alliance wrote it “has acted in a manner consistent with that of a section 501(c) (4) advocacy organization,” and that the grants it awards “advance APOA’s own agenda and, while not direct program activity, advance the interest of property owners and their rights.”

Thus far, the largest grant recipient has been One Nation, which has received $7 million in grants from the American Property Owners Alliance. 

One Nation is a so-called dark-money group, which uses dollars to influence elections and is a regular contributor to the Senate Leadership Fund, which is the largest super PAC for Senate Republicans. 

Other groups that have received grants from the American Property Owners Alliance include The Douglass Leadership Institute, which is a Christian group whose focuses include reducing the number of abortions, and abortion providers, in the Black community; the American Unity Fund, a Republican-aligned LGBTQ advocacy group that supports same-sex marriage; and the American Action Network, which is a Republican advocacy group founded by by former Senator Norm Coleman, a Republican of Minnesota, and Fred Malek, who served as an adviser to President Richard Nixon and President George H.W. Bush. 

Despite its hefty donations to Republican aligned causes, the American Property Owners Alliance has also given roughly $3 million to Housing Majority Forward, a key contributor to the Democratic House Majority PAC, and a top super PAC for Democrats. The National Black Empowerment Council also received a small grant. The nonpartisan group lists closing the wealth gap between Black Americans and other groups as a primary goal. 

In addition to their findings about the American Property Owners Alliance, the Times’ investigation also found that Walt Witek, NAR’s former senior vice president of community and political affairs, was fired from his post in 2018 due to his opposition to the creation of this affiliate nonprofit. 

The idea for the American Property Owners Alliance came from Bill Malkasian, who created the Wisconsin Homeowners Alliance in 2005 while serving as the chief executive of the Wisconsin Association of Realtors. According to tax records, much of the nonprofit’s funds have gone to support conservative groups. When he began working as NAR’s vice president of political strategic planning in 2011, Malkasian brought his idea to the national trade group. 

“He wanted to use soft money and make it really dark. He didn’t want it branded with the Realtor name,” Witek told the Times of Malkasian’s plan. “He wanted to make it untraceable.”

Malkasian went on to become the first executive director of the American Property Owners Alliance, but retired in 2020. However, he still remains on NAR’s payroll as a “former officer.” 

A previous Times investigation found that NAR’s executives and leaders enjoy lavish perks unmatched by other industry trade groups.

NAR did not return a request for comment.