In accordance with our policy for removing charities from our Watchlist, Charity Navigator removed Move America Forward from the Watchlist in February 2016 because the charity provided information regarding the conclusion of a government audit and because the Watchlist has been posted for over a year.

Charity Navigator placed Move America Forward on the Watchlist because we became aware of the following information:

On August 5, 2014, ProPublica reported that "Move America Forward has collected millions to send care packages to U.S. troops. But its appeals often rely on images and stories borrowed without permission, and its assets have been used to benefit political consulting firms and PACs." The report specifically states that "an examination of its fundraising appeals, tax records and other documents shows that Move America Forward has repeatedly misled donors and inflated its charitable accomplishments, while funneling millions of dollars in revenue to the men behind the group and their political consulting firms." The article also noted that "Danny Gonzalez, a spokesman for Move America Forward, did not answer questions" but provided "a four-paragraph defense of the charity" which said, in part, "we are proud of the fact that we always appropriate our donor's (sic) funds ethically and in the spirit of our mission to support the troops." The article also noted that Gonzalez said "Move America Forward has not violated tax rules barring charities from engaging in partisan politics or overly benefitting insiders." 

For more information: Pro-publica Article

On August 11, 2014, the RedState published the charity’s response to the ProPublica piece which stated, "all of the insinuations and impressions this article conveys are universally false." It also noted that "Move America Forward was audited by the IRS" and "the auditor, who spent three weeks in the office going over our books, gave us a clean bill of health and said our records were better than most organizations of our size." 

For more information: Charity's Response on RedState

The organization has also posted an additional response to the allegations on their web site.

For more information: Move America Forward's Web Site

On August 12, 2014, one of the organization’s board members, Sal Russo, published a response on Capitol Weekly.

For more information: Capitol Weekly

On June 23, 2015, Stars and Stripes published an article titled, "Charity for troops hasn't changed since investigation; fund drive begins Thursday"

For more information: Stars and Stripes