An audit of Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) — one of the key progressive players opposing President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts in Middle Tennessee — found “material weaknesses” and “significant deficiencies” in its accounting procedures.”
In its 2023 audit — the most recent available — the Certified Public Accounting Firm Watkins Uiberol, found TIRRC did not track how some $383,497 in taxpayer money it passed through to other groups was spent. Auditors also found TIRCC “did not adequately monitor the sub-recipients use of federal awards or comply with compliance requirements.” In violation of federal rules, the audit noted TIRRC did “not receive supporting documentation for the sub-recipient’s expenses.” Auditors also found there was “no documentation verifying management’s review and approval of credit card expenditures charged against the federal grants.”
There are strict rules and regulations on how that federal money can be spent, and the audit suggests TIRRC played fast and loose with the rules. In short, the City of Nashville gave TIRRC a lot of federal money. TIRRC, in turn, passed that money on to another group under a contract agreement without getting receipts for how that money was spent. It was at least the second time such accounting irregularities were identified.
The liberal advocacy group was front-and-center last week when Mayor Freddie O’Connell held a news conference to blast federal and state immigration enforcement. After stating how “heartbroken” he was federal immigration laws were being enforced, he handed the podium to Hal Cato, CEO of the liberal, non-profit Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT). Cato announced a quickly cobbled-together charity effort he called “The Belonging Fund.” Thirty-thousand dollars in seed money for that fund was provided by TIRCC.
Mayor O’Connell was feeling heat from liberal community leaders over the raids and desperately needed to show he was reacting — doing something. He instinctively turned to two friendly non-profits the city has been funding with taxpayer dollars for years. Records show in 2024, the City of Nashville handed The Community Fund a $20 million grant; basically a pass-through of Federal COVID funding. TIRCC also received $3 million in funding from the City of Nashville since 2020. It was another big pass-through of Federal COVID money.
Beyond the accounting short-comings, federally required IRS filings do not reveal exactly how TIRRC spends its money. The TIRRC audit in 2023 revealed its largest expenditure ($1.6 million) went toward the vaguely-defined task of “Community Organizing.” Another $683,000 went to the pay for the equally vague category of “Advocacy and Education.”
Forbidden from funding or participating in overtly political activity as a 501(c)(3) charity, TIRRC formed a second group in 2018, “TIRRC Votes.” Its website touts the group “is the leading organization in Tennessee capable of building a new electorate and mobilizing the state’s progressive base voters” and lists its activities as lobbying, registration drives, voter education, and get-out-the-vote efforts.
The watchdog group, Open Secrets, observed:
Politically active nonprofits such as 501(c)(4)s are generally under no legal obligation to disclose their donors even if they spend to influence elections. When they choose not to reveal their sources of funding, they are considered dark money groups.
Opaque nonprofits and shell companies may give unlimited amounts of money to super PACs. While super PACs are legally required to disclose their donors, some of these groups are effectively dark money outlets when the bulk of their funding cannot be traced back to the original donor.
Both CFMT and TIRRC are flush with donor support. The CFMT claimed net worth assets worth more than $650M in 2023. TIRRC’s assets include a building and land worth $2.6M and net assets worth nearly $5.5M.
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Brian Wilson is Managing Editor of the State News Foundation.
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell.
