Conservative influencer C.J. Pearson raised about $170,000 for Black-owned businesses in 2020. He never really doled it out. And now he’s running for office.
At just 21 years old, C.J. Pearson boasts a lengthy record in the public arena. After going viral as a preteen for his self-taped takedown of Barack Obama,of the right wing’s activist-pundit class, amassing hundreds of thousands of fans and a prominent perch at the conservative content platform PragerU.on Tuesday to fill a vacancy in a safely Republican state House district just outside his hometown.
Nearly four years later, however, it remains unclear exactly how much of that money was actually directed to businesses that could have benefited from the funds, according to annual federal tax filings for the nonprofit. In 2021 and 2022, GAME reported giving out a combined $46,000 in grants. But unlike in 2020, the forms did not specify any recipients of the funds—making it impossible to know who received funds and how much. Under Internal Revenue Service rules, nonprofits only have to disclose information for recipients of grants larger than $5,000, so it’s possible that the nonprofit gave out multiple small grants below the reporting threshold.
If the episode is any indication of how Pearson might behave as a member of the Georgia legislature, it may be one of the most important lines in his resume for voters to consider. By the time he launched the GoFundMe for Black-owned businesses in June 2020, Pearson was already a well-known conservative commentator with a big platform—a platform he would tap to raise money for those he said were harmed by “ANTIFA” violence.
After raising the money, Pearson said he chose Wilbourn Sisters Designs as their first grant recipient after the damage to their store was covered on the news. “In the midst of the mayhem, Wilbourn caught the attention of news outlets. Pearson saw her story. He wanted to help and he did,” the column read.
The annual tax forms for the organization from 2021, 2022, and 2023 only deepen the questions over how the money Pearson raised was used—or, more accurately, not used. GAME did report other expenses, but they were vague. In 2021, for instance, it reported spending nearly $30,000 on “marketing and PR,” but did not list who was paid for the work. In 2023, it spent over $10,000 on marketing and PR.
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