After years of financial growth, Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit group founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recorded a more than 30% drop in revenue last year, to $16 million, according to recent tax filings.
The pandemic
boosted
the profiles and pocketbooks of anti-vaccine organizations and activists, but none more than Children’s Health Defense and Kennedy. The nonprofit doubled its revenue in 2020 to $6.8 million, then grew again to $16 million in 2021 and $23.5 million in 2022. Last year was the first substantial loss in the organization’s history, of about $3 million, driven by a reduction in contributions, according to the filings.
Children’s Health Defense, which describes itself as a “child health protection and advocacy group,” provided its tax filings to NBC News. Neither Children’s Health Defense nor Kennedy, who
could take on a public health role
in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration, responded to a request for comment.
Amid unfounded fears over vaccines during the pandemic, Children’s Health Defense expanded its reach beyond the parents of small children and grew beyond its website, which for years had been a hub for health misinformation. Along with growing chapters across the U.S., Canada and Europe, it now boasts an online TV network, a book publishing house and a movie studio.
The decline in revenue coincides with one notable change within the group last year: the absence of its most prominent advocate. Kennedy had led Children’s Health Defense since 2015, serving as both chairman and chief litigation counsel until April 2023, when the group announced he was going “on leave” to
run for president
. Kennedy was always a long-shot candidate, running as a Democrat, then an independent, before dropping out to join the Trump campaign in August. Kennedy promoted his new allyship at rallies, urging his supporters to vote for Trump and “Make America Healthy Again.”
The spin on Trump’s MAGA motto was quickly turned into a super PAC (MAHA Alliance) and a nonprofit organization (MAHA Action), both helmed by Del Bigtree, a former Kennedy campaign communications director and head of another anti-vaccine group, the Informed Consent Action Network.
Kennedy is still on leave from Children’s Health Defense and contributing to Trump’s transition team, with speculation that he will officially join the White House, though whether in a Cabinet position, as a “czar” or some other way is unclear. Trump has said he will let Kennedy “go wild on health.”
The tax filings show that Children’s Health Defense increased its spending on salaries in 2023, from $5.6 million in 2022 to $9.8 million in 2023. Kennedy was the highest-paid employee, earning $326,000 for his 15 weeks of work as chairman, more than half of his 2022 salary of $510,000.
As noted by employees in recent videos celebrating Kennedy’s potential role in the Trump administration, IRS rules prohibit nonprofits from directly or indirectly supporting political campaigns. Still, the Kennedy campaign and Children’s Health Defense kept close ties. The nonprofit’s CEO, Mary Holland, who earned $180,000 in 2023, also went on leave
to serve
as the Kennedy campaign’s director of volunteers. Children’s Health Defense employees were among the earliest campaign volunteers:
selling Kennedy merchandise
at rallies. A
super PAC
that raised $50 million supporting Kennedy was run by donors and former and current Children’s Health Defense staff.
While on leave, Kennedy has continued to participate in Children’s Health Defense events. The tax filings show the group spent $138,000 on falconry in 2023; that November a donation contest winner
reportedly won
a day to “learn the art of falconry” with Kennedy. Kennedy was also the headliner for the group’s
annual convention
last year, where he accepted the “Defender Award,” and was recognized for “courage and steadfast commitment to truth and liberty.”
While Children’s Health Defense does not disclose individual donors, tax documents filed last year show several large donations from family foundations and donor-advised funds, a kind of philanthropic middleman, which in effect anonymizes donations. Over half a million dollars came from the
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
, a donor-advised fund.
The William H. Donner Foundation
, which describes itself as “a family foundation that invests in creative solutions to critical problems,” made two $100,000 donations, according to tax filings, specifically to fund lawsuits brought by Children’s Health Defense.
One of the lawsuits (
dismissed
by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals) alleged that the Food and Drug Administration’s issuance of emergency use authorizations for Covid vaccines recommended to children violated parents’ rights. The other donation funded the defense of a doctor, Meryl Nass, in a disciplinary case brought by a Maine medical board. The state suspended her license because of a failure to meet standards of care while treating Covid patients and spreading vaccine misinformation; Children’s Health Defense
livestreamed
the proceedings.
Even with the drop in funding, Children’s Health Defense remains a force in the anti-vaccine movement, and Kennedy’s new position in Trump’s circle propels the mission.
Giorgio Zeolla, the senior development officer, noted on the online show “Good Morning CHD” after the election last week that the organization expects to come under attack, “because we are stronger than we’ve ever been, because the opportunities are greater than they’ve ever been.”
He added: “I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t realize that that opportunity is now there. It’s ours to make something of it.”
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