Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin founded Tea Party Patriots. | AP Photo Tea party group gets anonymous $1M

A leading tea party group that has struggled for cash announced Tuesday morning that it had received $1 million from a businessman who did not want his identity to be disclosed.

The contribution to Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella coalition of 2,800 local groups, will be used entirely to fund grants to those local tea party groups for get-out-the-vote activities and operational overhead, as POLITICO reported Monday.


Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler, the Patriots’ co-founders, said the contribution will not change the scrappy grassroots nature of the group, nor will it be used for administrative costs.

“In keeping with the spirit and philosophy of Tea Party Patriots, this fund will be immediately and broadly distributed to tea party organizations on the ground, in order to allow them to leverage their current efforts,” said Meckler, a Sacramento lawyer in a Tuesday morning press conference at the National Press Club.

He said he did not know whether the donor has given to other conservative groups or candidates or whether he would give more money to the Patriots, but described him as “an entrepreneur and a businessperson” who “believes that the best thing that he can do in America is to go out ... and create jobs.”

Tea Party Patriots, a nonprofit group registered under section 501(c)4 of the Internal Revenue Service code, is not required to reveal its donors, but Meckler said it had been primarily funded by small donations averaging $80. It has worked to remain non-partisan and hasn't endorsed candidates, but has watched as other tea party groups have ridden their support for tea party candidates to higher profiles and greater fundraising success.

For instance, Tea Party Express, a political action committee which this cycle had raised $3.4 million through early August, has been credited with boosting movement darlings to surprising victories in Senate races in Delaware, Alaska and Nevada. And its founder was the subject of front-page profiles in Sunday’s New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

FreedomWorks, which also has a PAC that has been active in key Senate races, brought in $7.6 million to its 501(c)4 and 501(c)3 in 2009 according to its IRS filings, though it’s seen its fundraising rise sharply as a result of its sponsorship of tea party hero Glenn Beck’s radio show.

Meckler and Martin stressed that their $1 million grant would not be used for activities on behalf of candidates and also dismissed the notion that their group is in competition with better funded efforts like FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express.

“I don’t worry so much about what other groups are doing,” said Martin.

Meckler said the Patriots’ model is “opposite” of the Express’s and took a shot at the rival group, pointing out it was created by a Sacramento GOP consulting firm, which was first reported by POLITICO in April.