Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with Missouri's Attorney General challenging whether the ACLU Foundation violated state foreign influence law by donating five hundred thousand dollars to Stop the Ban after receiving two million dollars from Switzerland-based Oak Foundation, raising questions about foreign funding influencing American electoral processes.
The Switzerland-based Oak Foundation gave the ACLU Foundation a two million dollar unrestricted grant to be spent over two years beginning in 2025. Then in early 2026, campaign finance records show the ACLU Foundation donated five hundred thousand dollars to Stop the Ban, a political committee opposing Missouri's proposed abortion ban ballot measure that includes exceptions for rape, incest, medical emergencies, and fetal anomalies.
"The ACLU Foundation has become a bastion of foreign money, unceremoniously opening its coffers to millions in Swiss-based funding, and subsequently to an unknowable degree of influence that comes along with it."
Missouri is part of a slate of GOP-led states that passed laws in 2025 preventing foreign funds from making their way into political processes. The legislative effort was inspired by reporting that money linked to Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss made its way to major Democratic-aligned nonprofits spending large amounts influencing state ballot referendums.
The ACLU claims compliance with Missouri's campaign finance law, though the complaint argues the foundation's timing—receiving foreign funds then immediately donating to the abortion opposition committee—demonstrates either reckless disregard or willful evasion of the newly enacted law designed keeping foreign money from influencing American elections on ballot measures.
The Oak Foundation is primarily funded by British billionaire Alan Parker, whose family retains board seats. Missouri law requires organizations donating to political committees to attest they received less than ten thousand dollars in four years prior from prohibited sources, which it defines as foreign national contributions or expenditures intended to influence ballot measure elections.
The ACLU's acceptance of Swiss foreign money followed immediately by donations to American abortion ballot measure campaigns demonstrates exactly why foreign influence laws exist. Voters deserve to know whether foreign billionaires are funding campaigns attempting to influence American electoral outcomes through American nonprofit conduits. Missouri's Attorney General must investigate whether the ACLU violated the state's foreign influence law while working to overturn voters' abortion restrictions through campaigns funded with foreign money.