The ACLU shattered all its previous fundraising records this weekend
Over the weekend, the American Civil Liberties Union received $24,164,691 from 356,306 online donations — a hefty sum considering the nonprofit organization typically only receives $4 million a year from online donations.
"I've never seen anything like this," executive director Anthony Romero told Yahoo News early Sunday, when the fundraising total was at $10 million. "People are fired up and want to be engaged." On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning entry into the United States by travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and halting the refugee program, and the next day, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Iraqi men detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. A federal judge blocked part of the order, and the men were released.
Since Nov. 8, the ACLU's membership has doubled to 1 million members, Slate reports. The organization can expect to see even more money roll in — celebrities like Sia and Rosie O'Donnell have said they will match up to $100,000 in donations, and actress Sarah Paulson used her acceptance speech at the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday night to urge people to donate.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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