September 17, 2009 1:54PM # Funding ACORN By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) --- SHARE The ACORN scandal provides a good opportunity for citizens concerned about profligacy in Washington to explore some of the tools available to find out where their tax money goes. A good place to start your research is the [Federal Audit Clearinghouse on the Census website](http://harvester.census.gov/fac/dissem/disclaim.html). All groups receiving more than $500,000 a year from the government are required to file a report. Just type in “ACORN” as the entity and the system pops up the group’s filings. My assistant John Nelson summarized the federal programs and amounts received by ACORN in recent years: **2003** Housing Counseling Assistance $1,168,388 Community Development Block Grants $388,273 Home Investment Partnership $8,000 Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity $204,082 Fair Housing Initiatives Program $85,000 Total $1,853,743 **2004** Housing Counseling Assistance $2,209,009 Community Development Block Grants $221,007 Home Investment Partnership Program $21,092 Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity $127,183 Fair Housing Initiatives Program $105,000 Total $2,683,291 **2005** Housing Counseling Assistance $2,605,558 Community Development Block Grants $367,560 Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity $153,082 Fair Housing Initiatives Program $140,917 Total $3,267,117 **2006** Housing Counseling Assistance $1,955,074 Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity $59,541 Rural Housing and Economic Development $47,619 Fair Housing Initiatives Program $150,000 Community Development Block Grants $238,809 Total $2,451,043 **2007** Housing Counseling Assistance $1,813,011 Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity $46,608 Rural Housing and Economic Development $30,504 Fair Housing Initiatives Program $60,000 Community Development Block Grants $372,950 Total $2,323,073 My colleague, [Tad DeHaven, has discussed why these HUD programs ](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/hud/community-development)that funded ACORN ought to be abolished completely. Subsidy information is also available from IRS Form 990, which is filed by all non-profit groups and compiled at [Guidestar](http://www2.guidestar.org/) and other websites. I am not an expert on this data, but [Velma Anne Ruth of ABS Community Research ](http://www.absnetwork.org.uk/)has done a detailed analysis, which she kindly sent to me. She finds that federal funding for ACORN was about $1.7 million in 2008 and about $2.2 million in 2009. Finally, a user-friendly website to research recipients of federal grants and contracts is [www​.usaspend​ing​.gov](http://www.usaspending.gov). ACORN’s share of overall federal subsidies is tiny, but as thousands of similar organizations have become hooked on [1,800 different federal subsidy programs,](https://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_56.pdf) a powerful lobbying force has been created that propels the $3.6 trillion spending juggernaut. ACORN’s own website touts its lobbying success in helping to pass various big government programs. So cutting off ACORN is a start, but just a small start at the daunting task of cutting back the giant federal spending empire. ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).