Overview
The People’s Forum (TPF) is a 501(c)(3) organization that hosts educational programming and community events in New York, New York. Much of the organization’s programming and activities reflect a far-left, socialist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology. TPF has portrayed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a sympathetic light. For example, TPF co-hosted an event that was intended to “provide a space for those invested in Chinese socialism and internationalism.” Its educational materials have falsely asserted that the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre “was not a massacre of peaceful protesters by the army” and erroneously portrayed Taiwan, a liberal democracy, as an “island province” of mainland China that is still under the control of “Nationalists.” In a 2021 social media thread, TPF described Neville Roy Singham as “our funder.” In 2023, The New York Times reported that Singham is at the “center” of a “lavishly funded influence campaign that defends China and pushes its propaganda,” as he “works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide.” Since 2025, the organization has been the subject of increased scrutiny because of congressional investigations relating to potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), though these allegations have not been verified.
TPF shared directors or staff with the People’s Support Foundation, Justice and Education Fund, United Community Fund and Tricontinental. In 2024, it received a $5 million grant from People’s Support Foundation and made a $100,000 grant to the Justice and Education Fund.
Tax classification — 501(c)(3)
Location — New York, NY
Founded — 2017
Annual revenue — $7,080,390 (FY 2024)
EIN — 61-1844780
Notable connections — Manolo De Los Santos, Executive Director; William Baptist Jr., Board Chair; Jodene Evans, Secretary and Interim Treasurer; Layan Fuleihan, Education Director; Claudie De la Cruz, Board Member; David Chung, Organizing Director
Activities
The People’s Forum (TPF) describes itself as “a movement incubator for working class and marginalized communities to build unity across historic lines of division at home and abroad.” According to its most recent 990 filing, filed in 2024, TPF states that its mission is to “provide a space for community forums, educational workshops, cultural performances, film screenings, literary commentary and review, and multimedia creations intended to raise awareness and opportunities for addressing injustice.” Furthermore, “TPF seeks to present and produce work for its community center that addresses the issues of social and economic inequality and educate the larger community about these issues.”
Based in New York City, TPF has three primary programmatic areas: it hosts educational programming, it promotes culture and the arts and it operates a kitchen and cafe. Nearly 80 percent of TPF’s programmatic spending in 2024 was devoted to its education program. Less than 15 percent of TPF’s programmatic spending in 2024 went to its cultural programming, and the remainder (about 5 percent) supported its kitchen and cafe.
TPF’s 2024 990 filing says that its education program “contributes to building and strengthening popular movements in New York City and beyond as well as a revitalized non-sectarian left intellectual culture rooted in the struggles of the poor and dispossessed.” Educational program spending accounted for $3.1 million out of roughly $3.88 million in total program service expenses, according to TPF’s 2024 Form 990. In practice, this means hosting educational courses including language classes in Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. In addition, in 2026, TPF hosted events ranging from a “Fleet Week Open House,” in which participants could “speak with veterans and others about refusing unlawful orders, conscientious objection, and the history of active-duty resistance to illegal wars,” to a five-week series called “Socialist Summer School - The People Vs. Billionaires.”
Part of TPF’s educational programming is devoted to promoting Marxist-Leninist communism. For example, TPF hosts annual “Red Books Day,” during which participants have performed a virtual reading of the Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In addition to Manolo De Los Santos, the founder and executive director of The People’s Forum, readers have included Jodie Evans (the co-founder of CODEPINK) and Vijay Prashad (the executive director of Tricontinental). As part of its “Red Books Day,” TPF has hosted screenings of the biopic, “The Young Karl Marx.”
In 2023, The People’s Forum held a three-week class titled “Lenin and the Path to Revolution.” A description of the class on the organization’s YouTube page reads: “Lenin’s theories and strategies continue to illuminate the path forward for people and movements committed to building working class power, showing the necessary steps for achieving worldwide socialist revolution.” The YouTube posting for the third class installment describes Lenin as “a well-loved revolutionary across countries and movements, whose name embodies the spirit of working-class internationalism.”
In a January 2, 2024, post on its website, The People’s Forum declared 2024 to be the “Year of Lenin & Cabral,” commemorating the “centennial of Lenin’s death.” In March 2024, The People’s Forum founder and executive director Manolo De Los Santos taught a class titled “The Communist International: Marxism in the Era of World Revolution.” The Communist International, or “Comintern,” was originally founded by Lenin as a means for the Soviet Communist Party to control international socialism. The People’s Forum webpage advertising the event described the Comintern as “a major contributor to worldwide anti-capitalist revolution, as well as a pioneer of a global, anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-imperialist politics.” The page also notes that De Los Santos co-edited books such as: “Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War,” “Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro” and “Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez.”
TPF’s educational programming has portrayed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a sympathetic light. For instance, in August 2020, The People’s Forum cohosted a virtual event with the Qiao Collective titled “Socialism vs. Barbarism: Understanding the New Cold War on China.” The page reads: “This class will equip socialists and anti-imperialists with an analysis of U.S.-China relations within a longer history of U.S. imperialist aggression; the nature of socialism with Chinese characteristics; and China’s vision of multilateralism as an alternative to U.S. unilateralism.” The Qiao Collective, the event’s cohost, says its mission is to serve “as a bridge between the U.S. left and China’s rich Marxist, anti-imperialist political work and thought in order to foster critical consideration of the role of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics in contemporary geopolitics.”
On September 18, 2021, The People’s Forum cohosted a conference in conjunction with the Qiao Collective, Monthly Review and CODEPINK titled, “China and the Left: A Socialist Forum.” The conference was intended to “provide a forum for those invested in Chinese socialism and internationalism” and “for those invested in challenging [the] rise in the U.S.-led imperialist aggression on China to meet, strategize, and discuss.” The conference’s home webpage chastised “self-avowed leftist organizations and thinkers” who had supposedly “abandoned an anti-imperialist analysis of China in favor of equivocating narratives about Chinese ‘authoritarianism’ and ‘hegemony.’”
In October 2024, The People’s Forum released a three-part series to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Chinese communist revolution titled “When the People Stand Up: 75 Years of the Chinese Revolution.” The first course reading packet reprints Mao Zedong’s September 21, 1949, speech, “The Chinese People Have Stood Up!” The course’s first reading packet also portrays Taiwan as a rogue province of mainland China, falsely claiming that the island nation is a “province” of mainland China and is still ruled by “Nationalists.” In fact, Taiwan evolved into a liberal democracy while mainland China remains under one-party rule. Another essay in the course’s reading materials sanitizes the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, declaring “it was not a massacre of peaceful protesters by the army.” Amnesty International found that between June 3 and June 9, 1989, Chinese troops killed at least 1,000 civilians—mostly peaceful protesters and bystanders. Several thousands were injured and a declassified British cable estimated at least 10,000 deaths. Tens of thousands more were arrested afterward.
The organization’s educational programming overlaps with its cultural events, which include book talks, film screenings and craft-making workshops. Cultural program spending accounted for $566,766 of TPF’s 2024 total program service expenses.
TPF’s third key program area is its kitchen and cafe, which serves as community space to provide “affordable and healthy options to their community.” Expenditures for the kitchen and cafe accounted for $209,034 of TPF’s total program service expenses in 2024.
TPF also operates a bookstore and press (1804 Books) at its midtown Manhattan address. 1804 Books describes itself as “your shop for socialist literature and revolutionary theory!” 1804 Books has published texts such as “China’s Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future” and “China’s Great Road: Lessons for Marxist Theory and Socialist Practices.” It has also published a volume titled “Lenin Selected Writings,” which was edited by Vijay Prashad, who is listed on Tricontinental’s website as the Executive Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Tricontinental’s 2024 Form 990, however, lists Prashad as the organization’s “Treasurer.” Manolo De Los Santos, the Executive Director of TPF, is also listed as a “Researcher” at Tricontinental.
Related Organizations and Affiliations
Related Organizations
TPF reported no related organizations on its Form 990s for fiscal years 2017 through 2024.
Affiliations
In December 2021, TPF stated in a social media thread on Twitter (now X) that it received funds from Neville Roy Singham, an American businessman living in Shanghai, describing him as “our funder.” In the thread, TPF stated: “A few years ago we met Roy Singham, a Marxist comrade who sold his company & donated most of his wealth to non-profits that focus on political education, culture & internationalism.” The next post in the thread read: “It seems to bother some folk that we receive funding that furthers our anti-imperialist politics. It seems to bother them even more that our funder is also a staunch anti-imperialist whose work goes back to the Black Panthers & the LRBW in Detroit.”
In 2024, TPF received a $5 million grant from People’s Support Foundation Limited, a private Chicago-based foundation. In 2023, Jason Pfetcher, who serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the People’s Support Foundation, stated: “All funds donated to [the People’s Support Foundation] came from the sale of ThoughtWorks,” a technology company founded by Singham, which he sold in 2017 for $785 million. According to both organizations’ 2024 990 filings, Jodie Evans served as President of the Board of Directors of the People’s Support Foundation while concurrently serving as the Secretary and Interim Treasurer of TPF. As of 2024, Layan Fuleihan serves on the Board of Directors of the People’s Support Foundation and works as the education director of TPF. As of 2024, Jodie Evans is also President of the Board of Directors of CODEPINK, a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Claudia De la Cruz also serves on the Board of Directors of both TPF and CODEPINK.
In 2024, People’s Support Foundation also made grants totaling $5.37 million to the Justice and Education Fund, a New York-based 501(c)(3) organization. Manolo De Los Santos, the Executive Director of TPF, and David Chung, TPF’s organizing director, both sit on the Board of Directors of the Justice and Education Fund. De Los Santos, who, according to TPF’s 2024 990 filing reports working an average of 30 hours per week with $0 in reportable compensation, is simultaneously listed as working an average of 40 hours per week for the Justice and Education Fund, with $80,000 in reportable compensation. According to its 2024 Form 990, TPF issued a $100,000 grant to the Justice and Education Fund for “Disaster Response and Relief.”
Controversies
Much of the controversy related to TPF stems from the organization’s connections to Neville Roy Singham. In 2026, Fox News Digital reported that Singham has issued a total of $22.4 million to TPF since 2017. However, Fox News Digital’s report does indicate how this figure was calculated, as the only explicit evidence cited is a $2.5 million grant to TPF in 2017 through a Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, which does not publicly list Singham as a donor.
Multiple members of Congress have called for investigations into TPF, citing the organization’s relationship to Singham.
On April 16, 2025, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel calling on the Department of Justice to assess whether TPF and CODEPINK should register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). In his letter to Bondi and Patel, Senator Grassley cites articles from The Free Press which allege “Singham has been The People’s Forum’s main financial contributor.” Grassley’s letter also highlights that Manolo De Los Santos, the executive director of TPF, appeared on the YouTube channel of CGTN, a Chinese state-owned media group. In his appearance on CGTN’s YouTube, De Los Santos described China’s political and economic system as putting “people first,” whereas the American system puts “profits over people.”
On September 4, 2025, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, wrote a letter to Manolo De Los Santos demanding that TPF provide “certain documents” to his committee. The letter cites TPF’s December 2021 X thread, in which TPF described Singham as “our funder,” and describes him as “a former United States technology mogul who now resides in Shanghai and is closely aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.” The letter also cites an article from The New York Times and reads: “Multiple reports have found that The People’s Forum is part of Mr. Singham’s network of non-profit organizations that serve as his conduits to spread pro-CCP narratives.” The letter also highlights that TPF’s educational programming in 2024 included courses celebrating the Chinese revolution. Like Senator Grassley’s letter, Representative Smith’s letter expresses concern that TPF is acting as an “agent of a foreign principal” as defined by FARA.
On February 12, 2026, the House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing to investigate “the money trail between foreign actors and tax-exempt organizations that have been fueling antisemitism, interfering in our elections, and spreading foreign government propaganda.” The Committee’s statement after the hearing referred to TPF as “one of the worst actors,” and “a major player in Roy Singham’s network, with strong connections to the CCP.”
In letters dated May 4, 2026, Representative Smith wrote to legal counsel for TPF, Tricontinental and BreakThrough News, demanding compliance with the House Ways and Means Committee’s requests for funding records. Smith’s letter states, “The People’s Forum has publicly acknowledged receiving funding from Mr. Singham,” and references a post from TPF on X from December 21, 2021, which reads: “For months we’ve been the target of a campaign that alleges our funding comes from ‘dark money’ / A few years ago we met Roy Singham, a Marxist comrade who sold his company & donated most of his wealth to non-profits that focus on political education, culture & internationalism.”
On July 21, 2026, Representative Smith issued a subpoena to TPF, compelling the organization to produce documents and communications related to foreign-linked funding. TPF dismissed the Committee’s subpoena as “a political witch hunt, modeled on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) led by Senator [Joe] McCarthy.”
Fox News and CBS News also reported in June and July 2026, respectively, that Singham is under criminal investigation by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. Although the investigation began as a probe for potential FARA violations, the scope of the investigation into Singham has expanded to “a criminal tax probe over whether money was unlawfully funneled through nonprofits he controls and whether he lied on the tax forms for those nonprofits, known as ‘990s.’” CBS News reported on July 16, 2026, that Singham had not been charged and quoted him denying that he belonged to, worked for, took orders from or followed instructions from any political party or government.
Finances
In 2024, TPF reported nearly $12.9 million in net assets, with almost $7.1 million in revenue and $4.9 million in expenses. That was a substantial increase from $1.3 million in 2023. The increase in revenue in 2024 was driven by a $5 million grant from People’s Support Foundation Limited.
Revenue and expenses
Assets and liabilities
Compensation
According to TPF’s 2024 990 filing, the organization paid $787,840 in salaries, other compensation and employee benefits to its 14 employees—up from $620,969 in 2023. The highest paid individual staff member listed in TPF’s 2024 Form 990 is Layan Fuleihan, TPF’s Education Director, who received $70,000 in reportable compensation and an estimated $8,649 in other compensation from “the organization and related organizations.”
Board of Directors
Multiple individuals listed on TPF’s 2024 990 filing—as directors or staff—held positions at other organizations. Manolo De Los Santos served concurrently on the Board of Directors of the Justice and Education Fund and was listed as a researcher at Tricontinental. David Chung was the chair on the Board of Directors of the Justice and Education Fund. Jodie Evans served concurrently as the President of the Board of Directors of both The People’s Support Foundation and CODEPINK. Claudia De la Cruz also served on the Board of Directors of both CODEPINK and BreakThrough News. Finally, Layan Fuleihan was listed as a member of the Board of Directors of both the People’s Support Foundation and United Community Fund.
The People’s Forum’s 2024 990 filing listed the following individuals on its board of directors:
William Baptist Jr. - Board Chair
Claudia De la Cruz - Board Member
Ben Wilkins - Board Member
Kenia Alcocer - Board Member
Jodene Evans - Secretary, Interim Treasurer
Manolo De Los Santos - Executive Director
David Chung - Organizing Director
Ryan Hamby - General Manager
Layan Fuleihan - Education Director
Founded in 2026, the Civil Defense Institute is a nonpartisan investigative research organization. We research people, organizations and networks whose conduct undermines civil society and Americans’ freedom to participate in public life. Our work examines extremist and conspiracy-driven campaigns, foreign influence, organized harassment and the institutions that enable them.