Who Is Funding Children’s Health Defense?

Children’s Health Defense is the organization that RFK, Jr used to chair.

They even brought back Secretary RFK, Jr to headline a recent Children’s Health Defense conference.

Who Is Funding Children’s Health Defense?

A conference in which they repeated all of the misinformation and propaganda about vaccines that they are known for.

So who helps fund all of this anti-vaccine misinformation and propaganda coming from Children’s Health Defense?

Let’s take a look!

Of course, like other anti-vaccine organizations, much of the funding comes from essentially hidden sources, like:

• Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund – about $3.5 million
• Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program – about $2.4 million
• National Philanthropic Trust – about $1.8 million
• Donor Advised Charitable Giving – about $1.3 million
• National Christian Charitable Foundation – about $872,000
• Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust – about $763,000
• American Endowment Foundation – about $718,000
• Chicago Community Trust – about $407,000
• T. Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving – about $405,000+
• RSF Social Finance – about $379,000

So who has been giving Children’s Health Defense these millions over the years?

We don’t know…

Wealthy donors can hide their names by using these types of donor advised funds.

We do know who some of the other donors are though, including:

• Selz Foundation — a private foundation associated with Bernard and Lisa Selz. They gave a $500,000 grant to Children’s Health Defense in 2023.
• JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Foundation — a private foundation associated with John Paul DeJoria and his family (co-founded Paul Mitchell, Patrón Spirits Company & ROKiT phones, and created Bandero Tequila, Weber Ranch Vodka, and Vendidit). They gave about $375,000 in grants to Children’s Health Defense during 2020–2023.
• William H. Donner Foundation — a private foundation established by William H. Donner and now controlled by his descendants. They gave $300,000 in grants to Children’s Health Defense during 2022–2024.

Who else?

Billionaire banking heir Timothy Mellon has been described as a “major donor” to Children’s Health Defense.

“Timothy Mellon, a reclusive banking heir who was one of President Donald Trump’s and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s biggest financial backers in the 2024 election, gave two sprawling properties in Connecticut last year to Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group Kennedy founded.”

Trump Megadonor Gave $5.5 Million Estate to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nonprofit

Mellon gifted Children’s Health Defense a $5.5 million estate in Connecticut, while also agreeing to pay maintenance, improvements, and insurance costs.

So much for the idea that the anti-vaccine movement is a grassroots effort…

But at least now you know who is funding the anti-vaccine propaganda that could be leading to our measles outbreaks.

More on Anti-Vaccine Propaganda

• Who Is Funding the McCullough Foundation?
• Who Pays for Anti-Vaccine Propaganda and Misinformation?
• Who Are the Misinformation Shills Who Get Paid to Push Propaganda About Vaccines?
• Money and Motivation of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• FactChecking RFK Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense Keynote
• Trump Megadonor Gave $5.5 Million Estate to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nonprofit
• Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation
• Millionaire art donors Bernard and Lisa Selz help fund antivaxxers
• Who Is Giving to RFK’s Children’s Health Defense?
• How R.F.K. Jr.’s Causes Made Him Millions of Dollars

Last Updated on September 23, 2026