MODULE 5: SERIES SONG, “BACKPACK”
SERIES SONG — MODULE 5: “BACKPACK” Persona: SIEGE (West Coast G-Funk / Political Hip-Hop) Source: Module 5 — “The Backpack Trick” — Fiscal Sponsorship
Module 5: The Backpack Trick
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[Intro] Deep synth bass, four bars, looming. Snare on five.
[Verse 1] Module five, sit down and listen Move three of eight — the one that makes a thing go missin’ They call it fiscal sponsorship, I call it the backpack Project borrows an EIN, paper trail gets jacked Real parent, real board, real 990, real letter Lends its status to a project that ain’t even a debtor No board, no EIN, no 990 of its own Just a name, a website, a mailbox on loan Parent takes a cut — five to fifteen off the top Project runs campaigns and the public trail gets chopped Search ProPublica — nothin’ Search the IRS — nothin’ Project exists as a line inside the parent’s stuffin’
[Pre-Chorus] Real parent, fake child Real EIN, fake file Real donation, no trail Real campaign, no mail
[Chorus] Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack Project in the zipper, nobody know what it’s rappin’ Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack Parent in the front, and the project in the back pack Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack Search the IRS, you won’t find the tab Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack Citizens open it up, now you know what’s in the bag
[Verse 2] One network, seven parents, four hundred in the zipper One point five billion every year — that’s the shipper One flagship did three hundred eleven mill in a single year Quarter billion in management fees from the firm runnin’ the gear Coalitions, initiatives, campaigns you heard by name Can’t find ‘em on ProPublica — that’s the fiscal-sponsor game Advocacy, judicial, abortion, climate, election turnout All of it inside the parent’s skin, never broke out No separate EIN, no 990 disclosin’ Aggregate lines, “other expenses” — that’s the closin’ Eighty million in “other” right next to office supplies Five-person board can’t watch four hundred disguises Industrial and quiet
[Chorus]
[Verse 3] Red backpack: (c)(3), pulled a fellow in late twenty-five Senior Fellow, political communicator, platform alive Her work became program, her content became the line Super PAC downstream, megadonor wrote the sign Fellow buried in “other compensation” — every cell benign Blue backpack: K Street firm, seven flagships, four hundred pop-ups Fiscal sponsorship declared: no separate 990 cooked up Projects enter, run a cycle, website deleted clean Nobody filed dissolution ’cause the project was never seen Same backpack, different paint Same opacity, same legal restraint The rule don’t pick a side — the rule just lets you hide If you got a real parent nonprofit on your side
[Bridge — spoken, double-time, bass only] Citizen — here’s the five-minute audit Step one: pull the parent’s 990 from ProPublica Step two: Schedule I — grants under thirty percent of expenses? Flag it Step three: Part IX Line 24 — “other expenses” over five million? Note it Step four: Schedule O — keyword search “project,” “initiative,” “coalition,” “fund” Step five: every name you found, hit the IRS Business Master File No EIN? You just opened the bag Five out of five? Industrial backpack Post what you find. Tag @P_MilkCarton. We’ll amplify the map.
[Chorus — final] Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack Project in the zipper, now YOU know what it’s rappin’ Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack Citizens open it up — everybody know what’s in the bag
[Outro — spoken] Module five. The Backpack Trick. Fiscal sponsorship. Open the bag. Count the EINs. Post what you find. Project Milk Carton. Shadow Patriots. Reach one, teach one. [Fade.]