CODEPINK

The Funding Question

The investor is Neville Roy Singham, an American tech millionaire who now lives in Shanghai. The New York Times reported in 2023 that he works closely with China's state media system and helps fund groups around the world that echo Beijing's talking points. [13] According to nonprofit records cited by the Times, more than $1.4 million, close to a quarter of Code Pink's donations since 2017, came from groups linked to Singham. [13] [4]

Critics point to the timing. Jodie Evans married Singham in 2017, and in 2020 Code Pink launched its "China Is Not Our Enemy" campaign. [5] The Times reported that the group stopped criticizing China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims and began defending it. [13] Singham denies taking money or direction from the Chinese government and says the Times left out the rebuttals he provided before publication. [9] Code Pink says its position on China reflects its long-standing opposition to U.S. wars, not foreign influence. [5]

The shift is easiest to see in Evans herself. In 2015 she publicly demanded that China stop repressing its women's human rights defenders. By 2021 she was calling China a defender of the oppressed and a model for growth "without slavery or war," describing the Uyghurs as terrorists and defending their mass detention. [13]

The campaign has also moved from slogans to action. In February 2023, two Code Pink activists disrupted the first hearing of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, raising a "China is not our enemy" sign during testimony; both were arrested. [15] That June, according to the Times, Code Pink activists visited the committee's staff, denied evidence of forced labor in Xinjiang, and urged a congressman to go see the region for himself. [13] The group now runs a China Working Group and promotes organized travel to China as part of the campaign. [5]

Singham's money is not the only funding thread drawing scrutiny. Medea Benjamin, the group's other co-founder, ran a separate California charity called Arc of Justice, first set up in 2002 as the Benjamin Fund, that channeled money to Code Pink and other activist and nonprofit groups. In January 2025 California's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, part of the state attorney general's office, revoked Arc of Justice's registration after it failed to file required annual reports for several years. [11] The foundation had last reported roughly $51 million in assets, and its most recent annual returns do not appear in ProPublica's nonprofit database. [14] Arc of Justice is a separate entity from Code Pink, and the action was over filing failures, not any finding against Code Pink itself.

What It Does and Where It Stands

Code Pink's core cause is opposition to U.S. military action and spending. It runs campaigns with names like "Divest from War" and "Defund the Pentagon," and it argues that money spent on the military should go instead to health care, education, and jobs. [1] The group has protested U.S. policy under presidents of both parties, from the Iraq War under George W. Bush, to drone strikes under Barack Obama, to support for Israel under Joe Biden.

On the Middle East, Code Pink backs the Palestinian cause, supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel (known as BDS), and opposes U.S. military aid to Israel. In November 2023 co-director Danaka Katovich interrupted a Biden speech to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. [8] The group also opposes U.S. sanctions and intervention against countries including Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba, and its members travel on solidarity trips to several of them. Its response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine showed the shape of that anti-war stance: Code Pink urged Congress to impose no new sanctions on Russia and to send no weapons to Ukraine, [19] while separately calling on Russian troops to leave Ukraine and for an end to NATO expansion. [20]

Code Pink is a 501(c)(3) charity, a tax-exempt nonprofit that is sharply limited in how much electoral and lobbying work it can do. [2] Its influence runs through protest, disruption, and public campaigns rather than through campaign donations or a political action committee.

Founding and the Pink Playbook

Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, Diane Wilson, the activist known as Starhawk, and about 100 other women launched Code Pink in the fall of 2002 to try to stop the coming Iraq War. [1] They began with a four-month vigil outside the White House. The name is a play on the color-coded terror alert system used after the September 11 attacks, in which "code red" signaled the highest level of danger. [1]

From the start the group relied on theatrical, hard-to-ignore tactics: pink costumes, banners, and repeated disruptions of hearings and speeches, which have led to many arrests over the years. Its founders have also met with foreign leaders and traveled to conflict zones, choices that have brought both attention and criticism.

Who Runs It Now

Benjamin and Evans stepped back from day-to-day management in 2020 and moved into board and campaign roles, passing the organization to a younger team. [7] Evans, who remains on the board, has deep Democratic Party ties: she was Director of Administration in California Governor Jerry Brown's first administration and managed his 1992 presidential campaign. [12] Code Pink is now led by national co-directors including Danaka Katovich and Carley Towne, who focus on Pentagon-spending and anti-war campaigns. [8]

Congressional Scrutiny

The Times investigation set off a run of requests from Republicans in Congress. Each asked the Justice Department to examine whether Code Pink, or the wider Singham network, should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. That law requires anyone acting for a foreign government to disclose it. In July 2024, Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate 18 Singham-linked organizations, Code Pink among them. [16] In 2025, Senator Jim Banks made a similar request focused on Code Pink, citing its China campaign and the 2023 hearing disruption. [17] Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley separately asked the Justice Department and FBI to look at Code Pink and the Singham-funded People's Forum. [18] In November 2025, Senator Tom Cotton added a letter that also asked whether Code Pink's work with members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S. designated terrorist group, amounted to material support. [6] A House Ways and Means Committee hearing examined the funding network in early 2026. [10]

These are requests and allegations by lawmakers, not findings. In mid-2026, CBS News reported that Singham himself was under a federal grand jury investigation in the Southern District of New York, which began over foreign-agent questions and expanded into a criminal tax inquiry. He had not been charged. [3] As of mid-2026, no charges had been reported against Code Pink or its founders, and the group denies taking money or direction from any government. [5] Through all of it, Code Pink has kept campaigning against the Pentagon budget and U.S. military aid abroad.

Where to Find Them

Code Pink is online at codepink.org, which lists its campaigns, local groups, and ways to donate. It is a national nonprofit rather than a company that sells products; supporters take part through activism and tax-deductible donations to the 501(c)(3). [2]

Footnotes

[1] CODEPINK, "What is CODEPINK," accessed August 27, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/about

[2] CODEPINK, "Founders, Staff & Community," accessed August 27, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/founders_staff

[3] CBS News, "Husband of Code Pink founder being investigated under federal foreign agent and tax laws," July 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/husband-code-pink-founder-neville-roy-singham-investigation-tax-laws/

[4] China Media Project, "Code Pink, Code Red," August 16, 2023. https://chinamediaproject.org/2023/08/16/code-pink-code-red/

[5] CODEPINK, "China Is Not Our Enemy," accessed August 27, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/china

[6] U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, letter to the Attorney General, November 7, 2025. https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/110725codepinkletter.pdf

[7] CODEPINK, "Big News from CODEPINK!," accessed August 27, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/big_news_from_codepink

[8] CODEPINK, "Danaka Katovich," accessed August 27, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/danaka

[9] Deccan Herald, "Never received funds from any government or political party: Neville Roy Singham," 2023. https://www.deccanherald.com/india/never-received-funds-from-any-government-or-political-party-neville-roy-singham-2730697

[10] Fox News, "House hearing raises red flags over former tech mogul's CCP network allegedly funding far-left groups," February 2026. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-hearing-raises-red-flags-former-tech-moguls-ccp-network-allegedly-funding-far-left-groups

[11] California Attorney General's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, "Arc of Justice, registration no. 128072," registration revoked January 9, 2025, accessed August 29, 2026. https://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Search.aspx

[12] CODEPINK, "Jodie Evans," accessed August 27, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/jodie_evans

[13] Mara Hvistendahl, David A. Fahrenthold, Lynsey Chutel, and Ishaan Jhaveri, The New York Times, "A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul," August 5, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html

[14] ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Arc of Justice (Benjamin Fund Inc), EIN 84-1618483," accessed August 29, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/841618483

[15] The Hill, "Protesters disrupt House China panel's first hearing," March 1, 2023. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3878446-protesters-disrupt-house-china-panels-first-hearing/

[16] U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, letter to the Attorney General, July 10, 2024. https://www.rubio.senate.gov/rubio-graham-to-biden-doj-we-must-not-allow-the-ccp-to-succeed-in-information-war-against-our-country/

[17] U.S. Senator Jim Banks, letter to the Attorney General, April 2025. https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-jim-banks-to-attorney-general-bondi-i-urge-you-to-investigate-code-pink-for-potential-violations-of-fara/

[18] U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, letter to the Justice Department and FBI, 2025. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_to_doj_fbi_-_code_pink_and_the_peoples_forum.pdf

[19] CODEPINK, "CODEPINK Congress Action: March 1, 2022," accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/cpcongressaction03012022

[20] CODEPINK, "Ukraine open letter to Russian protestors," accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.codepink.org/ukraine_open_letter_to_russian_protestors