• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechACLU

Tech and Hollywood Stars Spur ACLU Efforts With Matching Funds

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 30, 2017, 12:18 PM ET
Trump Travel Ban Impact
Immigrant rights' advocates and others join others protesting President Donald Trump's immigration order as it sowed more chaos and outrage across the country Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, at Castle Clinton National Monument in New York's Battery Park. Some travelers were detained at airports, as panicked families searched for relatives, while protesters such as these registered opposition to the president's sweeping measure that was blocked by several federal courts. AP Photo/Kathy Willens)Kathy Willens — AP

The firestorm sparked by President Donald Trump’s executive order on Friday to ban immigration and travel to the U.S. by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries proved a boon to the American Civil Liberties Union, which reportedly collected more than $24 million in contributions over the weekend.

Not bad for an organization that typically raises about $4 million annually.

Many of those donations likely came from first-time donors, some of which responded to matching fund offers from tech stars like venture capitalist Chris Sacca. On Saturday, Sacca promised to match up to the first $25,000 of donations resulting from his offer but he later raised the limit to $150,000. Sacca is known for his early investments in Twitter (TWTR) and Uber as well as appearances ABC’s startup competition show Shark Tank.

[fortune-gallery id=”1916242″]

Fred Wilson and Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures joined the fund-raising race on Sunday, offering matches for up to $20,000. as did Foundry Group’s Brad Feld. There’s also a handy list of matching funders.

The ACLU, which provides legal services to underserved people, went to court to fight the executive orders this weekend. Four federal judges subsequently issued a stay on the ban.

https://twitter.com/sacca/status/825403419376496641

Other matching fund offers flooded in from techies, including Patrick Collison, chief executive of online payment company Stripe, and Nat Friedman, co-founder and chief executive of Xamarin, the software development company acquired last year by Microsoft (MSFT). Logan Green and John Zimmer, co-founders of the Lyft ride-sharing service pledged to donate $1 million to the ACLU over the next four years.

But it wasn’t just tech luminaries. On Saturday, pop star Sia promised to match the first $100,000 flowing in. Hollywood hyphenate (writer-producer-director-actor) Judd Apatow followed her lead.

Okay @sia. We are all going to join you. I am in! https://t.co/XN8tqp7sPX

— Judd Apatow 🇺🇦 (@JuddApatow) January 29, 2017

So did actress/comedian (and frequent Trump foil) Rosie O’Donnell. Singer/songwriter Jack Antonoff of the Bleachers offered to match up to $10,000 as did Jessie Tyler Ferguson, co-star of ABC (DIS) comedy Modern Family.

Incredible! I'll match your donations to @ACLU in support of our LGBTQ immigrant family up to $10,000 through @TieTheKnotOrg. #NoBanNoWall https://t.co/Xv3ETmWJxI

— Jesse Tyler Ferguson (he/him/his) (@jessetyler) January 30, 2017

The ACLU also got shout-outs during Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards broadcast. Most notably, Sarah Paulson, who won an award for her role in the miniseries The People vs. O.J. Simpson, used her acceptance speech to drum up more support, asking everyone who is able to donate to the ACLU “to protect the rights and liberties of people across this country.”

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
'I just don't have a good feeling about this': Top economist Claudia Sahm says the economy quietly shifted and everyone's now looking at the wrong alarm
By Eleanor PringleJanuary 31, 2026
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Alexis Ohanian walked out of the LSAT 20 minutes in, went to a Waffle House, and decided he was 'gonna invent a career.' He founded Reddit
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
13 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Ryan Serhant starts work at 4:30 a.m.—he says most people don’t achieve their dreams because ‘what they really want is just to be lazy’
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Ford CEO has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with up to 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: 'We are in trouble in our country'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJanuary 31, 2026
13 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Right before Trump named Warsh to lead the Fed, Powell seemed to respond to some of his biggest complaints about the central bank
By Jason MaJanuary 30, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Top engineers at Anthropic, OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code—with big implications for the future of software development jobs
By Beatrice NolanJanuary 29, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

Startups & VentureOpenAI
Nvidia CEO signals investment in OpenAI round may be largest yet
By Debby Wu and BloombergJanuary 31, 2026
5 hours ago
Startups & VentureVenture Capital
Silicon Valley legend Kleiner Perkins was written off. Then an unlikely VC showed up
By Allie GarfinkleJanuary 31, 2026
9 hours ago
AIData Security
Moltbook, a social network where AI agents hang together, may be ‘the most interesting place on the internet right now’
By Jason MaJanuary 31, 2026
11 hours ago
Photo of Alexis Ohanian
SuccessFounders
Alexis Ohanian walked out of the LSAT 20 minutes in, went to a Waffle House, and decided he was ‘gonna invent a career.’ He founded Reddit
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
13 hours ago
Netflix
Big TechMarkets
Netflix may be turning into an ‘entertainment giant,’ but its stock looks like ‘dead money’ to investors
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 31, 2026
15 hours ago
In this handout, the mug shot of Jeffrey Epstein, 2019.
PoliticsJeffrey Epstein
Elon Musk and Jeffrey Epstein emailed each other for years trying to meet up, new Justice Department records show
By Eva Roytburg and Sasha RogelbergJanuary 30, 2026
1 day ago