Members of the DeVos family rank among the most generous benefactors of the conservative movement and the Christian right, up there with the Bradleys, the Coorses, and the Kochs. Not only has billionaire Amway cofounder Richard DeVos Sr. cut checks to anti-union and anti-tax efforts, but these days he’s also a fixture at the Koch brothers’ invite-only donor summits. Name an organization—Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, the arch-conservative Heritage Foundation—and odds are a DeVos family member has donated to it.
How extensive is the DeVos family’s largesse? Below, we trace the family’s many millions as they flow out of family foundations into the biggest-name think tanks and advocacy groups in American politics today. And for good measure, we’ve included Erik Prince, the founder of the private-security company Blackwater, who is the brother of Dick DeVos’ wife, Betsy. What a small world.
