Grassroots or guided? Inside the ‘No Kings’ protests in Colorado

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice

A large crowd gathered at the Colorado State Capitol on Saturday before marching through downtown Denver — the third installment of a movement its organizers describe on their national website as a grassroots uprising, “spreading from small towns to city centers and across every community determined to defend democracy.” Denver was one of many across the state. 

Demonstrators hold signs and flags during a “No Kings” protest in Berthoud, Colorado.

No Kings has promoted itself consistently as decentralized and leaderless since it launched in 2025, built on the energy of ordinary Americans acting on their own.

State records, financial filings, and an internal organizing document tell a more complicated story.

From the legal entity that held the Capitol permit to the billionaire-funded nonprofit that coordinated the event’s infrastructure, Saturday’s demonstration in Denver was the product of a layered national operation — one that required mandatory training, centralized approval of every local event, and a uniform set of talking points distributed to organizers across the country.

Who is legally responsible

The permit holder for Saturday’s Denver event was Indivisible Colorado — the state chapter of a Washington, D.C.-based organization that reported more than $10.4 million in revenue last year and employs a full professional staff. 

A calendar of permitted events at the Colorado State Capitol — obtained from the Division of Capital Assets, the agency that manages Capitol permits — lists Indivisible Colorado as the named permit holder for the West Steps and Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park on March 28, with an 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. window and an expected attendance of 30,000 people. 

Under Colorado rules, the named permit holder is legally responsible for insurance, security coordination, and regulatory compliance.

The Indivisible Project, the national parent organization, is registered as an active charity with the Colorado Secretary of State. Its stated charitable purpose, on file with Colorado, is to “cultivate and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies.”

Grant disclosures from the Open Society Foundations — founded by billionaire George Soros — indicate the Indivisible Project took in more than $7.6 million between 2017 and 2023, including a $3 million grant distributed over two years starting in 2023.

Separate filings show Indivisible also operates a hybrid PAC, Indivisible Action, which reported $9.54 million in spending during the 2024 federal election cycle.

Federal campaign finance records show the PAC made ongoing monthly payments totaling more than $84,000 to a Denver digital firm — Aten Design Group — from January 2023 through February 2026, just weeks before Saturday’s protest.

The local layer and its PAC connection

Colorado 50501 was the public-facing organizer of the Denver event, with spokesperson Jennifer Bradley speaking to multiple news outlets Saturday about the movement’s goals.

“What we’re doing matters, that the people see that we’re here for them, that we’re fighting for them,” Bradley told Denver7.

The group’s website also identifies Indivisible as a direct partner, linking to IndivisibleColorado.

It also lists Political Revolution as a partner — a federally registered hybrid PAC founded by supporters of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. The Colorado 50501’s online donation button links to an ActBlue page that states: “Your contribution will benefit The Political Revolution.”

A search of the Colorado Secretary of State’s charity database found no registration on file for Colorado 50501. Under the Colorado Charitable Solicitations Act, organizations that solicit contributions online from Colorado residents are generally required to register with the state.

A playbook, not a protest

An internal document provided to local organizers across the country — the No Kings Host Toolkit — illustrates how tightly the movement was managed. 

All local hosts were required to attend mandatory national training sessions before their events could be listed publicly. The toolkit provided verbatim talking points for organizers to deliver at events. A national support hotline was staffed from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on protest day. 

No event went public without review and approval from the national team — and event descriptions could only be edited by a national administrator, not local hosts. 

A $2 million advertising campaign

Alongside the organizational infrastructure, a separate nonprofit ran a coordinated national advertising campaign promoting Saturday’s events. Home of the Brave USA — a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) founded by Sarah Longwell, CEO and publisher of The Bulwark — spent $1 million on full-page ads in more than 300 newspapers ahead of March 28, including the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. 

The organization ran a similar $1 million campaign ahead of the October 2025 No Kings protest, bringing confirmed spending to $2 million. 

Home of the Brave was founded by Sarah Longwell, CEO and publisher of The Bulwark.

The group’s advisory board spans both parties, including Sarah Matthews, a former Trump White House deputy press secretary; Barbara Comstock, a former Republican member of Congress from Virginia; and Susan Rice, who held roles in the Obama and Biden administrations.

As a 501(c)(4), Home of the Brave USA is not obligated to make its donors public. The source of the $2 million has not been disclosed.

A broader coalition

At least one member of the Denver coalition has ties to a separate funding network altogether. 

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, which was listed as a member of the Denver No Kings Coalition in pre-event coverage by Colorado Newsline, is part of a network of organizations funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American tech entrepreneur and self-described communist living in Shanghai, China. 

Singham has spent nearly a decade financing organizations including the People’s Forum, the ANSWER Coalition, and CodePink — whose co-founder Jodie Evans is married to Singham. 

According to Fox News Digital, the Denver chapter of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization — which works closely with the Singham network — circulated social media posts featuring Soviet imagery and references to Mao Zedong in the days before the protest. 

“Most participants have no idea”

Most people in the crowd likely weren’t thinking about structure or funding, according to James Ruehmann, who leads the Turning Point USA chapter at Colorado Mesa University.

“I’d guarantee most participants have no idea about the true nature of these protests or who’s behind them. Some people know and agree with the sentiment anyway, so they proceed regardless,” he said.

For Ruehmann, the concern comes down to transparency.

“Political movements can’t happen without backing or capital, that’s just the reality,” he said. “But transparency about where that money comes from should be a baseline expectation.”

When asked whether he believes protests like Saturday’s events accomplish anything in policy terms, Ruehmann was direct: “No. Not in any direct policy sense. They’re more about signaling.”

Regarding those that participated, he explained, “That is their First Amendment right to assembly, and I respect it.”

What the records show

The movement’s stated goals — opposing immigration enforcement, pushing back on executive power, and defending civil rights — were the themes presented to participants.

Protesters take part in a “No Kings” demonstration in Berthoud, Colorado.

What the records make clear, however, is that the infrastructure organizing those events was neither spontaneous nor leaderless.

It was permitted by a chapter of a $10 million national organization, trained through mandatory national sessions, funded by a billionaire philanthropic network, approved event by event through a centralized national team, scripted with uniform talking points, and promoted by a $2 million advertising campaign bankrolled by an undisclosed donor. 

Whether participants knew that is a different question. Most, according to at least one observer on the ground, did not.

RMV reached out to Colorado 50501 and the Denver No Kings Coalition for comment on the permit holder, the connection to Political Revolution PAC, and the organization’s charity registration status in Colorado. RMV also contacted Home of the Brave USA asking about the source of funding for its $2 million in advertising campaigns, and submitted an inquiry to the Colorado Secretary of State’s charities office regarding Colorado 50501’s registration status. None had responded as of publication time.