Tim Dunn
Texas oil executive, political donor and chairman of the Christian Advisory Board of the Israel Allies Foundation
| Tim Dunn
| |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Businessman; political donor |
| Known for | Co-founder and chief executive officer of CrownQuest Operating, LLC; chairman of the Christian Advisory Board of the Israel Allies Foundation; political donor in Texas and in federal races |
Tim Dunn is a Texas oil executive and political donor. Official Federal Election Commission records also list him under the name-forms Timothy Dunn, Timothy M. Dunn and Timothy M Dunn. He is chairman of the Christian Advisory Board of the Israel Allies Foundation, and official Israel Allies Foundation sources record him as co-founder and chief executive officer of CrownQuest Operating, LLC. The official name-forms and titles are all stated as the sources give them.[1][2]
The Texas Tribune and ProPublica have described him as one of Texas's most prolific conservative political donors. Those characterisations are the newspapers' and are not adopted in this page's own voice.[3][4][5]
Business career
The official Israel Allies Foundation Who We Are page, in its Christian advisory board listing, is headed Tim Dunn, chairman of the Christian Advisory Board, and records that he is co-founder and CEO of the oil and gas business CrownQuest Operating, LLC. The official biography also describes him as a philanthropist. Those official titles are attributed to the official listing retrieved on 11 November 2026.[1]
ProPublica, in an investigation published on 2 October 2024 and co-published with the New York Times Magazine, reported that Dunn settled in Midland, Texas, in the 1980s to become the chief financial officer at an oil company, and that he founded his own company in 1996. The same investigation reported that the company is today called CrownQuest Operating, and that it ranks among the ten largest oil producers in the state.[5] Official Federal Election Commission receipts for a Midland, Texas, contributor under the name-forms above record the employer as CrownQuest Operating or CrownQuest Operating LLC, and the occupation as executive or CEO.[2]
Political giving
ProPublica reported in October 2024 that, since 2000, Dunn and his wife had given more than $29 million to candidates and political action committees in Texas, and that in the previous year Dunn and his associated entities had provided two-thirds of the donations to the state Republican Party. The Guardian, in July 2024, reported that over the previous two decades he had poured approximately $30 million into Texas legislative politics. Those figures are the publications' and are not independently retotalled here.[5][6]
Federal contributions
Official Federal Election Commission individual contribution records, retrieved on 11 November 2026, list itemised receipts from a Midland, Texas, contributor named Timothy Dunn, Timothy M. Dunn or Timothy M Dunn, with an employer given as CrownQuest Operating, CrownQuest Operating LLC, or, on one receipt, Crowncrest, and an occupation given as executive or CEO. Official committee names below are those given on the official FEC committee profiles opened on the same date.[2]
Those official records include a $5,000,000 contribution dated 27 December 2023 to Make America Great Again Inc., official committee identifier C00825851, a super PAC; the official receipt records the contributor as DUNN, TIMOTHY M, of Midland, Texas, occupation CEO, and the employer as Crowncrest. ProPublica and the Guardian reported a $5 million gift by Dunn in late 2023 to the Make America Great Again super PAC.[2][5][6]
The same official records include a $5,000,000 contribution dated 9 August 2024, and contributions of $2,500,000 dated 9 April 2025 and 25 June 2025, to GLCF, Inc., official committee identifier C00853861, a super PAC, from DUNN, TIMOTHY M, of Midland, Texas, employer CrownQuest Operating. The San Antonio Express-News, on 4 November 2026, citing a mid-year report filed with the Federal Election Commission, identified the 2025 contributions as two $2.5 million gifts to the Great Lakes Conservative Fund, a super PAC supporting a Republican United States Senate campaign in Michigan, and reported that they accounted for more than 98 per cent of that organisation's fundraising in the first half of 2025.[2][7]
The official records also include a $5,000,000 contribution dated 9 August 2024 to CLF, official committee identifier C00504530, a hybrid PAC, from DUNN, TIMOTHY M., of Midland, Texas, employer CrownQuest Operating LLC, occupation CEO, recorded on the official receipt as a contribution to a non-contribution account.[2]
Official records further list a series of contributions from DUNN, TIMOTHY, of Midland, Texas, employer CrownQuest Operating, to the super PAC Jefferson Rising, official committee identifier C00769232, including a $10,000,000 contribution dated 12 August 2024, a $3,000,000 contribution dated 12 July 2024, contributions of $2,000,000 dated 2 May 2024, 1 August 2024 and 3 November 2025, and contributions of $1,000,000 dated 16 September 2024 and 5 August 2026.[2]
Texas political organisations
ProPublica reported that Dunn started the political action committee Empower Texans in 2007 and has donated a majority of its funds. The Texas Tribune has identified him as chairman of Empower Texans, including in captions to a 24 September 2016 photograph published with later articles.[5][3][4]
On 24 January 2024, the Texas Tribune reported, from campaign finance reports, that Dunn and Farris Wilks had together put $2 million into a new group, Texans United for a Conservative Majority, which the newspaper described as a spin-off of the political action committee Defend Texas Liberty. The Tribune reported that the only donors disclosed through the Saturday preceding that article were a firm tied to Dunn called Hexagon Partners, which gave $700,000, and Wilks, who gave $1.3 million, and that the PAC had reported more than $400,000 in candidate contributions, mostly to Republican primary challengers, from 1 to 20 January. The same article reported that Defend Texas Liberty had come under criticism after the Tribune reported, in October 2023, that its then-president, Jonathan Stickland, had hosted Nick Fuentes. The Tribune further reported that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said he had spoken with Dunn, and that Dunn had told him "unequivocally that it was a serious blunder for PAC President Jonathan Stickland to meet with white supremacist Nick Fuentes."[3]
On 31 March 2026, the Texas Tribune reported that the Texas Freedom Fund for the Advancement of Justice, formerly known as Defend Texas Liberty, had given $225,000 to Bo French's campaign for the Texas Railroad Commission and spent a further $150,000 on an advertisement promoting his candidacy, and that the two PACs had been predominantly financed by Dunn and Wilks.[4]
An official Texas Ethics Commission campaign-finance search was attempted in this wave, but the Commission's filing database could not be retrieved. The state PAC figures above are therefore stated as the Texas Tribune reported them from campaign finance reports, and are not independently retotalled here.
Other board roles
ProPublica reported in October 2024 that Dunn "has long served on the board" of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The Guardian, in July 2024, likewise reported that he serves on that board. Official Texas Public Policy Foundation board URLs tried in this wave returned HTTP 404 and are not cited.[5][6]
ProPublica also reported that, since 2021, Dunn has been a founding board member of the America First Policy Institute. An official America First Policy Institute mission page opened in this wave does not list directors and is not cited for that office.[5]
External links
- Israel Allies Foundation, Who We Are
- Federal Election Commission, individual contributions: Dunn, Midland, Texas
- ProPublica, "A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start."
- The Texas Tribune, 24 January 2024
- The Texas Tribune, 31 March 2026
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Israel Allies Foundation, Who We Are, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Federal Election Commission, official committee profiles and individual contribution (Schedule A) records retrieved through the official FEC API on 11 November 2026, including committee identifiers C00825851 (Make America Great Again Inc.), C00853861 (GLCF, Inc.), C00504530 (CLF) and C00769232 (Jefferson Rising), and the associated itemised receipts described in the article. Official committee names were taken from the official FEC committee profiles opened on the same date.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Patrick Svitek, After Fuentes scandal, Texas billionaires fund new PAC to support conservative candidates, The Texas Tribune, 24 January 2024, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Carlos Nogueras Ramos, Hardline conservative donors Tim Dunn, Farris Wilks ballooned Bo French’s Railroad Commission campaign, The Texas Tribune, 31 March 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Ava Kofman, A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start., ProPublica, 2 October 2024, co-published with the New York Times Magazine, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dharna Noor, Meet Tim Dunn: the ultraconservative billionaire pastor spending millions to protect his oil – and elect Trump, The Guardian, 11 July 2024, updated 25 July 2024, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ Rhyma Castillo, Texas billionaire Tim Dunn spent $5M to defeat Abdul El-Sayed. It didn't work, San Antonio Express-News, 4 November 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.