Fund for the Public Interest
| Formation | 1982 |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Services | Fundraising and membership drives for progressive political groups |
| Methods | Canvassing |
| Website | www |
The Fund for the Public Interest (formerly known as the Fund for Public Interest Research and generally referred to as the FFPIR or "the Fund") is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that runs the public fundraising and canvassing operations for politically liberal nonprofit organizations in the United States. The Fund is the largest fundraiser for progressive causes in the United States. FFPIR was set up in 1982 as the fundraising arm of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRGs), which was founded by Ralph Nader. The Fund has been involved in several lawsuits regarding unfair labor practices, including failing to pay workers minimum wage.
The Fund was founded in 1982 to raise money and build membership for the state PIRGs. The Fund grew out of a Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group initiative campaign to pass the Bottle Bill where they first used door-to-door canvassing. The development of a membership and funding infrastructure independent of the campus chapters that had been until that time the center of the PIRG infrastructure reversed the decline in resources and influence that the PIRGs had been experiencing at that time, and initiated a shift in the PIRGs' organizational model that saw the previously campus-bound groups convert themselves into a mass-membership lobbying organization.
The Fund runs canvass offices, as well as other citizen engagement activities such as educating voters about issues, building the membership bases for grassroots groups, supporting grassroots advocacy (such as petition drives or letter-writing drives), and fundraising. Local directors hire canvassers to raise money for the Fund's partners and support its other campaign activities including media relations and coalition building. The Fund has canvassed for groups including the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign, Environment America, and Fair Share.
In 2005, the Fund's Los Angeles office was abruptly closed after employees voted to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In 2006, the office of the Labor Commissioner of the State of California found that the Fund had denied rest breaks to a worker. In 2009, the Fund settled a $2.15 million class-action suit alleging it subjected workers to "grueling hours without overtime pay." Canvassing employees regularly made an hourly rate less than minimum wage.
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