Public Interest Research Group
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| Motto | Standing up to powerful interests |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1971 |
| Founder | Ralph Nader |
| Type | Advocacy organization |
| Location | |
| Website | uspirg |
Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) refers to a federation of U.S. and Canadiannon-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy with the goal of effecting liberal political change.
The PIRGs emerged in the early 1970s on U.S. college campuses. The PIRG model was proposed in the book Action for a Change by Ralph Nader and Donald Ross. Ross helped students across the country set up the first PIRG chapters, then became the director of the New York Public Interest Research Group in 1973.
The Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, founded in 1971, was the first state PIRG to incorporate. It was followed by Oregon (OSPIRG) and Massachusetts (MASSPIRG). The PIRGs were supportive of container deposit legislation in the United States, popularly called "bottle bills".
In 1982, the PIRGs established the Fund for the Public Interest as its fundraising and canvassing arm.
PIRGs on college campuses have historically been funded with a portion of student activity fees in the form of a labor checkoff. Students may elect to have the fees refunded to them, although many students are unaware that this is the case. This system of PIRG funding has been met with controversy and with a number of legal challenges. In 2014, students at Macalester College in Minnesota voted to end their relationship with MPIRG due to the group's revenue structure, which relied on MPIRG automatically receiving a cut of student activity fees.
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