Investing in change

Fund for the Public Interest Foundation is a project of Fund for the Public Interest and The Public Interest Network. The Fund for the Public Interest has been our network's engine for organization-building via civic engagement since 1984. The mission of the Fund Foundation is to support the civic engagement efforts of like-minded organizations and allies, helping them make a difference and strengthen themselves through the process of building public support for specific causes.

Since the program's inception in 2018, direct grantee support includes:

Number of grants:

187

Direct grantee support:

$5.5 Million

Our programs, described below, include Calling For Action, Direct and In-Kind Grants and our Emergency Fund for Community Action.

Some of the groups who have received our grants:

See our FULL grant list

 

Calling for Action

Winning campaigns to solve America’s problems depends on advocates’ ability to organize people: to bring people together to call for change in one voice. While digital outreach is a powerful tool in the organizing toolbox, an email to a decision-maker is no match for a personal phone call from a constituent. A web signup form can’t deliver the same motivational power as a phone call from an organizer to a member or volunteer.

Through the Calling for Action program, we combine the old-fashioned power of the telephone with up-to-date technology to reach hundreds of thousands of people each year, building the membership of social change organizations and amplifying the voices of concerned Americans in important debates.

Highlighted Grant: Save the Bay

The Save Our Bay coalition has been working to stop a plan to dump 1.1 million gallons of radioactive waste from the decommissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., into Cape Cod Bay. With help from Community Action Works, an environmental organizing backup center and part of The Public Interest Network, the group helped convince Gov. Maura Healy's administration to oppose the plan. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a draft determination that the plan is illegal, finding that Cape Cod Bay is a protected ocean sanctuary under state law. With help from a Calling for Action grant, Save Our Bay enlisted over 1,000 people to sign on to joint testimony against the dumping plan and helped turn out people for a DEP hearing on the issue.

More About Calling For Action


Direct and In-Kind Grants

Through the Fund Foundation, organizations in The Public Interest Network make direct grants and donations of staff time to support our allies' public education, issue advocacy, citizen engagement and non-partisan voter registration and mobilization efforts.

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Highlighted Grant: Fair Fight

A healthy, vibrant democracy demands secure and accessible voting for all. Leading up to the 2020 general election, Environment America contributed $100,000 to Fair Fight to support vital work educating voters about their rights, encouraging them to vote and raising awareness about how Americans can protect and reform our elections.

More Direct and In-Kind Grants


Emergency Fund

Our Emergency Fund supports organizations working to solve problems in moments of acute need. In 2020, the Public Interest Network joined with the Fund Foundation to create the Emergency Fund for Community Action to support community groups nationwide that work to eradicate racism, reduce gun violence, heal communities, and achieve fair, effective public safety programs and criminal justice systems.

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Urban League of Portland

Highlighted Grant: Urban League of Portland

The Urban League of Portland is one of Oregon’s oldest civil rights and social service organizations, empowering African-Americans and others to achieve equality in education, employment, health, economic security and quality of life.

More about the Emergency Fund

“Calling for Action really helped us drive a critical mass of support for our campaign against Line 5, as we were able to reach thousands of Michiganders and connect them directly with phone calls to Governor Whitmer and their state lawmakers’ offices. These calls were key in preventing bills from being introduced to authorize an oil tunnel, and convincing the governor to order the pipeline to be shut down. A monumental victory for the Great Lakes and our planet.”

—Kate Madigan, Director, Michigan Climate Action

“Electric transport is a huge part of the solution to the air pollution and climate crises, and we're all in on pushing for laws that will accelerate its deployment in a socially equitable manner, with a focus on cities and overburdened communities. If someone asks "What would Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, Lord Krishna, or the Buddha drive?” - the answer is clear: they'd take public transit in the form of an electric bus!”

—The Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director, GreenFaith

Want to learn more? Let's talk.

We strongly encourage applications for our calling for action program. To learn more about the program and how to apply, contact callingforaction@fundstaff.org. For information on our direct grants and emergency grant program, please contact us at fundfoundation@fundstaff.org. No unsolicited proposals, please.