Public Citizen: What Donors Need to Know
Founded in 1971 by consumer activist Ralph Nader, Public Citizen has never strayed from its roots: protecting the average citizen from the predations of corporations. It combines smart inside-the-Beltway advocacy with effective grassroots mobilization, building and leading strong coalitions, and maintaining an aggressive, take-no-prisoners posture.
Underpinning the Public Citizen operation are staffers who are equal part wonks and policy warriors. While Nader hasn’t led the group in years—its current president is Robert Weissman—Public Citizen’s character very much reflects that of Nader, who has spent his career as both a crusading lawyer and detail-oriented consumer advocate. Public Citizen has proven itself nimble enough to address issues that need to be resolved on a short timeline, and dedicated enough to achieve long-term reform goals. It also plays a crucial role leading coalitions and bringing together progressive groups with diverse agendas. Now in its 50th year, Public Citizen has also displayed its ability to adapt to changing political landscapes, taking a key role leading the progressive movement against dominating tech companies.
Given the group’s long track record of success, Blue Tent strongly recommends Public Citizen. Because of the importance of Public Citizen’s work—in particular its work to protect democracy, monitor the safety of drugs, and rein in the power of big tech—as well as the massive funding gap between Public Citizen and its opponents, Blue Tent also rates the group as a high priority for progressive donors.
Is it a top leader in its space?
Yes. Issues on which Public Citizen focuses include protecting workers from harm on the job; transparency in government; a healthy environment; limiting the influence of big money in politics; safe consumer and medical products; a trade system that protects both people and the planet, and a democracy that ensures that all citizens are able to cast their votes. While this is a seemingly sprawling agenda, there is one consistent thread running through nearly all of Public Citizen’s efforts: holding the powerful accountable.
“The connecting tissue for about 98% of what we do is corporate power,” Weissman told Blue Tent in 2020.
On that issue, Public Citizen is perhaps the most highly respected progressive advocacy organization in the country. Its two nonprofit arms (Public Citizen, Inc., a c4, and Public Citizen Foundation, a c3) maintain a combined annual budget of $20 million, and the organization is seen by other progressive groups and leaders as a convener of coalitions in Washington, often using its large Dupont Circle townhouse to host parties, meetings and other gatherings. (Legislative, energy and trade staff occupy more spartan offices above a Chinese restaurant in a building closer to Capitol Hill.) The coalitions in which Public Citizen plays a leadership role include the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, which focuses on regulation, and the Citizens Trade Campaign.
Further evidence of Public Citizen’s eminence are the honorary chairs and co-chairs the nonprofit has lined up to observe its 50th anniversary in 2021. They include Democratic Party leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), as well as progressive luminaries like Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), and Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
Does it have a persuasive theory of change and realistic strategy?
Yes. For Public Citizen, change is achieved primarily by reducing the power and influence of corporations on public policy. Reducing corporate power requires fighting on many fronts, achieving change through both short-term policy battles and shifting public perception of larger issues.
Like many other progressive organizations, Public Citizen is often outmatched by corporate interest groups in terms of money and staff on nearly every issue it works on. This has led the organization to adopt a “David versus Goliath” strategy, relying on a small but dedicated staff to outmaneuver stronger opponents with a mix of media savvy and nimble legislative tactics. Part of this strategy involves an ability to adapt, something that was baked into the organization by Nader, who built up his staff and organizational structure over time to tackle various issues.
Today, Public Citizen’s program staff is broken into programs, each run by domain experts and staff. While the departments work on a wide range of issues and strategies, they share a common methodology and vision of countering corruption and corporate power in favor of consumer and workers’ rights. The organization’s issue-oriented programs include access to medicines, climate and energy, global trade watch and a health research group. Public Citizen also has dedicated teams for litigation and legislative advocacy, which work across issues.
The organization maintains strong relationships with journalists and publishes investigative reports, written to be accessible to both reporters and the public at large. As a small organization without the financial resources of its corporate opponents, getting press attention and building public outrage remains a key component of Public Citizen’s work. Part of achieving widespread public attention comes from activating the group’s “members and supporters,” whom Public Citizen claims number some 500,000.
An equally important factor for Public Citizen is the dedication of its employees, and the intensity of the workplace culture, which places a high premium on going the extra mile to achieve policy goals. A lean organization, it relies on every employee having a sense of mission. Many of Public Citizen’s key programs run with staffs of 10 or fewer.
Is there strong evidence of its impact?
Yes. Even after the 2016 election of Donald Trump, when Republicans also held power in the Senate, Public Citizen played a key role in:
Persuading progressive Democrats to successfully push for a renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that better protects workers and the environment.
Blocking corporate immunity for businesses worried about being sued by workers and consumers for exposing them to the coronavirus, a major priority of then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. (R-Ky.)
Successfully suing the U.S. Postal Service, blocking changes in mail delivery imposed by Trump appointee Louis DeJoy that could have delayed the delivery of absentee ballots for the 2020 election.
Historical achievements of Public Citizen include major victories in court, such as forcing the release of President Richard Nixon’s Oval Office tape recordings; outlawing price fixing by lawyers; and effectively ending the practice of airlines bumping passengers from flights without compensation. On the legislative side, Public Citizen was vital in convincing congress to enact airbag mandates and airbag safety requirements; to pass reforms to FOIA; and to ban the carcinogenic red dye no. 2. (See a comprehensive list of the victories claimed by Public Citizen on its website.)
Public Citizen has also built effective coalitions. For example, the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, co-chaired by Public Citizen, convinced Congress to use an obscure law—the Congressional Review Act—to repeal three harmful rules enacted in the last days of the Trump administration, which would have increased methane pollution, weakened federal civil rights protections and eroded consumer rights.
Does it have a plan to achieve future impact?
Public Citizen does not appear to engage in much long-range strategic planning. Instead, it changes and updates its priorities to adapt to the shifting policy landscape in Washington, guided by its core mission of pushing back against corporate power and pressing for accountable governance. For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Public Citizen began working on a range of related issues, including battling Big Pharma to ensure that vaccines and other treatments are accessible for all and pressing for stronger protections of essential workers.
Public Citizen is also expanding its work to hold tech companies accountable, A March 2021 report by Public Citizen revealed that, in light of increasing congressional scrutiny, Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook exponentially increased their lobbying and political contributions. The report found that tech’s big four now are “eclipsing big spenders” of the past—big oil and tobacco. It also identified other strategies the companies use to influence Congress and the White House.
In the near term, Weissman said that Public Citizen is “scaling up a program around privacy and data rights and big tech,” to respond to the industry’s growing presence in Washington. “Google is now the biggest corporate lobbyist in town… And of course, big tech is just an increasingly important part of our lives.”
Public Citizen and the American Economic Liberties Project also led an effort joined by 45 groups asking President Joe Biden to name antitrust regulators without ties to big tech companies. Its efforts were vindicated when Biden appointed Lina Khan, an attorney who has endorsed breaking up tech giants, as head of the Federal Trade Commission, as well as Tim Wu, another fierce critic of big tech, to the National Economic Council.
Does it have strong leadership and governance?
Weissman, Public Citizen’s current president, has led the organization since 2009. Prior to that, Weissman directed Essential Information, another Nader-founded group focused on corruption and citizen engagement, and edited the organization’s magazine, Multinational Monitor.
Though Nader has not led Public Citizen since 1980, he is still strongly identified as a part of the organization’s identity, for good or for ill. In 2000, for example, many Democrats were angered when Nader ran as an independent candidate in that year’s presidential election. Many liberals subsequently blamed Nader for siphoning progressive votes away from former Democratic Vice President Al Gore, helping George W. Bush eke out a victory. Public Citizen was caught in the crossfire.
The organization’s links to Nader reportedly cost it 20% of its membership and some $1 million in donor support. Despite those challenges, Public Citizen’s staff and leaders were able to weather the storm, recovering within a few years.
Is it diverse and culturally competent?
According to its human resources department, 31 of the nonprofit’s 118 employees identify as non-white. Of the 21 individuals serving either on the board of the Public Citizen Foundation or Public Citizen Inc., seven identify as non-white.
Between 2019 and 2020, Public Citizen added five new members to its board, increasing the group’s diversity and youth. They include Anna Galland, the former executive director of MoveOn Civic Action; Brandi Collins-Dexter, former senior campaign director, Color of Change; Emily Chatterjee, senior counsel, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Joseline Garcia, an associate with Solidarity Strategies and a former Bernie Sanders organizer; and Maya Berry, executive director, Arab American Institute.
Public Citizen is increasingly using an equity lens in its analysis of issues. For example, an August 2021 report explained how racial bias has been cooked into many of the algorithms used to screen job applicants, assess prospective college students, determine credit scores and police communities. Likewise, Public Citizen made the case for a federal standard to protect workers from excessive heat in part by showing that workers of color are particularly harmed by the lax regulation.
Public Citizen has a reputation as a demanding employer, and its staff have been represented by Local 500 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) since 2004. According to its posted job openings, the nonprofit now offers new staffers three weeks of vacation, 12 weeks of paid parental leave after working at the nonprofit for one year and the opportunity to take a sabbatical after 10 years.
Is its financial house in order?
Yes. The Public Citizen Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that can accept tax-deductible contributions. Public Citizen, Inc. is the nonprofit’s advocacy arm and a 501(c)(4) organization, which can spend significant resources on lobbying. Together, the two arms of the nonprofit received more than $20 million in contributions from a diverse array of foundations and individual donors, according to federal tax forms for the fiscal year ending in September 2020.
On its website, Public Citizen states: “We take no government or corporate money, which enables us to remain fiercely independent and call out bad actors—no matter who they are or how much power and money they have.” Public Citizen posts its annual reports, federal tax reports, and audited financial statements online. Its annual report includes the names of major individual donors and foundation funders.
Does it collaborate well with other organizations and have strong partnerships?
Public Citizen is active in 40 coalitions, many of which it has formed and leads. The fact that it can draw in so many groups speaks to the respect it commands. It has founded or co-founded several major progressive coalitions, including the Citizens Trade Campaign, which mobilizes and educates grassroots activists on trade issues, and the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, including more than 150 consumer, labor, scientific, research, faith, community, environmental, small business, good government, public health and public interest groups.
Coalition partner James Goodwin, senior policy analyst for the Center for Progressive Reform, praised the group with this observation: “What sets Public Citizen apart is that they command a huge following among the public, and they do it without talking down to them. They are smart, and they help other progressive advocacy organizations by elevating the level of policy discourse among the public at a time when conservatives are pursuing a strategy of ad hominem [attacks] and appeals to the lowest common denominator.”
Another good example of its strong partnerships and collaborations is the Clean Budget Coalition, led by Public Citizen Executive Vice President Lisa Gilbert. The coalition’s 260 groups include the American Association of University Women, Planned Parenthood, Clean Water Action, the National Coalition for the Homeless, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights, and the United Auto Workers.
Public Citizen engages these groups in one goal: to oppose any provision attached to a spending bill that some groups in the coalition deem harmful. In this way, the coalition has used its solidarity to block harmful new policy riders on recent budget bills. It also successfully pressed both the Biden White House and the House of Representatives to drop the Hyde amendment, a longtime rider in spending bills barring most federally funded abortions. While the victory may be short-lived, given opposition in the Senate, it marked the first time in decades that eliminating the amendment got this much political traction.
Does it have the support of key funders?
Yes, major foundation funders have included Tides, Open Society, Stewart Mott, Schmidt Family, Ford and Rockefeller. Nevertheless, Weissman says that it receives more support from individual donors than from philanthropic institutions.
Conclusion
Public Citizen manages its massive agenda with a combination of expertise and engagement. While its issues are diverse and agenda can seem diffuse, Public Citizen takes on only those progressive goals that fit its identity: enabling citizens to participate in their democracy and protecting consumers from harm by corporations that put profits over people and degrade the environment.
In recent years, increasing corporate power and the winnowing rights of workers and consumers have emerged as driving issues on both the right and left. While a serious coalition of Republican and Democratic populists is unlikely, prominent voices from both parties have been decrying the destruction wrought by trade agreements, big tech monopolies and rising healthcare costs. At the very least, Democratic leaders are increasingly echoing an agenda closely resembling Public Citizen’s, making the organization well positioned to achieve serious gains over the next few years.
Public Citizen’s visibility in the media, lobbying victories, and ability to mobilize people at the grassroots should propel its work well into the 21st century. For those reasons, Blue Tent rates Public Citizen as a strongly recommended organization for progressive donors, and places a high priority on Public Citizen’s fight against corporate power in all its forms.
