The Center for Progressive Leadership (CPL) is a defunct left-of-center activist training organization. From its founding in 2003 to its dissolution in 2012, the center put as many as 6,000 aspiring liberal group organizers through its various programs. These programs instructed organizers on activism tactics and connected them with potential donors and employers. The CPL made an effort to direct its graduates towards organizations located in battleground states and areas where the center wanted to engineer a leftward political shift. ¹

The center’s financial backers included major liberal philanthropic institutions such as the Democracy Alliance, a multi-billion-dollar donor collective; the Open Society Foundations of billionaire activist financier George Soros; and the Tides Center, a leading left-of-center activism incubator. The CPL board of directors included Robert Reich, a prominent liberal economist and lawyer who was U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration. ^{2 3}

The CPL promoted a standard list of left-of-center political objectives, including economic redistribution, preferential treatment for ethnic and sexual minority groups, environmentalist policy priorities, and expanded taxpayer-funded social programs including on-demand abortion. The center also framed American foreign policy as destructive, while also calling on the United States to be more involved in global security, economic planning, and political reform. In 2012, the CPL shut down its operations and merged with Social Justice Leadership (SJL), a similar liberal activist training group. ^{4 5}

Activities

The Center for Progressive Leadership’s “New Leaders Program” recruited left-of-center female and ethnic-minority activists to set them up with positions in the Washington, D.C. liberal activism industry. The program maintained connections with some of the most influential left-of-center organizations in Washington. These included the Center for American Progress of former Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta, the legal activist American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, which helped draft the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. ⁶

The “Partnership Training Program” functioned in a similar way, but with a less explicit preference for minority activists. The initiative’s prominent partner organizations included the Black activist NAACP and the environmentalist Sierra Club. ⁷

The “Action Network Program” coordinated with national and regional left-of-center groups to organize voter outreach training. The CPL partnered with organizations such as MoveOn Political Action, America Votes, and TrueMajority to implement this program. ⁸

Democracy Alliance Funding Controversy

The CPL experienced a setback in February 2012, when the Democracy Alliance donor network ended its financial support for the organization, along with other left-of-center groups. At the time, former Democracy Alliance member Deborah Sagner criticized the decision, describing it as a consequence of the network’s perceived shift towards backing more established groups with closer ties to the Democratic Party. Prominent left-leaning journalist Glenn Greenwald was also critical of the move, contrasting it with what he described as the broader and more effective strategy of the right-of-center Charles Koch philanthropic network. ⁹

Leadership

Entrepreneur and activist Peter Murray was the founder and president of the Center for Progressive Leadership. He has also been a fellow with the Tides Foundation, a member organization within the Tides Nexus along with the Tides Center, which provided funding to the CPL. ^{10 11}

Career liberal organizer Beth Meyer was the CPL national state operations vice president. She went on to found Leading for Change, a similar entity for training activists and staffers. ¹²

The CPL board of directors included Robert Reich, the Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, and Mike Lux, a former Clinton White House aide who went on to found Progressive Strategies LLC, a consulting firm which works with clients such as the Democracy Alliance and Planned Parenthood. Lux also worked for the 1988 Joe Biden presidential campaign and the transition team of incoming President Barack Obama in 2008. Bethany Robertson, who went on to co-found the liberal lobbying and petition circulation group Parents Together Action, also sat on the CPL board. ¹³

Financials

In 2008, the Center for Progressive Leadership spent more than $3.6 million on its programs and held more than $1.6 million in total assets. By 2010, the organization had cut spending to less than $2.5 million, and its total assets had declined to just over $750,000. ¹⁴

1. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” Discover the Networks. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/organizations/center-for-progressive-leadership-cpl
2. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” Discover the Networks. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/organizations/center-for-progressive-leadership-cpl
3. Daniel Fisher. “Soros Makes The Kochs Look Like Political Skinflints.” Forbes. September 3, 2010. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2010/09/03/soros-makes-the-kochs-look-like-political-skinflints
4. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” Discover the Networks. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/organizations/center-for-progressive-leadership-cpl
5. “Social Justice Leadership.” Idealist. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.idealist.org/en/nonprofit/8c6ae662a7f444c08b535a548070c0e8-social-justice-leadership-sjl-new-york
6. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” Discover the Networks. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/organizations/center-for-progressive-leadership-cpl
7. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” Discover the Networks. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/organizations/center-for-progressive-leadership-cpl
8. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” Discover the Networks. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/organizations/center-for-progressive-leadership-cpl
9. Ryan Grim. “Democracy Alliance Dumps Progressive Organizations.” HuffPost. February 28, 2012. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democracy-alliance-dumps_n_1306867
10. “Staff.” Accelerate Change. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://milorosekeller.wixsite.com/acdraft/staff
11. Daniel Fisher. “Soros Makes The Kochs Look Like Political Skinflints.” Forbes. September 3, 2010. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2010/09/03/soros-makes-the-kochs-look-like-political-skinflints
12. “About Leading for Change.” Leading for Change. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://leadingforchangearizona.com/About.html
13. “Center for Progressive Leadership.” SourceWatch. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Progressive_Leadership
14. Anne Johnson, Tobin Van Ostern. “Comparing Conservative and Progressive Investment in America’s Youth.” Center for American Progress. December 1, 2012. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CampusProgressLeftVsRight-3.pdf