Courage Campaign (CC) is a left-of-center organization that uses grassroots lobbying methods to bring attention to progressive issues such as immigration, net neutrality, and social justice. It was founded in 2005 and is based in Los Angeles, California. The organization signed a petition supporting the Green New Deal and has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy.^{1 2}

Courage Campaign is affiliated with Courage Campaign Super PAC, the 527 super PAC arm of the organization, and the Courage Campaign Institute, the educational arm of the organization. Courage Campaign is connected to a number of left-of-center organizations, including the Center for American Progress and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. ³

Campaigns

Immigration

Courage Campaign supports a very liberal immigration policy and California’s transformation into a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants. Courage Campaign supported California Senate Bill 54 (of 2017), which “would expand so-called sanctuary city policies, prohibiting state and local law enforcement agencies, including school police and security departments, from using resources to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect or arrest people for immigration enforcement purposes.”⁴  CC hosted links to online petitions in favor of the bill and was labeled as a supporter on a California State Senate Analysis of the bill. ^{5 6}

ProgressNow Network

Courage Campaign is a state partner with the ProgressNow network, which a multi-state left-wing advocacy network. ⁷ The organization also partners with over 300 left-of-center organizations as part of its California Progressive Convenings network. ⁸

Net Neutrality

CC is heavily involved with lobbying to preserve “net neutrality,” a set of rules created by the Obama administration’s FCC in 2015 to cede greater control of the Internet to the federal government. CC regularly urges members to sign petitions and write to their own congressmen in order to protect what it deems “free speech, competition, and diversity online” while fighting for more government regulation of the Internet and Internet service providers. ⁹

“Spirit of Courage” Awards

Courage Campaign hosts an annual event named the Spirit of Courage awards funded by donations to the organization. The 2016 event was held to “honor . . . [California] State Senator Holly J. Mitchell [D-Los Angeles] and author and activist Steve Phillips.”¹⁰ Senator Mitchell served as the vice chair of the California State Senate Joint Legislative Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, which was formed is response to the “#MeToo” movement targeting sexual harassment of women. Steve Phillips is a writer, activist, and senior fellow at the Democratic Party-establishment-aligned think tank Center for American Progress. The event featured Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles, a LGBTQ mariachi band, as well as intersectional feminist comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh. ^{11 12}

Courage Score

Courage Score is a project of CC that calls on left-wing organizations to give ratings (out of 100) to California state legislators based on their aid to disadvantaged people and communities of color. The website touts endorsements from many national left-leaning organizations such as Progressive Democrats of America, AFL-CIO, and Democracy for America.¹³

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

Courage Campaign was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ¹⁴

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ¹⁵ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ¹⁶

Leadership

Executive Director

Eddie Kurtz is the executive director of Courage Campaign. His previous work at the Courage campaign consisted of directing the organization’s political campaigns. Kurtz oversaw the campaign by CC to pass the Lifesaving Intelligent Firearms Act in the California State Senate in 2013.¹⁷ The law, which passed the California Senate but was eventually vetoed by then-Governor Jerry Brown (D), would have made the sale of all semi-automatic, center-fire rifles with exchangeable magazines illegal, forced anyone who wanted to buy ammunition to obtain a permit from the state, and forced many more restrictions on firearms and firearm related accessories.^{18 19}

Board of Directors

Jamie McGurk serves as the chair of the board of directors for Courage Campaign. She also serves on the board of the California State Summer School for the Arts. McGurk previously worked in advertising, marketing, and political research, according to her Courage Campaign profile.²⁰

Aimee Allison is a board member who formerly worked as a nurse in the Palo Alto, California Veterans Affairs Hospital. She also serves on the board of PowerPAC+, an organization that focuses on race politics, where she is senior vice president.²¹

Board member Anat Shenker-Osorio is the founder and Principal at ASO Communications, a left-leaning marketing firm. She is also a communications consultant and researcher at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.²²

Board member Christina Livingston serves as the executive director of the ACCE Institute, a left-wing advocacy organization.²³

Mike Lux is a board member and co-founder of Democracy Partners, a Democratic consultancy catering to high-level Democratic Party politicians, including Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The firm has worked with many center-of-left and progressive organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Moveon.org, and the Democracy Alliance. Lux also serves on the board of the left-leaning Arca Foundation.²⁴

Funding

Courage Campaign’s website says that almost 75% of the organizations funding comes from online donors giving an average of $17.²⁵

According to 2016 tax filings, Courage Campaign spent $152,017 in grants to the Courage Campaign Institute, its 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate; and $21,662 in transactions with the Courage Campaign Super PAC. These transactions were labeled as “Sharing of paid employees with related organization(s).” CC also gave another $21,531 to Courage Campaign Institute in “gift or grant” money. ²⁶

1. ”Green New Deal Hub.” Influence Watch. https://www.influencewatch.org/hub/green-new-deal/.
2. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
3. “Who We Are.” Courage Campaign. December 14, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/who-we-are.
4. Ulloa, Jazmine. “What You Need to Know about California’s ‘sanctuary State’ Bill and How It Would Work.” Los Angeles Times. April 13, 2017. Accessed February 12, 2019. https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-sanctuary-state-bill-explained-20170413-htmlstory.html.
5. “Call Your Assemblymembers NOW: Protect Immigrant Communities!” Courage Campaign. May 31, 2017. Accessed February 12, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/action/call-your-assemblymembers-now-protect-immigrant-communities.
6. SB 54 Analysis. PDF. SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY, 2017.
7. “About – ProgressNow.” ProgressNow. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://progressnow.org/about/.
8. “Who We Are.” Courage Campaign. December 14, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/who-we-are.
9. “Tell Congress to save Net Neutrality Now!” Courage Campaign. March 06, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/action/tell-congress-save-net-neutrality-now.
10. “Events.” Courage Campaign. September 28, 2015. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/events.
11. “Mariachi Arcoiris De Los Angeles.” GigMasters. May 14, 2016. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.gigmasters.com/mariachi/arcoirisdelosangeles.
12. “Events.” Courage Campaign. September 28, 2015. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/events.
13. “About – The People’s Report Card of California.” Courage Score. Accessed February 08, 2019. https://www.couragescore.org/about/.
14. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
15. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
16. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
17. “Who We Are.” Courage Campaign. December 14, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/who-we-are.
18. Bell, Larry. “Exploiting Tragedies, Dem’s Gun Grab Guidelines Emphasize Emotional Assaults Over Facts.” Forbes. August 25, 2013. Accessed February 12, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/08/25/exploiting-tragedies-dems-gun-grab-guidelines-emphasize-emotional-assaults-over-facts/#145296f65030.
19. “Become a Citizen Co-sponsor of the LIFE Act.” Courage Campaign. Accessed February 12, 2019. http://act.couragecampaign.org/sign/citizen_co-sponsor_LIFE_Act_/.
20. “Courage Campaign Institute Board Member Lindsay Gardner Elected Board Chair, Founder Rick Jacobs Now Emeritus Chair.” Courage Campaign. September 23, 2016. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://couragecampaign.org/press-releases/courage-campaign-institute-board-member-lindsay-gardner-elected-board-chair-founder.
21. “PowerPAC Team.” PowerPAC. Accessed January 24, 2019. http://www.powerpacplus.org/powerpacplus_team.
22. “Anat Shenker-Osorio.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/people/anat-shenker-osorio.
23. “ACCE Institute.” ACCE Institute. Accessed January 24, 2019. http://www.acceinstitute.org/.
24. “Mike Lux.” Mike Lux. Accessed February 06, 2019. https://www.democracypartners.com/partners/mike-lux.
25. “Who We Are.” Courage Campaign. December 14, 2018. Accessed January 24, 2019. https://www.couragecampaign.org/who-we-are.
26. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Courage Campaign (2016). Part 5