The Douglas H. Phelps Foundation is the private foundation of left-progressive activist Doug Phelps, president of the Public Interest Network, Fund for the Public Interest, Grassroots Campaigns Inc., and a number of related Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) organizations. ¹ The foundation has slightly over $1 million in assets and makes a handful of annual contributions to national left-leaning organizations and community groups near Phelps’ home of Aspen, Colorado. ²

Background

The Douglas H. Phelps Foundation is the personal funding vehicle for Doug Phelps, who is the president and executive director of the controversial left-wing organizing entity known as the Public Interest Network. Phelps holds many additional roles, and dozens of titles inside the left-progressive movement in addition to his position with Public Interest Network, a collection of over 15 national and a large number of state-level groups that work in left-progressive engagement mostly through canvassing. ³

Commentators and former employees have criticized Phelps’s organizations for fostering a “churn and burn”⁴ approach to hiring low level canvassers for his many for-profit and non-profit operations. The news outlet Daily Beast characterized Fund for the Public Interest as “the liberal sweatshop.” ⁵ Phelps is known to be very private and has little presence in public settings and is rarely photographed. ⁶

Phelps is also a founding member of the Colorado Democracy Alliance, the Colorado prototype of the Democracy Alliance, a strategizing group that convenes top-level donors and influencers on the political left. ⁷

Phelps has amassed a fortune through a complex political operation that incorporates his nonprofits under Fund for the Public Interest and the Public Interest Network and the for-profit companies Telefund and Grassroots Campaigns. All the entities incorporate canvassing and grassroots campaigning while employing entry-level and low-paid staffers. ⁸

Activity

The Douglass H. Phelps Foundation is managed by a management company called Foundation Source, giving it a Delaware address. The organization has slightly over $1 million in total assets and has made annual contributions ranging from a total of $60,000 to $114,000 in annual grants. In 2018, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Aspen Institute were among 5 organizations receiving just over $50,000 total. ⁹

1. “Doug Phelps”. Public Interest Primer. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://publicinterestprimer.wordpress.com/doug-phelps/
2. IRS Form 990. 2018. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/208076161/05_2019_prefixes_20-20%2F208076161_201812_990PF_2019053116364033
3. “Doug Phelps”. Public Interest Primer. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://publicinterestprimer.wordpress.com/doug-phelps/
4. “Doug Phelps”. Public Interest Primer. Accessed September 18, 2020.https://publicinterestprimer.wordpress.com/doug-phelps/
5. Rosiak, Luke. “The Liberal Sweatshop.” The Daily Beast. July 15, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2020.https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-liberal-sweatshop
6. “Doug Phelps”. Public Interest Primer. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://publicinterestprimer.wordpress.com/doug-phelps/  
7. Fender, Jessica. “Progressive Gang Uses Nonprofits to Push Politics.” The Denver Post. October 05, 2008. Accessed Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.denverpost.com/2008/10/05/progressive-gang-uses-nonprofits-to-push-politics/
8. Rosiak, Luke. “The Liberal Sweatshop.” The Daily Beast. July 15, 2009. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-liberal-sweatshop
9. IRS Form 990. 2018. Accessed September 18, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/208076161/05_2019_prefixes_20-20%2F208076161_201812_990PF_2019053116364033