Movement Alliance Project

The organization manages several projects including the People’s Media Record, Mapping Pretrial Injustice, the Shift the Narrative Project, and Philly We Rise. The organization also fiscally sponsors many left-leaning organizations including Black Lives Matter Philly, the 215 People’s Alliance, and the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. The organization received funds from a variety of left-leaning funders including the Open Society Foundations, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.^{1 2 3}

Despite its charitable organization tax status, the organization’s website has made statements cheerleading electoral outcomes for which Movement Alliance Project claimed credit.⁴

Background

The Movement Alliance Project was founded as the Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2005. The organization’s founding was centered on organizing media campaigns. The organization credits the inspiration for its founding to the Zapatistas Army of National Liberation, an anarcho-socialist militia that controls territory in southern Mexico, making calls for an independent media. The founders of the Media Mobilizing Project were involved in the development of the Global Indymedia Network, also known as the Independent Media Center, a publishing network of activist media publications.¹

The early work of the organization was centered on local Philadelphia-based left-leaning policy campaigns opposing gentrification, promoting labor union priorities, and promoting citizenship for illegal immigrants. The organization launched a public access television show called MMPTV in the Philadelphia market, began a campaign to “define access to the internet as a human right,” and operated a citywide campaign to direct federal stimulus money into public computer centers.¹

The Media Mobilizing Project also supported Obama administration-era net neutrality regulations and has long protested against issues concerning Comcast’s operations and fees to internet users in Philadelphia. The organization was among many other activist groups that lobbied the Philadelphia city council to alter a proposed franchise agreement with Comcast for its cable television service to instead focus on free internet programs for low-income households.^{5 6}

In 2020, the Media Mobilizing Project rebranded as the Movement Alliance Project.⁷

Activities

The Movement Alliance Project hosts campaigns and programs promoting left-leaning policies. Such projects include the People’s Media Record, a digital archive of activist’s video footage of protests; Mapping Pretrial Injustice, a mapping tool promoting loosening pre-trial detainment laws; the Shift the Narrative Project, which promotes left-leaning criminal justice and policing policies; and Philly We Rise, a social justice media aggregator hub.³

In addition to its in-house programs, Movement Alliance Project sponsors left-of-center Philadelphia-based advocacy groups. As of October 2020, the most prominent of which were likely Black Lives Matter Philadelphia, Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, and 215 People’s Alliance Education Fund, the charitable-activity arm of the election campaign group 215 People’s Alliance.⁸

The organization also funds other left-leaning groups including the 215 People’s Alliance, Anthracite Unite, Black Lives Matter Philly, Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, Phillysun, and Prison Health News.⁹

Funding

Movement Alliance Project receives support from a range of left-progressive institutions: the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation,¹⁰ the Ford Foundation,¹¹ the New Venture Fund,¹² the Proteus Fund,¹³ and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation all have funded Movement Alliance Project, often under its former Media Mobilizing Project name.¹⁴ The Open Philanthropy Project provided the then-Media Mobilizing Project with $140,000 in support of a “Coalition for a Just District Attorney.”¹⁵

Other notable funders include labor unions; the American Federation of Teachers, Communications Workers of America, and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania have all funded Movement Alliance Project.¹⁶

Other financial supporters of Movement Alliance Project include the left-leaning Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Philadelphia Foundation, and Fidelity Charitable, a provider of donor-advised funds.¹⁷

Corbett Claim Controversy

Despite an absolute ban on electoral campaign intervention by 501(c)(3) organizations under IRS rules,¹⁸ Movement Alliance Project/Media Mobilizing Project previously made statements of election-related accomplishments on its website. Its “History” page read as follows as of January 13, 2021:⁴

Around 2013,  Media Mobilizing Project started to become a hub, beyond its original projects and tactics, able to support critical victories in our communities: we unseated Governor Corbett, whose legacy included massive cuts to education, we ended the state takeover of Philadelphia schools, and we campaigned both for a district attorney who would work to end mass incarceration and for a city council with leaders who would fight for justice.

People

Bryan Mercer leads the Movement Alliance Project as executive director. Mercer is a national left-of-center media activist and sits on the boards of Free Press and MediaJustice.²⁵

Mercer is also involved in the 215 People’s Alliance campaign group. As a representative of 215 People’s Alliance, he participated in the Fall 2017 Democracy Alliance conference in a session on supporting the election of left-of-center prosecutors.²⁶