Parents Together Action, styled as ParentsTogether Action, is an issue advocacy campaign funded by and affiliated with several other left-of-center operatives and funding organizations. The organization is an affiliated group and the lobbying arm for the larger Parents Together Foundation, which receives funding from many left-of-center organizations such as the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. ParentsTogether Action is run by several individuals with backgrounds in left-of-center advocacy groups and Democratic politics. Most of the group’s activity is based around circulating petitions pressuring companies to change their policies as well as supporting left-of-center policies concerning education, labor, and health care. ^{1 2}

Background

ParentsTogether Action was founded in 2011 as part of Parents Together. The group focuses on promoting various left-of-center policies and attempts to garner the support of parents to promote policies supported by teachers’ unions including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. ^{3 4}

One early campaign of Parents Together was promoting the formation of “ParentsTogether Classroom Facebook Groups” that allowed for a parent facilitator to share information with other parents in their child’s class. The program was piloted in North Carolina. ⁵

ParentsTogether Action does not have many specifics details regarding its structure or specific activities on its website. It cites a goal of harnessing the “economic power” of its members and specifically states that it supports enacting policies mandating paid maternity leave and controlling college costs. ⁶

Funding

Parents Together Action reported raising nearly $700,000 in revenue in 2019, while its sister organization ParentsTogether raised over $2.5 million. ParentsTogether Action also reported $427,000 in expenses in 2019. As a 501(c)(4) lobbying organization, the group is not obligated to disclose its donors. ⁷

According to OpenSecrets, ParentsTogether Action reported one single independent expenditure during the 2016 election cycle, which was an $881 expense supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. ⁸

Petitions and Campaigns

Much of the activity of ParentsTogether Action consists of distributing online petitions promoting a variety of left-of-center policies or pressuring companies to change their content moderation or other practices. ⁹

Campaigns the group has led against companies and content providers include asking video games to enact spending limits and turning off Autoplay on some childrens’ videos on YouTube. The group has also led campaigns supporting an increased ability to report child sexual abuse content online. Other campaigns from the group have been titled “TikTok: Stop Pushing White Supremacy,” and “Stop the Spread of COVID-19 Disinformation!” ¹⁰

Another petition campaign from the group opposed a bill in Florida dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The group petition for that issue quotes a woman whose youngest child is transgender saying “Our family is one of many with a personal stake in stopping the discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” (HB 1557/SB 1834) bill currently working its way through the Florida legislature because our daughter identifies as a girl even though she was mistakenly assigned male at birth.” ¹¹

Other petitions are titled “Congress Must Act: Gun Violence Is Killing Our Children!” and “Protect Roe. Don’t Deny Families Abortion Access!” ¹²

1. “Parents Together Foundation.” Packard Foundation. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.packard.org/grants-and-investments/grants-database/parents-together-foundation-2/
2. “Bethany Robertson.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-robertson-1592631/
3. “Parents Together Foundation.” Packard Foundation. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.packard.org/grants-and-investments/grants-database/parents-together-foundation-2/
4. “Bethany Robertson.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-robertson-1592631/
5. “ParentsTogether Classroom Online Toolkit.” ParentsTogether. 2014. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://parents-together.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ParentsTogether-Classroom-Toolkit-Online.pdf
6. “About.” Parents Together Action. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://parentstogetheraction.org/about/
7. “IRS Form 990.” Parents Together Action. 2019. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/812699957/06_2021_prefixes_81-81%2F812699957_201912_990O_2021060818289063
8.  “Parents Together Action: Summary” Open Secrets. Accessed October 2, 2022.  https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail/2016?cmte=C90017211&tab=targeted_candidates
9. “Online Safety Campaigns.” ParentsTogether Action. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://parentstogetheraction.org/parentstogether-online-safety-campaigns/
10. “Online Safety Campaigns.” ParentsTogether Action. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://parentstogetheraction.org/parentstogether-online-safety-campaigns/
11. “Stop the Don’t Say Gay Bill.” Move On. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/stop-the-don-t-say-gay-bill
12. “ParentsTogether Action.” Move On. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://sign.moveon.org/partnerships/parentstogether-action-1?page=2