Piper Fund

Background

The first issue the Proteus Fund addressed in a significant way was campaign finance reform. Proteus Fund founder Meg Gage started the Piper Fund in 1997, with the intention of increasing government control over election-related speech. ¹ The Piper Fund allocated “about $1.8 million in grants to 53 organizations in 38 states working on campaign finance reform,” starting in 1998. ²

The Proteus Fund has also funded efforts for disclosure of funders of political advertisements, including those made by independent organizations. ³ Ironically, the Piper Fund, while it discloses some of its donors, “acknowledges it receives money from anonymous givers and ‘numerous other individual donors.’” ⁴

Mapping “Money in Politics”

The Piper Fund directs its grantmaking efforts in particular to what it calls the “New American Majority,” a blanket term for ethnic minority groups in the United States. The group is critical of what it calls “money-in-politics,” referring to current campaign finance rules instituted following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision.

The Piper Fund makes grants (via the Proteus Fund) to left-wing efforts to alter campaign finance laws, but it also serves as a hub for other left-wing groups to coordinate spending in that area. In November 2015, the Piper Fund published a report entitled A New Way Forward: Bringing an Equity Lens to the Work of Reducing the Influence of Money in Our Democracy (archived here), written following a two-day conference in April 2015 at the Brennan Center for Justice’s headquarters in New York; the convening consisted of Proteus Fund’s allied groups and donors who met to coordinate strategies concerning “money-in-politics” and judicial election reform. Attendees included Ludovic Blain of Color of Democracy, Greg Moore of the NAACP, Montague Simmons of the Organization for Black Struggle, Heather McGhee of Demos, and Saru Jayaraman of Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United. ⁵ According to the document, the convening led Proteus Fund to create a project “to map the money in politics and fair courts sectors” with support from the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (a project of NEO Philanthropy) and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

According to the report, the following individuals were consulted as donors to or allies of the Piper Fund:

• Sarah Abelow, Overbrook Foundation
• Cristobal Alex, Latino Victory Fund
• Adam Ambrogi, Democracy Fund
• Susan Batten Taylor, Association of Black Foundation Executives
• Jay Beckner, Mertz Gilmore Foundation
• Ludovic Blain, Color of Democracy
• Allisson Brown, Open Society Foundations
• Kelly Brown, D5 Coalition
• LaTosha Brown, Grantmakers for Southern Progress
• George Cheung, Joyce Foundation
• Nat Chioke Williams, Hill-Snowdon Foundation
• Cynthia Choi, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy
• Alan Davis, Why Not Initiative
• Keesha Gaskins, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink
• Stephen Foster, Overbrook Foundation
• Samantha Franklin, Johnson Family Foundation
• Saru Jayaraman, Restaurant Opportunities Center United
• Hildy Karp
• Sarah Knight, Open Society Foundations
• Julie Kohler, Democracy Alliance
• Carmen Lopez, Thornburg Foundation
• Nancy Meyer
• Eddy Morales, Latino Engagement Fund at the Democracy Alliance
• Jodeen Olguin-Tayler, Demos
• Allan Oliver, Thornburg Foundation
• Kathy Patridge, Voqal Fund
• Dan Petegorsky, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
• Ilona Prucha
• Guillermo Quinteros, Solidago Foundation
• Dennis Quirin, Neighborhood Funders Group
• Rashad Robinson, Color of Change
• Charles Rodgers, New Community Fund
• Robert Ross, California Endowment
• Alex Russell, FCCP Money in Politics Working Group
• Rachel Sagan, Fine Fund
• Ralph Smith, Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Jennifer Sokolove, Compton Foundation
• Katherine Storch, Democracy Alliance

Austin Thompson, Youth Engagement Fund, Democracy Alliance

Piper’s funding is led in part by criticism from the Left of the Supreme Court’s decision in the 2010 case Citizens United v. FEC. According to the report: ⁵

The Piper Fund has grown tremendously in the wake of the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, from annual investments totaling $1.1 million in 2010 to more than $4 million in 2014. With 32 funding partners compared to 19 in 2010, it now engages the field in 17 states and supports both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits.

Issue Area Campaigns and “Rapid Response Funds”

The Piper Fund and Piper Action Fund sponsor campaigns called “rapid response funds” run in tandem between the two groups focusing on particular issue areas. The funds are designed to channel funding towards particular niche issues supporting left-wing organizations. ⁶

Protect Dissent Network

Piper Fund and the Piper Action Fund created the Protect Dissent Network in 2018 with the aim of coordinating “strategic action to support the right to protest,” referencing left-wing groups such as Black Lives Matter. ⁶ The project was reportedly co-sponsored by 18 other nonprofits, including the Wallace Global Fund. ⁷

In February 2019, Piper Action Fund funneled grants to lobbying efforts to defeat state legislative bills in Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Wyoming which the group claims would create “exorbitant penalties for protests and civil liabilities” for activist groups which protest the construction of certain oil pipelines. ⁸

The Action Fund also supported efforts to 2019 defeat bills in Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, and South Carolina which would allow campus speakers to sue universities if students interfered with or threatened their speech. In 2019, the Action Fund supported efforts to defeat bills introduced in Mississippi and Minnesota which would increase criminal penalties for activists who block traffic as part of their traffic, a tactic the group noted was particularly favored by Black Lives Matter activists. ⁸

Judiciary Reform

Proteus Fund has funded research into policy proposals for changing state judges’ offices from elected to appointed positions. The Proteus Fund (via the Piper Fund) is credited with providing partial funding to an October 2018 report by the Brennan Center for Justice entitled Choosing State Judges: A Plan for Reform calling for such policies. ⁹

Proteus Fund (via the Piper Fund) is credited with funding a September 2016 report by the center-left litigation group Lambda Legal entitled Justice Out of Balance: How the Election of Judges and the Stunning Lack of Diversity on State Courts Threatens LGBT Rights. ¹⁰ The report calls for states to end election of judges and make state judges appointed positions.

In May 2018, the Proteus Fund (via the Piper Fund) was credited with funding a report accusing conservatives of undermining “judicial independence” by rigging state courts. The report, entitled Conquering the Courts: the Religious Right’s Fight to Rig the Rules and Undermine Judicial Independence, was published by the left-of-center Center for Media and Democracy (which also publishes the anti-conservative website SourceWatch). ¹¹

Right to Protest Fund

The Piper Fund and Piper Action Fund have collaborated in forming a fund it claims will help protect the individual rights to protest and assembly. Both groups claim that the fund was developed due to legislation introduced in nearly all 50 states meant to “disincentivize protest.” The fund claims to provide “educational grants” to groups organizing protests, developing the “Protect Dissent” national network to coordinate with state-level groups, and assisting other groups with improving communication strategies. ^{12 13}

Campaign Finance Reform

Advocating for left-of-center campaign finance reform policies was among Piper’s first activities. According to a report by the left-wing funder Voqal, Piper has funded efforts to “reduce corporate influence in politics” since its creation in 1997 and is regarded by some groups on the Left as an effective grantmaker. The report noted that the “Piper [Fund] offered an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with other institutional and individual donors and potentially increase the impact of its finite resources with those of other funders.” ¹⁴

The Piper Fund has also supported policy research into state election reform. In late 2018, it was credited with funding a report by the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) Foundation entitled Big Money in Oregon State Elections (archived here), which called for the state to adopt a policy of “matching small contributions to political campaigns” to offset the influence of large-dollar donors ($5,000 or more). ¹⁵

Seattle “Democracy Voucher” Program (2015)

In July 2018, Piper Action Fund noted its role in creating the “Democracy Voucher” program via ballot initiative (Measure No. 122, passed in November 2015) in Seattle, Washington, with partial funding from Voqal, a center-left communications nonprofit and pass-through organization. ¹⁶ Piper itself provided $35,000 in 2014 for initial planning on the ballot initiative; in 2015, Piper spent another $475,000 to promote the campaign, focusing especially on local “communities of color.” ¹⁴

The city-administered program entailed giving individual vouchers to roughly 25,000 Seattle voters with which to donate to particular municipal candidates of their choosing. The group claimed that the program “increas[ed] participation among communities of color, women, young people and lower-income families.” ¹⁶ Voqal also noted in 2018 that similar programs were being considered in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York, New York; Austin, Texas; and New Hampshire. In 2017, Voqal reported that “funding [for the program] from Piper and Voqal was ‘earmarked’ for outreach to the New American Majority (people of color, young people, single women) communities.” The group noted that, according to one Seattle campaigner, “Without the support of Piper and Voqal, we would not have had field in communities we considered really important.” ¹⁴

Public Financing of Elections

According to an October 2017 reported commissioned by Voqal (archived here), Piper Action Fund spent $20,000 in Montgomery County, Maryland in 2014 to “strengthen the gubernatorial public financing program” in the state. According to the report, “Piper views the pursuit of public finance campaigns in states and municipalities as a key strategic foothold in the national money-in-politics movement and focuses on states as the arenas most conducive to victory.” ¹⁴

In March 2014, Voqal approved a $250,000 grant to Proteus Action League (Piper Action Fund’s fiscal sponsor) under the title “Fair Elections New York Campaign” to “support [a] campaign to pass small donor public financing in [New York] state.” The group later wrote that, among other accomplishments, Proteus Action League “pushed Governor [Andrew] Cuomo to include comprehensive public financing in his State of the State address and Executive 2014 budget,” held events with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on campaign finance reform, and met with Gov. Cuomo “on six different occasions regarding the Governor’s commitment to adopting public financing in 2015 and securing robust efforts to swing the State Senate to Democratic control.”

In 2013, Voqal approved a $50,000 grant to Piper and an additional $350,000 grant “to support campaign finance reform in New York State.” Voqal approved additional $50,000 grants in 2014 and 2015 to Piper for similar purposes. The report specified that most of its grant funds went to Proteus Action League, not the Proteus Fund, though grants to the latter funded issue research for building future ballot initiative strategies in certain states. The grants were given in support of the following priorities: ¹⁴

• Engage national orgs in state-level campaigns by coordinating field and media activities.
• Produce materials for grassroots lobbying in state assemblies.
• Engage legislative champions, beyond usual suspects.
• Mobilize netroots in grassroots lobbying.
• Boost field ops and organize rallies and public events.
• Recruit and train diverse leaders to be active in state campaigns.

In 2015, Piper and Piper Action spent $600,000 to support Maine’s “Clean Elections” ballot initiative (Question 1), which was approved by voters in the November 2015 elections. The initiative increased state funding to the Maine Clean Elections Fund from $2 million to $3 million by eliminating certain corporate tax exemptions and required advertisements and campaign communications to disclose their top three donors. ¹⁴

Piper Fund and Piper Action Fund are touted as critical avenues for funding campaign finance reform in the 2017 Voqal report, which noted:

Voqal’s grants (direct and through the Piper Fund) have served both to help secure specific victories in certain places and to advance the field by producing proof of concept and lessons from which to learn, as evidenced by successful returns on investments in:

• Ballot initiative campaigns bringing public financing to Seattle elections and important
  “fixes” to Maine’s Clean Elections law.
• Transparency, disclosure and ethics reform measures in New Mexico, aimed at
  educating and engaging the public to condition the climate for future, broader
  campaign finance reforms.
• Demos’ experimental Inclusive Democracy Project that helps to empower state and
  local justice advocates and engage them in campaign finance reform efforts by
  making the case for how reform can help build voice and political influence for
  working class people and people of color.
• Not An Alternative’s high profile campaign urging the American Museum of Natural
  History to cut its ties to fossil fuels.
• Demanding accountability through a Texas watchdog organization’s transparency
  database.
• A two-year battle in New York that, while ultimately unsuccessful, did much to
  elevate and advance the issue with the media, the public and in the state’s legislative
  and executive chambers.

The report further reports that, since 2013, Voqal has developed “key relationships” with Every Voice, Citizen Action New York, and Common Cause (left-wing groups which fund “money-in-politics” initiatives) that were “forged directly as a result of joining the Piper Fund funding collaborative.” ¹⁴

Funding

The Piper Fund is a fiscally sponsored project of the Proteus Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which provides fiscal sponsorship services to numerous left-of-center groups. As such, the Piper Fund does not file annual reports with the IRS or have tax-exempt status of its own.

According to the Proteus Fund’s 2017 IRS filing, it expended $4,465,277 on the Piper Fund program that year. ¹⁷

Piper Fund Grant Recipients

According to the Proteus Fund’s online grant database, the Proteus Fund has distributed grants through the Piper Fund to the following nonprofits: ¹⁸

Leadership

Since the Piper Action Fund and Piper Fund are projects of the Proteus Action League and Proteus Fund, respectively, they do not employ their own staff. However, the funds are administered by a program director, Melissa Spatz.

Spatz has worked as program director for both Piper Action Fund and the Piper Fund since 2012. Prior to that, she worked as a co-founder and coordinator for the Chicago Taskforce and Violence Against Women & Girls, founding executive director of Women & Girls Collective Action Network, and at a number of other modest-sized left-of-center nonprofits. ¹⁹

Piper’s “Money-in-Politics Reform” initiative is administered by Proteus program officer Estevan Muñoz-Howard, a position he’s held since 2016. Prior to that, Muñoz-Howard worked for a number of center-left nonprofits such as the Social Justice Fund NW and Washington-based Sightline Institute. ²⁰