The Progressive Multiplier Fund (PMF) is an organization that helps left-of-center non-profits with revenue generation. A project of the advocacy group Center for Community Change Action, it is led by former Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford.

PMF created an information hub called the Center of Excellence to assist 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations in the “progressive community.” ¹ PMF also has two funding projects, the Test and Innovation Fund, and the Growth Fund, which it uses to help other progressive organizations test new revenue generation models and assist organizations with scaling up existing revenue projects.

Background

The Progressive Multiplier Fund (PMF) is a Washington-based funding organization that specializes in helping progressive non-profits with revenue generation. Progressive Power Labs, a left-of-center organization which “incubates and supports” progressive organizations seeking to expand their fundraising operations and coordination, houses Progressive Multiplier Fund and Membership Drive. ²

The founder of Progressive Power Labs is Phil Radford, a left-wing environmentalist activist and the former executive director of Greenpeace USA . Radford is also co-founder of the Democracy Initiative, a board member of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and a board member of the left-of-center environmental advocacy group Green Corps. ³

PMF says it provides money for non-profit policy, legal advocacy, and media that focus on the issues of climate change, corporate accountability, LGBT interests, mass incarceration, left-wing economic and environmentalist policies, gun control, criminal justice reform, voting rights, minimum wage, and gender equality among other left-wing issues. ⁴

The Progressive Multiplier Fund is also a child organization of the Center for Community Change Action, a progressive 501(c)(4) organization that acts as the lobbying arm of the Center for Community Change (CCC). ⁵ It engages in political activity supporting progressive causes and candidates, opposing conservatives.

Activities

The Progressive Multiplier Fund created a Center of Excellence to assist 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations in the “progressive community” by offering a vast amount of information collected by PMF. The Center of Excellence is open to any organization or consultants that “have the same progressive focus as that of the PMF.” ⁶

PMF notes that the Center of Excellence provides organizations with information on subjects such as climate change, democracy and voting rights, left-wing economics, labor-union-controlled public education, environmentalism, gun control, expanded immigration, raising the minimum wage, increasing social spending, Puerto Rico, racial issues, expanded refugee admissions, increasing the availability of abortions, gender equity, and other “progressive issues.” ⁷

PMF also provides organizations with a Test and Innovation Fund. This funding scheme provides grants to non-profit organizations that are looking to test new revenue generation models or replicate other revenue generation techniques used by other organizations. The Test and Innovation Fund grants range from $1,000 to $25,000. The average grant size amounts to $10,000. ⁸

Along with the Test and Innovation Fund, PMF offers other grants through its Growth Fund, which provides organizations that wish to scale up existing revenue projects with grants and loans. To qualify for the Growth Fund, organizations must be able to demonstrate that they’re able to achieve a 2:1 return on the PMF’s investment within five years. ⁹ Grants from the Growth Fund range up to $120,000. ¹⁰

Funding

The Center for Community Change (CCC) Action, the parent organization of the Progressive Multiplier Fund, has received multiple grants directed towards assisting PMF in its growth.

The Open Society Policy Center, a lobbying group associated with the Open Society philanthropies founded by left-of-center financial billionaire George Soros, granted CCC $300,000 in 2018 to “provide support for Progressive Multiplier Fund.” ¹¹

The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund provided CCC with $125,000 in 2017 for “the Progressive Multiplier Fund to invest in scalable approaches to small-donor fundraising.” ¹²

1. “The Center of Excellence.” Progressive Multiplier Fund. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/about/center_of_excellence/.
2. “Phil Radford.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pradford/.
3. “Phil Radford.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pradford/.
4. Radford, Philip. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Progressive Multiplier Fund. April 10, 2019. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/frequently-asked-questions/.
5. “OSPC Summary of Lobbying Activities: 2018, First Quarter.” Open Society Policy Center. July 27, 2018. Accessed May 30, 2019. https://opensocietypolicycenter.org/reporting/ospc-summary-of-lobbying-activities-2018-first-quarter/.
6. “The Center of Excellence.” Progressive Multiplier Fund. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/about/center_of_excellence/.
7. “The Center of Excellence.” Progressive Multiplier Fund. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/about/center_of_excellence/.
8. “Helping Progressive Non-Profits Go Big.” Progressive Multiplier Fund. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/.
9. “Helping Progressive Non-Profits Go Big.” Progressive Multiplier Fund. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://progressivemultiplier.fund/.
10. “Progressive Multiplier Fund.” The Grant Plant, Inc. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://www.thegrantplantnm.com/grant-detail/progressive-multiplier-fund/.
11. “OSPC Summary of Lobbying Activities: 2018, First Quarter.” Open Society Policy Center. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://opensocietypolicycenter.org/reporting/ospc-summary-of-lobbying-activities-2018-first-quarter/.
12. “Center for Community Change.” Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. August 02, 2015. Accessed May 20, 2019. https://www.haasjr.org/grants/grantee/center-for-community-change.