September 18, 2008 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Organizations that represent whistle-blowers from goverment agencies typically run into a brick wall when asking grant makers for money, so many of them are turning to individuals to help them raise the money they need to expand their operations.
“Very few foundations have stepped up and said, ‘We think giving money to groups that support whistle-blowers is just as important as giving money to civil rights,’”says Stephen M. Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center, in Washington. “And if they give to one group, they think that’s enough, that the game is over. Whenever we’ve gotten grants, they have almost always been for one particular type of case, such as one involving the environment, and not for the range of work we do to improve government.”
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, a Washington group that represents whistle-blowers, has been one of the most successful groups in winning grants.
The organization will receive $900,000 from foundations this year — more than half of its budget of $1.4-million.
But the organization would like to create a position for someone who would regularly keep an eye on the military and on defense-related industries, and it says it can’t do that without more grant money.
“We’ve had no success at all in convincing foundations that working with whistle-blowers constitutes grass-roots organizing,” says Jeff Ruch, the group’s executive director. “But that’s what it is — it’s just that the grass-roots grow in cubicles. Foundations don’t see those people as underserved, but they really have little recourse.”
Turning to Individuals
A handful of grant makers with an interest in airing public employees’ grievances have come forward, however.
The Rockefeller Family Fund, in New York, has made grants to PEER, the Government Accountablity Project, and other groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense, in Washington, in the name of making government more accountable.
The Herb Block Foundation, founded by the former Washington Post editorial cartoonist, who left $50-million in his will five years ago to start it, has also made grants to a handful of organizations that serve whistle-blowers, as have the Ford Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, both in New York.
“Too much of our government has become transactional,” says Lee Wasserman, director of the Rockefeller Family Fund. “So much of it is based on what special interests want. These groups can lift up some of these rocks and shed light on what’s underneath. Any grant maker that believes in the core principles of democratic government should take a good look at these groups.”
Nevertheless, the grant environment remains tough, forcing groups to focus more on increasing the amounts they receive from individuals.
The National Whistleblower Center made a conscious effort two years ago to stop relying so much on grants and ask individuals to support the group by paying membership dues. Starting with an e-mail list of 300 names it had amassed of people who expressed interest in the group, the organization began to send “action alerts” to members, encouraging them to sign petitions to Congress and the FBI, among others, and forward the alerts to other people who might be interested. The list is now up to 5,000.
“It’s been a great way to tap people for money,” Mr. Kohn says. Last year, the group raised its entire budget of $300,000 from individuals — “a very good year,” he adds.
Along with its caseload, the Government Accountability Project has seen its fund-raising numbers rise.
The group, formed 31 years ago, its founding inspired by the release of the Pentagon Papers, has put more of its $2.5-million annual budget toward stepping up its direct-mail appeals.
“It’s paying big dividends now,” says Mark Cohen, executive director of the organization. “We’ve been reinvesting our gains to expand our donor base and mailing lists.”
The Project on Government Oversight, known as POGO, in Washington, has also benefited from switching its fund-raising efforts from grant seeking to soliciting individuals.
Donations from individuals doubled last year, and the effort is moving along at a similar pace this year.
PEER’s approach has been to raise more in donations by promoting giving on its Web site, where people can click on buttons to help pay for whistle-blowers’ legal fees.
The amount raised from individuals has tripled to $300,000 per year since 2003 — a sign, Mr. Ruch says, that people are eager to respond to calls for good government.
“There’s certainly an openness these days to what we have to offer,” he says.
