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Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are a federation of U.S. and Canadian
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
s that employ
grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
organizing and direct advocacy on issues such as
consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...
, public health and transportation. The PIRGs are closely affiliated with the Fund for the Public Interest, which conducts fundraising and canvassing on their behalf.


History

The PIRGs emerged in the early 1970s on U.S. college campuses. The PIRG model was proposed in the book '' Action for a Change'' by Ralph Nader and Donald Ross, in which they encourage students on campuses across a state to pool their resources to hire full-time professional lobbyists and researchers to lobby for the passage of legislation which addresses social topics of interest to students. Ross helped students across the country set up the first PIRG chapters, then became the director of the New York Public Interest Research Group in 1973. The Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, founded in 1971, was the first state PIRG to incorporate. It was followed by Oregon (OSPIRG) and Massachusetts ( MASSPIRG). By the late 1990s, there were PIRGs in 22 states with chapters on more than 100 college campuses. U.S. PIRG reported 1 million members by 2000. The state PIRGs created U.S. PIRG in 1984 to have a national lobbying presence in Washington, D.C. In their first two decades, PIRGs worked on a variety of issues: * Bottle bills: Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the 1980s, the PIRGs were supportive of container deposit legislation in the United States, popularly called "bottle bills". MASSPIRG lobbied for six years for enactment of a state bottle return law, eventually winning container deposit legislation in 1982. * Toy safety: U.S. PIRG has released toy safety reports every year since 1986, which has led to recalls of more than 35 toys. * Lemon law: ConnPIRG and CALPIRG were involved in passing the first new-car lemon laws in 1982 that require manufacturers to repair or repurchase severely defective relatively new vehicles. *Safer art supplies: CALPIRG led the effort to enact the nation's first laws protecting children and artists from toxins in art supplies in 1985. USPIRG followed with a federal law in 1988.


Funding model

PIRGs on college campuses have historically been funded through the use of automatic billing with a portion of student activity fees in the form of a labor checkoff or in the form of automatically enrolled dues to the association. Students may elect at some institutions to have the fees refunded to them or opt-out, although many students are unaware that this is the case. At some institutions, opting out of the fee only lasts one academic term, requiring students who do not wish to be members and pay dues to have to opt-out. In 1982, the PIRGs established the Fund for the Public Interest (commonly referred to as "the Fund") as its fundraising and canvassing arm.


Controversies

The student fee system of PIRG funding has been met with controversy and with a number of legal challenges. In 2014, students at Macalester College in Minnesota voted to end their relationship with MPIRG due to the group's revenue structure, which relied on Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) automatically receiving a cut of student activity fees. The Fund For the Public Interest has been subject to lawsuits and accusations of unfair and exploitative labor practices, and it has resisted unionization efforts by its canvassers. In 2016, U.S. PIRG joined conservative groups in opposing the Obama Administration's rules that expanded worker overtime pay, which resulted in criticism against the organization in the popular press. In 2022, the PIRG campus affiliate was shut down at the University of Connecticut after an effort by the local chapter to separate itself from the state and national organization failed to meet legal requirements. In 2023, Student PIRGs successfully used a ballot initiative at the University of Oregon to double their student automatic billing of dues at the expense of other student activities.


Transparency

As of 2024, the U.S PIRG Education Fund is rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator, with an overall score of 92%. Charity Navigator defines a four-star review, as "Exceeds or meets best practices and industry standards across almost all areas. Likely to be a highly effective
charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
."


Programs and campaigns


Consumer protection

U.S. PIRG's consumer protection work includes financial and product safety reforms. U.S. PIRG lobbied for the creation of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, Payday lo ...
, an independent U.S. government agency which was founded as a result of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act after the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.
and the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
. U.S. PIRG helped win passage of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, protecting consumers from certain predatory practices by credit card companies. Product safety work includes warning consumers about potentially unsafe products in the marketplace, such as recalled baby products and food.


Public health

U.S. PIRG has called on major restaurant chains including
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
and KFC to end the use of meat raised with antibiotics, a practice that contributes to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in people. During the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. PIRG organized medical experts to speak about the U.S.'s response to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The group of 150 sent a letter to political leaders urging them to shut down the country and start over with strategies to contain the surging coronavirus pandemic.


Transportation

U.S. PIRG and individual state PIRGs have taken positions against highway expansion or new construction projects as wastefully expensive and unneeded, helping to stop projects such as the Illiana Expressway in Illinois.


Higher education

U.S. PIRG actively lobbied for passage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act in 2007, which reduced interest rates on student loans and increased funding for Pell Grants. It supported the expansion of
open educational resources Open educational resources (OER) are Instructional materials, teaching, learning, and research materials intentionally created and Free license, licensed to be free for the end user to own, share, and in most cases, modify. The term "OER" descr ...
on campus and of campus
food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...
s.


Affiliated non-profits

Some PIRGs are members of a larger network of non-profit organizations called the Public Interest Network. While part of the same organization and often staffed by the same individuals, these affiliates are often presented in publications to imply they are different. In the past, they have also helped to launch a number of other independent public interest non-profits, including: # Citizen utility boards # The National Environmental Law Center
Frontier Group


Local affiliates

Twenty-five U.S. states have a statewide PIRG that is directly affiliated with the Public Interest Network/U.S. PIRG. Other state PIRGs that are not part of the network include the New York, Vermont, Alaska, and Minnesota PIRGs. The state PIRGs are: * AKPIRG (Alaska)* * Arizona PIRG * CALPIRG (California) * CoPIRG (Colorado) * ConnPIRG (Connecticut) * Florida PIRG * Georgia PIRG * Illinois PIRG * Iowa PIRG * MaryPIRG (Maryland) * MassPIRG (Massachusetts) * PIRGIM (Michigan) * MPIRG (Minnesota)* * MoPIRG (Missouri) * MontPIRG (Montana) * NHPIRG (New Hampshire) * NJPIRG (New Jersey) * NMPIRG (New Mexico) * NYPIRG (New York)* * NCPIRG (North Carolina) * Ohio PIRG * OSPIRG (Oregon) * RIPIRG (Rhode Island) * Penn PIRG (Pennsylvania) * TexPIRG (Texas) * VPIRG (Vermont)* * WashPIRG (Washington) * WisPIRG (Wisconsin) Not affiliated with the Public Interest Network.* In Canada, many PIRGs exist as province-wide networks, on university campuses, and as community organizations. A non-comprehensive list is below: * OPIRG (Ontario) * OPIRG Brock * OPIRG Carleton * OPIRG Guelph * OPIRG Kingston * OPIRG McMaster * OPIRG Peterborough * OPIRG Toronto * OPIRG Windsor * OPIRG York * OPIRG-GRIPO Ottawa * WPIRG (at the University of Waterloo, now defunct) * Laurier Students' Public Interest Research Group * QPIRG (Quebec) * QPIRG McGill * QPIRG Concordia * GRIP-UQAM (QPIRG UQAM)


See also

* Environment America


References


External links

*
The Student PIRGs

The Public Interest Network

U.S. PIRG on OpenSecrets.org

PIRGs in Canada
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