Public Interest Projects (PIP) brings together and strengthens the work of philanthropic institutions, nonprofit groups and other public interest organizations sharing a vision of a society that ensures justice, dignity and opportunity for all people.

PIP is a 501(c)(3) public charity that operates grantmaking, technical assistance and strategic-planning programs for institutional and individual donors interested in social justice and human rights issues. By developing sustainable partnerships among donors, grantees and allied groups, PIP seeks to foster a movement for positive social change resulting in equality, fairness and a stronger participatory democracy.

PIP achieves this by:

• Managing strategic and culturally sensitive collaborative funds and initiatives
• Linking and convening partners with similar goals on the local, regional and national levels to collaborate and share knowledge
• Providing expertise and resources—including highly experienced staff—to help build capacity in the field, and
• Nurturing organizations, projects and affinity groups through fiscal sponsorships and other services

Grantmaking collaboratives

PIP manages six funder collaboratives—multi-year national grantmaking funds that engage private, corporate, family and individual donors:

• American Dream Fund—supporting immigrants and refugees in improving their lives, their communities and in becoming more civically involved
• Four Freedoms Fund—funding capacity-building, civic participation and policy advocacy by and for immigrants and refugees
• Fulfilling the Dream Fund—helping redefine how the U.S. thinks about, talks about and achieves racial and gender inclusion
• Communities for Public Education Reform: A Fund for Education Organizing—supporting groups working to improve student outcomes in low-income communities
• Racial Justice Collaborative—funding partnerships of lawyers and community organizations to achieve equity and fairer policies for communities marginalized by race, ethnicity and immigrant or citizenship status
• US Human Rights Fund—providing strategic, field-building support to US human rights work

By working through collaborative funds to achieve its mission, PIP is able to help the field:

• Raise the visibility of key issues and speak with a unified voice
• Increase collaborative learning and strengthen capacities in the field among both funders (including new donors) and grantees
• Enable more flexible, timely and effective grantmaking and programming, both on the ground and across broader networks

PIP staffs these collaborative funds and provides them with strategic direction, day-to-day management, administrative support and financial oversight. Combined the collaboratives made 166 grants totaling more than $8.1 million in 2006.

Special projects

PIP also manages 17 special projects, including Legacies of War (www.legaciesofwar.org), the public-education program and advocacy campaign to raise awareness about the Vietnam War-era bombing in Laos, to increase U.S. efforts in removing unexploded ordnance and to help end the use of cluster munitions.

PIP also serves as fiscal sponsor to affinity groups and organizations that are closely aligned with the projects it manages and with its overall mission, including:

• Funders' Committee for Civic Participation (www.funderscommittee.org)—which links together grantmakers committed to enhancing democratic involvement in all dimensions of civic life, including elections, governance, media and civil society
• International Human Rights Funders Group (www.hrfunders.org)—an association of grantmakers devoted to supporting efforts to achieve the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the treaties and laws it has generated so that all people may enjoy a truly and fully human existence