Who we are
Fund for the Public Interest is a national, nonprofit organization that runs campaigns for America’s leading environmental and public interest organizations. We launched the Fund in 1982 to help find ways to engage people on the most pressing problems of our day and turn that support into solutions. And now we run the nation’s largest and most effective canvassing and telephone membership operation. Our canvassers and callers talk to people one-on-one and through those interactions help make thousands, sometimes millions of people’s voices heard, through petitions, emails, small donations and meetings. That’s people power, and that’s what it takes to make a difference for the environment, for our democracy, and more.
Who we work with
We work alongside groups such as U.S. PIRG, Environment America, Environmental Action and Fair Share on a wide range of campaigns, including reducing global warming pollution, getting big money out of politics, protecting public health by keeping our antibiotics safe and effective, and investing in early childhood education.
Our team
Whether you’re a canvass director, telephone outreach project director, caller or canvasser, you’re an integral part of a group committed to building a strong campaign to win on the real challenges and problems we face.
Ed Johnson
Citizen Outreach Director
Ed started as a canvasser with the Fund in 1990. After 15 years running state-based canvass offices, overseeing regional and then national canvass operations, Ed now oversees all canvass, telephone outreach, and direct mail projects. As Citizen Outreach Director, Ed helps the Fund build people power and continue our work that has already helped 20 million people make their voices heard through petition signatures, and has raised more than $500 million to help public interest groups win their campaigns.
Adam Rothschild
National Canvass Director
Adam serves as the national canvass director for Fund for the Public Interest, and has 10 years of experience managing staff and fundraising. Under Adam’s direction, the Fund’s canvass offices have raised more than $10 million every year for campaigns for the environment, public interest, and equal rights. Adam also oversees the hiring and training of more than 2,000 staff each year.
Colleen Heider
Assistant National Canvass Director
Colleen got her start as an assistant director in the Los Angeles canvass office in 2008 after graduating from the University of Portland where she studied biology. She directed offices in California and was a regional administrator before becoming regional director for the California and Oregon canvass offices in 2011. She is now the Fund's assistant national canvass director. Since her start with the Fund, Colleen has overseen over 15 different offices that have raised over $6 million for social change campaigns.
Emily Reid
Regional Director
Emily went to Bennington College in Vermont. She joined the Fund in 2011 as a canvass director, and directed offices in California and Massachusetts. Emily most recently ran our Amherst, Mass., office, and then became a regional director in 2015.
Pat Wood
National Telephone Outreach Project Director
Pat started with Fund for the Public Interest as a canvasser in 2005 in Madison, Wis., and then directed canvass offices in the Midwest for three years. Pat became the Fund's recruitment director in November 2008, recruiting college seniors at the nation's top universities to join the Fund's campaign staff after graduating. As the national Telephone Outreach Project director, Pat helps our offices reach about 150,000 people and raise about $3 million each year for public interest campaigns.
Chris Mullin
Assistant National Telephone Outreach Project Director
Chris graduated from Bates College in 1985. After organizing on several campaigns with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), he started working with the Fund first as a canvass director in Connecticut and then as telephone outreach director in Boston. As the Assistant National Telephone Outreach Director, Chris has over 25 years of experience helping to manage the Fund's national operations and working with local directors in the Fund’s three call center offices. Chris is most proud of the work he has done to help train well over 100 full-time outreach directors within a team that has raised over $100 million for dozens of partner organizations during his career.
Rachel Pergamit
Boston Telephone Outreach Project Director
Rachel grew up in Eugene, Ore., and attended University of Arizona, where she majored in environmental economics. After returning to Oregon, she started working with the Fund as a caller in the Portland Telephone Outreach Project (TOP) in 2013. As a caller, Rachel was a part of campaigns to protect the Boundary Waters, ban plastic bags, and lower the cost of prescription drugs. She wanted to get more involved and started directing as assistant TOP director in the Portland office before moving to lead director of the Boston TOP office.
Alex Corkett
Portland Telephone Outreach Project Director
Alex started with the Fund as a citizen outreach caller in 2009, working in the Portland Telephone Outreach Project. Over the following few years he ran canvass offices in Albuquerque, N.M., and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as taking part in the U.S. PIRG fellowship program with New Mexico PIRG. As a fellow, Alex focused his time on tax and budget issues, including working to end tax payer subsidies for unhealthy food ingredients and ending the use of corporate tax havens. He moved back to the Northwest and has been working in the Portland TOP since 2013.
Claire Downs
Sacramento Telephone Outreach Project Director
Claire graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013 with a degree in environmental biology and ancient studies. She started her career as an assistant director in the Boston office of the Telephone Outreach Project (TOP), working on campaigns to stop fracking, close loopholes in the Clean Water Act, and stop the overuse of antibiotics. She joined the TOP national team as the national administrator in the summer of 2014, and became the Sacramento TOP lead director in the fall of 2015.