TOMPAINE.COM MERGES WITH INSTITUTE FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE
Progressive Groups Combine to Build Stronger Movement This Election Year
WASHINGTON – Two major progressive organizations merged today, creating a powerful progressive center in Washington. Institute for America's Future President Robert Borosage and TomPaine.com Publisher Ellen Miller announced the marriage of the two non-profit groups that provides new capacity to the progressive movement.
"Progressives are pulling together to counter the right-wing machine that now dominates Washington," said Borosage. "The right has no answers for the great challenges facing our country, but they dominate the debate by sheer institutional weight. A serious challenge must be organized so Americans can learn that another way is possible. Our merger positions the Institute for America's Future at the center of that fight."
"Over the next few years, we will drive progressive issues into the national debate and help build a majority movement for progressive change in this country," Miller noted. "TomPaine.com has always been a strong voice for progressive values. As part of the Institute for America's Future, its capacities will be magnified many times over."
Both organizations are designated 501(c)(3) non-profit groups under the tax code. The merger makes the Institute for America's Future and its sister organization, the Campaign for America's Future, one of the largest multi-issue progressive groups in Washington. CAF and IAF together now operate an annual budget of $5 million with more than 25 employees.
The Institute was founded by Borosage and Roger Hickey in 1996 with more than 100 progressive leaders. It has encouraged progressive groups to work together to fight for an economy that works for working people and good jobs with good benefits, affordable health care, a secure retirement, high quality public education and energy independence.
Borosage is a veteran strategist and institution builder. He worked on many progressive campaigns including Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential election campaign and the U.S. Senate campaigns of Paul Wellstone and Barbara Boxer. Hickey co-founded the Economic Policy Institute. Together they rallied more than 2,000 progressives last year at their annual "Take Back America" conference — the largest annual progressive gatherings of its kind. The group's political clout attracted all the Democratic presidential candidates along with important progressive leaders like League of Conservation Voters President Deb Callahan, Sierra Club President Carl Pope, pollster Stanley Greenberg and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
TomPaine.com is a voice of insight and democratic discourse on the Internet. With a weekly readership of 150,000, the site has published more than 8,000 original commentaries and news stories since its founding in 1998 by John Moyers. Its issue-based ads on the opinion editorial page of the New York Times have attracted national acclaim.
The group will unveil a new TomPaine.com website this summer. The new site will provide comprehensive progressive analysis and actions on the Web. The Campaign for America's Future this June will convene thousands of activists in Washington for this year's "Take Back America" conference.
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**NOTE: Media representatives interested in more information on the Institute for America's Future and TomPaine.com's profile should contact Toby Chaudhuri at 202-955-5665 x133 or chaudhuri@ourfuture.org.**
They should link-up with Milk of Magnesia for a REALLY strong "movement" this year.