Nonprofit spotlight: Friends of the Earth

U.S. taxpayers hand the hugely profitable oil industry up to $5 billion a year in tax subsidies. And what do we get in return? Ocean-killing spills, toxic air pollution and an unsustainably warming planet. We get a climate-denial machine running 24/7 to oppose alternative energy.

Victory: NFL gives up tax-exempt status

The NFL earns billions in revenue every year, but hasn’t paid a dime in taxes since the 1960s because it’s considered a “nonprofit organization.”

More than 434,000 CREDO activists have taken action over the last two years to pressure the NFL to give up its tax-exempt status. We’ve petitioned the NFL directly and called on Congress to strip the tax-exempt status from the NFL or force NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify before the House Oversight Committee about the NFL’s nonprofit status.

CREDO and you: Together, we can make every day Earth Day

earth-day-blog-post-hero-599x313Happy Earth Day! Here at CREDO, every day is Earth Day. We plant trees year-round. We bike to work. We regularly deliver donations to nonprofit groups fighting to save our planet. In fact, we’ve been working for the environment and other progressive causes for 30 years.

We’ve donated over $15 million to environmental groups, planted nearly 4 million trees, and more. Check out this colorful Earth Day infographic about CREDO’s commitment to the environment.

Like you, the people who work at CREDO dream of a better world and make it happen every day.

Big Telecom sues over net neutrality

We scored a huge victory over Big Telecom companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon when the Federal Communications Commission announced plans to enact strong rules to protect net neutrality under Title II. But now, AT&T is challenging the FCC’s decision in court. CREDO is intervening in the lawsuit on the other side—to defend the FCC’s tough new rules.

Victory: EPA restricts Monsanto’s bee-killing insecticide

Big news in the fight to save bee populations from pesticides: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that it won’t approve any new or expanded uses of bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides while it continues to study the threats they pose to honey bees and other pollinators.

Nonprofit spotlight: Social Security Works

Social Security is under attack. Corporations and their puppets in Congress are stepping up their campaign to undermine Social Security so they can declare it broken and privatize the entire program. This would be bad for most of us—but great for the fat cats who bankroll the GOP.

Tom Tomorrow comic: Republican freshmen bankrolled by AT&T and Verizon

tomtmrw-freshmen-blog-post-hero-599x490If you’re a progressive, this Tom Tomorrow comic on the Republican freshmen in Congress will scare you.

But if you’re a customer of Big Telecom, it will also infuriate you. Because during the 2014 midterms, AT&T and Verizon bankrolled every single one of these dreadful candidates. In other words, the money you spent on your mobile phone service went to a company that helped elect them.

Workers win big wage victories

At Walmart, about 500,000 hourly workers will be getting a raise, thanks in part to CREDO members who launched campaigns calling on Walmart and its directors for higher wages. CREDO members have supported this fight by donating $50,332 in 2014 to OUR Walmart, which helps Walmart workers organize for fair wages and humane working conditions.

CREDO members power nearly $2.4 million in progressive donations

CREDO members helped raise nearly $2.4 million for progressive activism and infrastructure in 2014. This funding could not be more crucial or timely, as Republicans and right-wing politicians—many of them funded by AT&T and Verizon—have seized control in both houses of Congress.

Now more than ever, progressive groups need support to fight back against the GOP’s dangerous, unjust and unconstitutional agenda. And in the past year our members have delivered big-time. Here’s what we accomplished together in 2014.

What a year for progressive politics: 2014 CREDO activism report

Looking to 2015, the outcome of literally thousands of fights will depend on what we can do together.

That’s because what we’ve learned in 2014 is the willingness of President Obama and his fellow Democrats to stand up for what is right often comes down to whether progressives like us organize to hold them accountable.

In many ways, this past year has been a tough one for those who care about social change. Democrats lost control of the Senate in the midterms. Grand juries in Ferguson and Staten Island declined to send to trial the white police officers who killed two unarmed African-American men. Our federal elected officials continue to pursue an all-of-the-above strategy on energy and, as a result, aren’t doing nearly enough to stop the terrifying march of climate change.