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Campaign for America's Future (CAF) is an American nonprofit progressive political advocacy organization. Founded in 1996, the organization bills itself as "the strategy center for the progressive movement." Within the Democratic Party, it often serves as a counterweight to the
Democratic Leadership Council The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation that was active from 1985 to 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, it argued that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it had ...
(DLC). CAF argues that the Democratic Party should draw sharp contrasts with the Republicans and advance a progressive agenda, while the DLC argues that the party should pursue a
centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...
policy. CAF is a
501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...
non-profit organization. It has a sister organization called the Institute for America's Future, which is a
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
"devoted to shaping a compelling progressive agenda and message." ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'' editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, former
AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...
president John Sweeney, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa serve on its
board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
.


Organizational overview

The founder and current president of Campaign for America's Future, Robert Borosage, first registered the organization in 1990. The organization did not reach non-profit status until 1994 and formally launched in 1996. At its launch, the Campaign for America's Future listed 130 co-founders representing a variety of liberal and progressive organizations. The Campaign for America's Future does not disclose its donors. In the past, it has denied requests for a list of top donors and a spokesman said the group "discloses exactly what is required." In 2016, Campaign for America's Future combined their operations with
People's Action People's Action is a national progressive advocacy and political organization in the United States made up of 40 organizations in 30 states. The group's stated goal is to "build the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban ...
but continues to operate as its own organization.


Activities


"Take Back America" conference

CAF holds an annual "Take Back America" conference, bringing together progressive activists, elected officials,
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
gers, left-leaning media outlets, and others. At the 2006 conference, Senator
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
was booed for her stance on the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
. In 2007, she was similarly booed, but not as loudly, as she had ostensibly "modified" her position on the war. '' The Politico'' sponsored a
straw poll A straw poll, straw vote, or straw ballot is an ad hoc or unofficial voting, vote. It is used to show the popular opinion on a certain matter, and can be used to help politicians know the majority opinion and help them decide what to say in order ...
which Senator
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
won with 29 percent of the vote. The 2007 conference honored "progressive bloggers" with the Paul Wellstone Award. The once anonymous blogger Digby accepted the award, and in doing so, revealed her true identity as woman named Heather Parton from
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
. CAF is supportive of the
Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...
movement and has assisted in organizing protests.Coverage of CAF
cbsnews.com; accessed October 4, 2015.


Apollo Alliance

The Institute for America's Future and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy sponsor a joint project called the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of
environmentalists Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologi ...
and
labor unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
, which seeks to commit the United States to energy independence while providing opportunity for new green-collar jobs in the energy sector. It is named after John F. Kennedy's
Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
.About the Alliance
, June 20, 2007; retrieved June 23, 2007.


References


External links


Campaign for America's FutureCampaign for America's Future at OpenSecrets.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campaign For America's Future Political advocacy groups in the United States 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations Progressive organizations in the United States