Major philanthropic organisations have come together to oppose a set of proposed US National Park Service regulations governing protest on federal lands in Washington DC.

The Proteus Fund, working closely with the Wallace Global Fund, prepared and circulated a letter from funders, which was submitted this month. The letter was signed by 141 foundations and individual donors, who argued that the proposed changes would negatively impact all of the issues the signatory funders address in their grantmaking.

Ellen Dorsey, President of the Wallace Global Fund, explained: ‘The right to protest is a core American value, a protected human right, and fundamental to the health of democracy. Philanthropy must always stand beside the organisations working to defend these time-honoured freedoms, especially in these challenging times in this country and around the world.’

If the National Park Service plans are to be implemented it would effectively ban protests in front of the White House, give government officials discretion to remove permits, and introduce fees for protesters to cover the costs of barricades, fencing, and police monitoring.

For more see: https://www.proteusfund.org/proposed-nps-rulemaking/