First Amendment Coalition
Defending Free Speech and The Public's Right to Know
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Strategic Litigation
The objective of our litigation program is not to vindicate one person's rights, but to advance the law in a way that enhances government openness and accountability for the largest number of citizens via carefully planned test-case lawsuits calculated to strengthen existing protections, and to create new ones, for free speech and access to government.
Legal Hotline
The Coalition’s Legal Hotline service provides free one-on-one legal consultations to journalists, bloggers, ethnic media, community activists and ordinary citizens experiencing frustration and government resistance in the exercise of their free speech and open-government rights. The quality of legal information, given by top media lawyers under contract with the Coalition, is extremely high.
Education and Advocacy
Public education and advocacy —FAC brings speakers and panels to venues across California. In recent years, these events have focused on police accountability and money in politics, and they bring lawyers, journalists, and citizens together. In addition, FAC often publishes commentaries in the media and on a daily basis provides comments to journalists.
Free Speech & Open Government Awards
FAC's FOI awards are given each year for outstanding accomplishment, service or other contributions to “the people’s right to know” about government. We wish to recognize an individual or institution whose actions deserve public honor and emulation for their advancement of government transparency. Areas vital in the struggle for open government are access to public meetings, public records, the courts, government data; defense of citizens’ right to speak; defense of journalists’ rights; and defense of the right to “blow the whistle” and alert the public to government misconduct and other matters of common concern.The winner, or winners, could be a journalist, blogger, lawyer, news organization (print or digital), software developer or community activist.
Where we work
External reviews
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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First Amendment Coalition
Board of directorsas of 02/26/2024
Katherine Rowlands
Publisher, Bay City News Service, Oakland, CA
Term: 2023 - 2026
Jay Harris
Former Publisher, Mother Jones and American Prospect
Rowland Rebele
Rebele Consulting
Bruce Brugmann
San Francisco Bay Guardian, Retired
Mel Opotowsky
California Society of Newspaper Editors
Karl Olson
Ram & Olson
Jim Newton
Los Angeles Times
Richard Gingras
Scott Lindlaw
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Jean-Paul Jassy
Jassy -Vick-Carolan LLC
Tim Alger
Perkins Coie, LLP
Thomas Burke
Davis, Wright, Tremaine,
Quentin Kopp
San Mateo Cnty Supr. Ct. Judge, retired
Carol Melamed
Washington Post, retired
Duffy Carolan
Jassy-Vick-Carolan, LLC
Juliet Williams
Associated Press
Ed Chapuis
KGTV-10 San Diego
Katherine Rowlands
Bay City News Service
Hal Fuson
Copley, Vice President and General Counsel (Retired)
Cheryl Brown
California Black Media, Co-Founder
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean, UC Berkeley Law School
Linda Jue
Editor At Large, 100Reporters
Ricardo Sandoval-Palos
Public Editor, PBS
Ed Wasserman
Dean, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley
Tim Alger
Alger Law APC
Dick Rogers
San Francisco Chronicle, Reader's Representative (Retired)
Lara Bergthold
WeAreRally.com, Partner
Marcos Breton
Sacramento Bee, Columnist
Alica Del Valle
Airbnb
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
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Gender identity
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Transgender Identity
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
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