Help Us Protect Science in Dangerous Times

We’re on a mission to defend the scientific endeavor. And now, when you make a gift in support of our work it will go twice as far. That’s because Charles Zeller, one of our board members, has generously offered to match donations, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000.

The Trump administration and new political environment are extremely troubling, but they’re also a powerful motivator: Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election we’ve had an incredible increase in donor support, for which we’re extremely grateful.

But we still need your help to advance our mission. The next few years are shaping up to be our busiest ever, and we’re growing rapidly to meet the increasing, immediate needs of our constituency.

All of our legal and educational initiatives are made possible by the generosity, enthusiasm, and dedication of our supporters, and the contributions we receive are immediately put to use protecting scientists.

Here’s some of what we’ve accomplished so far in 2017:

• We’ve provided free legal consults to 19 scientists — and the calls keep coming. We now receive nearly three times as many calls from scientists with concerns about legal issues.

• In January, we filed a “friend-of-the-court” brief urging the D.C. federal District Court to protect scientific evidence and preliminary drafts from indiscriminate disclosure to adverse groups.

• We’re directly representing scientists against politically motivated attacks both in court and in Congressional inquiries. We continue to respond to scientist’s inquiries on a case-by-case basis.

• In partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union, we produced a free pamphlet for scientists on safely participating in public protests and marches, which was released in April prior to the March for Science and the People’s Climate March. The pamphlet was downloaded by people at 181 universities and government agencies.

• We launched a Campus Reps Program; now, 17 law professors from universities across the United States are trained to provide basic legal education to scientists at their institutions. Read more about it in The New York Times.

• We’re producing a series of educational materials to address knowledge gaps in the scientific community. Subscribe to our mailing list and we’ll notify you when they’re released.

If you haven’t already, please donate now. Your gift will enable us to meet the growing demand for our services, and confront the unknown challenges that await scientists in the coming years.

Thank you, as always, for your support and interest in our work.