Updated: August 2007

About Consumer Action

Contents

• Introduction
• Consumer Information & Assistance
• Multilingual Outreach & Education
• Research & Publishing
• Advocacy & Media
• Consumer Action & the Internet
• Funding

For more than three decades, Consumer Action, a national nonprofit organization, has worked to advance consumer literacy and protect consumer rights in many areas, including credit, banking, privacy, insurance, healthcare and utilities. The organization achieves its mission through several channels, from direct consumer education to issue-focused advocacy.

Started in San Francisco in 1971 with just a few volunteers, a phone and some donated space, Consumer Action was a pioneer in the consumer movement. Not only did the organization staff one of the earliest consumer hotlines and hold highly visible events like its “lemon-stration” parade of defective autos, but its British Motors picket in the early ‘70s established the right of aggrieved consumers to picket businesses. Early and continued successes earned Consumer Action a reputation for being responsive, innovative and effective.

The organization looks very different today, with a multilingual and multicultural staff, and offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. With the resources and infrastructure to reach millions of consumers nationwide and to respond quickly as issues shift, Consumer Action has become one of the most effective and trusted consumer organizations in the nation.

Throughout its evolution, Consumer Action has remained consistent in its commitment to help the individual consumer while also driving industry-wide change for the benefit of all.

Consumer Information & Assistance

Thirty years after its inception, Consumer Action’s complaint hotline is still ringing. The help desk receives as many as 500 calls and email messages each month about everything from identity theft to handling a product or service dispute, each of which receives a personal response within 24 hours. Assistance is free, and may include information, non-legal advice, and referrals to appropriate complaint-handling agencies.

In most cases, the consumer will receive, at no charge, one or more selections from Consumer Action’s materials library. These publications are available in many languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. This extensive archive of free, translated consumer education tools is a unique effort of Consumer Action, and supports the organization’s goal of providing consumer and financial literacy education across both income and ethnic barriers.

Consumers can reach the hotline by calling (415) 777-9635 (San Francisco) or (213) 624-8327 (Los Angeles). Click here to email the hotline. Assistance is available in English, Spanish and Chinese.

Multilingual Outreach & Education

Aware that the best way to reach vulnerable consumer populations is to work through a trusted entity in their community, Consumer Action provides free multilingual publications, in-language training and support to local educators through a national network of more than 9,000 community-based organizations. This growing network, the largest and most diverse of its kind, has enabled Consumer Action to expand its reach far beyond that of its 26 staff members.

Network members include university extensions, credit counseling agencies, immigrant/refugee services, government agencies, libraries, churches, and social services—diverse community groups and nonprofits that share a commitment to financial literacy and consumer protection.

Consumer Action’s outreach staff uses a five-component module consisting of a multilingual consumer brochure, a leader’s guide, course curriculum, a PowerPoint presentation and in-person train-the-trainer instruction to distill complex consumer subjects down to easy-to-understand information and prepare network participants to teach the material in their own communities. Modules have been developed on a variety of specific consumer issues and general personal finance topics.

In addition to providing free training, materials and support, Consumer Action awards stipend grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to participating community groups in support of their local education and outreach efforts.

To join the Consumer Action network, or if your group already participates and would like to find out more our services, call 415-777-9648 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Research & Publishing

Since publishing “Break the Banks: A Shopper's Guide to Banking Services” in 1973, Consumer Action continued to conduct surveys on services and pricing across major industries such as pharmaceuticals, credit cards, telecommunications and insurance. The data from each survey are compiled, published and made available free to individual consumers, network partners and others. Exposing excessive prices and anti-consumer practices, Consumer Action’s surveys are one way a small nonprofit has elicited change from big business.

Consumer Action distributes more than one million publications annually in five languages, making it possible to serve limited English speaking populations in every state. Community agencies can order free publications (available in bulk and with no shipping charges) by visiting Consumer Action’s How to Order web page and following the instructions, or by calling 415-777-9648. Most publications are available for download in PDF format and may be freely copied by individual users or non-profit and community-based organizations.

To subscribe to Consumer Action News in print, and receive the popular annual credit card issue, become a paid Consumer Action member ($25 per year). (See Join CA.) Or view CA News, the organization's newsletter, online.

Advocacy & Media

Advocacy—promoting pro-consumer policy, regulations and legislation and helping consumers be heard by those in power—is an important part of Consumer Action’s work. In 2004, the organization established an office in Washington, D.C., a strategic decision to create a constant presence in front of lawmakers and the national media. D.C. staff focus on credit card business practices, privacy rights, predatory lending, and telecommunications rights and access.

In an effort to mobilize widespread support for the passage of pro-consumer legislation, regulation and policy, Consumer Action is tapping its 9,000-member network of community-based organizations. Working as members of diverse coalitions, Consumer Action and participating groups amplify the voice of the consumer. Community groups and individuals can learn more about proposed state and federal legislation and how to make a critical difference at the Take@ction section of www.consumer-action.org.

Consumer Action’s Take@ction provides a wealth of free online services to help consumers stand up and be heard by local, state and federal lawmakers. Consumers can find and write to their elected representatives and many regulatory agencies, act on Consumer Action alerts by writing e-mails, letters and making calls, check out what is coming up at the polls, do research on candidates, learn the names of lawmakers’ key aides and staff persons, and more.

The media has been a vital component in the organization’s advocacy work: Consumer Action’s multilingual staff responds daily to requests from local, national and ethnic media seeking expert commentary on key consumer issues, often providing reporters with original supporting data and victim testimony. In turn, media coverage in English, Chinese and Spanish exposes anti-consumer practices and bolsters the organization’s efforts to provide timely information to the widest population possible.

Reporters can reach Consumer Action in San Francisco at (415) 777-9648; in Washington, D.C. at (202) 544-3088; and in Los Angeles at (213) 624-4631.

Consumer Action & the Internet

Here at Consumer Action’s web site, visitors can search a comprehensive consumer protection and financial literacy information center. Updated daily, this site offers consumer headline news, book reviews, a comprehensive library of consumer publications, a consumer resource directory, an online “help desk” and the Take@ction advocacy database of national, state and local elected officials, and more. The site tallies more than three million visitor sessions per year.

Consumer Action’s online presence is evolving and expanding. The outreach department is creating new ways to use the Internet to communicate with and support the 9,000-plus community-based and non-profit organizations in its education network. The organization has also launched a number of topic-specific sites, which include: financial literacy, housing, and insurance, and for the Healthy Children Organizing Project, a Consumer Action project to protect children from environmental toxins. These sites can be accessed from Consumer Action’s home page via the pull down menu "Select a Project or Program." Get the latest site updates by activating your online membership or by subscribing to one or more of the site’s news feeds.

Funding

Consumer Action’s funding comes from a variety of sources, including state and federal government contracts, cy pres awards, corporate partnerships and foundation grants—a diversity of support that allows the organization to conduct its work with unparalleled independence.

Prospective funders choose to support Consumer Action largely because of the organization’s unique community-based financial literacy model and its proven track record in educating hard-to-reach consumers. Partners also are drawn to Consumer Action because their dollars go further: Operational efficiency enables the organization to achieve a community and policy impact that far exceeds the size of its staff and administrative budget.

Consumer Action’s most notable projects have been multi-year programs, where funding is adequate to achieve the intended scope and outcome, although the organization successfully implements education campaigns of all sizes. To discuss your financial education objectives and how Consumer Action can help accomplish them, call Ken McEldowney, Executive Director, at (415) 777-9648 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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