Defending Rights and Dissent has an outsized impact on national and state issues in the US around issues of free speech, assembly and intrusive policing. I have worked in coalitions with the organization in planning events. Defending Rights and Dissent has worked both to promote the events to make sure they are successful, and to provide knowledgeable speakers from the organization for the events themselves. Recently, writings and talks from Defending Rights and Dissent have been broadcast more widely in the media, providing crucial analysis for activists across the country on how to protect our rights.

For almost 60 years Defending Rights and Dissent (DRAD) has been a tireless champion of free speech. Nimble and feisty, DRAD is unwavering in its principles and remarkably effective at fighting against government and corporate efforts to silence dissent and political expression. It continues to be a leader in helping shape the national conversation on civil liberties and supporting grassroots movements, and I am proud to serve on its board.

Defending Rights & Dissent with its timely notifications of challenges to civil liberties and to the voices of dissent provide an antidote in these troubled times where there is a concerted efforts to obfuscate the truth and demonize truth tellers through the use of self-serving labels like "alternative facts". I turn to Defending Rights & Dissent to be informed of the most critical issues and threats to our rights. Defending Rights & Dissent plays an irreplaceable role in cutting through the false narrative being consistently put out and propelled through the right-wing echo chamber and those complicit with spinning their lies.

I support this nonprofit because I had an experience at a polling place where officers of that polling place were going to violate my rights. Because I like to read and visit websites of groups like Defending Rights and Dissent I was able to learn from those websites information that helped me at that particular moment at that polling place in protecting my voting rights. I think Defending Rights and Dissent website is great.

I believe Defending Rights and Dissent (DRAD) is a great organization. The society we live in at the present time is a society that is extremely polarized by people’s political ideas and religious beliefs. DRAD ‘s commitment to defending people’s rights, and especially the rights of people who are in a minority to dissent, is well demonstrated through the composition of its board. DRAD ‘s board is very diverse. The different ethnicities, races, religions, age groups, genders and sexual orientations of DRAD’s board members bring into the organization the individual board members’ personal experiences, perspectives and commitments to the issues as those issues are presented within the polarized society we all live in today. Great Board Composition !!!!! FIVE STARS !!!!

DRAD has been at the forefront of the fight for civil liberties even at those moments when the public mood has been at it's most fearful and paranoid. They've campaigned for the rights of our most vulnerable citizens and activists against the overwhelming powers of the surveillance state and have shown time and time again that they can be counted on to fight the battles for our democratic freedoms when no one else will.

DRAD is an essential voice in today's political environment, where First Amendment rights are being assailed from all directions. It leverages its small staff and lean budget to generate outsized impact.

Defending Rights and Dissent provdes absolutely critical work to help save our democracy. This organization is supported by brilliant, committed, Hard-working professionals. I pray this organization will receive all the help and donations that it deserves because we need it now more than ever before!!!

Defending Rights and Dissent is, relative to its small staff size, a total powerhouse organization. Their tireless, principled work makes all dissenters safer. Collaborating with DRAD is always a pleasure.

Defending Rights & Dissent has been at the forefront in the struggle to defend free speech, the right to association, and to protest, for decades. In the face of the enormous threats to personal liberties and growing threats to the dissent, DRAD is needed now more than ever. The organization provides critically needed analysis, connects organizers and civil society leaders from different movements, and mobilizes through grassroots campaigns that are pivotal to everyone involved in social justice work. I continue to support DRAD, personally and professionally, as the organization is a bedrock for everyone who cares about challenging power and protecting our constitutional rights.

I am a retired attorney with a deep interest in civil rights and civil liberties, and I count on the review of civil rights and civil liberties put out on a daily basis by Chip Gibbons from Defending Rights and Dissent. It is invaluable reading to anyone interested in this field.

More recently, I and several organizations I am a member of turned to Defending Rights and and Defense to help us explain to our state legislature that proposed legislation penalizing the BDS movement would violate the constitution. Defending Rights and Dissent took the lead in crafting an outstanding analysis joined in by other civil rights organizations. I frankly do not know how they can turn out such high quality work with the small staff they have.

This is a remarkable organization that I cannot recommend too highly.

Susan T. Nicholson, Ph.D., Esq.
Gloucester, MA

I have worked with one of the merged organizations - BORDC -from the days when it mobilized cities and communities to pass local resolutions against the USA PATRIOT Act.

Then and now in its merged form, it is a dynamic force for informed participation and holding government accountable and for resistance to government overreach and suppression.

I am impressed with the job that Sue Udry has done in merging BORDC and Defending Dissent into an even more important and powerful entity -- and with the commitment she and her colleagues demonstrate and the quality of work they do.

I began volunteering for DRaD about seven years ago, when the then-director read a blog post I wrote and graciously asked me to volunteer as a writer. I was immediately impressed: This person was really working -- looking for ways to serve his organization, reaching out to strangers he thought might be able to help. I have remained impressed to this day.

The people who work at DRaD are frighteningly smart, incredibly energetic, and passionate, passionate, passionate about equal rights and justice for all. In my time writing for DRaD, I was introduced to many of the groups and organizations they partner with -- all of them organizations that involve the community, work hard and do good work.

Good work. That's the way I'd sum up what DRaD is: Good people who do good work. The organization is essential and, sadly, increasingly more relevant.

DRAD and its predecessors have persisted for over 50 years, especially when the Bill of Rights were attacked, to defend the civil liberties of all of us.

DRaD is an absolutely amazing organization. I have seen few others that do as much with their resources, and particularly in the urgent times we are moving into, with freedom of speech and freedom of expression being threatened from every side, I can think of no organization that I would rather support.
DRaD effectively fights Police Militarization, Entrapment, Surveillance, and Lack of Accountability in our government. It serves as part of the non-profit nervous system that keeps activist organizations working together synergistically, and it helps mobilize and inform concerned citizens.

I liked this organization so much, I joined the board!

Defending Rights & Dissent(DRAD) has a storied history of often being first out in front to defend our most vital civil liberties and concomitant rights to dissent and protest free from unwarranted surveillance and harassment. These rights are essential elements of a functioning democracy the absence of which illuminate or presage devolution into authoritarianism. DRAD has stood against McCarthyism, the unconstitutional surveillance elements of the Patriot Act, the often hidden indefinite detention clause of the National Defense Authorization Act, FBI unwarranted harassment of peaceful activist groups, denial of rights and persecution of animal rights activists, and many other affronts to our democratic rights and liberties. DRAD is that small, innovative, cutting edge organization punching above its weight to protect and ensure our fundamental rights now and in the future.

Not a day goes by that I don't learn (and share) things we all need to know in these distressing times.

Defending Rights & Dissent is at the front lines, handling unpopular issues that many mainstream groups avoid. It is principled, courageous, prudent, and strong.

Please, we desperately need the voice of BORDC! They need all our support.