 The development of a membership and funding infrastructure independent of the campus chapters that had been until that time the center of the PIRG infrastructure reversed the decline in resources and influence that the PIRGs had been experiencing at that time, and initiated a shift in the PIRGs' organizational model that saw the previously campus-bound groups convert themselves into a mass-membership lobbying organization.The Fund has faced several allegations of exploitative labor practices, being described by "The Daily Beast" and "HuffPost" as a "liberal sweatshop.