Action Network

What Action Network does

Action Network is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit technology organization founded in 2012 that builds a SaaS-style organizing platform for progressive causes. Its product suite includes Email, Mobile Messaging (SMS/MMS), Petitions, Events (in-person, virtual, and hybrid), Fundraising, Advocacy Automation (Ladders), Call Campaigns, Letter Campaigns, Forms, Surveys, and Groups/Networks. The company is the sole shareholder of Action Squared Inc., the corporation that builds the software, and Action Network Fund operates as a 501(c)(3) sister organization. A separate Action Builder sub-brand, launched in 2019, serves unions and progressive organizations with community management and leadership assessment tools.

Architecturally, the platform is delivered as a multi-tenant web application backed by a full-featured REST API (Python SDK documented at actionnetwork.org/docs), a read-only SQL Mirror for advanced analytics, and an embeddable widget system (oEmbed, shortcodes). It integrates with Twilio for SMS/MMS, Stripe and ActBlue for payments, Salesforce and Zapier for CRM/workflow, Mapbox for events and targeting, and dozens of smaller progressive-tech vendors (Resistbot, VoteAmerica, ControlShift Labs, iWillVote, BallotReady). A cooperative data co-op pools anonymized engagement signals across partner organizations and feeds ML-based engagement predictions and the Anonymized Target Booster targeting capability. Boost, a beta add-on launched in December 2025, layers natural-language reporting (ActionBot) on top of the existing data co-op.

The business model is primarily usage-based: Movement plan email at $1.25 per thousand with a $15/month minimum; Network plan at $2.50 per thousand with a $125/month minimum; mobile messaging at $10–$20 per thousand with $50–$100/month minimums plus telecom fees; enterprise custom pricing above 1 million emails/month; and the Boost add-on as a premium subscription layer. There are no setup fees or contractual commitments, and grassroots activists can sign up for free. Go-to-market is hybrid: product-led self-serve for grassroots users, inside sales for mid-market organizations via quote forms, and field/demo-led enterprise sales for large national organizations. The platform claims 12,000+ progressive groups, 55M+ letters sent, and 5M+ event attendees mobilized, with named customers including the DNC, AFL-CIO, MoveOn, Black Lives Matter, Women's March Foundation, Working America, the Collective PAC, Death Penalty Action, Run for Something, the Environmental Defense Fund, Common Cause, and the Canadian Labour Congress.

Name

Action Network

Legal name

Action Network

Website

https://actionnetwork.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Action Network is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that provides a SaaS-style digital organizing platform—email, SMS, petitions, events, fundraising, and advocacy automation—for 12,000+ progressive nonprofits, labor unions, and political campaigns.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Progressive Organizing and Advocacy Software

NAICS

Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Nonprofit & Cause Communications (BPAFADAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ), Social Media & Community Management (PR-led) (BPAFADAM)

Keywords

• Progressive organizing software
• Advocacy campaign platform
• Email fundraising tools
• Mobilization technology
• Political campaign SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Email Partnership Subscriptions: Usage-based subscription billing for email services. Movement plan billed at $1.25 per thousand emails sent per month with $15/month minimum. Network plan billed at $2.50 per thousand emails sent per month with $125/month minimum.
2. Mobile Messaging Subscriptions: Usage-based subscription billing for mobile messaging. Movement plan $10 per thousand messages with $50/month minimum. Network plan $20 per thousand with $100/month minimum. Plus telecom fees for short code or toll free number rentals.
3. Enterprise Custom Pricing: Custom pricing for organizations sending over 1 million emails per month, with custom onboarding and training, and customization to ensure Action Network fits into tech ecosystem
4. Boost Premium Features: Additional paid features including machine learning-based predictions, natural language reporting, and other advanced capabilities bundled as Boost package

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Action Network is an integrated SaaS platform that helps progressive organizations, advocacy groups, unions, and political campaigns mobilize supporters, raise money, and run digital campaigns. Its core offerings are email marketing, mass mobile messaging (SMS/MMS), petitions, events, online fundraising, and advocacy automation — delivered through a cooperative development model that is exclusive to the progressive movement.

Product overview

Action Network is a platform-plus-modules product suite for progressive organizations, political campaigns, and advocacy groups. The core platform consists of integrated organizing tools: Email (mass email with A/B testing and ML-based predictions), Mobile Messaging (SMS/MMS with automation), Petitions (with multi-sponsor support and delivery), Events (in-person, virtual, and hybrid with ticketing), Fundraising (with ActBlue and Stripe integration), Advocacy Automation/Ladders (automated journey orchestration), Call Campaigns, Letter Campaigns, Surveys, and Forms. The Action Builder toolset (launched 2019) provides community management and leadership assessments. The Boost add-on (beta) offers AI-powered natural language reporting via ActionBot and machine learning-based engagement predictions. Organizations can use Groups for individual accounts or Networks for federated structures with hierarchical data flows. A SQL Mirror add-on provides read-only database access for advanced analytics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Action Builder: Toolset launched in 2019 that helps unions and progressive organizations empower leaders and build organizing campaigns.
• Boost

Products and services

• Email Mass-email tool for progressive organizations, with built-in A/B testing, personalization with if/then logic, machine learning-based engagement predictions, drag-and-drop newsletter builder, and fully-branded email composition.
• Mobile Messaging Mass mobile messaging tool (SMS and MMS) with segmentation, automation, A/B testing, MMS attachments, and integration with email data for unified targeting; activists can sign up by texting keywords, with toll-free numbers and short codes available.
• Petitions Petition creation tool with multiple sponsors, detailed reporting, image/video support, and email or paper delivery options; includes petition targeting features and coalition support.
• Events Event creation and management tool supporting in-person, virtual, and hybrid events, with RSVP collection, ticket sales with instant delivery, event campaign maps for distributed coordination, and event vetting.
• Fundraising Online fundraising tool with ActBlue and Stripe integrations, one-time and recurring donations, international payment processing, and social sharing; supports fundraising pages, recurring upsells, and goals.
• Advocacy Automation (Ladders) Automated supporter journey tool that uses decision trees and triggers to send emails or mobile messages based on supporter actions, engagement levels, or location; includes templates for welcome and re-engagement sequences, and editable published ladders.
• Call Campaigns Telecommunications tool that enables activists to call elected officials, with click-to-call functionality, fallback numbers, integration with legislative district targeting, and keywords for call campaigns.
• Letter Campaigns Advocacy tool that allows activists to send letters to elected officials and targets, with shapefile support and Canadian targets; included in shapefile-enabled plan tiers.
• Surveys Data collection action type launched in August 2024 that collects data on activists using core or custom fields over multiple pages with conditional questions, ranked choice options, and regex validation.
• Forms Form builder with drag-and-drop interface supporting custom questions, conditional logic (if/then), ranked choice questions, and action-only fields.
• Action Builder Sub-brand toolset launched in 2019 for community management and leadership assessments; helps unions and progressive organizations empower leaders and build organizing campaigns through member management and leader tracking.
• Boost Premium add-on package (beta) that includes ActionBot for natural-language data chat and reporting, machine learning-based open predictions, and custom reporting via natural language.
• SQL Mirror Read-only database mirror for advanced data analysis and integration with external systems; available as an upcharge add-on with searchable documentation.

Quantifiable outcome

• 55,000,000+ letters sent through the platform
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration33 records

AI capability10 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AFL-CIOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevelopment Partner who helped build Automated Ladders feature. Cooperatively determines development roadmap and priorities for Action Network tools.
• MoveOncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevelopment Partner helping shape the Action Network toolset for progressive organizations.
• Canadian Labour CongresscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevelopment Partner ensuring Canadian organizers' and digital practitioners' best practices are incorporated into the toolset.
• Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevelopment Partner collaborating on tools for progressive electoral organizing.
• Democratic National Committee (DNC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilt the ActBlue sync feature with the DNC, helping progressives raise millions of dollars for candidates and organizations.
• Daily KoscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDevelopment Partner for Mobile Messaging tool development. Daily Kos was proud to partner with Action Network in mobile messaging development.
• ActBluecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration partner for progressive fundraising. Track detailed donation data and activate ActBlue Express Lane donors with comprehensive sync.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processing partner for receiving donations. One of the most powerful payment processors for online transactions.
• TwiliocoreTechnology or IntegrationInfrastructure partner for mobile messaging. Handles sending of mobile messages, receiving replies and calls, purchasing and managing phone numbers.
• Action Squared Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSole shareholder of Action Squared Inc., the maker of Action Network and Action Builder toolsets. Action Squared builds digital tools in collaboration with progressive organizations.
• Action Network FundcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner501(c)(3) nonprofit sister organization that helps organizations incorporate organizing strategies alongside mobilization, digital, and data programs.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• NationBuilder: NationBuilder is a civic engagement platform offering website, email, and organizing tools to campaigns and nonprofits. It serves a similar customer base with overlapping email, fundraising, and community features.
• ActBlue: ActBlue is the dominant progressive online fundraising platform and a deeply integrated Action Network partner. While they are allies via the ActBlue sync, ActBlue also competes for share-of-wallet on fundraising tooling across the same progressive customer base.
• Mobilize: Mobilize is an event and volunteer management platform widely used by progressive organizations and campaigns. It overlaps with Action Network's Events, Petitions, and mobilization use cases and is often evaluated alongside it by the same buyers.
• CallHub: CallHub provides SMS broadcasting, phone banking, and dialer tools for political and advocacy campaigns. It competes with Action Network's Mobile Messaging and Call Campaigns for organizing budgets at progressive organizations.
• Bonterra (NGP VAN, EveryAction, Salsa): Bonterra's integrated suite (formerly NGP VAN, EveryAction, Salsa) offers email, mobile, fundraising, and advocacy tools for Democratic campaigns and nonprofits. It is the most direct full-suite competitor to Action Network in the progressive organizing space.
• Hustle: Hustle provides peer-to-peer SMS texting for political campaigns, labor unions, and nonprofits. It competes directly with Action Network's Mobile Messaging and Call Campaigns products for the same progressive and union buyers.
• ControlShift Labs: ControlShift provides distributed organizing and member-led campaigning tools for nonprofits and unions. It overlaps with Action Network's petition, event, and member engagement features for progressive and labor organizations.

Broad incumbents

• Blue State Digital: Blue State Digital is a long-established digital agency and platform provider for progressive causes (creator of the open-source ActionKit that preceded Action Network). It is a broader incumbent offering strategy, creative, and tooling services to the same progressive movement organizations.

Emerging players

• Donorbox: Donorbox is a modern online fundraising platform used by nonprofits for recurring donations, events, and donor management. It competes for fundraising share-of-wallet alongside Action Network's fundraising suite, particularly with smaller nonprofits.
• Humanitru: Humanitru is a cloud-based supporter engagement CRM used by nonprofits. It overlaps with Action Network's Groups and CRM capabilities and is increasingly evaluated alongside it by mid-sized advocacy and nonprofit customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theactionnet
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/TheActionNetworkYouTube
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheActionNet
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-action-network

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Action Network