National Writing Project

What National Writing Project does

The National Writing Project (NWP) is a nonprofit educational organization founded in 1974 and headquartered in Berkeley, California, that operates the largest U.S. network of teacher-leaders focused on writing instruction. It delivers professional development programs to K–12 teachers, school districts, and universities through 148 locally hosted Writing Project sites based at universities nationwide, complemented by the Teach Write Now online platform and the NWP Online community. Its core products are teacher professional development programs, writing assessment services, university-anchored local sites, and curated digital resource collections under sub-brands such as the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) and the Intersections Initiative.

NWP is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, which provides administrative infrastructure. Revenue is derived primarily from grants (including from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Spencer Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Library of Congress, the William Penn Foundation, and the McDonnell Foundation), fees for professional development services, donations, and proceeds from merchandise sold through shop.nwp.org. Pricing for membership and programs is not publicly disclosed. The organization's distribution model combines self-serve digital access (Teach Write Now), direct district partnerships, and a network of 148 site-based resellers hosted at universities.

The organization reports reaching approximately 6 million students annually through programs led by a credentialed Teacher Consultant corps trained via the Invitational Institute, a 60-hour professional learning experience. Strategic partners include the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, LRNG (Collective Shift), John Legend's Show Me Campaign, and several science museums. The executive director is Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, and NWP has been recognized with a 2025 Library of Congress Literacy Award and a 2023 Regional Excellence Award.

Name

National Writing Project

Legal name

National Writing Project

Website

https://nwp.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The National Writing Project is a 50-year-old nonprofit that operates 148 university-based local sites and an online platform (Teach Write Now) delivering professional development to K–12 teachers and districts to improve writing instruction, reaching roughly 6 million students annually.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Teacher Professional Development

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Instructional Design & Curriculum Development Services (EDAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

K–12 Remedial Writing & Composition Support (EDANAJAC), Writing Skills & Composition Enrichment (EDAMAJAC)

Keywords

• Teacher professional development
• Writing instruction
• Literacy education services
• K-12 teacher training
• Teacher leadership network

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership and Professional Development Services: NWP provides membership, professional development, and training services to teachers and schools. The organization is fiscally sponsored by Community Initiatives.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

NWP designs and delivers customized in-service professional development programs for K-12 teachers, schools, districts, and higher education institutions to improve the teaching of writing. Its core service is delivered through 148 university-based local Writing Project sites that train teachers as Teacher-Consultants via the 60-hour Invitational Institute, supported by online communities, the Teach Write Now platform, writing assessment services, and targeted programs such as C3WP.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Teach Write Now: A professional learning platform providing resources for teachers on writing instruction and civic engagement
• Building a More Perfect Union
• College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP)
• Intersections Initiative

Products and services

• NWP Online Open online activities and communities of practice for teachers across all grades as learners, innovators, and change-makers; serves K-12 teachers and educator communities seeking peer learning and resource sharing.
• Programs & Services Customized in-service professional development programs delivered in partnership with schools, districts, and community partners to improve writing instruction; targets K-12 schools, districts, and higher education institutions.
• Writing Assessment Services Services focused on writing assessment for educational institutions and teachers, supporting evaluation of student writing and instructional effectiveness.
• Local Writing Project Sites A nationwide network of 148 university-based Writing Project sites that connect teachers, university faculty, and community partners for sustained, long-term impact on writing instruction.
• Teach Write Now An online professional learning platform offering curated collections of teaching resources, lesson plans, and professional development materials for writing instruction; targets K-12 teachers and educators.
• College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) A program focused on teaching argument writing through routine practices and supporting civic engagement in writing instruction; for schools and districts seeking argument-writing curricula.
• Book Bistro

Quantifiable outcome

• 6 million students reached annually

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2022NWP administered the Building a More Perfect Union grant program, part of NEH's American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grantmaking for Organizations. This $2.75M initiative awarded 38 grants to humanities organizations across the U.S. to recover from pandemic interruptions and develop programming for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
• Alliance for Young Artists & WriterscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNWP collaborated with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers to create the Teens Write Across America Marathon, a virtual writing program for teen writers that includes sessions hosted by local Writing Project sites and culminates with entries to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
• Spencer FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Spencer Foundation awarded a grant to the Philadelphia Writing Project to support the living archive initiative focusing on histories of Black youth in Philadelphia, partnering with Independence National Historical Park and the Colored Girls Museum.
• Library of CongressminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPhiladelphia Writing Project received funding from the Library of Congress for grant-funded research and programs.
• LRNG (Collective Shift) and Show Me CampaignminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership between LRNG (powered by Collective Shift), NWP, and John Legend's Show Me Campaign to support the LRNG Innovators Challenge grants expanding connected learning opportunities for students.
• Community InitiativescoreOthersNWP is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, which provides administrative and organizational support.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE): Preeminent professional association for English language arts educators; directly comparable because both organizations sit at the center of writing instruction professional development and teacher networks in the U.S.
• International Literacy Association (ILA): Global literacy-focused membership organization serving teachers and researchers; comparable because it operates overlapping professional development, advocacy, and resources for literacy and writing educators across K-12.
• Learning Forward (formerly National Staff Development Council): Professional association dedicated to educator professional development; directly comparable as it offers PD standards, training, and networks to schools and districts on very similar themes to NWP's teacher-learning work.

Broad incumbents

• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Long-standing education nonprofit focused on teaching improvement and networks; comparable because it funds and operates teacher development networks and reform programs with similar funding sources to NWP.
• ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development): Broad-EDU professional association serving educators and district leaders with PD, publications, and conferences; comparable because it competes for the same district-level ELA/curriculum PD budgets that NWP serves.
• Edutopia (George Lucas Educational Foundation): Major K-12 innovation publisher and resource hub funded by a foundation; comparable because it disseminates research-validated teaching practices, including writing instruction, to educators nationwide.

Emerging players

• Newsela: EdTech company providing leveled content and writing/reading tools to K-12 districts; comparable because it delivers scalable digital literacy resources that compete for the same teacher and district wallet share for writing instruction.
• NoRedInk: Writing-focused edtech platform widely adopted in K-12 schools; comparable as a digital-native writing instruction solution that schools may select in lieu of or alongside NWP's PD-led approach.
• Teach For America: National teacher recruitment and development nonprofit; comparable because it is also a high-profile nonprofit network developing and placing teachers in high-need schools, addressing adjacent segments of educator capacity-building.

Regional players

• Teachers College, Columbia University - Reading and Writing Project: University-based K-12 literacy PD network affiliated with Teachers College; comparable because it is a similarly positioned university-anchored PD provider for literacy and writing teachers, anchored at a single institution.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/writingproject
• Facebookfacebook.com/writingproject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/national-writing-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about National Writing Project