What Narcotics Anonymous World services does

Narcotics Anonymous World Services (NAWS), legally NA World Services, Inc., is the centralized world services body for the Narcotics Anonymous fellowship, a Twelve-Step recovery program for individuals seeking freedom from drug addiction. Founded in the early 1950s in Los Angeles, California, NAWS operates from a headquarters in the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles and supports a global fellowship with established groups across the Americas, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and growing communities in the Indian subcontinent, Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. The organization provides meeting finder tools (web and mobile apps for iOS and Android), recovery literature available in 49 languages, daily meditation resources (Just for Today and A Spiritual Principle a Day), virtual and hybrid meeting resources, accessibility offerings including American Sign Language materials, and a portfolio of service handbooks and bulletins supporting local NA service committees.

NAWS operates as a nonprofit, self-supporting organization funded through three primary revenue streams: literature sales via three regional online stores (US, Canada, Europe), voluntary member contributions under the Seventh Tradition, and registration fees for world conventions such as WCNA 37 and WCNA 38. The organization employs between 51 and 100 staff and is governed by the World Service Conference, composed of volunteer NA members serving as trusted servants from regional service bodies. Pricing for literature items is modest (e.g., $13 for the Spiritual Principle a Day book plus shipping), and a large portion of core resources, including meeting information and basic recovery materials, are distributed free of charge.

NAWS does not engage in commercial sales or marketing. Growth occurs through community-led, peer-to-peer mechanisms: word-of-mouth referrals, member sharing of personal recovery experience, and local outreach activities including Public Relations, Hospitals & Institutions (H&I) presentations, and correctional facility work. Intellectual property, including trademarks and the published literature corpus, is protected through the Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust (FIPT). NAWS explicitly does not maintain a centralized database of in-person meetings; this information is managed by local NA communities, reinforcing the decentralized, volunteer-driven character of the broader fellowship.

Name

Narcotics Anonymous World services

Legal name

NA World Services, Inc.

Website

https://na.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1953

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Narcotics Anonymous World Services (NAWS) is the centralized nonprofit services body of the Narcotics Anonymous Twelve-Step fellowship, providing recovery literature in 49 languages, meeting finder tools, virtual meeting resources, and service materials to a global community of recovering addicts across 36+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Van Nuys

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Literature Sales: NAWS operates online stores (US, Canada, Europe) selling recovery literature including the Basic Text, Step Working Guides, and informational pamphlets. Prices vary by item (e.g., A Spiritual Principle a Day book at $13 plus shipping). Revenue supports the production and distribution of recovery literature.
2. Member Contributions (Seventh Tradition): Voluntary contributions from NA members and groups supporting the NAWS operations and the continued production of recovery literature. Members are encouraged to contribute to support world services.
3. World Convention Registration: Revenue from major NA conventions such as WCNA 37 and WCNA 38, including registration fees for speaker meetings, workshops, and associated events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

NAWS operates the world services infrastructure of the Narcotics Anonymous Twelve Step fellowship, publishing and distributing approved recovery literature in 49 languages, maintaining the global NA Meeting Finder (web and iOS/Android apps), producing daily meditation content such as Just for Today and A Spiritual Principle a Day, and supporting a worldwide network of peer-run in-person and virtual recovery meetings. The organization operates three regional online stores (US, Canada, Europe) for literature and merchandise and runs the World Convention of Narcotics Anonymous (WCNA).

Product overview

Narcotics Anonymous World Services (NAWS) operates a single, unified platform at na.org that provides recovery resources, service materials, and community support for NA members worldwide. The core product is the NA meeting finder system, supported by recovery literature (available in 49 languages), daily meditation resources (Just for Today and A Spiritual Principle a Day), and mobile apps for iOS and Android. NAWS also provides comprehensive service materials through its Service Material section, which includes handbooks (GLS, GWS, PR, H&I, Treasurer's), Service Basics, Service Pamphlets, World Services Bulletins, and Local Service Resources. The organization produces publications including The NA Way Magazine, NAWS News, Reaching Out, and various audio/video resources. Virtual meeting resources and event listings for regional/national conventions round out the offering. NAWS functions as a nonprofit fellowship organization that does not offer commercial products, APIs, or enterprise services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NA Meeting Search Mobile App Free mobile application for iOS and Android that enables users to locate NA meetings (in-person and virtual) worldwide. Targeted at individuals seeking NA meetings and at family members and professionals making referrals.
• NA Recovery Literature (Books and Pamphlets) Member-authored recovery publications including the Basic Text, Step Working Guides, informational pamphlets, and the Just for Today / Spiritual Principle a Day daily meditation books, distributed in print via regional online stores (US, Canada, Europe) and electronically as free eLit downloads in 49 languages. Sold to recovering individuals, NA groups, libraries, and treatment and correctional institutions.
• A Spiritual Principle a Day (SPAD) Book NA Fellowship-approved daily meditation book sold for $13 plus shipping (item #1110), also available as a free email subscription. Intended for NA members seeking a structured daily meditation practice.
• World Convention of Narcotics Anonymous (WCNA) Multi-day international recovery convention organized by NAWS featuring speaker meetings, workshops, and fellowship events, with paid registration such as WCNA 37 and WCNA 38. Open to NA members, families, and the broader recovery community.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Alcoholics Anonymous World Services: World services arm of the original 12-step fellowship for alcohol addiction, operating on an essentially identical governance, literature, meeting-finder, and Seventh-Tradition funding model. NA adapted its program directly from AA in the late 1940s, making AA the closest structural peer.
• Cocaine Anonymous World Services: 12-step fellowship applying the same traditions, literature model, and peer-led meeting structure to cocaine addiction. Mirrors NA's product surface (meeting finder, literature, conventions) on a drug-specific vertical.
• Marijuana Anonymous: 12-step fellowship for marijuana addiction using the same Twelve Traditions, consensus-developed literature, and meeting-finder infrastructure. Comparable in governance and member experience to NA.
• Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters: Companion 12-step fellowship serving families and friends of alcoholics/addicts (including those in NA), using the same twelve traditions, world service structure, and literature-distribution model. Sister organization under the broader 12-step ecosystem.
• Crystal Meth Anonymous: 12-step fellowship specializing in crystal meth recovery, replicating NA's meeting, literature, and service architecture for a single-substance vertical. Operates as a smaller direct analogue.
• Dual Recovery Anonymous: 12-step fellowship for people with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, applying the same traditions and peer-led meeting model to a dual-diagnosis population that overlaps with NA's membership.

Emerging players

• SMART Recovery: Largest science-based alternative to 12-step mutual aid, using self-empowerment and cognitive-behavioral techniques with online meeting capacity. Competes for the same addiction-recovery audience but with secular, evidence-based methodology.
• LifeRing Secular Recovery: Secular, non-12-step peer support network for addiction recovery, using the 'Sober Grid' methodology. Targets the secular subset of NA's potential membership that rejects spiritual framing.

Broad incumbents

• Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation: Major U.S. clinical addiction treatment provider offering residential, outpatient, and professional training services. Serves a heavily overlapping patient population as NA but operates on a clinical/fee-for-service model rather than peer-support.

Others

• Faces & Voices of Recovery: National recovery advocacy organization advancing public understanding and policy support for long-term recovery. Adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a service competitor, but operates in the same recovery identity space.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@NAWSvideos/playlists
• Facebookfacebook.com/naworldservices
• Instagraminstagram.com/narcoticsanonymous

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Narcotics Anonymous World services