What RootsAction does

RootsAction is a nonprofit online advocacy organization founded in 2011 by Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, operating under the legal entity Action for a Progressive Future, headquartered in Sacramento, California. The organization mobilizes more than 1 million online supporters around progressive policy issues including Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, military budget reduction, student debt cancellation, voting rights, and environmental protection. Its core product is a petition and email-advocacy platform that enables supporters to contact members of Congress, state legislators, and governors, targeting both federal and state-level officials across the United States.

The technical architecture is built on third-party advocacy infrastructure rather than proprietary technology: petitions, action alerts, and fundraising are powered by Action Network, the website itself runs on Soapbox Engage, and content distribution relies on social sharing via ShareThis. RootsAction complements the core petition platform with a portfolio of sub-brands and initiatives, including the RootsAction Education Fund (a 501(c)(3) educational arm hosting a monthly online book club and foreign policy primers), the Progressive Hub content platform, the DIYrootsaction self-service petition tool, the Teach-In Network, the Defuse Nuclear War campaign, and the Democracy Autopsy election analysis project. Distribution is multi-channel, spanning email newsletters, Bluesky, Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, and the Progressive Hub.

The business model is donation-driven and nonprofit in structure. RootsAction operates as a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, while the RootsAction Education Fund operates as a separate tax-deductible 501(c)(3) entity. Revenue consists of contributions from individual supporters, including sustaining monthly donors, processed through Action Network fundraising forms; no fees are charged for supporter participation. The organization is independently controlled, with no parent company, private equity, or venture capital backing disclosed in source materials.

Name

RootsAction

Legal name

Action for a Progressive Future

Website

https://rootsaction.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Short description

RootsAction is a Sacramento-based nonprofit online advocacy organization founded in 2011 that mobilizes over 1 million progressive supporters through email petitions, action alerts, and state-level campaigns targeting U.S. elected officials on economic, civil rights, environmental, and anti-war issues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Sacramento

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: RootsAction and its affiliated RootsAction Education Fund operate as nonprofit organizations funded primarily through donations from supporters. The organization conducts fundraising campaigns through the Action Network platform, with donations to the Education Fund being tax-deductible for educational, non-partisan, and non-electoral activities. The organization also offers sustaining donor options with automatic monthly contributions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

RootsAction is an online activism platform that mobilizes progressive supporters through email campaigns, petitions, and action alerts to influence U.S. federal, state, and international policy on issues including Medicare for All, Green New Deal, military budget reduction, civil liberties, environmental protection, and anti-war policies. The organization provides centralized tools for individual constituents to contact elected officials, a self-service petition creation tool (DIYrootsaction), and educational programming through the RootsAction Education Fund.

Product overview

RootsAction operates as a unified online activist organizing platform centered on its core petition and email advocacy tool, which enables constituents to contact elected officials on progressive policy priorities. The platform is complemented by the RootsAction Education Fund (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on educational programming), Progressive Hub (providing foreign policy resources and primers), DIYrootsaction (a DIY petition creation tool), Teach-In Network (activist education), Defuse Nuclear War (nuclear disarmament campaign), and Democracy Autopsy (election analysis project). All offerings function within a single organizational umbrella under Action for a Progressive Future, with petition infrastructure powered by Action Network.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RootsAction Education Fund: Educational arm of RootsAction focused on educating the public about economic fairness, equal rights, civil liberties, environmental protection, and converting from militarized economy to one based on social justice and diplomacy
• DIYrootsaction
• Progressive Hub

Products and services

• RootsAction Online Activism Platform Online petition and email advocacy platform enabling individual constituents to contact Congress, state legislators, governors, and other officials on progressive policy issues. Organizes strategic actions around Medicare for All, Green New Deal, military budget reduction, civil liberties, environmental protection, and anti-war reforms for individual progressive activists.
• DIYrootsaction Self-Service Petition Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 116 documented policy successes in first decade of operation
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Defuse Nuclear WarcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRootsAction partners with Defuse Nuclear War on nuclear disarmament and anti-war campaigns. The organizations collaborate on campaigns including organizing against wars on Iran, opposing nuclear weapons proliferation, and hosting Ellsberg Week actions to honor whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg's legacy.
• Teach-In NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeach-In Network provides activist education and expert speakers to empower communities to oppose war and oppression globally. RootsAction Education Fund promotes and supports Teach-In Network programming including the monthly online book club.
• Progressive Hub (progressivehub.net)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerProgressive Hub is a content and education platform operated alongside RootsAction, providing foreign policy primers for congressional candidates, candidate evaluation tools, and activist resources. Serves as a central hub for progressive movement content.
• Action NetworkcoreTechnology or IntegrationAction Network provides the underlying petition and email platform infrastructure for RootsAction's campaigns. The platform enables petition creation, email distribution, fundraising, and supporter management for progressive organizations.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Indivisible: Indivisible is a progressive grassroots organizing network that trains and mobilizes local groups on federal policy. Comparable to RootsAction in progressive mobilization focus, with a stronger local-group model rather than RootsAction's online-petition focus.
• 350.org: 350.org is a global climate-activism organization that runs online petitions, campaigns, and grassroots mobilization on environmental policy. Partial overlap with RootsAction on climate-related petitions and progressive donor base, but narrower issue focus.
• Daily Kos: Daily Kos is a progressive news and activism site that pairs editorial content with petition and donation calls-to-action. Comparable to RootsAction's bridging of independent progressive media with action-driving content.

Direct peers

• Avaaz: Avaaz is a global online activist network that runs mass-membership petition and email campaigns across progressive causes. Directly comparable to RootsAction in operating model, supporter mobilization mechanics, and recurring-donation funding approach.
• CREDO Action: CREDO Action is a progressive online activism platform that mobilizes members through petitions, donations, and corporate-accountability campaigns. Closely comparable to RootsAction in operating model, donor-funded structure, and reliance on Action Network infrastructure for campaigns.
• MoveOn.org: MoveOn is the largest online progressive advocacy organization in the U.S., running petition-and-email mobilization campaigns on federal and state policy. It is the closest comparable to RootsAction in target audience (progressive activists), model (email petitions and donations via Action Network-style infrastructure), and political positioning.
• SumOfUs: SumOfUs runs a global online petition platform mobilizing supporters against corporate power on progressive causes (labor, environment, human rights). Comparable to RootsAction in community-led GTM, donor-funded revenue, and digital-first petition activism model.

Broad incumbents

• Friends of the Earth: Friends of the Earth is a long-standing progressive environmental advocacy organization running petitions and donor-funded campaigns. Partial overlap with RootsAction on environmental petitions and progressive-donor mobilization.
• Change.org: Change.org is the largest general-purpose online petition platform, serving progressive, centrist, and conservative campaigns alike. Comparable to RootsAction as a petition-driven mobilization platform, though broader and less ideologically focused.
• Public Citizen: Public Citizen is a progressive consumer-rights advocacy organization running online campaigns and lobbying on federal policy. Comparable to RootsAction as a federally-focused progressive advocacy nonprofit, but with a broader programmatic structure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/roots_action
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/rootsaction
• Facebookfacebook.com/RootsAction
• Instagraminstagram.com/roots_action

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

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 RootsAction