National Organization of Women

What National Organization of Women does

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit membership organization founded in 1966 in Washington, D.C. and headquartered at 1100 H Street NW. It is the largest grassroots feminist activist organization in the United States, operating more than 600 local chapters across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands, and serving hundreds of thousands of members and contributing supporters. NOW pursues an intersectional, multi-issue agenda covering reproductive rights, economic equality, ending violence against women, LGBTQIA+ equality, racial justice, and constitutional equality via the Equal Rights Amendment, deploying mass marches, rallies, pickets, civil disobedience, electoral and lobbying work, and PAC endorsements as its primary organizing tactics.

NOW's operating model is a hybrid of membership dues, individual donations, PAC contributions, merchandise sales (feminist socks, lapel pins via a Shopify storefront), and benefit partnerships (e.g., a free year of Ms. Magazine for $25+ donors to NOW Foundation). It runs a $150,000 year-end match challenge and Giving Tuesday appeals as primary fundraising vehicles. The technology backbone is standard nonprofit infrastructure — EveryAction CRM for membership and donor management, Paragon for payment processing, Flywheel for hosting, Google Analytics, and digital engagement across Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, YouTube, X/Twitter, Flickr, and Spotify, plus an SMS mobile messaging service. Affiliated entities include NOW PAC (political action committee), NOW Foundation (501(c)(3) programs including Love Your Body, Global Feminism, Crisis in Family Courts, and Voter Mobilization), and NOW Young Feminists.

NOW's go-to-market is a direct-to-consumer grassroots model: members self-enroll through now.org, engage through 600+ chapters and state organizations, and mobilize via annual National Conferences (the 2026 edition, June 26-28, marks the 60th anniversary), national action campaigns, and coalition partnerships with Ultra Violet, MoveOn, Parents Together Action, and Black Mamas Matter Alliance. The organization is governed by an elected 42-member National Board across six electoral districts, with Kim Villanueva serving as President (elected 2025) and Rose Brunache as Vice President.

Name

National Organization of Women

Legal name

National Organization for Women, Inc.

Website

https://now.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest U.S. grassroots feminist activist organization, operating 600+ chapters across all 50 states and serving hundreds of thousands of members through intersectional organizing on reproductive rights, economic equality, anti-violence, and LGBTQIA+ issues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Women's Rights Advocacy

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Political Organizations (813940)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Advocacy (BPAGAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations (BPAGAFAB), Digital Rights, Privacy & Free Expression Advocacy (BPAGAFAL)

Keywords

• Women's rights advocacy
• Feminist activism
• Grassroots organizing
• Nonprofit advocacy
• Civil rights movement

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

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. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues paid to National NOW, which forwards state and chapter portions (rebates) to appropriate units monthly. Dues amounts are set by a two-thirds vote of the National Board.
2. Donations and Fundraising: NOW raises funds through direct donations via secure.now.org, giving campaigns (Giving Tuesday, match challenges, year-end challenges), and merchandise sales (NOW Merch store, feminist socks, lapel pins). The organization runs a $150,000 year-end fundraising campaign.
3. PAC Contributions: NOW PAC (Political Action Committee) collects contributions to support feminist political candidates and advocacy efforts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

National Organization for Women (NOW) is a nonprofit feminist advocacy organization that mobilizes members through grassroots activism, legislative lobbying, electoral work, mass marches, and direct action campaigns to advance women's rights, reproductive freedom, LGBTQIA+ equality, and racial justice across all 50 states.

Product overview

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a grassroots feminist activist organization with a portfolio of programs and initiatives. The core organization operates alongside subsidiary entities including NOW PAC (political action committee), NOW Foundation (supporting programs), and NOW Young Feminists (youth constituency group). NOW offers volunteer and internship programs for activist engagement, operates an SMS mobile messaging service for member communications, and provides merchandise benefits (feminist socks) and publication subscriptions (Ms. Magazine) as donor appreciation incentives. The organization focuses on intersectional grassroots activism across reproductive rights, economic equality, violence against women, and LGBTQIA+ issues.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NOW Annual Membership Annual membership in the National Organization for Women, which provides access to chapter activities, member communications, voting rights at national conferences, and participation in grassroots feminist activism campaigns.
• NOW Merch Store Online merchandise storefront selling branded feminist merchandise including exclusive feminist socks bundles (for $50+ donors) and enamel NOW lapel pins.
• Ms. Magazine Subscription Benefit A free one-year subscription to Ms. Magazine offered to donors who contribute $25 or more to NOW Foundation, providing coverage of women's rights issues.
• NOW Annual National Conference Hybrid in-person and virtual annual conference (June 26-28, 2026) rotating through six electoral districts, featuring policy debates, constituency summits, NOW 101 workshops, and National Board elections.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1.15 million people gathered at the 2004 March for Women's Lives — the largest mass action of any kind in US history
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers2 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

Integration7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2026NOW observes Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17) in partnership with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, which founded the campaign to build awareness, activism, and community around eliminating maternal mortality. NOW recommits to the federal Momnibus Act in partnership with BMMA's advocacy framework.
• Ultra VioletcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 14 January 2026Ultra Violet is a leading women's advocacy group that co-led a coalition campaign with NOW, MoveOn, and Parents Together Action calling on Alphabet (Google) and Apple to remove X (Twitter) and Grok from their respective app stores following revelations that Grok generated sexual, degrading, and violent images of women and children.
• MoveOncoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 14 January 2026MoveOn, a progressive activism organization, joined NOW and other coalition partners in publishing open letters to Alphabet and Apple demanding removal of X and Grok from app stores, as part of a coordinated women's rights campaign against tech-enabled abuse.
• Parents Together ActioncoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 14 January 2026Parents Together Action, a parent-focused advocacy group, partnered with NOW, Ultra Violet, and MoveOn in a coalition campaign to hold tech platforms accountable for AI-generated abusive content targeting women and children.
• US Cities for CEDAW CampaignminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNOW supports the US Cities for CEDAW campaign that enables local and state communities to endorse and implement the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), working toward US ratification.
• Ms. MagazinecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerNOW Foundation partners with Ms. Magazine to offer a free year of Ms. Magazine to donors contributing $25 or more, leveraging the magazine's editorial platform and readership to expand reach and donor engagement.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): Broad incumbent. A larger, more diversified civil-rights organization with overlapping agenda items (reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+, voting rights, racial justice) but broader scope and greater litigation capacity; competes with NOW for member dues and donor share across overlapping issues.

Direct peers

• NARAL Pro-Choice America: Direct peer. A leading reproductive-rights advocacy organization; competes with NOW for the same donor and activist base on the reproductive-freedom pillar, but with a more focused single-issue posture and national digital mobilization infrastructure.
• EMILY's List: Direct peer. A political organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women, mirroring NOW's electoral/PAC strategy and feminist candidate endorsement model; competes directly with NOW PAC for political-donor dollars.
• Human Rights Campaign: Direct peer. The largest LGBTQIA+ civil-rights advocacy organization in the US; intersects with NOW's LGBTQIA+ equality platform and shares coalition, congressional-lobbying, and chapter-network mechanics, though with a more focused constituency.
• Feminist Majority Foundation: Direct peer. A national feminist nonprofit pursuing women's equality, reproductive rights, and gender justice through research, advocacy, and grassroots campaigns; overlaps with NOW on multi-issue feminism and Ms./feminist media ecosystem.
• National Women's Law Center: Direct peer. NWLC is a national feminist advocacy and legal organization pursuing economic security, reproductive rights, and gender justice — the same intersectional multi-issue mission as NOW, with comparable policy, litigation, and coalition capabilities at the federal level.
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America: Direct peer. The largest US reproductive-health and advocacy organization; overlaps with NOW on abortion rights and women's health policy and competes for the same donor base on the reproductive-freedom pillar, but operates an additional service-delivery (clinical) arm.
• Ultra Violet: Direct peer. A digital-native women's advocacy organization that co-led the January 2026 Grok/X removal coalition with NOW, MoveOn, and Parents Together Action; pursues gender-equality campaigns through online mobilization in a younger, digitally fluent mode that NOW is also investing in via the Young Feminists program.

Emerging players

• Black Mamas Matter Alliance: Emerging player / strategic partner. NOW's partner on Black Maternal Health Week and an intersectional advocacy organization focused on Black maternal health; smaller and more focused than NOW but represents the kind of constituency-specific partner whose agenda NOW folds into its broader intersectional platform.
• MoveOn: Emerging player / coalition partner. A progressive digital mobilization organization that joined NOW in the January 2026 Grok/X coalition; shares audience and grassroots mechanics but with a broader progressive, not specifically feminist, mission.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NationalNOW
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/NOWvideos
• Facebookfacebook.com/NationalNOW
• Instagraminstagram.com/nationalNOW
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1327871

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about National Organization of Women