National Organzation for Women

By

Ally Hickey &

Carrigan Costello

National Organization for Women

Conclusion

Works Cited

Incentives For Joining?

Contributions to Obama: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/07/womens-group-now-endorses-obama-128645html

Capital Eye Opener:https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/11/capital-eye-opener-nov-8/

National Organization for Women: http://www.now.org

The letter grade that fits the National Organization for Women is a B. It receives a B because it is overall organized, has followers, and has been achieving its goal. It's problems are free rider because it is an equality interest group, so you do not have to be a member to receive it's benefits when it wins. Also, it gets all of it's money from donations, so when donations stop, NOW no longer has any power.

N.O.W.

NOW has purposeful incentives, which cause people to want to join.

Members are passionate about creating women's rights which are equal to men.

The purpose and goals of the organization is the biggest incentive of joining.

How many workers, and how it is organized?

The organization has 500 local and campus affiliates in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia.

Offices locations are present all throughout the country.

NOW is the largest feminist organization in the country.

The organization has a President, and 2 Vice Presidents, and receives a majority of its funding for campaign elections though public donations.

The Revolving Door

The Revolving Door is in use in NOW. Terry O'Neill is the current president, Bonnie Grabenhoffer is the vice-president, and Chitra Panjabi is the membership vice-president.

Terry O'Neill worked as a professor of law at the Tulane University in New

Orleans. Later she had a job as the Vice President of NOW from 2001-2005.

Currently she is the President of the organization.

Bonnie Grabenhoffer served as NOW's president and several other positions in her local chapter. She was president of Illinois NOW, chair of Illinois NOW PAC, and represented the Great Lakes Region on the NOW National board from 2002-2004. She also was principal in Partners in Learning, Inc. Finally, she has over 20 years of experience in instructional design, project management, and performance improvement consultations. She has not used the Revolving Door nationally much, but in her local community she has been involved in many things.

Chitra Panjabi has a professional background in non-profit management and

funding in many businesses. She is currently one of the Vice Presidents of The

NOW.

Candidate Contributions

One of the biggest candidates endorsed by NOW was Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

In the 2008 election alone the group gave $6,692,994 to Obama towards his campaign, and the money came from public donations, and membership fees.

In return for their contributions, Obama has listened to the organization's ideas and supports them.

Obama personally supported the Violence Against Women Act and created the Democratic refrain, "War on Women" which was a program designed to stop restrictive crimes against women.

The type of group and it's members.

NOW is an equality interest group because its main mission is equality for women and girls. When NOW first started it had 300 members, now it has 500,000 active members. The majority of the group is made up of women, but some men are involved. There is a free rider problem to this interest group because equality will come to every women, not just those who are activity in the group. This group looks out for all women, which causes a free rider.

How does it get attention?

*Media

*Petitions

*Press Conferences

*Giving their ideas to politicians to use

Major policies, legislation, and issues in the group and their success

Fundraisers for parties and favoring parties.

There have been many major policies, issues and legislation in the last year. One major activity was on May 23, 2014 when an equal rights amendment was passed in the Senate. It passed 39-11 in the Senate, and was then sent to the house. Although many saw this as an easy pass, some claimed it as a red herring and nothing more. Another concern was with economical justice. NOW stood in solidarity with Walmart strikers on Black Friday for economical justice. Walmart constantly has been violating justice with sex discrimination, wage abuse, exclusion of contraceptive coverage in insurance plans, violation of child labor laws, and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. NOW has decided to stand with Walmart strikers to fight for better practices.

*http://chicago.suntimes.com/?p=165630

*http://now.org/media-center/press-release/now-stands-in-solidarity-with-walmart-strikers-this-black-friday/

NOW has some fundraisers, but doesn't use them as their main source for money. NOW has fundraisers to spread their message and recruit more members. The main way NOW gets money is through donations. On NOW's website there are several spots where anyone can donate. Member dues also help NOW financially.

With the money NOW receives, they donate it to the party they support, which recently has been the Democratic Party. NOW favors the Democratic party because it alines with their views. Also, in recent years NOW has donated to all democratic politicians.

Top Politicians NOW Donated to:

Obama(D)- $6,692,994

H. Clinton(D) - $5,664,687

J. Shaneen(D)- $953,871

Kay R. Hagan(D) - $599,981

J. Edwards(D) - $353,339

How is the Group Funded?

Background

History

The main source of funding come from individual contributions. When a viewer goes onto the NOW website a form to donate to the organization pops up for 20 seconds.

The group also collects money from the monthly membership dues paid by each member.

Volunteer hours from members also help to save the organization money by not needing to pay workers for their contributions.

The money raised by the organization is used to fund politicians and their campaigns in presidential and congressional campaigns. The group does not have many fundraisers instead they just use the contributions.

The group becomes involved in campaigns by using the media and petitioning to spread their ideas.

The NOW was founded on June 30, 1966, and the main first goal was to end sex discrimination in places of employment.

Another important goal of the organization was to ensure women's voting rights.

These issues are still important today but the 5 current issues today are:

*Reproductive rights/ justices

*Economic Justices

*Ending Violence Against Women

*Racial Justice

*Constitutional Equality