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An historic public display of passion, commitment, and dedication, the March for Women's Lives energized our nation. NOW's efforts to expand the family of organizations committed to protecting women's lives and to bring our communities together is unparalleled in our times. Our team:
A new position was created in the Action Center - the Coordinator of Young Feminist Programs with a goal mobilizing young feminist NOW activists, groups and chapters. She will coordinate outreach to young women and men via direct field organizing, cutting-edge materials, new technology tools like podcasting, and much more. The vision of this team to create such a position, and to expand our outreach, became reality as a result of careful attention to the financial growth of the organization.
Under our leadership, a new program of Campus Action Networks (CANs) has been created and formulated over the past year, with extensive input from activists and leaders. Development and enhancement of NOW CANs will increase membership and awareness of women's issues on college campuses. NOW CANs allow for chapter-like NOW groups to form on campuses where actual NOW Chapters are not permitted by campus rules.
Young Feminist activists are supported by creation of materials and action tools that specifically address their needs. These materials include handbooks for CANs, a guide for NOW High School clubs, a dedicated CAN section of the NOW website, and an upcoming NOW membership brochure.
Kim works directly with the under-30 Young Feminist Task Force created by the 2003 conference resolution; she recruited and appointed 12 dynamic young feminists who were diverse in region, school status, race and ethnicity and ranged in age from 17 to 30. The committee works online and face-to-face, and reports to the National Board through under-30 board liaisons, including our team member Latifa Lyles.
NOW leaders work with the Task Force to ensure YF workshops at conferences, create products that appeal to young feminists, and we are currently working on a YF website proposal that will include content created by the YF Task Force members.
NOW leaders argued for the inclusion of Women of Color organizations on the planning committee for the 2004 March for Women's Lives. NOW leadership urged the organizing partners to expand the table, resulting in the addition of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and the Black Women's Health Imperative as key organizers.
NOW leadership elevated the organization's commitment to eliminating racism and addressing racial diversity issues inside and outside the organization by hiring an experienced Director of Racial Diversity Programs and empowering her to implement a strategic plan presented to the National Board. This hiring of this position was made possible because we stabilized the organization financially and increased our resources for expansion.
Racial diversity trainings have been implemented for the National Board, the State Coordinators' Caucus and at Activist Trainings in the Action Center. The Director of Racial Diversity Programs is available to all chapters, states and regions to provide diversity training and has traveled to many chapters and states and regions for that purpose. We are also working with the National Coalition-Building Institute to expand our reach.
This team's commitment to diversity is manifested through its investment in the Racial Diversity Program, its organizing of a Women of Color and Allies Summit, their commitment to diversity of the staff at the National Action Center and in the coalition building outreach efforts.
Under our leadership, we have just organized a successful Women of Color and Allies Summit attended by over 400 people.
Launched NOW's latest Merchant of Shame campaign against Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the United States. NOW actions and relentless attention to Wal-Mart's harmful business practices created increased media attention, and as a result, more scrutiny of Wal-Mart. NOW's campaign educated the public on Wal-Mart's discriminatory practices and unfair treatment of its workers. Chapters across the country have joined the Wal-Mart Merchant of Shame Campaign, encouraged by easy-to-implement action kits and by the availability of officers to join local protests.
Calling activists to action, NOW successfully urged members of Congress to filibuster regressive appointees and stopped numerous malevolent nominees from being confirmed. Boldly holding the line against harmful appointments was made a priority by NOW leadership. Action kits, action alerts and expansion of the NOW web site provided information on appointees as well as simplified ways for people to take quick, decisive action.
Our leadership team has put NOW at the forefront on Equal Marriage. Joining forces with the Freedom to Marry coalition, NOW engages in both education and advocacy in support of same-sex marriage. Expanding the web site, developing action kits and designing new flyers and NOW rounds have supported activists and chapters in taking action locally. Passionately arguing the need for bold action, NOW leadership spurred the NOW PAC on to be the first organization to take an uncompromising position on this critical issue in electoral politics, refusing to endorse candidates who did not support equal marriage.
Under Kim and Olga's leadership, NOW took unprecedented strong stands against military action on multiple occasions, including the Bush administration's bombing attacks on Afghanistan just following the 9/11 tragedy, and in relation to the military action in Iraq. NOW was at the forefront of these efforts.
We provided activists with encouragement, tools and action kits to help them take action locally to promote peace and to protest war.
NOW leadership offered Action Center space to CodePink: Women for Peace, which was then a new organization without resources, and housed CodePink at the NOW office. NOW worked arm-in-arm with Code Pink to protest military action and to organize a huge women's anti-war rally and march that took place in March 2003.
We spoke at rallies, vigils, demonstrations, street actions and press conferences, contributing NOW's voice to the anti-war movement, Kim spoke at the February 2003 New York march of over 1 million protestors, as well as the Women's March, the Inauguration Protest, and many more. NOW leaders joined the Code Pink vigil in front of the White House.
While actively promoting a progressive feminist agenda for peace, NOW leadership did not forget about women serving in the military. Efforts were stepped up to draw attention to the particular problems faced by military families, including women serving and women with partners serving.
NOW has been vigilant and vocal about expanding women's reproductive health and access, fighting efforts to restrict availability of birth control, emergency contraception and abortion, and preserving Roe v. Wade. The 2004 March for Women's Lives - the largest march in United States history - was a visual demonstration of this commitment. During this dark time with George W. Bush in the White House, attention to legislation has never been more important. On issue after issue, where our allies sometimes want to compromise, we refuse to back down on the core principle of women's autonomy and dignity and self-determination. We are engaged in a fight to preserve the Senate filibuster, and regularly issuing urgent action alerts to pressure legislators on Capitol Hill.
Launched a major campaign to educate women on the dangers of privatization, and on the need to ensure that the social security safety net, which includes life insurance and disability insurance, in addition to retirement income, is both solvent and fair. We were at the center of the first anti-privatization coalition, formed last year with a small cadre of progressive organizations including NAACP, AFL-CIO, and Campaign for America's Future, and Kim's speech was carried on C-SPAN, Kim is Co-Chair of the Social Security Task Force of the National Council of Women's Organizations and organizes the work of over 200 women's organizations around this critical issue.
NOW leadership stepped up involvement and activity in Congress. Today officer and staff visits with legislators are common. As a result of the increased presence of NOW in legislative halls, associations have been forged and reinforced. NOW currently receives urgent calls from key members of Congress asking for our support on legislation. They know NOW's support and action are crucial for success.
Creating new action kits and tools, NOW leadership has enabled activists, chapters and states to carry out action campaigns at the state and local levels. Expansion of the public web site provides anyone with a wealth of information on action campaigns. Special attention to the expansion of the Chapters-Only area of the website has provided a deeper, richer toolbox for chapter leaders, with current information and easy access to downloadable action kits.
NOW PAC placed political organizers in nine key states during the 2004 presidential campaign to turn out the women's vote, and ran campaigns across the country and in targeted states resulting in over 7 million voter contacts
Through NOW Foundation's "Women Vote" effort, we sought and were awarded a grant of over $120,000 to organize voter registration drives in targeted states, registering many thousands of voters and giving visibility to our efforts across the country, both in the streets and in the media.
NOW PAC applauded Carol Moseley Braun's entry into the 2004 presidential primaries in February, endorsed her candidacy in August, and supported her campaign (and our endorsement) in the field, in the media, and among our allies.
NOW designed and launched the Drive for Equality, a 10-year long term Political Participation and voter empowerment campaign, with the goal of making women and women's rights central to every issue on the national scene.
Under Kim Gandy's leadership, NOW has erased its debt and built its financial resources, not only to fund today's critical work but also to allow us to reach our dream of building a stronger grassroots organization. The team has:
More than 100 new chapters have been formed since the March for Women's Lives last year. Activists across the country are convening new chapters and restarting inactive chapters in a call to action for our movement. Many state NOW organizations have been or are being revitalized, including Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia.
Under Olga Vives' leadership, we launched a pilot program in the Northwest region for NOW Regional Organizers. The Regional Organizer's mission is to help states in the region revitalize existing chapters and create new ones, seizing on the activism generated by organizing for the March for Women's Lives and the elections, and building on the challenges of the current political climate. Regional Organizers will be added as the program expands, and will be offered to regions that are interested in taking advantage of such an opportunity.
Our attention to fiscal stability and growth is paying off in yet another way, as we are now financially able to implement many of our visions for the organization, including expanded activist and grassroots training. Kim initiated State Presidents' weekend trainings in 1992, and we have expanded that program to add activist training weekends focusing on three intensive tracks: membership, communication, and action. With such training available to activists earlier in their NOW involvement, and with a particular focus on young feminists, new and emerging leaders are better prepared to be successful locally.
A new membership system, updated with the latest technologies, has been successfully implemented. This new system, which required additional funds as the old and new systems had to run parallel to ensure the security and safety of the data, facilitates our growth and enables national, states, and chapters to have more information for successful fundraising and expanded membership lists. The system also facilitates our online growth and internet lobbying through ease of access to members' email.
Today, our contributing membership lists are over 550,000 strong, plus more than 100,000 additional contributors from years past who are offered an annual opportunity to renew their memberships.
Kim Gandy created and hired the first staff for our Major Gifts and Planned Giving program in 1996, and has directly supervised that program since its founding. In 2000 we received a bequest of over $325,000, and the program has continued to grow under Kim's leadership.
The Planned Giving and Major Donor programs continue to grow, increasing income for both for NOW and NOW Foundation, and we are committed to using a portion of this bequest income to expand these successful programs.
Major donors have been nurtured by Kim travels, personal notes, mailings, meetings, and frequent contacts. Our second $1 million+ bequest has now been pledged.
The Gandy team developed and hosted the Gala/Intrepid Awards Annual Dinner, to recognize feminist leaders who are vital to our movement. The Gala gives NOW greater visibility in our nation's capitol and creates a vehicle to celebrate women's contributions to society.
The Gala resulted in a profit in its first year. This is contrary to conventional wisdom, which suggests that such an event will usually lose money at first. The NOW Gala/Intrepid Awards Annual Dinner has been a social and financial success from year one, and has quickly become a popular event in Washington, DC, attracting activists, national leaders, and major donors.
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