By the time the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, many Americans had already opened their wallets to protest. In the approximately 24 hours after the Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaked early, ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform, raised a staggering $12 million. Reproductive Freedom for All also experienced a significant increase in donations, with a spike of 1,400 percent. One researcher discovered that over 300 crowdfunded GoFundMe campaigns raised nearly $3.2 million in the seven months between the Dobbs leak and the 2022 midterm elections. This is just a fraction of the total amount of donations that poured in support of the cause.
Financial support is crucial for abortion-rights groups. However, the story of the National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest and most comprehensive membership organization of second-wave feminism, demonstrates that when feminism becomes primarily reliant on donations, the cause can suffer. In the mid-1970s, NOW embraced the then-novel fundraising technique of direct mail, which ultimately changed the organization’s nature. While this strategy significantly increased NOW’s budget, it also centralized power, narrowed the group’s focus, and decreased the involvement of ordinary members. As a result, NOW’s size and influence have waned, and American feminism has been impacted.
NOW was established in 1966 as a women’s Civil Rights organization, similar to the NAACP for women. The organization’s co-founders, including Betty Friedan, created a national agenda focused on legal change. They also created opportunities for local chapters to form. These chapters allowed as few as ten individuals to come together, elect their own officers, and pursue any goal they saw fit as a women’s issue. This grassroots approach enabled members to develop close relationships, inspiring trust and fostering a sense of sacrifice.
While some chapters were small, others had hundreds of members. Regardless of size, each chapter encouraged diverse visions among its members. NOW aimed to address any issue brought forth by its members, regardless of how unconventional it may have seemed. For instance, Pittsburgh-area members challenged sex-segregated job advertisements, leading to a Supreme Court decision allowing such ads to be banned. Syracuse NOW picketed establishments that prohibited “unescorted” women, playing a role in changing local and state laws. Washington, D.C. and Seattle NOW chapters secured legal protections for lesbians and child-custody rights for lesbian mothers, respectively.
These chapters transformed local concerns into national priorities. By 1975, NOW had over 60,000 members and had established more than 30 organization-wide task forces covering various issues, including reproductive rights, media reform, women’s role in religion, the arts, labor unions, sports, and the specific concerns of women of color. NOW’s leaders embraced this broad range of priorities and kept membership dues low to encourage widespread participation. They also rejected government and corporate grants to safeguard the organization’s independence. Membership meant active involvement, and NOW belonged to its members.
However, NOW faced two major challenges. The first was financial. Despite advocating for higher wages and respect for women’s labor, the organization itself struggled financially. Volunteer leaders and clerical workers, predominantly women, had to patch together funds to maintain modest office support. The more members NOW gained, the more administrative work was required, and the less the organization could afford to pay. Volunteer work for NOW often meant women couldn’t dedicate as much time to earning wages, leaving them financially dependent on their partners.
The second challenge emerged in the early 1970s with the rise of anti-feminist women who mimicked NOW’s grassroots organizing. These women were galvanized by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 and the progress of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA, which aimed to guarantee equal rights regardless of sex, had gained substantial momentum in Congress and in the states. However, anti-feminists and their corporate allies, particularly insurance companies, obstructed its ratification. The ERA only received support from a limited number of states during this period.
In response, NOW decided to prioritize the ERA ratification campaign, which led to the emergence of a new organizational model. NOW’s national board declared a “state of emergency” for the ERA and committed the majority of its resources to the campaign. However, this campaign required significantly more funding than sporadic dues could provide. NOW turned to the direct-mail fundraising strategy pioneered by conservative strategist Richard Viguerie. This strategy involved collecting information about supporters and using it to directly solicit donations and engagement. NOW hired Roger Craver, a direct-mail specialist, to implement this strategy.
Between 1973 and mid-1975, NOW sent over 565,000 pieces of mail focused on the ERA. Direct mail fundraising proved to be a tremendous success, surpassing general income from dues. This influx of funds allowed NOW to lead a large-scale ERA campaign, establish a new national office in Washington, D.C., and have salaried officers. However, this new fundraising structure altered the balance of power within the organization. Members could now choose to either donate or join, and those who chose to donate tended to contribute larger amounts. Consequently, a new type of nonparticipatory member emerged, contributing financially but lacking meaningful involvement with the organization. This shift centralized power at the headquarters, while diminishing the role of local chapters.
Moreover, the focus on the ERA campaign overshadowed other issues that were previously given equal consideration within NOW, such as securing rights for lesbians and addressing the concerns of women of color. Less privileged women found it difficult to focus on a singular issue, as they faced intersecting oppressions. This further exacerbated the homogeneity within the organization, with primarily middle-class white women becoming the target of direct-mail campaigns.
Over time, NOW transitioned from a grassroots-driven organization with diverse goals into a top-down structure driven by fundraising and expenditures. This transformation led to NOW being considered “a million dollar corporation,” straying from its original intent. The organization’s composition became more focused on financial contributions rather than active participation, eroding its effectiveness in addressing a wide range of feminist issues.
In essence, the history of NOW serves as a cautionary tale. While financial support is essential for feminist causes, an overreliance on donations can lead to a loss of diversity, grassroots involvement, and the dilution of the movement’s impact. It is crucial to strike a balance between fundraising and active engagement to ensure lasting change for women’s rights.
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