What We Do
Thanks to extensive research and feedback from women who have run for office throughout the country at all levels, we know what works and what we need to do to make a big impact. Here are the Florida NOW PAC three pillars that we focus on:
Fundraising
It is no secret that elections take money and, unfortunately, women who run for office overwhelmingly feel that they are at a disadvantage when it comes to fundraising. That’s why we tackle the problem head-on by:
- Giving as much money to campaigns as our budget (and election law) enables us to give
- Developing relationships with donors who are willing to support feminists who run for office
- Hosting fundraising events where the proceeds go directly to our candidates
Training
One of the things that almost every female in elected office has said repeatedly is that she wishes that she had received quality training. Not only do we make training a core of our mission, but we take things even further by offering training to candidates, their support team/campaign team, our members and like-minded activists throughout the state. Our training sessions continue to evolve and include:
- Campaign management including requirements and reporting
- Communications and how to leverage media (traditional and online)
- Personal branding and how to effectively persuade voters
- Educational information about our issues
Building a Pipeline
Today’s activist could be tomorrow’s candidate. That makes it even more critical that we reach as many fantastic feminists as possible and encourage them to get involved. Specifically we:
- Use data to map out and target areas where our candidates can perform well
- Openly and diligently recruit strong feminists to run for office
- Help our endorsed candidates gain early support from our members, donors and media audience
Make a difference by contributing to the Florida NOW PAC today!
**In order to maximize our effectiveness, the Florida NOW PAC bases our strategy on findings from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and their study on political parity.
Why We’re Effective
Part of what defines the NOW culture is the willingness of our members to dive in and act in order to get things done. No matter how large our organization becomes, it remains proudly rooted in activism – and the Florida NOW PAC is no different. We are here to improve the lives of women and children throughout our state and no other organization is poised to be as effective. Here are a few reasons why:Our Amazing Members – If there is one thing that makes the Florida NOW PAC the most powerful, it is the membership of our sister organization Florida NOW. Not only do we support candidates directly, but we also have THOUSANDS of members throughout the state ready to volunteer for campaigns, fight hard for issues and educate voters.
A Trusted Part of the Community – The idea of a Political Action Committee (PAC) may be fairly new, but the National Organization for Women has been a champion for causes that impact women for nearly fifty years. We don’t believe in shadowy “fly by night” groups that pump dirty money into campaigns and that’s why we stand proudly and publicly behind all of our candidates, issues and messaging.
What We Invest In – Our top priority is supporting our endorsed candidates and we know that this means giving them as much funding as possible to be successful. Our structure is unique in allowing us to stay focused on our mission, compared to similar organizations in the state which have high overhead in order to stay active. Unlike newer groups that were only able to dedicate less than ten percent of their budgets** to the candidates, our PAC gave nearly one hundred percent of our funds directly to campaigns during the last election cycle.
A More Inclusive View of Women – We believe that there are a number of critical issues that affect women and that’s why we fight hard for each of them rather than focusing on only one aspect of feminism. (View our issues here.) Not only do we feel that this makes us more relevant as we engage people, but we are able to partner with hundreds of like-minded organizations to accomplish our goals.
**Data on organization spending provided by the Florida Division of Elections.
Contributions
To make a contribution to the PAC you can CLICK HERE or mail a check to our organization:
Florida NOW PAC
PO Box 1281
New Port Richey, FL 34656