Nonprofit donor management platform EveryAction is buying Mobilize, a company that connects Democratic campaigns to volunteers and helps marshal activists toward progressive causes. Mobilize, formerly known as MobilizeAmerica, grew out of Higher Ground Labs, an incubator focused on leveraging tech for left-leaning political causes and campaigns.
With the acquisition, EveryAction can now extend Mobilize’s organizing tools to its existing base of more than 15,000 clients, which includes the Sierra Club and the Human Rights Campaign. EveryAction is a nonprofit-focused wing of NGP VAN, a company that provides much of the digital infrastructure for the Democratic Party. The terms of the Mobilize deal were not disclosed.
Mobilize, founded in early 2017, rode the wave of Trump-era activism on the left to become a ubiquitous tool helping progressive campaigns translate online interest and energy into action. The platform powered outreach for many candidates in 2020’s Democratic primary, including now President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign, who continued to use Mobilize into the general election.
After Trump’s surprise win in 2016 — and the surprising strategies that got the campaign there — Democrats turned to the startup scene to hone new tools. If the last four years served as a testing ground for Democratic political startups, 2020 sees them on the cusp of a new era altogether.
Earlier this year, Mobilize raised a $3.75 million Series A round led by progressive tech incubator Higher Ground Labs. Chris Sacca’s Lowercase Capital and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a prominent Democratic donor, also participated in the Series A. Mobilize’s acquisition follows another recent exit connected to Higher Ground Labs: In August, Social Capital, founded by billionaire ex-Facebooker Chamath Palihapitiya, picked up text banking platform Hustle.
Within EveryAction, Mobilize will become its own unit led by Mobilize CEO and co-founder Alfred Johnson. The company’s existing team will move over into the new division under EveryAction’s umbrella. Mobilize co-founder and president Allen Kramer will also move over to EveryAction as deputy general manager of organizing.
“EveryAction is the leading software provider to nonprofits with clients like the National Audubon Society, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the United Nations Foundation,” Johnson told TechCrunch. “They are uniquely poised to bring our best-in-class offering for events and volunteer management to these very deserving organizations.”
Prior to the acquisition, EveryAction was already connected to Mobilize as an integration on its platform, and Johnson called the news a “natural evolution” of that relationship. “Our two companies are extremely aligned in mission: to help cause-driven organizations build bigger movements by driving and deepening supporter engagement,” Johnson said. “Together, we can help more people do more good.”
Higher Ground Labs is betting tech can help sway the 2020 elections for Democrats
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