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New Union Work Systems (NUWS) Acquired by Voter Activation Network (VAN)
September, 28, 2009
To the NUWS Community:
We are excited to let our clients know that NUWS and VAN are coming together to provide major improvements for progressive organizing software. NUWS has been purchased by Voter Activation Network.
Some of you who have been involved with political organizing over the last few years may be familiar with Voter Activation Network. VAN builds database software used to manage the voter contact and volunteer operations of Democratic political campaigns and progressive advocacy groups. They are the architects of the Democratic National Committee’s VoteBuilder database, which is distributed to Democratic campaigns across the nation. They have also created the Labor Action Network (LAN), the voter file software tools used by the AFL-CIO and its affiliates. In 2008, VoteBuilder was used by Obama for America to manage the largest voter contact and volunteer program in campaign history.
More recently, the company has sought to expand its technology platform to accommodate the broader needs of progressive organizations, including member management, casework management, union organizing, and website, phone, and email services. “Progressive organizations want to solve a vast array of data challenges on a single platform.” said VAN founder Mark Sullivan, “This move gets us one step closer to meeting that challenge.”
What is not going to change
While we will work collaboratively to integrate the two products based on the VAN platform, Organizer’s Toolbox will remain available to you as we develop the union organizing tools and capabilities in the VAN environment. You will still get the personal support and consulting that you expect from us.
What will change
Over the coming weeks and months, the Organizer’s Toolbox team will contribute to improving the union organizing capabilities in the VAN environment. Our combined effort and experience will result in better tools to help organizers win more campaigns.
Our technology has given organizers a crucial edge for winning tough organizing fights. By putting these tools on the powerful VAN platform, we’ll have an opportunity to empower far more organizers and vastly improve the effectiveness of union organizing across the nation.
We see this not as an end, but a new beginning with many new opportunities. We at NUWS - John, Matt, Tom, Garner, Julia, Eric and Erik - would like to thank all of you for having the confidence in us to deliver a product that has truly been one of a kind. We look forward to communicating with you as things move forward.
Thanks for your support,
John Sladkus
Co-founder
Matt Burry
Co-founder