WomenCount is a non-profit progressive political organization that gives women of all generations and backgrounds from around the United States a powerful voice in the political process. Our organization has three arms: a 527 that launches issue-related campaigns, a 501c4 that conducts political advocacy, and a PAC that raises and donates funds to candidates for office.
Our main project is WomenCount.org, a crowdfunding platform that enables donors to give to slates of women running at the national and local level.
History
WomenCount PAC was created in May 2008 in direct response to calls for Hillary Clinton to bow out of the Democratic presidential primary contest. Our “Not So Fast” ad series ran in several national and local newspapers and earned enormous press attention, establishing WomenCount PAC as a major voice for women in the political process.
After the 2008 cycle, WomenCount evolved into a watchdog for news about women in politics and launched campaigns to promote greater inclusion of women’s voices in the political discourse. We included a successful campaign to include language about gender bias in the Democratic Party platform, as well as a campaign calling for the creation of a Presidential Commission on Women. WomenCount was also a partner in The 2012 Project, a campaign to recruit women to run for state legislatures and Congress in an effort to take advantage of opportunities created by redistricting.
WomenCount continues to to promote increased numbers of women in leadership and the election of more women to Congress through our crowdfunding platform, WomenCount.org, the only political crowdfunding platform that raises exclusively for pro-choice, Democratic women.
Our Founders
Susie Tompkins Buell: The co-founder of ESPRIT, entrepreneur Susie Tompkins Buell sold her successful business in 1996 and has since become heavily involved in politics. A longtime friend and supporter of Hillary Clinton’s, Susie’s main focus as a political activist is to support and encourage women to enter the political arena as she believes the imbalance of men and women in government is the cause of many of our problems. She has two daughters and five grandchildren and lives in Bolinas, Calif., with her husband.
Rosemary Camposano: A former Silicon Valley communications and public relations executive, Rosemary Camposano has worked for a number of high-profile tech companies, including Motorola, Oracle, Seagate, 3Com, and others. After eight years at home raising her son, Rosemary became impassioned about the rapid deterioration of American civil liberties and has become active politically as a result. She lives in Los Altos, Calif., with her husband and son.
Stacy Mason: The Executive Director of WomenCount, Stacy Mason, is the former editor-in-chief of Roll Call, the newspaper that covers the U.S. Congress. She also previously worked at The Economist in London researching and launching new publishing ventures as part of their development team. Most recently, she worked as Associate Publisher of The Federal Paper, a start-up newspaper focusing on the White House and politics. She lives in Palo Alto, Calif., with her husband and three children.
Amy Rao: The founder and CEO of Integrated Archive Systems, Amy Rao also devotes much of her time to raising awareness about climate change, global warming and environmentally friendly habits in both the workplace and home. As president of the 11th Hour Project to promote sustainable lifestyle choices, Amy serves as chairwoman of the board at The Regeneration Project and sits on the advisory boards of E2 and Emerge America. She lives in Palo Alto, Calif., with her husband. Together they have five children.