November 19, 1998 | Read Time: 1 minute
Phil Mitchell is trying to simplify life for the “progressive” on-line advocate.
Fed up with the amount of time it took him to sort through all the e-mail legislative alerts he received, Mr. Mitchell has started “If Not Now.” The Web site serves as a clearinghouse for policy information from 14 left-leaning non-profit groups such as Common Cause and Handgun Control Inc.
All of the information is available free on the group’s Web site, but If Not Now also makes available its “personal lobbying center” for a fee. Members of If Not Now can electronically sign their name to an e-mail letter that outlines a position on an issue. The letter is then sent to the appropriate members of Congress or the White House. If Not Now also tracks the final result of the proposed bill, and publishes a legislative “scorecard” for subscribers that details how members of Congress voted.
“We’re not trying to make things easy for people in the sense that they don’t have to think,” Mr. Mitchell says. “We’re trying to make it easy in that they don’t have to spend time looking up addresses, licking envelopes.”
An individual membership is $21 for the first 18 months, and a free three-month trial subscription is also available. There is no cost to participating charities. Mr. Mitchell says that if the service begins to make money, he will give half of the profits back to non-profit groups.
