Action Now Initiative

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Action Now Initiative
Action Now Initiative.png
Basic facts
Location:Houston, Texas
Type:501(c)(4)
Top official:Kelli Rhee
Founder(s):John and Laura Arnold
Website:Official website

The Action Now Initiative is a 501(c)(4) organization based in Houston, Texas. John Arnold and Laura Arnold founded Action Now Initiative in 2011. The organization has supported various political causes, including changes to pension, criminal justice, and education policies; ranked-choice voting; and independent redistricting commissions.

Background

John and Laura Arnold founded Action Now Initiative in 2011. John Arnold was formerly a hedge fund manager at his own firm, Centaurus Advisors. He began the firm in 2002, after his former employer, Enron, went bankrupt. Arnold retired in 2012 at the age of 38.[1] Laura Arnold was a lawyer before working on philanthropic activities full time. She said, "Having achieved financial success early in our lives, we had the enormous privilege of making this mission our full-time job." According to Forbes, John and Laura Arnold had a net worth of $2.9 billion in 2025.[2]

Action Now Initiative has funded research and campaigns related to public pensions, nutrition, soda taxes, redistricting policies, ranked-choice voting, education, healthcare, and criminal justice.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] On the organization's website in 2025, they listed the following campaign issue areas: transparency and accountability in higher education, charitable giving reform, criminal justice reform, restoring faith in democracy, and healthcare reform.[10]

As of October 2025, Action Now Initiative provided the following mission on its website:[11]

“

ACTION NOW INITIATIVE (ANI) is a non-partisan advocacy network that supports the mission of Arnold Ventures to MAXIMIZE OPPORTUNITY AND MINIMIZE INJUSTICE through evidence-based policy reform. Arnold Ventures provides coordination, assistance, and support services in connection with the activities of Action Now Initiative. TOGETHER, we seek to elevate policy debates with data and evidence and work to find bipartisan solutions to drive sustainable change at the state and federal levels.[12]

”

Leadership

As of December 2023, the following individuals held leadership positions at Action Now Initiative:[13]

  • Kelli Rhee, president and chief executive officer
  • Elizabeth Banks, treasurer
  • John Arnold, director
  • Laura Arnold, director
  • Roxanne Almaraz, secretary

Work and activities

Overview of ballot measure support and opposition, 2016 to 2020

The following table details the Action Now Initiative’s ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia from 2016 to 2020. Click here to view Action Now Initiative's ballot measure stances issued after 2020.

Ballot measure support and opposition for the Action Now Initiative
Ballot measure Year Position Status
Alaska Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative 2020 Supported[14]  Approveda Approved
California Proposition 25: Replace Cash Bail with Risk Assessments Referendum 2020 Supported[15]  Defeatedd Defeated
Massachusetts Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative 2020 Supported[16]  Defeatedd Defeated
Missouri Amendment 3: Redistricting Process and Criteria, Lobbying, and Campaign Finance Amendment 2020 Opposed[17]  Approveda Approved
New York City Question 1: Ranked-Choice Voting and Elections Charter 2019 Supported[18]  Approveda Approved
Colorado Amendment Y: Independent Commission for Congressional Redistricting 2018 Supported[19]  Approveda Approved
Colorado Amendment Z: Independent Commission for State Legislative Redistricting 2018 Supported[19]  Approveda Approved
Florida Amendment 11: Repeal Obsolete Constitutional Provisions 2018 Supported[20]  Approveda Approved
Maine Question 1: Overturn Ranked-Choice Voting Delayed Enactment and Repeal Law 2018 Supported[21]  Approveda Approved
Michigan Proposal 2: Independent Redistricting Commission 2018 Supported[22]  Approveda Approved
Missouri Amendment 1: Lobbying, Campaign Finance, and Redistricting Initiative 2018 Supported[23]  Approveda Approved
Oregon Measure 103: Ban Tax on Groceries 2018 Opposed[24]  Defeatedd Defeated
Utah Proposition 4: Independent Advisory Commission on Redistricting 2018 Supported[25]  Approveda Approved
Washington Initiative 1631: Carbon Emissions Fee 2018 Supported[26]  Defeatedd Defeated
Arizona Proposition 124: Public Retirement Benefits 2016 Supported[27]  Approveda Approved
Georgia Amendment 1: State Government to Intervene in Failing Schools 2016 Supported[28]  Defeatedd Defeated
Maine Question 5: Ranked Choice Voting 2016 Supported[29]  Approveda Approved
San Francisco Proposition V: Soda Tax 2016 Supported[30]  Approveda Approved

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Notable ballot measure endorsements by Action Now Initiative
MeasurePositionOutcome
Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Repeal Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2024)  source OpposeDefeated
Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative (2020)  source SupportApproved
California Proposition 25, Replace Cash Bail with Risk Assessments Referendum (2020)  source SupportDefeated
Virginia Question 1, Redistricting Commission Amendment (2020)  source SupportApproved
See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Notable ballot measure endorsements by Action Now Inc
MeasurePositionOutcome
Montana CI-126, Top-Four Primary Initiative (2024)  source SupportDefeated
Montana CI-127, Majority Vote Required to Win Elections Initiative (2024)  source SupportDefeated

Finances

The following is a breakdown of Action Now Initiative's revenues and expenses from 2011 to 2023. The information comes from Internal Revenue Services reports.

Action Now Initiative financial data 2011-2023
Year Revenue Expenses
2011 $0 $0
2012 $4,463,654 $2,260,750
2013 $2,940,081 $5,099,368
2014 $9,425,054 $9,472,406
2015 $9,975,059 $9,582,646
2016 $13,700,599 $13,638,064
2017 $5,652,142 $5,589,049
2018 $201,000 $679,471
2019 $1,192 $2,500
2020 $188 $8,693
2021 $1,900,044 $1,710,061
2022 $13,562,786 $10,414,516
2023 $3,577,720 $3,738,775

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Fortune, "When a billionaire trader loses his edge," May 4, 2012
  2. ↑ Forbes, "World’s Billionaires List," accessed October 28, 2025
  3. ↑ Wall Street Journal, "Nonprofits Caught in Pension Crossfire Between Foundation, Unions," April 14, 2014
  4. ↑ Philanthropy Roundtable, "Solving the $2 Trillion Problem," accessed November 25, 2019
  5. ↑ Politico, "War over soda taxes coming to a polling place near you," November 29, 2015
  6. ↑ Politico, "The money behind the fight over healthy eating," October 7, 2015
  7. ↑ Philadelphia Magazine, "The Beverage Lobby Spent $10.6 Million to Kill the Soda Tax — and Failed," August 2, 2016
  8. ↑ The Atlantic, "Zuckerberg, Soros, and Steyer Spend Millions on Out-of-State Ballot Initiatives," October 18, 2018
  9. ↑ Stat News, "How a billionaire couple greased the skids for Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing bill," November 26, 2019
  10. ↑ Action Now Initiative, "Issues," accessed October 28, 2025
  11. ↑ Action Now Initiative, "Home," accessed October 28., 2025
  12. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  13. ↑ ProPublica, "Action Now Inc," accessed October 28, 2025
  14. ↑ Alaska Public Offices Commission, "Alaskans for Better Elections Third Quartly Report 2019," October 10, 2019
  15. ↑ Cal-Access, "End Predatory & Unfair Money Bail Late Contribution Report," January 15, 2020
  16. ↑ Cal-Access, "Ranked Choice Voting 2020 Committee," accessed July 16, 2020
  17. ↑ Missouri Ethics Commission, "Clean Missouri," accessed July 16, 2020
  18. ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "Committee for Ranked Choice Voting NYC, Inc.," accessed October 8, 2019
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Colorado TRACER, "Action Now Initiative," accessed November 25, 2019
  20. ↑ Florida Department of Elections, "Yes on 11," accessed November 25, 2019
  21. ↑ Maine Commission on Government Ethics and Election Practices, "Ballot Questions," accessed January 18, 2018
  22. ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "Voters Not Politicians Ballot Committee BQC," accessed December 13, 2017
  23. ↑ Missouri Ethics Commission, "Action Now Initiative," accessed November 25, 2019
  24. ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Action Now Initiative," accessed November 25, 2019
  25. ↑ Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office, "Utahns for Responsive Government," accessed January 10, 2019
  26. ↑ Washington Public Disclosure Committee, "Clean Air Clean Energy WA, 2018," accessed November 25, 2019
  27. ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Action Now Initiative," accessed November 25, 2019
  28. ↑ Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, "Action Now Initiative," accessed November 25, 2019
  29. ↑ Maine Commission on Government Ethics and Election Practices, "Ballot Questions," accessed July 19, 2016
  30. ↑ San Francisco Ethics Commission,"Campaign Finance Dashboards - June 7, 2016 and November 8, 2016 Elections - Total Contributions and Contributors," accessed October 23, 2016
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