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NGP VAN

NGP VAN, Inc. is an American privately owned voter database and web hosting service provider used by the Democratic Party, Democratic campaigns, and other non-profit organizations authorized by the Democratic Party. The platform or service is used by political and social campaigns for fundraising, campaign finance compliance, field organizing, and digital organizing. NGP VAN, Inc. was formerly known as Voter Activation Network, Inc. and changed its name to NGP VAN, Inc. in January 2011. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Washington, D.C.

In 2009, the company was the largest partisan provider of campaign compliance software, used by most Democratic members of Congress. The company's services have been utilized by clients such as the Obama 2008 presidential campaign, the Obama 2012 presidential campaign, the Hillary Rodham Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, the British Liberal Democrats, and the Liberal Party of Canada.

The company was acquired by London-based private equity firm Apax Partners in 2021 and conducted layoffs in 2023. Persistent technical issues have led to concerns from workers and the Democratic party that NGP VAN may be unable or unwilling to meet their needs. In the lead-up to the 2024 elections significant problems with the NGP VAN system led the Kamala Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to intervene by sending full time technical staff to keep it afloat through the election.

NGP VAN was created in November 2010 by the merger of its two predecessor companies: NGP Software (founded in 1997 by Nathaniel Pearlman, who later served as chief technology officer for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, in his attic in Washington, DC), and Voter Activation Network (founded in 2001 by Mark Sullivan, in his study in Cambridge, Massachusetts).

In October 2014, NGP VAN launched their EveryAction fundraising management platform for non-profits.

There are occasional accusations that the Democratic Party has restricted access to Votebuilder to hold off a challenge to an incumbent office holder in a primary. For example, Rachel Ventura, running against an incumbent Democrat in IL-11, was told "I've heard from our Executive Director. Your request for Votebuilder for Illinois' 11th Congressional District through the Democratic Party of Illinois has been denied due to our regulations that we don't issue subscriptions to candidates challenging an incumbent."

In 2019, the company made three acquisitions; ActionKit, BSD Tools from Blue State Digital, and DonorTrends.

In 2021, NGP VAN's parent company, EveryAction, Inc., was acquired by London-based private equity firm Apax Partners. The company also named Amanda Coulombe President of NGP VAN. In January 2023, the company laid off 10% of their workforce. The Intercept reported that employees and Democratic strategists worried NGP VAN was prioritizing profits over the needs of the Democratic Party, which the company has an effective monopoly over. A second round of layoffs was conducted on September 6, 2023.

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