ProgressNow Nevada (BattleBorn Progress)
Organization

ProgressNow Nevada (and ProgressNow Nevada Action, the affiliated 501(c)(4) lobbying organization) is a liberal activist group that is affiliated with the national ProgressNow network of state liberal organizations. The organization, which was founded in 2009, has run through three executive directors since it was established and has close relationships with organized labor.

Background

ProgressNow Nevada is an offshoot of ProgressNow, a network of related state-level liberal organizations that span the nation. The national organization provides significant aid to the state-level chapters, and ProgressNow Nevada and ProgressNow Nevada Action are no exception.

The national ProgressNow organization funded ProgressNow Nevada Action in the amount of $59,450 in 2012, the last year for which tax records are available. The Nevada group uses a different reporting year than the national organization so it cannot be determined what percentage of the state group’s revenue came from ProgressNow national, but it appears significant: ProgressNow Nevada Action’s total expenditures for 2012-2013 were $157,646, indicating that ProgressNow provides something close to one-third of its Nevada affiliate’s budget. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm of ProgressNow also gave $10,000 to ProgressNow Nevada’s 501(c)(3) entity.

The current Executive Director of the ProgressNow Nevada organizations is former Planned Parenthood staffer Annette Magnus, who took over in 2013. She replaced Brian Fadie, a Michigander who had worked for ProgressNow Nevada since 2009 in various technical roles before being elevated to director in 2012. He had replaced Erin Neff Haney, a journalist-turned-activist who had led the group from its founding through 2012 when she left to join the Nevada Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Union Ties

In addition to major labor union ties to the ProgressNow national network, ProgressNow Nevada is linked tightly to organized labor. The ProgressNow Nevada Action board, as reported to the IRS on the group’s Form 990, includes the immediate past president of the Nevada teachers union, the Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) and the NSEA executive director.

Nevada campaign finance disclosure reports indicate that the NSEA political fund has given to both ProgressNow Nevada and ProgressNow Nevada Action. One of ProgressNow Nevada’s major campaigns involves gathering support for an NSEA-backed business tax increase—called the “margins tax” by Nevada political watchers—that may go to a ballot measure in 2014.

ProgressNow Nevada affiliates have involved themselves in other Big Labor actions. Executive Director Magnus spoke on behalf of the “fast food strikes” in Las Vegas—part of a heavily SEIU-backed campaign to unionize national restaurant chains.

Gun Control Activism

ProgressNow Nevada groups also advocate strongly for gun control measures. In support of that effort, Michael Bloomberg’s national gun-control group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, funded ProgressNow Nevada Action in the amount of $10,000.