We The Action: Unlocking the Power of Pro Bono
We built the platform that connects lawyers with the social causes that matter most.
2017 – Now
Product strategy, user research and testing, rapid prototyping, user experience design, visual design, technical strategy and architecture, full-stack web development
Outcomes
- $112 million in pro bono legal time paired and mobilized
- 500 non-profits supported
- 42,000 lawyers organized and committed to non-profit work
The Story
In key moments of social and political upheaval, it’s essential to quickly harness the energy and scale of volunteer expertise to respond to the moment. After the 2016 presidential election, We The Action (a nonprofit now part of Civic Nation) formed and partnered with Able to build a platform to do just that.
Nonprofits, often understaffed, don’t have the ability to effectively respond to offers to help, especially during times of social upheaval when hundreds want to get involved. On the other side of the equation, skilled volunteers often don’t know where they should go to help.
WeTheAction.org launched in 2017, with the goal of making it easier for nonprofits to quickly structure projects and connect with legal volunteers, and for legal professionals to easily identify the pro bono opportunities that match their experience, interests, and schedule.
Since then, activism in the US has evolved and become an essential part of everyday discourse. In response, we’ve innovated our platform to provide the power of scale, the simplicity of focus, and the network effect of multiple distributed teams working toward a common goal.
These tools have been used in key moments of activism.
The Supreme Court Dobbs Decision. We The Action was built to respond to moments in history like this. The easy to use platform allowed us to quickly onboard new partners as we helped identify impactful ways for volunteer lawyers to ensure that access to safe and effective abortion care remains available to as many people as possible.
The Afghan Refugee Crisis. In 2021 our platform powered the Welcome Legal Alliance's (WLA) effort to recruit lawyers and connect them with the nearly 80,000 Afghan refugees seeking legal assistance.
The 2020 Recount in Georgia. Shortly after the polls closed on election night, we recruited over 250 lawyers to prepare for a recount in Georgia. Our platform helped lawyers see where they were needed, attend a training, and observe the vote tally in 40 counties around Georgia.
Over the last five years, We The Action has built a community of over 43,000 lawyers and over 500 nonprofit partners. The result is $112 million in pro bono legal work delivered toward American democracy’s most pressing issues, and counting.
