99% Power grew out of a belief that to advance transformative change in our economic and political structures, we need to address a major weakness of today’s progressive sector: the lack of mass action and collaboration focused on challenging, reining in, and restructuring big and abusive corporate actors.

Simultaneously, we saw an opportunity to rediscover non-violent direct action in order to expose the crisis in communities, our democracy, and our environment and shine a light on those perpetuating it.

America is ready for a new conversation about how corporations should act in our country.  According to a 2011 Gallup Poll, the large majority of Americans (62%) want major corporations to have less influence in the United States, well above the 52% recorded in 2001.  The same survey found 67% of Americans dissatisfied with the size and influence of major corporations in the country today, the highest level since Gallup first asked this question in 2001[1].

To challenge the grip of institutions the size of Bank of America, Wal-Mart, Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, and more on our economy and our political system, we know no single organization can do it alone. We have created an alignment of groups, representing communication, service, hospitality, food, commercial, steel and domestic workers, the unemployed and families fighting foreclosure, environmental activists, immigrants, and family farmers around a shared vision of forcing corporations to serve a bottom line that includes workers, communities, and the environment.

[1] Gallup: In U.S., Majority Still Wants Less Corporate Influence http://www.gallup.com/poll/145871/majority-wants-less-corporate-influence.aspx