James is co-founder of the Change Agency and director of our Community Organising Fellowship.
Nonviolence trainers’ resource manual
Training for nonviolence can be an important first step in helping people to confront fear and support each other when facing police, community and institutional opposition to their activism. The Trainers’ Resource Manual is a collection of training tools that...
‘Questions only’ process guide
Chris Jensen developed this process guide to prepare facilitators to lead discussions. The process entails designing and asking questions to help participants learn key concepts. Facilitators are encouraged to listen more than tell, and to be specific in their...
How Change Happens | Duncan Green
“Providing a theory of social change that is convincing is already a tall order, but Duncan Green sets himself an even higher bar. The book aims to be a practical field guide to social activism. More than that, it aspires to be a field guide not just for the...
State of Evaluation 2016: Evaluation Capacity and Practice in the Nonprofit Sector
Recent findings (from 2016) about how nonprofits engage in evaluation, and the capacities and characteristics of their organizations. “Funding for evaluation is also moving in the right direction, with more nonprofits receiving funding for evaluation from at...
Process Guide | Transactional and relational approaches
This 90-minute workshop helps differentiate between transactional approaches that aim to mobilise large numbers of people and relational approaches that form deeper connections and identify shared values and self-interest. Participants assess the...
Time to pick a side | Jason Mogus – Netchange
Civic institutions in Trump’s America face difficult questions about whether they are still equipped to achieve their social missions without major adjustments to their thinking, strategy, and work. A growing number of activists today think civic institutions will be...
Thinking outside the circle | George Woods
In our hurly-burly times, it seems that the circle is no longer the shape to form in decision-making, or in organising social change. As an alternative, activism might instead adopt structures, tactics and decisions that accommodate the ideas, experiences, prejudices,...
The Performance Review is Dead. Long Live the Performance Review
Clear, open, and candid conversations should be had regularly with your reports—way more often than once a year. They shouldn’t just happen on the fly, though. Real-time feedback is important, but only if everyone on the team feels they can contribute, not just...
Relay: Peer-to-peer texting
Mobilize your base. Relay harnesses the power of peer-to-peer texting to help you reach more people in less time and turn real conversations into action.
Five Myths that Perpetuate Burnout Across Nonprofits
There is a pervasive fear in the nonprofit field that focusing inwardly—on our staff, our leadership, even our own salaries—will take away from achieving our organizational missions. That needs to change. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, you jump on board, heart open,...
People Power Manual: Community Organising Guide
The Community Organising Guide is a unique resource for campaigners, community leaders and activist educators. It’s a collection of 39 process guides, 50 handouts 4 original case studies and 3 sample workshop schedules: everything you need to design and lead...
Top 2016 Tools & Tactics to Bump Up Your Online Organizing Game
The latest tools and tactics you may not know of to use online organizing to engage members, broaden your base, and win campaigns. Eight webinars to share with your team.
Making or Breaking Nonviolent Discipline in Civil Resistance Movements
How can we understand when nonviolent movements will stay nonviolent? When are they likely to break down into violence? In this monograph, Jonathan Pinckney analyzes both what promotes and undermines nonviolent discipline in civil resistance movements. Combining...
Rise Up: Board Game Designed For Activists To Practice Building Movements
Board games have a history in social justice movements. Even Monopoly was originally created to teach players about inequality and the problems capitalism can create. A new game, inspired by those roots, is designed to let players practice building a social movement....
On Activism and Organizing: There is a Distinction
What’s the difference between an organizer, an activist, and someone who is just plain fighting for their life, on a personal level? Organizing is a more complicated matter than simply throwing down or flexing a skill, and it should be named as such. One of my own...
Swarm | Decentralised organisation
Swarm is Anyi’s program on decentralized organization which asks the question: how do we engage thousands more people in our organizations? What Anyi have learned from a diverse range of contexts and disciplines (including biology, complex systems, network...
Networked change | How progressive campaigns are won in the 21st century
What makes some of today’s most successful advocacy campaigns work, while so many others fail to make an impact? The Networked Change Report maps out the strategies and practices that made 47 of today’s most successful advocacy campaigns work. These campaigns achieved...
How to Turn Social Media Followers Into Donors
When it comes to long-term strategy, what fundraisers must realize is that there are typically several steps between acquiring social media followers and turning them into financial supporters. Here are a few tactics that will help you cross this bridge and turn...