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Black Lives Matter and America’s long history of resisting civil rights protesters
Black Lives Matter activists have received plenty of criticism from political candidates and their supporters and surrogates. The majority of Americans haven’t embraced the activists’ message or strategies, either; fewer than a third of Americans said Black...
8 keys to running a successful remote meeting
Planning a remote meeting may seem like a lot of work, but it can be much more efficient than getting everyone together in one room at the same time. Using these eight key elements will help you and your team members successfully make it through a remote meeting,...
A Radical Alliance of Black and Green Could Save the World
But first the two movements will have to rediscover their shared roots in a fundamental critique of an economy and a society that value things more than lives. As in the environmental world, many in the black community are seeing limits to traditional advocacy…...
Against activism | Astra Taylor
““A pejorative term for an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation… Successful organizers, by...
Not so grassroots: How the snowflake model is transforming political campaigns
Stephen Mills writes: “Campaigning has broken out from the electoral context and evolved into a new tool for business, government and civil society actors. Campaigning is now the dominant form of collective political activity in Australia. Waves of...
Why ‘active listening’ will make you more productive, and how to do it
There are two types of listening: passive and active. With passive listening, you don’t chew on someone’s words too much; you simply react to what they say and try to get your own points across. Active listening is different, and in my opinion a lot more productive....
Seeding Justice: Revenue-generating membership and fundraising canvasses for community organizing
While foundation funding plays a crucial role in enabling grassroots organizations to achieve their goals, it ebbs and flows and, in most cases, comes with mandates that reflect the priorities of foundation leaders. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, many...
18 books every white ally should read
Being a good ally to any movement means knowing your stuff about whatever movement you’re supporting. Being a white ally to movements concerning race means having to also look at issues around being white, issues like privilege and the legacy of racism in the U.S. and...
2016 Global NGO Online Technology Report
The 2016 Global NGO Online Technology Report is unprecedented and provides valuable insight into the global NGO sector and its use of online technology.
Big Data Visualization: Review of the 20 Best Tools
How do I get a clean and engaging visualization for all my data? Will it be time consuming? Am I going to spend months preparing everything? Here’s the deal: There are tools that help you visualize all your data in minutes. They are already out there. All you need to...
Kitchen table conversations
Personal conversations are our most powerful tool for affecting people’s mindsets. However, asking people to keep track of complex ideas in conversations is a bit like asking them to play mental chess. So here we use pictures and physical models to keep track of...
Part 2: Community Building & Community Organising are an essential prelude to co-production & Community Engagement
We believe that the practices of Community Building and Community Organising are an essential prelude to co-production and indeed to effective Community Engagement in general. After all, especially when it comes to engagement, how can you engage with a community...
Part 1. How Community Organising & Community Building can work together: the two-fisted fight
New forms of collective action are emerging in the UK. With growing frequency people are taking to the streets to defend the rights of citizens against outside forces; this trend is unfolding alongside an increasing and often jarring rhetoric of devolution and...
Would Saul Alinsky break his own rules?
Alinsky’s influence today is also present in networks such as PICO, DART, USAction/Citizen Action, the Gamaliel Foundation, and the former branches of ACORN. Collectively these organizations claim several million members, and the tradition has spread internationally...
How mod is your mob?
How can we build high performing mobilisation teams and strong engagement cultures to win bigger? It takes a continued investment of focus, resources and time to build mobilisation teams and engagement cultures. Greenpeace’s Mobilization Lab created this...
This month’s featured tactic…
We love the New Tactics for Human Rights website, especially their catalogue of innovative tactics that includes case studies of each tactic. This month’s featured tactic is building public and media awareness to change the minimum wage and policy for...
Beyond the win: Pathways for policy implementation
When it comes to policy, a lot of attention is given to “ the win.” Whether it is something new and big like the Affordable Care Act, a piece of legislation in a large federal omnibus bill, or inclusion of critical language in a state policy, seeing the fruits of...
Climate advocacy lab
Designed for climate practitioners—advocates, social scientists, data experts and funders—the Lab promotes effective tools and tactics for engaging Americans on climate change. The Interactive Tools provide easy access to helpful climate change information, while the...