Engagement principles – hard won from one of the best
We've started this fall to help a new advocacy software start-up better tell its story and connect with more clients. New/Mode's highly focused software helps campaigners win by unleashing "full spectrum engagement" on advocacy targets, which is why we love them so...
How is digital changing advocacy orgs today? SURVEY
What new approaches are advocacy orgs using to successfully manage digital, and campaign and engagement innovation more widely? What are today's most common team structures? Who are the essential digital roles and who tops hiring wish lists? How have these and other...
The four models of digital teams – make that five
How do you structure your digital engagement team? Has that structure changed in the last 3 years, and is it working? How well do you collaborate with other departments with fingers in digital? What are the biggest areas of growth, opportunity, and tension in your org...
Yes, directed-network campaigning is for NGOs too!
When we present our directed-network campaign model in trainings or presentations across the world, we often get asked what kinds of organizations have the risk appetite to try these new more participatory ways of organizing and mobilizing. The expectation here is...
The first principle that unlocks all the others
The four principles of the directed-network campaign model aren't necessarily shared in order of priority, though some are so foundational that you can't do anything else unless those are in place. Opening to people power is one of those, because if you don't start by...
What was that directed network campaign thing again?
Since launching our Networked Change report last June, we've presented the "directed-network campaign" model dozens of times at keynotes, trainings and private sessions around the world, working with hundreds of organizations to implement it more deeply into their...
Networked change all over Australia this June
We've had thousands of downloads of our Networked Change Report from the US, UK, Europe, and Canada, but the place where the model has most taken off is, perhaps surprisingly, Australia. In the last year we've given dozens of presentations on the "directed network"...
Spreading the Networked Change campaigning model with new partner Salsa
The directed network campaigning model presented in our Networked Change report, continues to catch on around the world. Learn more at our free webinar this week, or at deeper dive trainings coming soon in Washington, D.C. and Australia. We are happy to announce that...
Introducing our Networked Change Campaign Design Grid
In June of 2016, we released our Networked Change Report, a deep dive into the common patterns that drove 47 advocacy high-impact advocacy campaigns to succeed where so many others fail. The model that emerged from our research, directed-network campaigning, was...
Our review of Rules for Revolutionaries
A warning to those living in open and privileged societies and working in well-funded top-down advocacy institutions: This book may cause intense feelings of inadequacy and a burning desire to innovate. Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change...
Training to win big change
The stakes just went up dramatically for all of us working on social change so learning how to campaign more effectively, manage resources wisely, and punch above our weight has never been more important. We hope to help more campaigners and nonprofit managers gear up...
Nonpartisan NGOs face irrelevance in a polarized world
Each and every progressive institution in America - and perhaps the global north as a whole - is now presented with a stark range of choices at a time when Trump takes the U.S. presidency and a host of would-be authoritarian leaders line up for their turn around the...
Time to pick a side
Civic institutions in America face difficult questions about how they will operate in the new landscape created by a Trump government, and whether they are still equipped to achieve their social missions without major adjustments to their thinking, strategy, and work.
Our breakdown of a recent viral video campaign
In our more polarized world, mobilization and advocacy approaches become all important. Web video campaigns, when done right, are a tool that can bring your message to millions on a shoestring budget.
Do online petitions change nothing? Change everything? Bill Moyers investigates
It certainly comes as a surprise to me that, in 2016, we'd still be talking so much about online petitions. I remember one of my first Web of Change conferences in the early days of online advocacy, where I got to meet some "internet famous" colleagues from the US who...
The world’s most successful directed network campaign
This article was originally published at the Greenpeace Mobilisation Lab. American unions have been losing members and influence for over 30 years so it’s notable when a labor campaign changes wage policies across the U.S. and forces corporate giants, state leaders,...
Still waiting for a sign?
The role of social change institutions in leading us through this time of multiple, deepening crises in our culture, our communities, our planet, and our spirits couldn’t be more clear. It’s time to modernize your institution so it is part of driving the real, big change we need, or get out of the way to let others lead.
Networked Change in Stanford Social Innovation Review
Our Networked Change Report, which maps the strategic patterns behind today's winning advocacy campaigns is now available for free download. For busy folks, we also just published this summary with the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Below is a copy. Behind Today’s...
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