Activist HandbookOn this page
As your movement grows, you will likely find it becomes harder to make decisions quickly. You might lose track of who is responsible for certain tasks. You may lose motivation, because your goals seem so far out of reach. Setting up a good movement framework can help your organise better.
Movement types
The most successful movements learn from movements before them. Not every movement is the same. Choose a way of organizing that fits your group:
🗺 Distributed organizing: A decentralized approach that emphasizes empowering individuals and small groups to take initiative and create change. It is more grassroots in nature and relies on self-organization and communication.
🐳 Big organizing: Big organizing involves a centralized team that works together in a coordinated effort to achieve a goal. Often used by political parties and larger nonprofits.
Project & team management
Do not reinvent the wheel: other movements have tried out many different ways of organising. Use the following frameworks to get inspired:
⚠️ Urgent request: Please don't scroll away
We ask you, humbly, to help. We depend on donations to stay free and independent. But very few people decide to donate.
Activist Handbook trains 6000 new activists every month. We are a nonprofit and we have published over 450+ guides for change-makers.
We appreciate any donation, no matter how small. Give whatever you can afford this month:
Improve this page
This page is still quite empty. Feel free to share resources about this topic, or suggest how we should organise this article.
Search keywords
- smart objectives (69.2K monthly searches globally, low relevancy*)
*According to Semrush
Related articles
No related articles have been added yet.
External resources
Article: Frameworks for Winning Change by Holly Hammond
Article: Bill Moyer's Movement Action Plan and Four Roles of Activism by Commons Librarian
Report: Networked Change: How Progressive Campaigns are Won in the 21st Century by Jason Mogus and Tom Liacas
Guide: Organizing: People, Power and Change by Marshall Ganz
Book: The Path of Most Resistance: A Step by Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns by Ivan Marovic
Blueprints for Change Progressive Organizing and Campaigning Manual by BfP
Approaches to Organising: Decentralised, Direct Network, and Strike Circles Models by Robyn Gulliver
