In this guide, we compare various organizing models: different ways of organizing your activist group. Each of these frameworks are based on successful campaigns, and will help you make more impact. We will help you choose the right one.

Article quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5)

What is an organizing model? #

An organizing model is a way of collaborating in large groups of people. It is a framework based on other successful campaigns. You can use these templates to better organize your group. The better you are organized, the more impact you will make.

Many different organizing models exist. Some are bottom-up (decentralised), others are more hierarchical (centralised). Some frameworks work better for groups with paid staff, others work better for groups with only volunteers.

Why do I need an organizing model? #

Most activist groups start off small. As long as you are with 8 people or so, you can kinda just wing it, and still work effectively together.

However, as your movement grows, you will likely find it becomes harder to make good decisions quickly. You might lose track of who is responsible for certain tasks. Misunderstandings will make processes take much longer than necessary. You will start making mistakes over and over, without learning from them. And all of this will hurt your most dedicated volunteers and/or employees, who might even quit out of frustration. When the stakes are high, which they almost always are in activism, you cannot afford to 'just wing it'

You will need to answer questions such as:

• ✊ How do we make change happen (e.g. building people power)?

• 🏡 What is our organisation structure (e.g. teams, sub-groups, roles)?

• 🗳️ How are decisions made?

• 💬 What are our internal communication processes?

• 🙌 How do people become involved?

• 🎓 How do we learn and reflect?

• 📢 How do we communicate our story?

You can look at the organizing models used by other activist groups to take inspiration. By doing so, you can learn from generations of change-makers who have developed and refined organisational frameworks.

There is not one framework that is 'the best'. You will need to find a framework that closest resembles what you need. Then, you will likely need to make adaptations to adapt the framework to your context.

✊🏾 Dare to innovate! In many cases, these organizing models have been developed by privileged white straight cis men with a well paid job in the Global North. Some of these frameworks have been developed in the context of for-profit companies, with the purpose of most efficiently exploiting people & planet to make more money faster.

That does not mean we cannot learn anything from them: we are happy to use their own weapons against them. However, it does mean that we need to make it work for us. For example, make sure to pay extra attention to the following:

• How do we make sure we do not burn out?

• How do we create a diverse, inclusive & intersectional movement?

Choosing a model #

Key considerations #

The framework you choose should depend on a few key considerations:

• Your mission: What exactly is your activist group working towards? Your mission will help define the structure your organization will need. For example, a group focused on policy change might benefit from a 'big organizing' model, while a group that wants to empower individuals might prefer the 'distributed organizing' framework.

• Your values: Your values should be reflected in your organizational framework – this includes your team’s work style, decision-making process, and the culture you want to foster.

• Your resources: This includes both people and finances. A 'big organizing' model might necessitate more resources, whether that's in the form of a large volunteer team or significant funding. On the other hand, 'distributed organizing' or 'network organizing' can be more cost-effective and less resource-intensive, as they involve shared responsibilities and self-management.

• Scalability: What are your plans for growth? If your goal is to expand your movement, you'll want a framework that can scale with you. Frameworks like 'collective impact' and 'holacracy' have built-in possibilities for scalability and growth.

Learn from other movements #

A good way to choose a framework is by looking at movements you like. Are they making impact? They are probably doing something right. Even if they do not have a name for the way they have structured their organisation.

Some movements and organisations claim to use a certain framework. In reality though, they might actually not follow the procedures they have put on paper. They might be:

• effective, in spite of the lacking framework they use (by ignoring what's written down on paper)

• ineffective, because they have not properly implemented a good framework

Ambiguity in definitions #

This guide discusses a relatively unexplored field.

Bottom-up or hierarchical? #

The most successful movements learn from movements before them. Not every movement is the same. Choose a way of organizing that fits your group

Community organising 🏡 #

Community organising centres around the local community. This model focuses on improving local life by mobilizing individuals to act on issues that concern them most. It is usually quite small-scale and does not address larger institutional injustices.

Decentralized organizing 🌱 #

Decentralized organizing 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. Has a focus on working in different geographical areas with multiple groups (not a single group limited to one area).

Note: still requires team of experienced campaigners to develop an organisational framework, but unlike distributed organizing, this group is only present at the beginning, when designing the organisation (not for the whole duration of the organisation lifecycle).

Examples #

• Self-Organising System (SOS) by Extinction Rebellion: based on Holacracy

• 'Hub structure' by The Sunrise Movement: The Sunrise Movement employs a model of decentralized authority called the 'Hub Structure.' Hubs, generally geographic-groupings, have a substantial amount of autonomy, yet are interconnected and contribute to the movement’s overall strategy.

Improve this guide

SOS is one of the best documented organising models in guides publicly available on XR's website. Since we are writing a handbook for activists, these guides could potentially be reused. Help us by sharing your experience:

• Have you been a volunteer with XR? How does SOS work in practice? What could be improved?

• Do you know if replications of Extinction Rebellion, such as Insulate Britain and the A22network, also use SOS? On their websites, they are less explicit about their internal organizing structures, so it is hard to determine as an outsider. If you have been involved, improve this guide by sharing your experience!

The following two examples of decentralised organizing were written by AI. They need to be fact-checked, but we included it nevertheless because it has the potential to provide more diverse perspectives on organisational frameworks:

• Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra) in Brazil: MST operates with a horizontal framework where members are encouraged to participate directly in decision-making processes. It is divided into small, self-managed collective cells ensuring equality, solidarity and combative grassroots productions.

• Zapatistas Movement in Mexico: The Zapatistas have developed an autonomous governance model often referred to as Good Government Boards (Junta de Buen Gobierno). These models prioritize direct participation, direct democracy, and decision making by consensus.

Distributed organizing 🗺 #

Distributed organizing (or big organizing) involves a centralized team that works together in a coordinated effort to achieve a goal. Local groups have a limited degree of autonomy, contributing to centrally coordinated campaign objectives. Easily replicable tactics are used so that volunteers can independently take the lead in organizing actions. When done well, little paid staff is required, except for a few experienced campaigners to design the strategy. This organizing model gives little decision-making power to volunteers. Often used by political parties and campaign-based nonprofits.

Also see directed network campaign structure

Examples #

• 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign

• Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth NL)

Mobilizing #

Traditional NGO-led campaigning and party-led political organizing tends to rely on more command-and-control leadership and paid staff and organizers to mobilize others to take action and raise awareness. This is called mobilizing.

Mobilizing is not organizing. We put it in this list anyways to to contrast it with distributed organizing.

Examples #

• 2008 United States presidential election

(Sub)groups #

In the previous section, we explained how groups relate to each other through (non-)hierarchical connections. In this section, we explain what kind of groups are possible.

Once you are with more than 8 people, you will quickly find that it is really useful to organise yourselves into groups or teams. Your organisational structure can include different kinds of groups at the same time.

Geographic groups #

• Pros: Enables community based actions on local issues. Enables members to see tangible changes in their local community.

• Cons: Difficult to provide suitable support, with different regions having different needs. Large geographic distances that some groups cover negatively affect organising and mobilisation around a local issue.

Issue based groups #

• Pros: Issue-specific working groups can increase collaboration with other organisations working on the same issue. People who volunteer are already committed to the issue and thus willing to work hard.

• Cons: People concerned about an issue can often volunteer for multiple groups, leading to confusion about roles and energy being spread too thin.

Skill based groups #

• Pros: Ability to transfer staff skills to volunteers. Can be more one-on-one and relational, building stronger relationships and increased skills quickly.

• Cons: Volunteer dropout means constant need for retraining. Limited capacity of staff to identify tasks for groups to do, and provide sufficient resources to facilitate their work.

Task based groups #

Form groups based on tasks (that anyone can do, no particular skills needed). For example, can be used as part of a distributed organizing model, where you have volunteers who knock on doors.

Identity based groups #

• Pros: Inspires people with similar identities (e.g., young people) to take action that is meaningful to them.

• Cons: Challenging to sustain groups over time for identities that are precarious, often changing, or have significant other commitments (e.g., parents).

Read more about different types of groups (external).

Key organizing concepts #

The snowflake model #

The following section is an excerpt from an external resource, but it still needs some work to rewrite.

The snowflake model is centred around distributed leadership. In particular, leaders commit to develop the leadership abilities of others, with the relationships between these people the glue holding the snowflake together. Relationships between individuals are what form groups within the snowflake model, as shown in the figure below.

[TO-DO: INSERT FIGURE, The snowflake model from the handbook ‘Organizing: People, Power, Change’]

The strength of the snowflake model lies in its focus on building strong relationships between each connection. This has enabled some organisations to not only recruit new volunteers, but also support and retain them over time.

"We are still exploring it but building from a “local organiser” focus with the role of the core volunteer to connect with existing groups and organisations as well as bringing on board new people. This is instead of a group building focus at the moment. This may change over time, but currently it is working for us. "

[TO-DO: INSERT FIGURE, Environment Victoria’s organising model is built around a snowflake recruitment process supported by staff and an Action Network Support Team.]

Other organisations use a snowflake model but base this around groups, or teams of individuals working together. The model below uses this approach to support a very large number of groups, that otherwise would be difficult to sustain via a central team of staff or organisers. It also helps build stronger relationships between groups that can offer mutual support independent of the centralised team.

[TO-DO: INSERT FIGURE, Australian Education Union Victoria: A snowflake model where campaign hubs each support three sub-branches]

"The focus on relational organising and the snowflake model means that everyone is connected with each other and things can function without the organiser around most of the time."

One organisation has moved towards a snowflake, or ‘distributed organising’ system. In their model paid staff focus less on directly mobilising supporters and more closely on enabling and training volunteer organisers. Their organising model aims to build multiple expert organising teams, which are self-sustaining and motivated by working on tactics and issues that are relevant and meaningful to them. At the same time, this reduces pressure on staff time, and fosters stronger personal relationships between leaders, advocates and active supporters.

Leaderful organizing #

This section still needs to be written. It will be a summary of our dedicated guide on leadership and organizing.

Engagement ladder #

This section still needs to be written. It will be a summary of our dedicated guide on the engagement ladder.

Also called: circles of commitment, engagement pyramid

Tactics #

Strategic campaigns 🎯 #

• Focus: Launching focused campaigns to achieve a specific policy change or goal.

• Structure: Often time-bound with a dedicated team of organizers and volunteers working towards a clear objective.

• Decision-making: Can be centralized around the campaign goals, but may involve input from participants.

• Example: A campaign to raise the minimum wage might involve public education, lobbying elected officials, and organizing worker strikes.

Also see directed network campaign structure

Alternative-building 🛠️ #

Alternative-building is about creating new things that often challenge current society. Instead of trying to change society from within, you build alternatives that allow people to step out of society into a new one. If you are interested in this, make sure to read up on mutual aid and the solidarity economy.

Service model & charity 🫡 #

In the service model and charity, your organisation provides services to a community. Food banks and legal aid organizations are examples.

Some argue, however, that these forms of 'doing good' have little to do with organizing:

• Addressing root cause: Organizing empowers communities to take action for themselves, addressing the root causes of problems. Charity provides direct assistance to those in need, which can be crucial, but doesn't necessarily address the systemic issues creating the need.

• Sustainability: Organizing aims to build long-term power within communities, fostering self-sufficiency. Charity often relies on external resources, potentially creating a cycle of dependence.

• Power Dynamics: Organizing challenges existing power structures and seeks to shift the balance. The service model & charity can reinforce existing power dynamics, with the providers holding more power than the recipients.

Other organizational frameworks #

• Collective Impact Forum

Concepts #

The following concepts are not enough to form an entire organisational framework on their own, but they can be important foundational aspects:

• Leaderful organizing

Organisational frameworks from business sector #

• Holacracy: This is a method of decentralized management in which decision-making is distributed throughout autonomous, self-organizing teams rather than in a centralized leadership structure. It is a system built on transparency, accountability, and inclusivity.

• Scrum: A process pioneered in the tech world, it breaks down tasks into manageable chunks with clear goals and timeframes. This approach involves regular "sprints" of work, followed by reviews and planning for the next phase. It is a flexible and efficient way of managing a project, but requires strong team coordination and communication.

• Sociocracy: Under this framework, hierarchical decision-making is replaced by an egalitarian “circle organization”. It emphasizes consensus and group decision-making, with all members having an equal say.

Concepts #

• Agile

Adapting your chosen framework #

After you have chosen a framework, it's important to adapt it to your unique needs. Here are some steps to consider:

1. Try it out small: Try implementing the chosen framework on a small scale first. Monitor how well it functions and gather feedback on its effectiveness.

2. Adjust & scale up: Based on the feedback, adjust the framework. This might involve modifying how roles are distributed, how communications are handled, or how decisions are made.

3. Review regularly: Regularly review your progress and reflect on whether this framework is helping you achieve your group's goals. This can be as simple as asking team members for their feedback or as complex as measuring key performance indicators (KPIs).

4. Share your learnings: Other activists can benefit from your reflections too! Share your learnings on Activist Handbook.

Conclusion #

Organizational frameworks are indispensable tools that help movement builders align their team, marshal their resources, and magnify their impact. But remember that these frameworks are just tools. While they can guide your structure and strategy, they should always be adapted and reshaped according to your unique needs, goals, and values. Above all, don’t be afraid to innovate and find new ways to create positive change. Make sure to check out our recommended external resources for more information.

Improve this page #

We would love to hear how you have set up your organisational structure! Share your learnings by improving this guide!

New articles #

• Snowflake model

• Leadership

Add a framework #

The problem with frameworks: about every organisation that starts a campaign thinks they have reinvented the wheel and gives a name to the way they are organized.

This makes it difficult for people new to activism to understand the differences between all these different frameworks.

If you have a framework you would like to add to our list, make sure it checks the following boxes:

• ✅ The framework has a name that is universally agreed upon

• ✅ The framework has been clearly documented by others

• ✅ The framework has been tried & tested (preferably by activists)

• ✅ The framework is significantly different from other frameworks

Search keywords #

We would like to find a better title for this page.

• organizational framework (970 monthly searches globally, medium relevancy)

• organizing model (70, high relevancy): often used in the context of labor unions, and contrasted with the "servicing model" - Perhaps nice to name the article "organizing models" to illustrate there is not a single way of doing organizing, while also being easily found by our target audience?

• smart objectives (69.2K monthly searches globally, low relevancy)

*According to Semrush

Related articles #

• Strategy

External resources #

Resources that compare multiple forms of organizing:

• Collection: Organising Models Mapping Project by Commons Library and Australian Progress

  • Survey: Influences, Challenges and Opportunities by Australian Progress, Commons Librarian, Robyn Gulliver (no date)

  • The Shape of Organising Models by Australian Progress, Commons Librarian and Robyn Gulliver (2022)

  • People Within Organising Models by Australian Progress, Commons Librarian, Robyn Gulliver (2022)

  • Autonomy, Flexibility and Accountability by Australian Progress, Commons Librarian, Robyn Gulliver (2022)

  • Support and Leadership by Australian Progress, Commons Librarian, Robyn Gulliver (2022)

  • Mapping Australian Organising Models by Amanda Atlee, Bethany Koch, Holly Hammond, Jawoon Kim (2021)

• Approaches to Organising: Decentralised, Direct Network, and Strike Circles Models by Robyn Gulliver

Resources that discuss one particular type of organizing:

• Labor unions: Organizing model versus servicing model by Wikipedia

• Ganz model

  • Approaches to Organising: The Ganz Model by Robyn Gulliver (2023)

  • Guide: Organizing: People, Power and Change by Marshall Ganz

• Block by block organizing by Citizen's Handbook

• Directed-network campaigns by Jason Mogus and Tom Liacas

• Academic: Networked organizing, anonymous as case-study by Felipe G. Massa and Siobhan O’Mahony

• Branded frameworks

  • Collective Impact Forum

  • Circle Forward

• Distributed organizing

  • Guide: Distributed organising by Blueprints for Change

  • Six building blocks of distributed organizing campaigns by NetChange

Other resources

• Collection: Developing an Organizational Structure for the Initiative by Community Tool Box

• Guide: Improving Organizational Management and Development by Community Tool Box

• Academic: Defining Organizational Structure and Operating Mechanisms by Community Tool Box

Interesting, but not related to this article:

• Article: Frameworks for Winning Change by Holly Hammond

• Article: Bill Moyer's Movement Action Plan and Four Roles of Activism by Commons Librarian

• Group structure by Citizen's Handbook

Atrribution #

Work from the following resources was reused in this guide:

• The Shape of Organising Models by Australian Progress, Commons Librarian and Robyn Gulliver (2022)