Introduction
The Activists Resource Hub, is a website to help activists find the brilliant resources available for them quickly and easily.
We have scoured the online world to bring the best of what is available to you in one small, manageable, easy-to-navigate place. While these resources are predominantly aimed at UK activists, many of the insights they provide are applicable to other countries and contexts.
The hub is especially useful for people who are new to campaigning and activism.
It has practical help for everything from how to write a great press release to finding a fiscal host to manage your money. It also has inspirational stories to help you learn about other people’s strategies, tactics, setbacks and successes.
The Activists Resource Hub was put together by Social Change Lab and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, both organisations who are passionate about supporting grassroots activists.
Practical Tools
The Practical Tools section provides practical advice on things all campaigners and activists are likely to need to do, namely:
Movement Building
Getting other people to care about your cause and get involved. This includes resources on:
- Training
Including NEON’s training programme, training courses UK Movement Ecology, and resources from the Ayni Institute - Culture and care
The Activist Wellbeing Handbook covers topics including group wellbeing and self -care and some specifics like tactics for de-escalation to make sure protests remain non-violent. - Internal communication
Resources to help you communicate effectively with everyone in your organisation. The Activist Handbook has a very thorough guide to the various digital tools and apps for every need, from social media to file storage systems. - Collaboration
Resources to help you build effective coalitions, including the Commons Library’s brilliant guide to building coalitions.
Strategy and Tactics
Decide what your goals are and your strategy for achieving them. This includes resources on:
- Lobbying and advocacy
Advice on influencing people with influence, including the Commons Library’s guide to lobbying and advocacy and The Activist Handbook’s guide to institutional tactics - Direct action
The International Centre on Nonviolent Conflict has an extensive resource library covering practical and theoretical aspects of direct action, while this short guide from Extinction Rebellion is a great, practical summary of how to organise a protest or other direct action - Community organising
The ChangeMakers podcast has a series dedicated to community organising. For guidance on canvassing and persuasion, check out this masterclass on political canvassing or Blueprint for change’s guide to persuasive conversations. - Public campaigns
Mobilisation Lab walks you through the key ingredients of people-powered campaigns in its ‘Mobilisation cookbook’. If you are looking for eye-catching, creative stunts, then Beautiful trouble’s tactical toolbox is a great source of inspiration and ideas. This guide to creative activism will also introduce you to a range of alternative approaches from artivism to pranks and performances. - Digital campaigns
The Commons Library Digital campaigning toolkit is a great introduction, with resources on a wide range of topics. Common Knowledge are also a great not-for-profit tech cooperative, using their expertise in digital technologies to help movements build power.
Operations
Keeping people, including yourself, organised, motivated, cared for and sustained. This includes resources on:
- Human resources
Rad HR share policies and processes on all the ‘nuts and bolts’ issues for UK organisations , while The Resource Centre has compiled a set of policies and procedures on topics ranging from financial management to safeguarding. - Governance
resources to help you create and maintain the organisational structure that’s right for you, including The Resource Centre’s guide to getting a group started and My Community’s guide to governance - Legal
If your work might include protest, Liberty provides a useful guide to your rights to protest. For legal support, Law Works offers pro bono support to individuals and not-for-profit organisations. - Finance
Money can be a tricky and sensitive topic but it has to be faced! hapter 6 of the NEON toolkit explains key financial terms and has plenty of practical tools. Civicus has a collection of toolkits about financing, including on budgeting and developing a financial strategy. - Fundraising
The Civicus guide to writing a funding proposal is a comprehensive walkthrough of everything you should consider when applying for a grant and the Resource Centre’s guide to raising money is also full of practical tips. - Fiscal hosting
Fiscal hosts hold money on behalf of social movement organisations they don’t want to or cant register formally. A range of organisations provide fiscal hosting services including Open Collective and Social Change Nest.
Communication
Telling people about your cause. This includes resources on:
- The Activist Handbook communication toolkit guides you through communicating in all kinds of media on all kinds of platforms.
- The Press Officer’s handbook from NEON has a wealth of useful information, walking you through things like how to write an eye-catching press release with clear step-by-step guidance.
Inspiration
The second main section of the website provides inspiration to help get you feeling inspired and energised, including sections on:
- How social change works:
- The thinkingdoingchanging.com blog is a good place to start with short, readable blogs for activists by a self-proclaimed ‘social change geek’.
- Sheila McKechnie Foundation has a Changemakers’ Toolkit, which has great graphics outlining all the ways social change can happen. Find your place in it!
- Beautiful Trouble has pithy guides to some of the main theories and themes of social change.
- Theories of change:
- The charity think tank NPC also has a guide on how to develop a theory of change for campaigning.
- Beautiful Trouble has a theory of change exercise as well as hundreds of stories of campaigns and activism from around the world.
- Podcasts:
- The ChangeMakers podcast has been telling stories about people working for social change since 2017.
- The New Economics Foundation’s podcast takes a broader look at different ways to bring about social change, including policy-focused work as well as campaigning and activism.
- The Social Change Agency podcast features interviews with a range of change-makers in the UK.
- Videos:
- Mobilizing Ideas has a collection of short videos in which academic experts answer some of activists’ most pressing questions. Their Youtube channel features longer interviews.
- The Commons Library has put together a bank of inspiring TED talks of interest to anyone interested in social change and activism.