Community Organising Templates and Training Tools

Introduction

A collection of community organising templates and training tools offering practical resources to help groups strategise, develop leaders and organise effective collective action.

Building Relationships

• Relational Organizing Worksheet, Climate Advocacy Lab
• Building Relationships Worksheet: One on One Guide, She Decides, see pg 42
• General One-on-One Conversation Reporting Form, Education Support Professionals, Center for Organizing, see pg 30
• Leaderful Organizing Tool: Flipping the Script
• Sample Recruitment 1:1 Agenda
• Plugging People In: Orienting New Members & Volunteers to a Local Group
• Circles of Commitment Worksheet, Australian Progress

Coaching

• Coaching Cheat Sheet, March for Our Lives

Community Mapping

• Community Mapping Worksheet
• Community Map Template, Amnesty Australia
• Planning Your Community Mapping Effort Worksheet, Sierra Club Movement Manual, see pg 34

Data

• Gathering Organizing Data and Metrics. Education Support Professionals, Center for Organizing, see pg 92

Developing an Organising Program

• Template: Developing/Reviewing an Organising Program
• Who are your people, what is the change they need, who are the actors (Table), She Decides, see pgs 71 – 72
• Community Organising Framework, High Trees Community Development Trust
• Template: Developing/Reviewing an Organising Program
  • Worksheet 1: Establishing a people-powered theory of change
  • Worksheet 2: Designing supporter paths and roles
  • Worksheet 3: Establishing a recruitment and onboarding process
  • Worksheet 4: Setting up coaching and support for distributed supporters
  • Worksheet 5: Platforms and tools to support a distributed community
  • Worksheet 6: Defining milestones and moments of a distributed campaign

Events

• Community Organising: Event Promotion Tips and Checklist

Power

• Power Analysis Grid, Influencing for Impact Guide: How to deliver effective influencing strategies, 2020, Oxfam International, see pg 32  
• Power Framework Activity Sheet
• Draw your own Power Map, Campaign Bootcamp, see pgs 55 – 57
• Tracking Down the Power Worksheet, Organizing People, Power, Change, Guide, see pgs 47-49
• Power and Interest Chart, Organizing for Change
• Power and Positionality in Campaigns Worksheet, For Purpose
• Power Mapping Canvas, Social Change Agency
• Power Analysis Templates, National Academy of Community Organising
  • Elected Representatives
  • Public Sector
  • Voluntary Sector Leaders
  • Economic Leaders
  • Media and Social Media Leaders
  • Residents / Others

Teams

• Structuring Teams Worksheet: Developing Shared Purpose, She Decides, see pgs 53 -54
• Structuring Teams Worksheet: Developing Team Roles, She Decides, see pgs 56-57

Theory of Change

• Where’s the Power? Developing Your Theory of Change [Template]
• Developing your Theory of Change [Table], She Decides, See pg. 73
• Who are your people, what is the change they need, who are the actors (Table), She Decides, see pgs 71 – 72
• Organizing Statement, She Decides, see pg 70
• Developing a Theory of Change Worksheet, Education Support Professionals, Center for Organizing, see ps 61-62
• Theory of Change Canvas
• Establishing a People Powered Theory of Change TOC, NetChange Consulting, see pg. 3

Training Tools

• Introduction to Organising History, Ella Baker School of Organising
  The aim of this session is to consider the roots of organising theory, and in particular to show that there are several different traditions.
• Key questions for organisers who want to win, Ella Baker School of Organising
  The aim of this session is to get people to think about key questions for organisers – it includes an early break out session to facilitate a discussion about key questions for organisers who want to win. The breakout discussions can also help to frame the context of a session about how what we need to do to win. See more training materials from the school.
  Time: 30 mins
• Visible and Hidden Power, Feminist Basket of Resources, Oxfam, see pgs 93-94
  Explore and unpack how visible, hidden and invisible power operates around an issue that a group has been organising around.
  Time: 1 hour
• Power Analysis for Strategy Overview, We Rise
  This activity builds on the power analysis introduced in Understanding Power Over to enable a group to apply the power framework to specific organizing issues in their context both to understand the dynamics of power over they are up against and think through strategies for change.
  Applying the Power Framework to our specific contexts and organizing efforts, we can deepen our analysis of the complexities of power we will need to navigate. It will help us identify the different forms of power at play – from formal power in decision making arenas to less visible but equally important forms of power – shadow forces and invisible power. And it will move towards developing targeted and well-informed strategies that both challenge power over and enable us to build transformative power.
  Time: 1.5 – 2 hours
• Points of Intervention, Beautiful Trouble
  Points of intervention are specific places in a system where a targeted action can effectively interrupt the functioning and power of a system and open the way to change. By understanding these different points, organizers can develop a strategy that identifies the best places to intervene in order to have the greatest impact. Prepare six flip charts, one for each Point of Intervention, and hang them around the training space with room in between each chart. Add the name of the Point of Intervention at the top of each chart…

Explore Further

• Organizing: People, Power, Change
• The Sierra Club Movement Organizing Manual
• Templates, Worksheets & Checklists for Changemakers
• Campaign Strategy: Training and Planning Tools
• Power: Training and Planning Tools
• Jane Alevey – Training, Videos, Podcasts and Tools
• Guide for Trainers about Organizing, Narrative, Campaign and Movement Building, Leading Change Network
• The Power of Reaching Out to Others: Organizing One on One Meetings
• Scaling Organising: The Incubating and Cascading Approach 
• How Rural Organizing Can Build Power
• High Trees Community Organising Self Assessment Toolkit
• A Guide to Power Analysis in Community Organising
• Tending the Soil: Lessons for Organizing
• Empowering Leaderful Organizing: Competencies & Tools
• Organising: Start Here