Welcome to the Organising topic in the Commons Social Change Library. We have gathered a wide range of materials to inform the public in relation to community organising and related activities.
Here are some suggested links. You can also narrow down the results in the Organising Topic according to your interests by using the ‘Refine by Format’; ‘Refine by Topic’ (for cross overs with other topics eg Digital Campaigning); ‘Refine by Author’; and ‘Refine by Collection’ functions.
Introduction to Organising
- So, what is organising? by Amanda Tattersall
- What is Organizing? Marshall Ganz
- What is Community Organising? the Change Agency
- Community Organising Basics, Holly Hammond
Different Approaches to Organising
- Three approaches to organising, the Change Agency
- Workplace organising: Book review of Jane McAlevey’s No Shortcuts
- Ganz style organising: Organizing: People, Power, Change manual and the many resources in the Leading Change Network collection
- IAF style coalition organising: Insights from the Sydney Alliance and Community organising aims to win back civil society’s rightful place
- Electoral organising: Book review of Rasmus Kleis Nielsen’s Ground Wars: Personalized Communication in Political Campaigns
- Distributed organising: How To Guide from Blueprints for Change
- Resilience-based organizing, Movement Generation
Manuals
- People Power Manual: The Community Organising Guide, the Change Agency
- Organizing: People, Power, Change, Marshall Ganz
- Blueprints for Change Progressive Organizing and Campaigning Manual
Organising Tactics and Techniques
Conversations and Canvassing
- How to Guide: Persuasive Conversation Campaigns by Blueprints for Change
- Tools Roundup: Canvassing and door knocking by Blueprints for Change
- Deep Canvassing to Shift Hearts, Minds and Votes, Caitlin Homrich-Knieling
- Deep Canvassing Scripts and Examples, Commons Library
- Door Knocking: A Case Study in Moving People to Take Action, William Potter
- Strategic Questioning Manual: A Powerful Tool for Personal & Social Change, Fran Peavey
- How to: Volunteer led phone banking, Blueprints for Change
- Tips for phonebanking or calling volunteers, Plan to Win
- Psychology of Change – A number of videos related to effective conversations
Public Narrative
- Why Stories Matter by Marshall Ganz
- Public Narrative online course by Marshall Ganz
- Guide to Public Narrative from the Leading Change Network
Relational Meetings
- How do I build powerful relationships?, relational meeting training, ChangeMakers Organising School
- Relationships are the Glue of Organising, reflections from Joel Dignam on the Leadership, Organizing and Action course
- The Relational Organising chapter of The Community Organising Guide
Organising on Different Platforms
- How to: Texting Campaigns (Peer-to-Peer), Blueprints for Change
- How to: Using Facebook groups for organizing, Blueprints for Change
- Using Megaphone to organise workers
- Mass organising calls and webinars
Barnstorming
Community Mapping
Coalition Building
- Coalition Building: Start Here
- Five Principles for Building Powerful Coalitions, Amanda Tattersall
- Watch Building Powerful Coalitions, Season 1 Session 5, ChangeMakers Organising School.
Growing Groups
- Levels of Commitment from Community to Core
- Circles of Commitment: A model of engagement
- How to Build a Team online course, Marshall Ganz
- How to structure teams for organizing, Joel Dignam
- Team Effectiveness Conditions Framework
- How to organise a local group in your community, Australian Conservation Foundation
- Retain volunteers with intrinsically-motivating work, Joel Dignam
Planning
- The Organizer’s Canvas, Leading Change Network and Ben Hugosson
- Community mapping
Case Studies
- How decades of fast food worker organising lead to ‘The Fight for the 15’
- Behind the scenes of Sunrise’s volunteer-led phone bank program
- Insights from the Sydney Alliance
- Uncommon victories: Lessons from Warringah and Indi
- How to organise workers in a call centre
- Community Organising Program: Case Studies, Successes and Lessons Learned
- The Power of Organizing: Stories of Community Organizing Campaigns from across Europe
- Community Organising Program: Case Studies, Successes and Lessons Learned
Training
Tired of Reading? Listen and Watch
- TED talk: The Power of Organizing: Betsy Hoover at TEDxDePaulU
- TED talk: Community organizing, say whaattt??
- Listen to Becky Bond on big organizing
- Changemakers Organising School – Online course
- ChangeMaker podcasts including ChangeMaker Chat interviews with organisers – browse the ChangeMakers collection
- Community Organising and Digital Campaigning Webinar Series
- Momentum Webinars on movements, mass decentralised organising and mobilisation
- The Craft of Campaigns: A Podcast for Organisers
Easy Read
Here is an Easy Read Guide called, What is community organizing?
- Click to open PDF: What is community organising?
- Click to open Word version (no pictures): What is community organising?
Easy Read uses clear, everyday language matched with images to make sure everyone understands. – Council for Intellectual Disability
Easy Read documents are helpful for:
- people with disability
- people with English as a second language
- people with lower literacy levels
- people who want to learn about a topic quickly
Want more?
Browse Organising on the Commons Social Change Library.
Book Reviews
- How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century, Hahrie Han
- Moved to Action, Hahrie Han
- Rules for Revolutionaries: How big organizing can change everything, Becky Bond and Zack Exley
- ‘Tactics for Mobilisers’ A Review of Rules for Revolutionaries, review by Amanda Tattersall
- No Shortcuts for Organizing for Power in the Gilded Age, Jane McAlevey
- This is an uprising: How non-violent revolt is shaping the Twenty-First Century, Paul Engler and Mark Engler
- Strategy and Soul, Daniel Hunter
- Ground Wars: Personalized Communication in Political Campaigns, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
- The Starfish and the Spider: The unstoppable power of leaderless organizations, Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
- Prisms of the People: Power and Organizing in Twenty First Century America by Hahrie Han, Elizabeth McKenna and Michelle Oyakawa.
Tech Tools for Organising
- Tools Roundup: Apps and digital platforms for Organizers, Blueprints for Change
- Three open source tech tools for your campaigning
- Geographical Information Systems (GIS): A great tool for community organisers
- Tips on using Slack
Attribution CC BY