Welcome to the Organising Topic
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? Amanda Tattersall
- What is Organizing? Marshall Ganz
- What is Community Organising? the Change Agency
- Community Organising Basics, Holly Hammond
- Definitions of Organising Models Astrid Vachette and Robyn Gulliver
Different Approaches to Organising
- Definitions of Organising Models, Organising Models Mapping Project
- 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
- Ganz style organizing adapted for the Arab speaking world: Organising in the Arab World: Resources from Ahel
- Approaches to Organising: Decentralised, Directed Network and Strike Circles Models
- IAF style coalition organising: Insights from the Sydney Alliance and Community organising aims to win back civil society’s rightful place
- Relational organising (practised by the IAF and many others): How to do Relational Organizing and Authentic Relational Conversations: Reaching Across Difference to Build a Pro-Democracy Movement
- Electoral organising: Political Organizing Series: Public Narrative, Relationship Building, and 4C’s in Electoral Campaigns, Engaging in Elections and Building Community Power and Building Organising Leadership During Election Mobilisation
- Distributed organising: How To Guide from Blueprints for Change
- Resilience-based organizing, Movement Generation
- Transversal, Translocal and Transnational Organizing: Movement Learning Catalyst: A Guide to Learning for Systemic Change
- Leaderful Organizing
- Scaling Organising: The Incubating and Cascading Approach
- Interactive, Self Paced Mini Courses on Organising: Global Organizing and Leadership Development GOLD
- The Best Organizing Strategy You’ve Never Heard Of: Why Fan Activism Has the Power to Radically Change Our World, Fandom Forward
Manuals
- People Power Manual: The Community Organising Guide, the Change Agency
- Organizing: People, Power, Change, Marshall Ganz
- Climate Resistance Handbook Or, I was Part of a Climate Action. Now What?, Daniel Hunter
- Blueprints for Change Progressive Organizing and Campaigning Manual
- Manual on Local Community Organising, European Changemaker Academy Project
- Rural and Remote Communities Climate Organizing Toolkit
Organising Tactics and Techniques
Conversations and Canvassing
- How to Guide: Persuasive Conversation Campaigns by Blueprints for Change
- Conversation Tips for Stalls, Events & Door Knocking, Holly Hammond
- The Power of Reaching Out to Others: Organizing One on One Meetings, Daniel Hunter
- 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
- The Power of Story: The Story of Self, Us and Now
- Why Stories Matter by Marshall Ganz
- Public Narrative online course by Marshall Ganz
- Reparations Narrative Tools and Resources by BLIS Collective and Liberation Ventures
- Guide to Public Narrative from the Leading Change Network
- Story/Narrative Templates, Worksheets and Checklists
Relational Meetings
- How do I build powerful relationships?, relational meeting training, ChangeMakers Organising School
- Authentic Relational Conversations: Reaching Across Difference to Build a Pro-Democracy Movement, United Vision Project
- 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
- How to do Relational Organizing: Video, Tip Sheet and Work Sheet, Climate Advocacy Lab
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
- Why a Coaching Approach is Better than Command and Control, Powerlabs
- Movement Memo – Developing Strategic Capacity and Cultivating Collective Care: Towards Community Power, Climate Justice Organizing Hub
- Team Effectiveness Conditions Framework
- Movement Support Teams: Examples of Volunteers Supporting Each Other in the Movement, 350.org
- How to organise a local group in your community, Australian Conservation Foundation
- Plugging People In: Orienting New Members & Volunteers to a Local Group, Beyond the Choir
- How to Design Volunteer Jobs to be More Motivating, Randall Smith
- Retain volunteers with intrinsically-motivating work, Joel Dignam
Planning
- The Organizer’s Canvas, Leading Change Network and Ben Hugosson
- Community mapping
Mutual Aid
- Mutual Aid: An Introduction, Josie Sparrow
- How to Make your Community Space into a Hub for Local Resilience and Mutual Aid, Shareable
- Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Workshop Facilitation Guide, Mutual Disaster Aid Mutual Relief
Events
- Community Organising: Event Promotion Tips and Checklist, Australian Conservation Foundation
Case Studies
- Finding the Balance: Community Organising Models in Australia and New Zealand
- Organising in Rising Tide, 2022-24
- Organising! A Remedy for Despair: How Workers at the University of Melbourne won back $45 million in Stolen Wages
- How to Recruit more People: Lessons from Rukiya in 350 Kenya
- Hope & Solidarity in Global Student Movements for Palestine
- Fighting Back Against Authoritarianism in Brazil
- Organizing Occupy Wall Street: This is Just Practice
- Food Activists and Street Kitchens: Cooking Revolutions in the Popular Pot
- Refugees Welcome: An Organising Case Study
- 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
- Guide for Trainers about Organizing, Narrative, Campaign and Movement Building, Leading Change Network
- How to Ensure your Trainings Lead to the Results You Want, PowerLabs
Tired of Reading? Listen and Watch
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- TED talk: The Power of Organizing: Betsy Hoover at TEDxDePaulU
- TED talk: Community organizing, say whaattt??
- Listen to Becky Bond on big organizing
- Thriving Together: The Science of Motivation
- 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
- Democracy Resource Hub: Intermestic Learning Series
Templates, Worksheets and Checklists
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
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.
- Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
Tech Tools for Organising
- Tools Roundup: Apps and digital platforms for Organizers, Blueprints for Change
- Digital Organising Tools to Reach and Recruit Supporters, Social Movement Technologies
- Websites for People-Based Change, Tectonica
- Tech, including Artificial Intelligence, and its Relationship to Movement Politics, Tectonica
- Bluesky 101: How To Guide for Progressives, ECDA
- Tips on using Slack
- Three open source tech tools for your campaigning
- Geographical Information Systems (GIS): A great tool for community organisers
Explore Further
Browse Organising on the Commons Social Change Library.
Attribution CC BY