The Research Study

Please share your experience & insights with us

We are reaching out to social change makers to understand how they are rethinking the leadership and infrastructure needed to build power and create social change. If you are interested in participating, we invite you to participate in a 45-minute interview via Zoom. You can schedule a time to talk with us here.

During our interview, we will ask you: Where are you most challenged? What do you need to lead the work ahead? What does a path to full capacity look like for you and your networks?

As we emphasized in our email, we will keep your and your organization’s information confidential. Our goal is to understand the issues that social change organizations are facing right now and encourage new ways of organizing and supporting the work ahead. As the project progresses, will share updates, resources and findings on this website. Questions? Please reach out anytime.

And thank you. We know that these are really difficult times. We hope that the interview is a chance to take a brief step back, reflect on the present, and imagine new ways forward in the work ahead.

Central issue

Social change organizations are struggling to secure the resources and build or sustain the capacity needed to meet the current moment.

They are being called to protect and prevent the worst outcomes for communities facing relentless attack. Chaotic changes to government and unpredictability in the economy are disrupting carefully built strategies. Increased surveillance and threats are pushing many to focus on protecting what they have built. Dramatic cuts to funding and resources are forcing many to make difficult decisions about staffing and programming.

While extreme, these dilemmas are not entirely new. Years of overlapping crises combined with organized abandonment, hostile government actions, and precarious and inadequate funding have left many organizations under-resourced.

Narrowing the field

For decades, social change organizations have been measured against a narrow definition of nonprofit effectiveness that center stereotypical corporate approaches. We see this most visibly in traditional capacity building models that idealize polite politics and push organizations to emphasize competition over coalition, branding as strategy, rigid hierarchies, elite networks, and transactional relationships with constituents.

These traditional capacity building models have had a profound effect on the entire nonprofit sector. Funders and donors have used them to determine which organizations deserve support. Many educators and consultants have reinforced these practices in their advice to leaders and managers.

We know that social change organizations need a broader set of skills and capacities. Social change requires us to sustain genuine and trusting relationships with constituents, facilitate participation, communicate complex and often highly contested issues, work in coalition, and use a wide range of political and economic strategies.

Experimenting with alternatives

The good news is that many social change organizations are forging ahead despite these narrow ideals:

  • Many are already building power, working in coalitions, fostering solidarity, framing issues, organizing, and mobilizing constituents

  • Some are experimenting with form, turning to alternative legal structures, adopting the practices of cooperatives and mutual aid, or working outside of the formal nonprofit system entirely.

  • Others are working with funders to push for unrestricted funding and redefine what capacity means for social movements and social change today

We are interested in the challenges that you, your organization, and your networks are facing and the ways that you are (or wish to be) rethinking your organization’s capacity. If you are a funder, we are interested in how you are rethinking your approach to leadership development and capacity building.

What do we mean by…

  • Social change makers are people engaged in the visioning and creation of new possible futures for the economic, political, and social well-being of people and the planet.

  • Social change organizations (SCOs) are critical locations for organizing and realizing the goals of social change makers and broader publics.

    We take an expansive approach, viewing SCOs as part of a larger ecosystem of the work for social change:

    • Some SCOs deliberately work outside of systems, focusing on protest, resistance, and building alternatives to the 501c system. Some SCOs work inside of more formal settings to organize, advocate and lobby for changes in governance and policy. We are interested in organizations using outsider and/or insider strategies.

    • SCOs use a spectrum of strategies and tactics to make change. We are interested in organizations using any combination of community building, service, advocacy, organizing, and protest.

    • While protests and campaigns are higher profile, SCOs are also doing the less visible work of building infrastructure, communications, and networks. Some are redesigning their organizational practices to align with their political values and goals. We recognize all of this work as crucial for social change.

  • Capacity is the ability for an organization to deliver on its mission and vision now and in the future.

    Traditionally, nonprofit capacity building has focused on growing an organization’s infrastructure and strengthening the competencies and skills of the staff and board.