community organising
Resources for evaluating community organising
Resources for Evaluating Community Organizing (RECO) is a compendium of resources related to evaluating community organizing. RECO is designed to help organizers, funders, and evaluators quickly and easily find the resources to help them learn what is working and what...
Readings on activism and campaigning
A great reading list crowdsourced by the members of the e-Campaigning Forum and research into UK community activism and organising. The list focuses on campaigning and advocacy, values and frames, communication, online activism, community organising, networks, social...
Protecting Manyana
Justin Field’s retrospective on what a little knowledge about community organising, a few simple tools and a group of committed people can do…
Community organising primer
A great resource developed by Randy Stoeker. Includes explanations of how community organising differs from service delivery, advocacy and community development, and exploration of three different models of CO (power, development, and information focused).
What online activism can learn from community organising
Online activism didn’t come out of nowhere. The methods and tactics of online activists — be they individuals or international nonprofits with hundreds of staff — are drawn on social change movements and community organizing strategies that have been tried,...
Politics, protest and performativity: The Broome community’s ‘No Gas on the Kimberly Coast’ campaign
Kathie Muir’s case study focuses on the community campaign against the proposed gas hub development over the 2011 to mid-2012 period. In particular, it considers some of the means through which the various strands of opposition have woven an effective...
Organizing Toolbox: New Organizing Institute
Welcome! Whether you’re here to develop your own skills or to put a training together for others you’ll find videos, templates and resources for your organizing, campaigning and training work. These materials have been developed and refined by organizers...
The future of campaigning
Obama’s win showed how important technology and real grassroots ownership will be in future contests — lessons that KevinPM.com hasn’t understood yet. Nick Moraitis’s analysis of Barrack Obama’s online campaign.
What’s really behind Obama’s ground game?
The “New Organizers” have succeeded in building what many netroots-oriented campaigners have been dreaming about for a decade. Other recent attempts have failed because they were either so “top-down” and/or poorly-managed that they choked...
Introduction to community organizing
EducationAction’s online course, includes a number of articles to provide a comprehensive overview of community organising.
Community building and community organising
Sandy O’Donnell and Ellen Schumer examine the problem of organizing in housing and community development. The Shelterforce website is a great online resource for community organizers.
Class matters
“Often the paid organizers in low-income communities come from professional middle-class backgrounds. I worked as a community organizer for many years, and the class dynamics can be tricky…”
Centre for Australian Progress Fellowship
We train and empower 21st century change agents: campaigners, non-profit managers, and community organisers, who build and serve social change movements. The Fellowship Program is a leadership course for a specific type of leader: people working to change the world...
Community Organising: People power from the grassroots
There are four fundamental strategies available to neighborhood groups to address community problems: community organizing, advocacy, service delivery or development. There is no right or wrong strategy – each organization has to choose among them constantly....
Books to support movement building
The (US) National Organizers Alliance website lists titles on organizing transit riders, lessons from Appalachia, anti-racism, family action, organizer characteristics, and stories of struggle.
Empowering people not elites: Interview with Saul Alinsky, 1972
In the course of nearly four decades of organizing the poor for radical social action, Alinsky has made many enemies, but he has also won the respect, however grudging, of a disparate array of public figures: French philosopher Jacques Maritain has called him “one of...
Saul Alinsky: Community organizing and rules for radicals
Saul David Alinsky (1909-1972) was both a committed organizer and activist (founding the Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago) and an influential writer. His books Reveille for Radicals (1946) and Rules for Radicals (1972) were, and remain, important statements...
10 ways to work together: An organizer’s view
Useful tips and perspective from legendary organiser Dave Beckwith, based on his review of articles on the Comm-Org site.