Resource Type: Field Research

Learn how to improve your advocacy (quickly) with state of the art research techniques. The perennial conflict in research – quality vs. speed – is a compromise no more, with quick-turn-around numeric tools and always-on focus groups you can trust, rigorous public opinion research and detailed audience engagement measures. Join Potential Energy as they share tips on research methodology and tools, and how you can get for-profit insights on a non-profit budget. Find out how to get deeper audience understanding that will make your messages truly connect with your audience for greater impact.

Environmental justice activists that work across a diverse set of issues rank climate justice among their highest priority issues. They overwhelmingly rely on base building, coalitions, and organizing strategies to do their work. In reflecting on the movement’s contemporary approaches, activists articulate the importance of shared frameworks such as climate justice to shift popular narratives and action on climate change. The climate justice frame reflects a critical, intersectional, and reconstructive conceptualization of the climate crisis that requires disrupting the status quo approaches to climate change. This study points to some of the challenges and opportunities ahead for realizing such a contentious and transformative climate justice vision led by EJ activists in a moment of expanding political opportunity and risk.

40 “systems leaders” from across North America and Africa share their insights in this report on the potential and the challenges of advancing systems change. What do we most need, individually and collectively, to really DO the systems change that’s needed? Diverse leaders shared some common experiences and lessons, including: centering equity and inclusion, expanding capabilities, leveraging indigenous wisdom, deepening collaboration, supporting leaders, resourcing systems change, and increasing capacity. Some of their specific conclusions include prioritizing: a diverse range of leaders working at multiple levels and across sectors, a supported and connected field to scale our individual and collective impact, and grounding change in community and centering local voices and expertise. These leaders work in an array of issue areas, such as racial equity, renewable energy, entrepreneurship, local food systems, violence, and more.

Organizing patients in healthcare settings to register to vote can be a successful electoral strategy. During the 2020 presidential election, a small but motivated group of healthcare professionals set a goal to organize, meet with regularly, and support 10,000 people to register to vote. Following the organizing wisdom of Marshal Ganz, this campaign prioritized telling personal narratives and centering relationship-building. A small core team launched this campaign, then recruited a second tier of volunteers and leaders. In the end, the campaign reached 9,800 voters, engaged 35 healthcare professional to actively lead part of the effort, and directly informed 500 health professionals about Vot-ER and the importance of civic engagement.