A compendium of tips for using AI with a focus on fundraising, from a fundraising vendor.

Climate coalition work is still hard, so we want to help you out. Join the Climate Advocacy Lab as we premiere the Second Edition of the Blueprint for a Multiracial, Cross-Class Climate Movement Report and Workbook.

UPDATED FOR THE SECOND EDITION!

UPDATED FOR THE SECOND EDITION!

This workbook is meant to help you apply the
recommendations to your organizing practice and culture. Whether you’re currently involved in a multiracial, cross-class climate coalition, thinking about starting one, or evaluating a past coalition, we hope this workbook clarifies for you and your partners the breadth of considerations and decisions you will likely face.

Power mapping supports organizers in understanding the stakeholders within their campaign. This resource offers step by step instructions and tips for power mapping your campaign.

Since 2018, the Climate Advocacy Lab has distributed Climate Justice Microgrants to 25 environmental justice and climate justice organizations around the United States who are doing powerful work to protect and improve their communities.

This resource delves into the critical role of power in achieving social change, highlighting the necessity of understanding, challenging, and transforming power dynamics. It outlines various forms of power, including "power over," "power within," "power with," and "power to," discussing their implications in movement building. Power within: to dream, believe in oneself, hope, create and solve problems. Without it, we do not speak out and step up. Sometimes we believe this is the most unstoppable form of power. Power with: finding common ground with others, building solidarity on reciprocity and love, knowing, and respecting differences, and working together for a common purpose and ideals. Power to: make change, change lives, and make a difference in the world one step at a time; even the power to think, imagine, be silent, and resist the status quo. Power for: the combined vision, values and demands that orient our work and hold the seeds of the world we seek to create. The framework underscores the importance of recognizing and addressing visible, hidden, and invisible power structures to create equitable societies. JASS provides tools and methodologies for activists to build and mobilize power effectively in their advocacy efforts.

This resource can equip activists with the skills necessary to map and comprehend power structures effectively. The training emphasizes visualizing relationships among stakeholders, identifying key influencers, and developing strategic approaches to engage them. Participants learn to clearly define their campaign goals and navigate complex power dynamics, which is crucial for effective advocacy. This structured approach to power analysis aims to enhance the impact and success of social change initiatives. Power mapping is a method which visualizes how power is exercised across the whole playing field, allowing you to target key players and forward plan tactics for maximum impact. Determine who is anchoring decision-makers against you, how you can weaken this hold to sustain the change you are working to achieve.

When developing and carrying out a nonviolent campaign for social change, organizers need to consider steps for increasing the pressure on those whose actions or decisions are opposed. There are lots of ways a movement can escalate a conflict while remaining nonviolent. In Ebert's model, the first stage of a nonviolent campaign emphasizes bringing an issue into the public sphere. In the second stage, the campaign increases public pressure by staging legal forms of non-cooperation (strikes, consumer boycotts, slow-downs) as well as innovative lawful activities (fair trade initiatives, alternative economy structures, nonviolent intervention). The third stage of escalation uses nonviolent civil disobedience as both a protest and as a form of civil usurpation. Of course, there are more ways to escalate a campaign than increasing the level of non-cooperation or developing constructive alternatives. Perhaps the most common are escalation through increasing numbers of participants, increased length of public protests (think of people occupying a public square to protest against a repressive regime for many weeks) or a wider variety of participants.

Here is a comprehensive framework for understanding power dynamics through "power analysis." It introduces concepts such as "power over," "power within," "power with," and "power to," elucidating various facets of power in societal contexts. The analysis emphasizes the necessity of recognizing visible, hidden, and invisible forms of power to effectively address social inequalities. This resource serves as a vital tool for activists and policymakers, enabling them to strategize interventions that promote equity and inclusion by transforming existing power structures. The first step in creating a power map is to define the goal, vision, or interest that you are going to focus on in your analysis. After placing individuals and organizations on the map, you might be able to see some patterns and relationships. Power mapping can enhance your group’s understanding of the political context and your ability to think strategically. It can also build trust and shared understanding between participants in the group as they work together to develop each step of the research, discussion, and mapping process.