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Want to Change the World?

START AN ACTIVIST GROUP

Want to Change the World?

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Want to change the world? Start an activist group

If I had said to you in January 1989 that the Soviet

Union wouldn’t exist at Christmas, you would have

thought I’m mad. But the Berlin Wall fell, and

that’s what happened.

Those who tell you ‘nothing will ever change’ are

wrong. History is not inevitable.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed citizens can change the world; indeed,

it’s the only thing that ever has.” This quote by

social scientist Margaret Mead is often cited to

remind us we’re powerful. But this quote is also

telling us that to be powerful we cannot work

alone.

That’s why building activist organizations is so

important. Activist groups are gateways for

people to join our cause. When we work together

we are stronger, and we are more likely to

overcome the fear, doubt, and apathy that drags us

down when we venture into the risky unknown to

build the society we dream about.

JESSICA BELL

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So here’s some tips on how to create a great activist group.

1Be ready to do way more than you think.

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In 2006, I was working on an environmental campaign

that I no longer thought was strategic. Our team was

getting voluntary commitments from companies to

stop logging in endangered forests but we weren’t

enforcing these commitments or properly thinking

through what institution or government would be able

to do so. It’s hard to convince people to take action

when you no longer believe in your strategy.

I decided to start an activist organization because I

wanted to be an effective activist. I also wanted more

responsibility and a real challenge. And I wanted the

freedom to experiment.

I decided to launch a group that would challenge the

laws that give corporations power, such as the right to

free speech. I hadn’t worked on this issue before but

I was very enthusiastic. I tested the idea with a friend

who gently suggested that it was very ambitious and

vague. Undeterred, I organized a founding meeting. I

email-invited some friends and activists I knew who

were interested in tackling corporate power. I set the

agenda, printed out handouts, and bought snacks

and drinks. At 6pm I sat in my lounge room, circled

by empty chairs, and waited for my future members

to arrive. But the door bell never rang. I gave up that

night. I didn’t yet have the humility and dedication to

overcome this little obstacle, learn from my mistakes,

and persevere.

Starting an activist group takes time and courage.

Migrant Workers Alliance for Change organizer, Hussan

Syed, recommends doing some serious thinking

before you take action. He suggests asking yourself

questions like why do you want to do this, how is your

liberation connected to this struggle, and what’s going

to motivate you to stick around.

You need to be ready to make a minimum two year

commitment to building an activist group. If you

don’t have that time then volunteer for an established

activist group instead.

As this short and funny TEDx video reveals, followers

are just as valuable as leaders.

The next time I launched an activist organization I

was prepared. It took me and my co-founders over

three years of volunteering to build up the training

organization, Tools for Change, to the point where

the group had stable funding and staff. And we were

successful.

You need to be ready to make a minimum two year commitment to building an activist group. If you don’t have that time then volunteer for an established activist group instead.

2Choose a

great idea.

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The best way to make sure your idea for an

organization is a good one is to know the issue. Ideally,

you’ve worked on the issue before, you’ve studied it

extensively, and you have relationships with those who

are actively involved or impacted by the problem you

seek to address.

I like to test my specific idea with people who are

involved or impacted by the issue. I set up one-on-one

meetings, and in the meeting I tell the person about my

idea, and ask them questions like:

• Do you see a need for this campaign or project?

• What’s the history of this issue? Have folks won

on this issue before? What did they win?

• Is this the best way to bring about real,

meaningful change?

• How passionately do people care

about this issue?

• How would I improve this idea?

• What opportunities and concerns

should I consider?

• Who else is working on this issue?

• Who else should I be talking to?

• Who do you think should be

involved in this group?

• Are you interested in being involved?

• Do you have any other feedback?

These conversations will help you decide whether your

project is worth pursuing, how it can be improved, and

who you should invite to join.

When my partner and I were considering launching

Tools for Change we talked to a few folks and

discovered that a student activist organization based

at the University of Toronto, OPIRG Toronto, was

considering starting a training program as well. We

met with the coordinator at OPIRG Toronto, Clare

O’Connor, and decided to start the training program

together. Thanks to our initial research we became

collaborators, not competitors.

Our conversations with others also helped us assess

and decide upon a good training model. We chose to

organize about 20 or so public half-day workshops in

Toronto because it was a very cheap way to deliver

trainings (our expenses were about $4000 a year)

and no other group was regularly offering activist

training in the area. We also set up the program as a

training-coalition; organizations could join Tools for

Change if they contributed money and helped organize

a few workshops a year. In return, their members and

volunteers got to attend workshops for free. We felt

this was a sensible approach because we knew that

many organizations didn’t have the time to manage

their own internal training program but needed to build

up the capacity of their volunteers.

3Handpick

your team.

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When building an organization, my preference is to

start small and individually invite some key people

to join a founding committee. This committee is

responsible for building the group’s structure and

making key decisions.

We started transit advocacy organization, TTCriders,

with just four people. We then quickly recruited five

more people to join a caretaker steering committee.

I think 5-10 people is a good number to start with.

Expect to invite at least double the number of people

you need because many will say no.

I look for people who know the issue and have

experience with campaigning, governance, financial

management, or fundraising. I like choosing people

who are fairly easy to work with and understand how

to make decisions with others. Lone wolf activists are

not the type of person you need at this stage.

I look for people who have time to give. I once was part

of an all-volunteer activist group of very experienced

activists in the San Francisco Area; we had so much

potential. The problem was only one or two of us were

willing to dedicate time to this particular group. Not

surprisingly, the group quickly fell apart.

I also look for all people who are directly impacted

by the issue so the organization can be accountable

to those who most seek to gain from our work. In

the case of TTCriders, we recruited people who used

public transit, as well as people who lived in areas

that had bad public transit, specifically Scarborough

and Etobicoke, and who were low income, including

students and seniors. Think through who is most

impacted by your issue and how you can bring them in

at this early stage.

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Make a fewgood decisions.

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Now that you have identified your founding team

members, it’s time to have a few meetings to make

some key decisions so your organization’s structure

and purpose can be established. Then you can bring in

more people.

Here’s why this is important. In 2011, I attended the

founding public meeting of Occupy Toronto. The

meeting took place in a park, and over 200 people

came. The enthusiasm was so inspiring. I was asked by

an organizer to facilitate the meeting. I said no. I knew

the meeting would be very difficult, and it was. The

facilitator lost control of the meeting. People did not

stay on topic, spoke out of turn, and shouted over each

other. The meeting went for hours, and many left in

frustration, including myself.

Issues of decision making and governance plagued

Occupy Toronto throughout the movement’s

month long occupation of a downtown park. While

the occupation brought the problem of inequality

and unfettered capitalism to the limelight I wasn’t

surprised to see the movement fail to create the

sustainable organizations that we need to take this

momentum to the next level.

You cannot make great decisions if you don’t have

a decision making process or a clear understanding

of who is part of your group and who isn’t. And you

cannot make a plan if you do not have a shared vision.

In the case of TTCriders we made the following

decisions before recruiting more members.

We decided on our vision. Your vision should be one

sentence long and should explain the purpose of the

organization. TTCriders’ vision is to build a democratic

group of transit riders that campaigns for a world-class

public transit system.

Second, we set up our group structure. We set up two

committees. Our board was responsible for upholding

our vision, budgeting, finances, and fundraising.

Our campaigns committee was responsible for our

programs. We also agreed to make decisions using

a 66% vote. I think a consensus decision making

process, which is where everyone must agree, is too

difficult to achieve in big groups because your process

could be stymied if one member opposes a proposal.

That said, I like 66% more than securing a 51% simple

majority vote because it’s way easier to implement a

You cannot make great decisions if you don’t have a decision making process or a clear understanding of who is part of your group and who isn’t. And you cannot make a plan if you do not have a shared vision.

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decision if it’s supported by most people in the group.

We also decided how people could join or leave our

organization and each committee. For example,

board members must apply, be approved by our

board, agree to our board agreements and vision,

stick around for at least a year, and pay membership

dues, which start at $35 a year. Folks that don’t come

to enough meetings, violate our vision, or who are

extremely difficult to work with can be voted out by

the board.

Having a clear ‘who is in, and who is out’ policy is

super important. Problems arise when people are

allowed to come to a meeting, vote on topics they

know little about, and then can walk away from the

responsibility of living with the decision.

TTCriders’ structure has evolved and expanded since

our founding. But we needed some kind of foundation

at the beginning to build upon.

If you’re establishing a chapter group the national

group probably has bylaws and procedures that you

can take and adapt.

If you need to convince members about the

importance of setting up a structure get them to read

Joanna Freeman’s article called the

“Tyranny of Structurelessness”.

If you’re responsible for developing your group’s

structure then I strongly encourage you to read

George Lakey’s book called

“Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership: A Guide

for Organizations in Changing Times”.

For information on facilitating meetings read my

guide called “Seven tips to facilitating an effective

meeting”.

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Decide what you’re

going to work on.

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Now that you’ve got your people, your vision, and your

structure you need to decide what you’re actually

going to do.

Now choosing a campaign is not clearcut: it’s an

iterative process that requires developing an idea,

gathering information, getting feedback, and then

repeating the process.

This is how TTCriders chose its campaign. Our

campaigns committee brainstormed a list of

campaigns we each wanted TTCriders to work on.

We then broke out into small teams, with each team

being responsible for writing a one-page report on one

campaign. The report outlined the campaign’s goals,

why it was important, and the campaign’s strengths

and weaknesses. Each team then presented their

findings to the entire group, and then we debated

and voted on which campaign we should prioritize

over others.

Once we’d chosen a priority campaign we then fleshed

out our demands and our strategy. We had already

agreed we wanted to lower fares, but now we needed

to decide how much fares should be reduced (20 cents

for all, free for people on social assistance, and $50 a

month for low income workers) and how much this

would cost governments to introduce (at least $240

million). We also needed to decide who was going

to be our target and what tactics and strategies we

wanted to employ. We decided to target the province

and the city using grassroots organizing and media

work.

Throughout this process we continually gathered

information from allies, city staff, elected officials and

their staff, and transit riders. Once we had a draft

plan and demands, we hosted an hour long meeting

so transit riders and our allies could give very specific

feedback and ask questions.

An activist’s enthusiasm is always greater than their

ability to take action. Many of us wanted to launch two

or maybe three of our most popular campaign choices,

instead of limiting ourselves to just one campaign.

Don’t do this! The toughest issue we faced throughout

this process was deciding how many campaigns to

launch. If you’re an all volunteer group do not choose

to launch more than one campaign, at least for the first

year. Campaigning requires focus and persistence in

the face of apathy, indifference, and attacks from your

opponents. Every time you launch a campaign you’re

dividing your energy and therefore increasing your

chances of losing both campaigns. Stay united.

An activist’s enthusiasm is always

greater than their ability to take

action. Many of us wanted to

launch two or maybe three of our

most popular campaign choices,

instead of limiting ourselves to just

one campaign. Don’t do this!

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In fact, many of you will not have the people-power

to even launch one campaign. The reality is successful

advocacy campaigns can easily take two or more

years of dedicated campaigning to yield results. You’re

wasting your time if you launch and then ditch a

campaign before you win some improvements.

If you’re not sure you have the capacity to launch your

own campaign then support an existing campaign run

by another organization. They will be grateful for

your help.

Supporting established campaigns can be an

extremely useful effort for a local group. For instance,

your group could organize local actions for a national

or international day of action, such as those hosted

by climate advocacy organization, 350.org. Or you

could organize a local talk for a national speaking tour.

National groups like 350.org, Amnesty International,

Oxfam, Council of Canadians, Greenpeace, and Lead

Now, have the capacity to support local chapters

and groups.

If you’re not sure you have the capacity to launch your own campaign then support an existing campaign run by another organization. They will be grateful for your help.

Want to deepen your campaigning skills? I

recommend Minieri and Getsos’s book called

“Tools for Radical Democracy”.

TTCriders’ research process was inspired by the work of

union organizer, Jane McAlevey; her research methods

are documented in her book “Raising Expectations”.

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TTCriders members hand out postcards near the TTC station closest to Premier Wynne’s house to encourage her to give more funding to public transit on the eve of the release of the 2015 provincial budget. This action was one of dozens and dozens we have executed as part of our campaign to get the city and province to fairly fund public transit.

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Money matters.

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“Groups that have gotten big quickly understand

the value of money and the need to grow,” says

Anna Keenan. Anna was responsible for sharing

best practices and helping Greenpeace International

build its volunteer base. Anna believes that it’s

partly our attitude that’s stopping us from seeing

the value of money in building activist organizations.

“There’s a real fear of money, especially for people

who have strong social justice values and a strong

critique of capitalism,” she says. “There’s also this

perception that groups do not need money but they

do, and they’d save time if they committed to a good

fundraising plan instead of scrounging for resources,”

she says.

I agree with Anna. I like to raise enough money to hire

a staff person because staff can coordinate the team,

raise more funds, do finances and all those other

tasks that volunteers often don’t want to do. Even if

your goal is to stay a volunteer group you’ll still need

money for expenses like printing, website and email

list hosting, travel costs, and more. $2000 is a decent

yearly budget for a local grassroots group.

There’s tonnes of resources out there on how

grassroots groups can raise money, and one of

the best is the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising

Training. In my experience, raising money from

foundations is a waste of time for small grassroots

organizations. Foundations usually give to groups

that have charitable status and a long track record of

success. Try more grassroots-people based strategies,

like asking your members to pay dues. TTCriders

members must pay $35 a year to be a voting

members. Other practical grassroots strategies

include passing the hat at events you organize,

organizing a house party, and making fundraising

pitches for specific costs via email and social media.

It’s wise to set up a fundraising committee; but make

sure that committee engages everyone in the work of

fundraising.

IMAGE BELOW: TTCriders supporters at TTCriders first annual

fundraiser. Members paid $25 to enter, and could also bid on

raffle prizes. Our volunteers gave presentations, sold alcohol,

made and served the food, and did registration. Our fundraiser

got media attention as well, because we issued awards to the

year’s Transit Champion (TTC CEO Andy Byford) and Transit Troll

(former Prime Minister, Stephen Harper).

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Grow well.

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The most brilliant people have volunteered with

TTCriders, and then they’ve left to have kids, take

great jobs in another province, start a masters degree

and more. This is common.

In order to survive, almost all advocacy groups

should be constantly recruiting and empowering new

members.

Consider launching an outreach team of a few

people who can prioritize making friends with and

mentoring new members. Set an outreach goal,

such as inviting two new potential members to every

meeting. Individually select and encourage people

to take on specific leadership positions, such as being

a committee chair or joining the board. People like

titles. Our members really took more ownership

over TTCriders once we set up committee chairs.

Being a chair involves setting the agenda, reminding

people to do tasks, and keeping track of who is in the

committee.

It helps to make your organization welcoming

by having food and drink at your meetings, and

encouraging folks to come early and stay late so they

can chat and catch up with fellow members. People

are way more likely to stay in a group if they’re friends

with their colleagues.

Provide training. At its most basic, you can provide

mentorship where a more experienced person teams

up with a less experienced person to complete a task

together. You can also organize little workshops on

topics on an as-needed basis, such as doing a lecture

on austerity and government budgeting during the

budget process, for example, or hosting a training on

how to write a press release just prior to a

press conference.

Recruit and empower members in an anti-oppressive

way. Hussan Syed says NOII has developed many

practices to recruit and empower their women of

colour and migrant worker members. These practices

include giving their women of colour and migrant

worker members important roles, such as committee

chairs, and spokespeople. NOII also gives extra

weight to opinions brought up by these members at

meetings, and schedules meetings and trainings to

best suit the schedule of these members as well.

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My absolute favourite book on building leadership in

an anti-oppressive way is Rinku Sen’s book “Stir It Up:

Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy”.

Once day you’ll be leaving the group too, and you

don’t want your departure to be the start of the

group’s decline, but rather a celebration of all that

you’ve accomplished.

TTCriders leader, Jennifer Huang, speaking at a rally outside the Minister of Transportation’s office.

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Jessica Bell is the executive director of public transit advocacy group, TTCriders, co-founder of training group, Tools for Change, and an instructor in advocacy and government relations at Ryerson University. Want some help starting your own group? You can contact her at jessicambell@gmail.com.

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