As social change organizations endure curveballs that up-end their work, many don’t pay enough attention to “process knowledge”: conserving organizational knowledge of how results actually get achieved. “Process knowledge” is understanding beyond the instruction manual. It is the combination of the written text and the “sub-text” of environmental factors, past experiences, and knowing-who-to-call-at-8pm to get …
Continue reading “Build Process Knowledge for Organizational Resilience”
In a chaotic social and political environment, “defensive” social change tactics dominate strategy conversations. It’s logical that pro-democracy advocates are deep in the trenches on mutual defense and litigation. But a growing group of experts agree that leaders also must act to support “affirmative” social change. The future will not wait for activists to be …
Continue reading “Social Change Innovation is Essential Now: Take Steps to Better Support It”
Autumn has tightened its chilly grip, and that means one thing – the US Supreme Court is back in session. In 2025-2026 the US Supreme Court will consider the Trump administration’s attempted evisceration of birthright citizenship, a challenge to a majority-Black Louisiana Congressional district, and whether a Colorado law barring “conversion therapy” violates the First …
As 2025 unfolds, more social change philanthropies are providing “flexible funding” or “rapid response” grants to help grantees address chaotic times. Flexible funding / rapid response is a lifeline for many nonprofits and the communities they serve. It also provides valuable lessons about community needs and effective responses that philanthropies, advocates, and organizers can use …
Continue reading ““Flexible Funding” / Rapid Response Evaluation: a Field Example”
Recently my compost container’s carbon filter needed replacing. I grabbed a little Philips to detach the filter from the container’s plastic lid. The screwdriver size seemed right. But when I tried it on the tiny screws, they wouldn’t budge. Wrong tool, I thought. Our local hardware store knows everything about tools. They can get me …
Continue reading “Increase Your Strategy Plan’s Resilience & Flexibility”
“Defensive” periods are critically hard for social change activists. There are the “normal” challenges of organizing and advocacy: people, resources, time. There’s exhaustion, and a high emotional toll. On top of this, supporters can struggle to articulate how defense promotes their goals – goals that almost always were created with policy progress in mind. In …
Continue reading ““Defensive advocacy”: Analyzing impact and communicating it effectively”
Fine Gauge Strategy drafts case statements for advocacy organizations, campaigns, and coalitions. Here’s a few groups whose challenges we’ve helped address in recent years: We’ve learned a great deal from these clients about creating a case statement that helps funders and supporters connect the prospective grantee’s mission and goals with theirs. This month, we’ve put …
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(1) Litigation as “storyboard.” Litigation in 2017-2020 (which, among other things, challenged harsh enforcement such as the Muslim Ban and “public charge”) protected vulnerable communities. It also was used by advocates as an effective “hook” to shape narrative, support organizing, and encourage policymakers to act. Organizers helped ensure that media reported on courtroom hearings and …
In Summary: Funder collaboratives are often valuable to member philanthropies in navigating turbulent political and policy periods. When considering joining a collaborative, here are three categories of questions to keep in mind:How will the collaborative keep me up-to-date on fast-changing developments and their implications for my work? Does the collaborative support new / emerging organizations …
Continue reading “Questions to Ask Funder Collaboratives About Work in Turbulent Times”
I was leaving a March 2023 Nonprofit Consultants Network (NCN) meeting when I joined a small group of colleagues who were catching up. An event planner I’d long admired was describing a service she developed after COVID wiped the nonprofit gala season off everyone’s calendars. It was such a savvy business pivot. How did she …
Continue reading “We Built an Innovation Accelerator: Here’s What We Learned”
