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 things done.
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 “ready.” If more inclusive and equitable policies are to emerge this year, next year, or any time soon, the work that nurtures them has to happen now.
Social-change innovation is challenging, but not mysterious. The key conditions that foster innovation have been well-explored in analogous contexts.
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 Amendment.
Litigation experts will seek community-based organizations (CBOs) to join amicus briefs that illustrate how marginalized communities are harmed by restricting rights in these and other areas.
Continue reading “It’s Amicus Season: Make the Most of It”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 to improve their work.
“Doing” rapid response organizing and service-provision is uniquely challenging. Evaluating these services also poses unique challenges (for evaluators, the staff whose projects are being evaluated, and the philanthropies who often are commissioners of the evaluation).
In 2017, Fine Gauge Strategy was asked by a national social change philanthropy to help them assess their inaugural rapid response grantmaking program.
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A brief primer on how Fine Gauge Strategy undertook this 2017 rapid response evaluation and the lessons we took from it is available on the Fine Gauge Strategy resources page. We hope it’s helpful. We appreciate any comments you may have.
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 the right one.
As I stood at the store counter, the owner handed me the magnifying glass he was using to inspect the container lid. “Wrong approach,” he said. “Those are security screws. They’re meant to keep you from removing them. You can use a special screwdriver to pry them out, but you’ll ruin the lid. And there’s no need. See here, pinch the filter in the center, pull hard, and it slides out.”
Got it. I had a “good” tool, what I lacked was solid knowledge of the nature of the problem.
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 the late 2010s, thought-leaders at Democracy Fund and ORS Impact wrestled with this problem: How to think and talk strategically about “impact” when accomplishments are defensive? Their work – which adroitly defines categories of defensive advocacy and the significance of each — is a must-read for people wrestling with this issue.
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 many of these lessons in a case statement tool that can be downloaded from our Resources page.
Continue reading “Seeking Funding or Other Support? A Crisp Case Statement Can Help”(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 judges’ rulings, and that outlets consulted community members and allies when doing so. Advocates used rulings to seek action from legislators as well as statements of support from influential institutions and the public. Courtroom hearings provided physical and virtual rallying points for affected community members.
Continue reading “Lessons & Resources from 2017-2020”| 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 and “rapid response” grantmaking, and, if so, how? How does the collaborative help grantees build or strengthen relationships with other organizations and funders? |
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 develop it? What challenges did she face?
As I walked to the T, I wondered if other NCN members would be interested in the answers to these questions.
The seed was planted for an innovation “accelerator”: The NCN Business Innovation Circle (BIC).
Continue reading “We Built an Innovation Accelerator: Here’s What We Learned”