• Do you have sufficient resources and capacity?
• How will you engage different constituencies and interest groups?
• Keys to success
• Red flags
• What else do you need to know?

Do you have sufficient resources and capacity? back to top

A number of different costs and capacities can come into play with organizing. They include:

• Organizers. Who will take lead responsibility for coordinating the effort? Recruit others? Convene meetings? Manage conflicts? Follow up on next steps?
• Staff. Who can share the load so that the lead organizer is not overwhelmed and volunteers are not overtaxed?
• Volunteers. What’s your record in recruiting volunteers?
• Research. Who can help get the facts about the problem and develop possible solutions?
• Materials. Do you have basic supplies? Access to photocopying for reproducing flyers and other written materials?
• Lawyers. If you plan to engage in public protests or civil disobedience, do you know any lawyers who will provide pro bono assistance?
• Time. This is the biggest expense in an organizing effort—and there’s never enough of it for the work that needs to be done.

To further assess your organizing capacity, scan the “Task and Skill Check List” in Basics of Organizing: You Can’t Build a Machine Without Nuts and Bolts, available at http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgbas.html.

How will you engage different constituencies and interest groups? back to top

A broad coalition will be stronger than a narrow one. Numbers count. A coalition of many organizations will have more clout than a coalition of just a few. So does breadth. A coalition that is broadly representative (organizations representing seniors, women, youth, consumers, ethnic groups, different geographic communities, professions, and businesses) will be perceived as more powerful than a coalition of organizations from one segment of the community. Policy makers and the media will take notice of unusual alliances (for example, conservative and liberal organizations, business and consumer groups, ranchers and environmentalists, developers and community-based organizations). A coalition consisting of organizations with diverse constituencies can also demonstrate that there is a consensus on the problem and how to solve it.

Keys to success back to top

A good organizer. You want someone leading the organizing effort who is disciplined, can maintain focus while handling a range of assignments and responsibilities, knows his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and, most important, has the ability to make genuine connections that win people’s trust and respect, secure their involvement, and empower them to participate and take leadership in the effort.
Always be scouting and developing leadership. Social change is challenging, long-term work that requires ongoing leadership. Over time, people come and go. You need a systematic plan for identifying and nurturing new and ongoing leadership. Ask yourself: Will other people follow this person? Will she or he take suggestions and directions from others? Will he or she assume responsibility? For more on identifying and developing leadership, see “Identifying Leaders” and “Leadership Development” in Basics of Organizing: You Can’t Build a Machine Without Nuts and Bolts, available at http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgbas.html, and Leadership for Policy Change, a PolicyLink report, available at http://www.policylink.org/pdfs/LeadershipForPolicyChange.pdf.

Red flags back to top

Working with vulnerable populations and potentially punitive situations. Special considerations come into play when you are organizing with youth, undocumented immigrants, and individuals who might be harmed if their identities were revealed (e.g., patients, employees, and persons with open court cases or criminal records or who are on probation). If you are organizing for direct action, is there a risk that people who participate could be arrested, fined, lose a job, benefit, permit or license, or suffer some other punitive sanction? How will you advise people of the risks? Take adequate precautions for their protection? More on this later in Choosing tools and tactics.
Mobilizing communities of color to challenge leadership of color. Communities of color are sometimes hesitant to proceed or less willing to be publicly critical when the target of the organizing effort is also a person of color. This presents a difficult choice for community leaders who fear losing hard-earned gains or feel that the current situation is likely better than the alternative. There’s no easy answer to this dilemma. It may require you to consider different tactics or simply move forward without everyone you had hoped to have on your side.

What else do you need to know? back to top

There’s a wealth of detailed information about organizing including in such books as Organizing for Social Change by the Midwest Academy, available at http://www.midwestacademy.com, and in numerous how-to organizing manuals that are also available online. Start with the Ruckus Society resources page at http://ruckus.org/resources/index.html, where you will find a number of manuals, tools, and links to other sites. Two publications that offer helpful overviews and tips are Basics of Organizing: You Can’t Build a Machine Without Nuts and Bolts, available at http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgbas.html, and Dynamics of Organizing, available at http://www.tenant.net/Organize/orgdyn.html. You can also call an organizing network in your area, such as ACORN (http://www.acorn.org, or look into training workshops for organizers, such as The Midwest Academy (http://www.midwestacademy.com), Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) (http://www.ctwo.org), Highlander Research and Education Center (http://www.highlandercenter.org/about.asp), and the National Training and Information Center (http://www.ntic-us.org).