Activist


A person who diligently and repeatedly tries to achieve some social, economic, or political objective, especially by creating pressure through protest, organizing other people, voicing public dissent, and/or engaging in acts of resistance.

Advocacy

Involves working to achieve change on a particular issue by seeking to influence public policy – including laws, regulations and government practices. Advocacy work can include community organizing and grassroots mobilization, policy development, lobbying, and campaigning. Systemic advocacy involves working for long-term social changes to ensure collective rights and interests are served through legislation, policies and practices.

Ally

A person, group, or institution that is working together with another person, group, or institution for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose.

Campaign

An organized sequence of tactics as part of a strategy directed at a certain target, which is designed to achieve a specific goal.

Campaign Action Plan

The work plan for different projects or phases of a campaign. Campaign Strategy
A theory/plan for the process of turning the resources we have into the power we need to get what we want. The written collection of ideas, information, analysis, theory, and plans to make a campaign happen. Campaign strategy will guide what you do and it should be updated regularly as the campaign is implemented and the situation changes.

Further Readings: Elements of Campaign Strategy

Capacity

The ability of people, institutions, movements, and/or societies to perform functions, solve problems, and set and achieve objectives. It can also refer to an individual's or a team's availability of resources (including time) that limit their ability to perform functions.

Community Mapping

A visual tool used to identify the community impacted by the injustices being addressed based on our campaign.

Community Organizer

A person who identifies, recruits, and develops the leadership of others; builds community around that leadership; and builds power from the resources of that community. Organizers bring people together, challenging them to act on behalf of their shared values and beliefs. The community organizer is fundamentally about developing and unleashing the primary source of power available: ourselves. Community Organizing
The process of identifying, training, and mobilizing large numbers of citizens, and activists to enable the community to come together and get involved in the struggle to protect America’s environment.

Further Readings: Organizing Guide: People, Power, Change

Demonstration

A public action intended to communicate opposition to certain policies or practices and sometimes support for alternative policies and practices. Such action often takes place in a highly visible location and may be conducted by an individual, but ordinarily is conducted by a group. Demonstrations are a type of tactic for the campaign.

Direct Action

An intervention or effort taken by an individual or group to directly change a situation, rather than expecting or asking for other individuals or groups to intervene on their behalf.

Equity

Recognizes systems, practices, and policies that limit the full participation of marginalized groups within society; understands that people have different privileges, resources, and circumstances that require different amounts of support to be met with fair opportunities.

Further Readings: Talking about Race: Racial Equity Resources

Facilitation/Facilitator

A leadership skill that empowers and enables a group to achieve their purpose.  Facilitation is about taking responsibility for making meetings as easy and effective as possible. Meeting facilitation combines a series of roles and tasks. For example: keeping people on topic; listening carefully to what everyone is saying so no-one’s points get lost; suggesting techniques for creative problem-solving; and supporting the group to address a conflict if it arises.

Further Readings: Facilitating Meetings: A Guide to Making your Meetings Effective, Inclusive, and Enjoyable, Facilitation Tools and Techniques

Goal

The aim or purpose toward which a campaign is directed. Goals are the longer-term changes you want to achieve. Achievement of your goals brings you closer to your vision. Goals are sometimes interchangeably referred to as objectives. Goals and objectives should be SMARTIE: Strategic, measurable, achievable, resourced, time-bound, inclusive, and equitable.

Grassroots

Relating to originating from, or involving common or ordinary people. In contrast to the leadership or elite of a social organization, political party, or other group or institution.  The grassroots is often composed of directly impacted constituents.

Intersectionality

Understanding how systems of oppression like racism, sexism, ableism, and classism connect to one another, combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.

Further Readings: The Urgency of Intersectionality (TED talk)
Climate Justice needs an Intersectional Approach: Toolkit

Justice Framework

A framework that recognizes the root causes of problems in systems of oppression and strives to dismantle these systems.

Leadership

An individual’s or group’s ability to lead others, which often includes the ability to direct, inspire, motivate, communicate effectively, organize, mobilize, strategize, and execute wise decisions. There are 5 important practices for effective leadership: Creating a shared story, creating shared relational commitments, creating a shared structure, creating a shared strategy, and creating shared measurable actions.

Further Readings: Community Organizing Leadership in Uncertain Times
Leading Change: Leadership, Organization, and Social Movements

Leadership Development

The practice of building people’s capacity to act on their goals and achieve their purpose. Moving a person from being an action-taker to an action-maker. Leadership development without leadership identification is like riding a bicycle without wheels. Leadership development is one of the most important things an organizer does.  A movement’s strength stems from its capacity and commitment to develop leadership and in the snowflake model, everyone is responsible for identifying, recruiting, and developing leaders.

Leadership Identification

The practice of assessing people’s leadership potential by determining their motivations, skills, capacity, commitment, emotional and cultural intelligence.

Mobilization

The act of organizing a group of people and resources, and/or taking collective action, in pursuit of a particular objective. Often used interchangeably with turnout.

Movement Building

When individuals and communities working to address common injustices realize that their struggles are related and that their shared vision is more likely to be realized by working together. Movements are created by establishing formal and informal relationships between individuals, communities, and organizations working on achieving similar goals, building trust, and supporting each others’ efforts.

Opponent

A group, institution, government, or specific individual who competes or fights against others in a contest, game, argument, or struggle for power and control.

Power

The capacity of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine who gets what, who does what, who decides what, and who sets the agenda. Power is the ability to achieve purpose. Analyzing power and power structures is at the heart of community organizing and campaign strategy development. Organizing power is a relational tool that builds long term transformation.  Despite the many negative associations and memories we have about power (mostly its misuse), power isn't good or bad, and it is necessary. Power is about having choice and control.

Further Readings: The Little Book of Power
Power and Power Mapping: Start Here
It's All About Power: A Guide to Thinking Differently about Power for Solidarity in Social Change
Quotes about Power

Power Building

The process of increasing the power of your team.  Recruiting new volunteers, developing the skills and leadership ability of existing volunteers, and fundraising are all ways to build your power.         

People Power

1. The use of civil resistance by large numbers of mobilized people in a society.
2. The “capacity of a mobilized population using forms of struggle to make political and social change.”       

Political Power

The capacity or ability to determine and implement official policies and practices for a society by directing or influencing the course of events or the behavior of others.

Power Mapping

A visual tool used to identify the best individuals to target, influence, or ally with for a successful campaign, based on an assessment of their power, relationships, and stance on a given issue. 

Further Readings: Power Mapping to Design a Winning Campaign Strategy
Power Mapping and Analysis Process
Process Guide to Power Mapping

Public Narrative

A leadership practice of translating values into action. Public narrative is woven from three elements: a story of why I have been called (a story of self); a story of why we have been called (a story of us); and a story of the urgent challenge on which we are called to act (a story of now). 

Further reading: Guide to Public Narrative
Online Course on Public Narrative
Framing Issues for Social Justice Impact: Directory of Messaging Guides (scroll down to "Climate and Climate Justice")
Shifting the Narrative: What it Takes to Reframe the Debate for Social Justice in the United States

Snowflake Model

The snowflake model is centered around distributed leadership. In particular, leaders commit to develop the leadership abilities of others, with the relationships between these people the glue holding the snowflake together. Relationships between individuals are what form groups within the snowflake model. In other words, the organizing snowflake is about relationships between individuals, fostered and cemented through story.
Further reading: Approaches to Organizing: The Ganz Model (the snowflake model is often attributed to Marshall Ganz)

Strategy

A comprehensive perspective of how a goal is to be achieved, which includes a concept of what form(s) of action will be taken (nonviolent, institutional or some combination), how resources (human, material, skills and knowledge, time) will be allocated, and how subordinate strategies (sometimes referred to as campaigns) will be applied to achieve intermediate objectives that support the attainment of the ultimate goal. 

1. A plan that aims to achieve certain short-, mid-, and/or long-term objectives.
2. A plan for the conduct of a major phase, or campaign, within a conflict. A strategy is the “basic idea of how the struggle of a specific campaign shall develop, and how its separate components shall fit together to contribute most advantageously to achieve its objectives.

Further Readings: Campaign Strategy: Start Here

Strategy Chart 

A useful tool that guides groups through the process of creating the major components of a campaign strategy: goals, organizational considerations, constituents, allies, opponents, targets, and tactics.

Tactics

The short-term actions we take to achieve a specific campaign outcome and move the needle towards the goals of our campaign.  Effective tactics are couched in a broader strategy and are planned within the context of internal organizational considerations and external conditions and the political lay of the land.  The best tactics not only get us closer to our goals but should also contribute to building your team. Tip: After a successful action, the most common question is: “So what’s the next action?”  Not having an answer to this is a wasted opportunity.  How much better to have this answer: “Save next Friday for another action!” (or, at least, “Come to our meeting next week to help us figure it out”). Try to plan two actions ahead of time. That way, when the first happens, the second is already planned.

Further Readings: 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action
Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century (webinar)
Campaign Tactics

Target

The person (always a person, never an institution or group) who has the power to give you what you want, who you will direct your campaign action at. This is your primary target. You may also identify secondary targets who hold power and influence in relation to your target. You may also identify secondary targets who hold power and influence in relation to your target based on your power mapping.

Theory of Change

Your articulation of how and why you expect a particular change to happen. This needs to be based on your analyses of community, context, problems, issues, and power, as different situations require different theories of change. Theory of change generally includes what your group will do, what change you want to achieve as a result, and a logical argument for why you think your action will lead to this change.  A good theory of change answers the questions "what are we building, what are we winning, and how are we changing the story?"  Your campaign’s theory of change needs to be explicit in two areas—Outcomes and Power—to be clear about what you will win and how you will win it.

Further Reading:  SC Movement Organizing Manual (P. 18)
Theory of Change Worksheet       

Vision

Your inspiring and motivating picture of the world you want to see. A vision statement is key for communicating about the world you’re seeking to create, and motivating people to join you in working for this.