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Organizing Strategy

The organizing cycle portrayed by four yellow circles arranged in a diamond shape with dotted lines connecting them into a circle. There is a line drawing of a handshake above the first circle. That yellow circle reads Outreach and Listening Build relationships, leaders and power through one-on-ones, canvassing, and house meetings. Moving clockwise around the circle, the line drawing above the next yellow circle is a fistbump. The words in that circle are Research Move from problems to issues. Issues are specific, measurable and can be linked to a person or people responsible. The next line drawing is five fists raised in the air. That yellow circle reads Action Come face to face with the person and/or people who have power to address the issue. The final line drawing is a set of fists in a circle. That yellow circle reads Evaluation What did we win? What did we do that worked? What could we do differently? What's next?
credit: NEKO

Recently a very good friend and political campaign ally said that sometimes she doesn’t know what I’m talking about:

“I have to admit, sometimes, even I don’t see it. I mean, how does bringing people together build power the way you talk about it?”

That’s the thing – organizing isn’t visible.

The rallies, voter turnout, lobby days at the Capitol, marches, civil disobedience – that’s all mobilizing.

When I meet with leaders of social justice organizations, unions and other nonprofits to talk about working together, I usually hear about one or more of these situations:

  • A pivot from advocating, lobbying or canvassing to a long-term organizing plan.
  • Frustration that their work to engage members and community leaders has not been successful.
  • A vision of member leadership structures like an organizing committee or regional action teams.
  • Organizers and organizing directors who need support building skills, confidence and strategic vision.

The Organizing Cycle

To address these situations, I develop a strategic organizing plan based on the organizing cycle. (The image above comes from a traditional cycle that many organizers use to plan their campaigns; credit for this version goes to NEKO.)

The rest of the cycle is where the organizing happens –

  • Building relationships
  • Surfacing the most important issues
  • Finding the strategic leverage to win
  • Taking public action together
  • Reflection and evaluation

Building Power

How do we know when we’ve built power? It’s a hot topic for social scientists, campaign analysts and pundits these days. Here are a few signs that your organization is building power:

  • Decision-makers come to you to discuss big ideas.
  • Decision-makers meet with member leaders and activists.
  • Your opponents get less oxygen for their terrible, no-good, very bad ideas.
  • Your members get shout-outs at public event
  • Your members get a nickname (for better or worse).*
  • Candidates come to you for endorsement and volunteers.

Will all of this transformation happen in one campaign? No. A member leader of an education justice organization recently said it took a year and a half to get to their first victory.

If we’re going to transform our communities, we have to invest in them. In addition to money, that means time, brainspace and maybe even internal political capital.

When my friend asked that question, I wasn’t surprised. It helped me think of better ways to talk about organizing strategy.

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Turning Mobilizing into Organizing

A selfie of two women at an abortion rights march. The woman on the left wears a gray hat, glasses and a blue surgical mask. The woman on the right wears a blue mask with a butterfly.

If you’ve ever organized or participated in a rapid response action, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

TL;DR

Skip to the bottom for five tips on turning mobilizing into organizing.

Responding to a Crisis

We’ve all thrown bodies at a problem because it was a crisis.

  • The legislature was about to kill our most important bill.
  • Our favorite candidate was about to lose.
  • That giant corporation was about to get its climate-killing wish.
  • Anti-abortion zealots threatened the only abortion care provider in town.
  • The police killed another unarmed person.
  • A resident shot another teenager for breathing while Black.
  • An employer fired yet another worker for organizing a union

Not to mention daily gun violence.

A crisis means we drop everything to mobilize.

We can’t ignore a crisis, even if we don’t have our organizing house in perfect order.

But we can do more than mobilize. Who said never let a good crisis go to waste?

Organizing is bringing people together to build power.

That power grows from relationships. So, use the opportunity of that rapid response to build and strengthen relationships.

Here are five suggestions for turning a mobilization moment into an organizing moment.

  • One-on-ones. Ask each organizer to identify five people who came out to the protest, picket or canvas to invite to a one-on-one meeting.
  • After-action debrief. Plan an evaluation meeting for immediately afterwards. Activists and leaders should know the debrief date at the same time they know the action date.
  • Keep track of who brings someone else to the action. They might be your newest leader.
  • Review social media posts, reactions and comments for potential one-on-one prospects. Same with sign-in sheets.

Here’s where it gets tricky. . .

Number 5 will be controversial –

Prioritize. Ask yourself if this action is strategic for the organization at this time. We’re so accustomed to jumping into action that sometimes it becomes automatic. If the action doesn’t help grow the organization’s power, you might not want to do it.

How do you turn mobilizing into organizing? Reply here or in the Comments on my LinkedIn post on this topic.

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We Say It Every Year: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION EVER!

volunteers preparing to canvass. About 100 people standing on grass in front of trees cheering with their fists raised in the air. There are a house and a canopy in the background and a canopy on the side. The sky is blue and clear.

In the 2024 election cycle, every race will have larger implications. Those candidates for tiny school board districts in your community? Their potential votes on policy will reverberate nationally. Think book bans, restrictions on access and misrepresentations of US history.

And don’t get me started on what’s at stake in state capitols and Washington DC.

Powerful Elections

Instead of telling voters, volunteers and activists – again – that THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION, let’s make it the most powerful election.

Let’s make it the year we organize in addition to mobilize.

Let’s build power in addition to winning.

Let’s plan the campaigns with the goal of bringing people together to build power, using the opportunity of the election to do it. Not the other way around.

What’s that I hear?

“We have a million doors to knock!”

“I don’t get what you mean by ‘build relationships.’ How does that get us to power?”

“Winning is the best demonstration of power.”

“We don’t have time to hold everyone’s hand. We have a campaign to win.”

All true. It’s hard to think long-term with an election-day deadline looming.

But would we be in this movement if we couldn’t do hard things?

Mobilizing ===> Organizing

Here are some ideas for introducing organizing tactics into a mobilization (election) campaign:

  1. A script that includes some deep canvassing elements. Sure a canvasser might spend more than 3 minutes at a door. The voter is more likely to remember the conversation and more importantly, the volunteer will feel less like a turnout machine and more like a community organizer.
  2. Plan some one-on-ones between organizers or campaign leaders and top volunteers. These convos can be recognition for super volunteers. More importantly, they can also help organizers identify new leaders. When a super volunteer starts bringing other people to shifts, you’ve found a new leader.
  3. A campaign debrief that brings everyone together to process the results of the election, their role and the implications. Win or lose, the more people can share their experiences, the closer they become. More importantly, they are more likely to remain involved if they develop relationships with other activists, organizers or leaders.

We want to transform our communities and win after election day too.

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2023 at Organizing to Win: Bringing People Together to Build Power

In 2023, I continue to recognize all the blessings and just plain good luck in my lives.

❤️ An endlessly supportive family.

💙Good friends I can always count on.

✊🏻Organizing co-conspirators with vision, talent and unwavering commitments to justice.

Here are a few highlights from 2023 at Organizing to Win:

a head shot of a white woman in her mid-fifties, with blond hair, wearing a black jacket and burgundy blouse. There’s a US flag in the background. In the top right corner is a campaign logo for Stephanie Wade for Seal Beach City Council.

Stephanie Wade’s ground-breaking campaign for city council. As a trans woman, Stephanie built relationships and showed Seal Beach a campaign like they’d never seen before. The city will better for it.

a grid of 9 photos of organizers from Virginia Interfaith Power and Light. The Organizing to Win and VAIPL logos appear below the photos.

Organizing education with the team at Virginia Interfaith Power and Light. This team is ready to build power for climate justice in Virginia! After our final workshop, one of the organizers wrote “Mira was enlightening and encouraging. I understand better what is expected of me as an organizer. The strategies Mira showed us how to develop for organizing will help us build our power structures and bases!”

Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez, a young Latinx-Afro-Indigenous woman, smiling, wearing a white shirt and black and white checked jacket. She stands in front of an outdoor mural with red lettering that reads Growing our roots reclaiming our Fruitvale. Additional colors in the mural are yellow, brown, green, red and grey.

Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez’s campaign to improve parent engagement at OUSD. And oh yeah, for the school board. Sasha became a US citizen in November and filed to run for the school board in January.

abstract image of a scared-looking white woman on the phone and text that reads Someone Always Calls the Cops: When Karen or Chad Dials 911 on Your Canvassers" Netroots Nation July 13, 2023 Chicago.

Facilitating a workshop called “Someone Always Calls the Cops: When Karen or Chad Dials 911 on Your Canvassers” at Netroots in Chicago.

color map of the state of Utah. A silhouette of a fist holding a pencil is superimposed over the map.

Facilitating organizing education workshops at Raise Up Utah as part of the Innovate Public Schools team. The parents, teachers, students and community members who participated in the weekend-long organizing intensive are on their way to impactful campaigns for education justice in Utah.

an active volcano seen from the top of an adjacent hill. Red hot lava flows in rivers, surrounded by hills, with steam rising from the edges.

That awesome Hawaii trip with my best friend. (Where sadly, I still had a signal at the bottom of a cliff at the beach. ) The fiery red light in this photo is flowing lava!

What will the new year bring?

Well, for starters. . .

👍🏻A refreshed Disrupting White Supremacy Culture program

👍🏻A series of union jargon explainers

👍🏻Building power in Kern County with members and staff of SEIU 521.

👍🏻A brand new election season

And much more.

I hope 2024 brings you peace, health and justice.

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Organizing in the Red Counties

a diverse group of 14 union activists poses in front of a screen that reads SEIU 521: Bringing People Together to Build Power.

In Kern County (CA), we’re trying something new.

If we believe Kern County’s current elected officials and corporate power, it’s one of the most conservative places in California. (Yes, there are some.)

It’s the heart of California’s petroleum industry.

Big Ag reigns supreme.

And it’s the home of Kevin McCarthy. Yes. *that* Kevin McCarthy.

Like many communities, the people who currently hold power are not always aligned with the people.

Kern is full of working people, immigrants, and others who struggle under systemic burdens of corporate domination, racism, classism, and other impositions of dominant power.

That’s why I am so excited to work with leaders, members and staff of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 to lay the foundation for relational power in Kern County.

In an earlier exploratory meeting, members identified three problems we need to solve in order for their families to thrive: healthcare, education and training for good jobs.

Over the next year, we’ll bring people together, build relationships, identify new leaders and learn about power in the region.

We’ll refine the problems into the issues that are most widely and deeply felt and create a strategy to win for working people, their families and their communities.

But we’ll do more than win.

We’ll build power.

Last week, we kicked off the campaign with a strategy meeting of long-time member leaders, new leaders and staff.

We know that a transformation won’t happen overnight. We know that it doesn’t happen in one year. But we’re laying the foundation.

For updates, follow @OrganizingtoWin on social media.

If you want to learn more about this campaign – and how it might apply to your organization’s  impact next year – use the contact form to get in touch!

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Dear Hollywood.

A cartoon drawing of a blond woman bound with ropes with a red circle and slash.

Dear Hollywood,

I’m bored. That’s not why.

I love murder tv. Law and Order (all of them). CSI. Body of Proof.

While there are thousands of binge-watching possibilities, most of them fall into the same tired, old formulas that reinforce white male supremacy culture.

How a Show Makes the List

So, to keep things interesting, I’ve developed three criteria for putting a show on my watch list:

1️⃣The main characters can’t be white men.
It’s boring. Nearly every show that stars a white man has the same plot:

Eek! A young, thin, white woman is murdered, raped or attacked.
Gasp! A big strong man rescues her and/or solves the crime.
My hero! The pretty, thin, white woman or her family are eternally grateful to big strong man. 💤💤💤

2️⃣It can’t take place in LA or New York.
News flash: Interesting things happen in places that aren’t New York or LA. Or any big city.

It’s no wonder conservatives think Hollywood is against them. Big-city characters are so predictable: they make fun of gun owners, mock anyone with a southern or mid-western accent and roll their eyes at religion.

Shows that take place in the middle have more possibilities for laugh lines, culture references and local color.

3️⃣No Damsels in Distress (DID).
Women don’t need to be rescued every five minutes. If you’ve seen one rescue-the-screaming-woman-scene, you’ve seen them all.

More importantly, every time a woman stands around screaming while a man fights off attackers, it sends a message: women depend on men to save them.

As every single mom (and my married mom) will probably tell you: don’t depend on a man to save you.

So much of Hollywood perpetuates white male supremacy culture.

It’s so tired.

My Watch List?

What shows meet my criteria? It’s a short list, but here are a few.

🌟Somebody, Somewhere
1️⃣ a straight, overweight, white woman and a gay, white man, both almost 50.
2️⃣Manhattan, KS
3️⃣No DID. The two main characters rescue each other from loneliness, boredom and depression.

🌟Shots Fired
1️⃣A Black male assistant US attorney and a Black woman investigator
2️⃣a fictional town in North Carolina
3️⃣No DID (unless you count the two mothers who lost their sons to police corruption.)

🌟Claws
1️⃣a Black woman nail salon owner
2️⃣Miami, FL
3️⃣The nail salon owner is the main rescuer.

The white, male supremacy culture in our media limits creativity to a formula.

Disrupting white supremacy culture isn’t just about passing better laws & electing different people. It’s about changing our culture.

We know the culture-makers can do better, because 👆🏻. When will the rest of #Hollywood learn?
——————-
If you’re interested in disrupting white supremacy culture in your organization, join Catherine Shieh, Janedra Sykes & me for “Disrupting White Supremacy Culture in Nonprofits,” 10/26/23, 9am PDT.

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A New Face for Education Justice

Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez, a young Latinx-Afro-Indigenous woman, smiling, wearing a white shit and black and white checked jacket. She stands in front of an outdoor mural with red lettering that reads Growing our roots reclaiming our Fruitvale. Additional colors in the mural are yellow, brown, green, red and grey.
credit: @niahred27

The new Oakland Unified School District Board got off to a rocky start this year. (Stick with me. This is complicated.)

In January, the city clerk declared the wrong person the winner of the District 4 election the previous November. (Yes, really.) 

To complicate matters, the real winner was already serving on the board from District 5. Thanks to redistricting, his home is now in District 4, where he decided to run so he could stay on the board when his term in the old District 5 expires at the end of 2024. After discovering the mistake, the clerk declared him the real winner in the new District 4, leaving a vacancy in his old District 5 seat.

Lawsuits ensued.

When the Dust Settled. . .

When the dust settled, a judge declared him the valid winner in the new District 4. So, he resigned his seat as the representative from the old District 5 and was sworn in as the representative from the new District 4.

If you got all that, you might be wondering who now represents voters in the old District 5. Since March, no one. And, there’s a frustrating 3-3 split on every consequential issue facing students, teachers and school personnel.

Enter Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez.

Sasha is running in the special election to fill the vacancy in the old District 5. It’s a very diverse district – which very closely matches her own identity. Sasha became a US citizen just after the November 2022 election, registered to vote right away and, in January, decided to run for school board.

Last year’s Oakland school closure crisis told Sasha everything she needed to know about the relationship between the district leadership and parents. Meaning, it needs work.

Her priorities include:
🏫 Safer, more supportive school environments for teachers, staff and students
👩🏻‍🏫Full, equitable staffing at every school site
💲Equitable budgets that reflect community priorities
🤝🏻Stronger partnerships between the board and community members

As we’re both organizers at heart, we’re taking an organizing approach to this campaign. Conversations at the doors might be a little longer. House parties might surface issues and new leaders no one knew before. Fundraising call time might look a little bit like one-on-one meetings.

Sasha is everything we need in politics right now. To learn more about her (and contribute to her campaign), check out Sasha for Oakland.

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A Civil Rights Legend Creates a Moment

photo of Tennesse State Representative Justin Jones, a young multi-racial man in a blue denim shirt posing with a middle-aged white woman in a dark blue sleeveless shirt. Both are smiling.
credit: @montalvoftw

Netroots Nation was 🔥this year! 

I don’t usually geek out about meeting people who are all over social media, but this was different.

This was Justin Jones, one of three Tennessee state representatives who offered more than thoughts and prayers in response to yet another mass shooting. And was expelled from the state house for his trouble.

So I had to get a photo. 

Tennessee state representative Justin Jones, a young, multi-racial man in a white suit, with Alicia Garza, a Black woman in a white suit and Reverend Jesse Jackson, an older Black man in a grey suit, seated in a wheelchair. Jones, Garza and Jackson clasped hands and raised them in victory. Two other Black men in grey suits appear with Jackson. The background is the stage at the Netroots Nation conference.

The history-making moment? 

When Rev. Jesse Jackson joined Jones and Alicia Garza on stage at Netroots. 

The night before he announced his retirement from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Jackson made a rare public appearance to tie together the threads of three generations of US justice leaders.

Parkinson’s is slowing him down, but his signature call and response generated a deafening chorus from the crowd. His speech re-awakened the faith of thousands of activists in the righteousness of the fight for justice.

Three generations of US leaders on one stage. Each of them seemed to recognize the meaning of the moment.

Other highlights of the week included the California Caucus meeting, a session on deep canvassing, a panel discussion on messaging about public safety and my own workshop, “Someone Always Calls the Cops: When Karen or Chad Dials 911 on Your Canvassers.” 

Pile on meeting dozens of people I’d only known by video or chat, and the conference was an overwhelming success.

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Authentic Engagement Builds Power

A diverse group of Asian, Latina and white young people smiling. They are wearing white t-shirts with the words SF ONE and a map of San Francisco printed in orange. They are in an elementary school classroom.

When you’re an organizing leader, these frustrations come up a lot:

“We can’t get people to come out to a meeting.”

“Why don’t members vote? It’s their own jobs at stake!”

“It’s always the same people who do everything.”

“Why are members so apathetic?”

“Do they just want someone else to do it all?”

And worst of all, “are the current leaders going to burn out?”

The reality is, they’re not apathetic and they don’t want someone else to do it all.

A lot of organizing directors tell me that members or workers are reluctant to engage. But maybe there’s a reason: they don’t see their self-interest represented in the campaigns. Self-interest is more than how much money they make, their position on an issue or who to vote for.

Self-interest is also about values, experiences and relationships.

Self-Interest

Several years ago, I organized with teachers and former teachers who were trying to build momentum for education justice in their communities. They were having trouble engaging community members and parents in a campaign about the district’s school assignment system. (TL;DR – incredibly complicated, record segregation, inequitable distribution of resources.)

To better understand parents’ and students’ experiences, we began a series of canvas weekends. Leaders knocked on doors, prepared with a script that would launch conversations about what came to mind when residents thought about the education system in their city.

What did they learn?

Almost no one mentioned the school assignment system. Parents wanted high quality schools in their neighborhood. It didn’t matter if their kids got into the highest rated school in the city if it was all the way across town. 

When leaders started to talk about how to fight for higher quality schools in their neighborhoods, more parents and other teachers engaged.

When leaders create opportunities for members, activists and volunteers to build relationships and take action based on their values and experiences, more leaders surface. More members join. More volunteers engage for longer. 

Space to Build Relationships and Power

If we’re deliberate and intentional about creating space to build relationships, grow leadership and surface the issues that are most widely and deeply felt, then we can build power.

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A Rare Window of Clarity

A photo of four teenage girls, wearing black, leading a march down a street in Nashville, Tennessee. Three girls carry bullhorns. One girl's fist is raised in the air and she is shouting. In the background are other marchers carrying Black Lives Matter signs, and city buildings.
Credit: Alex Kent via the Lily

There was a moment last year when the impact of the unspoken white and male supremacy in our society was crystal clear.

I was having dinner with a friend/client who is a trans woman and was a candidate for public office at the time.

She was so self-assured. She didn’t wonder if she was qualified to do the job. She didn’t question whether her priorities were in the right place. She wasn’t worried about whether she could be a good parent and do the job at the same time.

She had no imposter syndrome.

I won’t lie. I was a little jealous.

Then the light bulb went on. She’d been socialized as a man for 50 years.

White men don’t question themselves the way we do. They were taught that they are enough. They learn that they are qualified. The default is yes.

My friend is gloriously free of the socially-constructed insecurity that we impose on girls from the very beginning.

No one ever says “Brian, you are right all the time! You can do no wrong.” Or “Brianna, you’re never right! You’re wrong.”

But they do say to Brianna “Be careful how much you talk about yourself. People will think you’re self-centered!”

Or “Someone will recognize your accomplishments and say it for you. Otherwise, it sounds like you’re bragging.”

Or “You talk too much! It’s not polite. Let others speak. “

My friend didn’t hear or absorb any of that nonsense. (To be clear, as a trans woman, she hears and rejects all kinds of other nonsense.)

She is who she’s meant to be.

How would things be different in the world if all girls grew up with my friend’s confidence?