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You might have experienced outreach through digital organising efforts in the past. Maybe you got an email asking for your support or a friend told about the upcoming protest on their Instagram story—the idea is that these types of activities can help generate momentum in movements by getting more participants than usual involved and make connections between like-minded individuals who might not know each other otherwise. Sort of like a network effect.
Digital organisers use loads of different strategies, they might typically start with some research and ideas about what problem they're trying to solve (rolling out surveys or online member polls) before moving onto bigger communication campaigns via social media platforms such as Facebook Live videos where candidates do live news updates during an important event.
Digital organising has become one of the core practices in many US progressive organizations and Democratic campaigns. It's represents an important shift in capability because it can help with many tasks that are easier online than in person such as building supporters lists for emailing purposes; collecting donations through webinars/online fundraising tools (like Kickstarter); keeping track of community sentiment and response on social media channels like Facebook groups where people share ideas about policies they support-and much more.
<aside> 🌱 The other reason the use of digital organising as an intentional campaign tool is so interesting, is that it reframes how we think about the role of political representatives and the community constituents who support them.
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What does "Distributed Organising" actually mean?
It’s no secret that organising is hard work. At the same time, talking with people, knowing them, creating relationships, and building leaders is what has, and will, advance any progressive movement.
Having a connected and passionate crowd on your side has become a crucial asset in gaining new power.
Today, the tools and tactics available to movement builders have expanded hugely. At the same time, it has become harder to break through because everyone is trying to rally a crowd. Whether you’re working to get elected to your local school board, launch an online community, or trying to build buzz around your new business, these are the four key steps to starting and growing a flourishing movement today.
It's not just about building supporters, but about building a mechanism of how to engage and activate those supporters for impact.
<aside> 🔥 Distributed Campaigning (the strategy guide for organizers) Check out this free guide
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Some people call this kind of organising model ‘relational organising’, others call it ‘distributed organising’. Whatever you call it, the aim here is to support, encourage and propel the movement you've started. Often a movement will be led by committed volunteers and sustained by the core group who initiated it, but relational organising takes it out of the "top down" controlled approach (think Big Media Broadcast TV) and shifts the frame toward - enabling autonomous, bottom up, self-organised action.
Digital organising enables a campaign team to really distribute leadership amongst a wider group to create more impact. Beyond the HQ team; it provides the opportunity for a deeper connection and sense of ownership amongst the broader support community.
How might we enable autonomy + self-organisation for greater impact?
<aside> ⚡ Build an army of digital organisers
****“These are the people who are willing to help you get your message out but may not be necessarily part of your core campaign team, in fact, they often aren't. They are the people who will take your message, utilise the assets you make available to them and run with it in their own time, through their own social networks and pitch your message or campaign for your cause in a way that makes sense to them. Bring in the energy and voices of young people who can tell you what content they’re enjoying, what they share and what matters to them. Enlist their help in reaching their peers. Remember it's not about telling them what to say, but rather - it's about giving them the tools, creative assets and information to help them self-organise for action.”
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There are many tools and technologies that are used for digital organizing — some tools are built solely to support campaigns and organizations organize online, like Action Network and others are everyday platforms that are used by organizing teams to help facilitate easier lines of communication between people, like Facebook or Mailchimp.
You’ll find a ton of tools in the Techstack section here and remember, the digital tool space has exploded in recent years so there’s bound to be loads of tools that can help you with everything from managing social media strategy to organising your community of volunteers, fundraisers or supporters. It doesn’t have to be complex but it can be confusing.
<aside> ⚡ If you can find a geek who is really interested in distributed organising it pays to set up some simple systems from the start.
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Digital organising isn’t just about being online
It’s important to note that digital organizing isn’t only about being online. All the same principles of impactful organizing apply while mobilizing digitally. Organizing teams need to conduct meaningful and authentic outreach and continuously empower their communities. Digital organizing does, however, increase the communication methods that organizers can use to reach out to people around them and most importantly…
Digital Organising enables more people to self-organise more cohesively.
The power of digital organizing can be seen in just a few short years. We saw it with Mauree Turner, who led an inspiring campaign to become the first publicly non-binary elected official and Muslim member of Oklahoma's legislature.
The power of social media is undeniable. When Mauree Turner needed help with her campaign, she turned to digital organising suite called Impactive and it proved instrumental in helping her win. The volunteers on this campaign sent peer-to-peer and friend-to-friend texts to 10,000+ people and it was these conversations that helped secure the victory for Turner.
Digital organizing is one of the best ways to meet supporters and voters where they are - online. It increases accessibility, streamlines operations for campaigns teams with innovative strategies in digital outreach initiatives that will only continue growing as more politicians take advantage of this expansive and increasingly powerful approach.
The new power dynamic is changing the playing field
<aside> ⚡ We all sense that power is shifting in the world. We see increasing political protest, a crisis in representation and governance, and upstart businesses upending traditional industries. But the nature of this shift tends to be either wildly romanticized or dangerously underestimated.
Old power works like a currency. It is held by few. Once gained, it is jealously guarded, and the powerful have a substantial store of it to spend. It is closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven. It downloads, and it captures.
New power operates differently, like a current. It is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It uploads, and it distributes. Like water or electricity, it’s most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard it but to channel it.
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It’s no secret that organising is hard work. At the same time, talking with people, knowing them, creating relationships, and building leaders is what has, and will, advance any progressive movement. We know that building authentic relationships with and between people is the best way to help people shift their view of themselves relative to their work and community. Real relationships also allow organisers to best identify leaders---which helps win, propel and sustain progressive policies and ideals.
We know that much of the work of organising is about building robust networks based on trust and knowing that we have each other’s back. It’s about seeing, knowing and honouring our humanity and the rights that come with it.
<aside> 🔥 Here’s the skinny
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We're at a pivotal moment in time where we know the importance of high-attention short-term events like elections, voter engagement pushes, and community outreach. The challenge in whatever group you find yourself in now is to shape these moments into long-term power building opportunities for your community so that when you have a candidate - you're ready to go with not just a base of supporters, but a mechanism of how to engage and activate those supports for impact.
As we see the increasing emergence of independent political groups and disruptive campaign teams unseating supposedly "safe" candidates . . what we're seeing is this exciting intersection of distributed political organising and technology, together with grassroots community action . . all coming together. The power of real collective organising by people who really care . . . is hard to beat. Regardless of your fancy campaign budget.
Opportunity sits at the intersection between grassroots political organising + technology.
Some people call this kind of organising model ‘relational organising’, others call it ‘distributed organising’. Whatever you call it, the aim here is to support, encourage and propel the movement you've started. Often a movement will be led by committed volunteers and sustained by the core group who initiated it, but relational organising takes it out of the "top down" controlled approach (think Big Media Broadcast TV) and shifts the frame toward - enabling autonomous, bottom up, self-organised action. From there, the paths each person takes take to get the work done , and the specific one-on-one conversations they'll have with voters will vary, but one thing's for sure . . . with the strength of the community and the mechanisms which invite and enable all community members to share, contribute, collaborate and engage - anything is possible. Think of it like . . . Enabling Autonomy + Self-Organisation for Greater Impact.
How might we think about the different levels of engagement?
HQ - The campaign team
This might be the core team who lead the charge.
Early Supporter Community
The growing team of community members doing outreach to spread the word and build a supporter base. These are the people the team are setting up as "distributed organisers" to create their own momentum in their own way for impact.
Supporters
These are the members who are supportive of the movement (open-minded and actively interested) but not engaged at a politically active level. These people will have a smaller appetite over a longer runway so it's super important to keep in contact with them in the right way, at the right time.
<aside> 🔥 Remember if you’re starting pre-candidate . . it's a long runway Advancing your progressive movement will require keeping people engaged and invested for the long haul.
Remember this is a marathon not a sprint And volunteering can be hard right? People come to it for all the right reasons and then somewhere along the line it goes awry. So this model of organising prioritises:
The social media and technologies that connect us all, are catalysing structural shifts and changes within grassroots community action groups. These mediums are inviting ordinary people into important conversations and enabling everyone to access and understand information in new ways that might have been too difficult or complex to engage with before. They're enabling politics to be more inclusive and amplify community voices of those who might otherwise not have participated.
We're seeing more More Progressive Platforms - New York VC Firms backing platforms like "Run for Something" to strategically support new young candidates. Acting almost like a startup hub incubator helping with:
We know that the opportunity (and the challenge) in front of us is to understand how to integrate political engagement movements and organising, redistributing power, inviting local people and resources - using high tech and low touch, mobilising community members and finding the leaders amongst us - to propel that energy towards action and impact.
How do we go about building community spirit, being inclusive and inviting less-engaged people into the conversation? And most importantly, how might we set ourselves up to scale our activity toward real impact.
Planning the Core of a Distributed Organising Model - reflections from the Ed Markey Campaign.
❓How might you create a mechanism that enables people to create their own energy and momentum with your support?
❓How might Core Early Supporters engage with your team in an ongoing way that is easy AND fun?
❓How might you plan campaigns that create avenues for growth and building a database of supporters you can activate later?
❓How does your communication offer 'ways in' for community members at different tiers of engagement?
❓How might you create a clear tangible purpose for 'Early Supporters' and the community members they talk to?
❓How might you build a broader supporter base that can be activated when you have a candidate?