Movement Leadership Stool

The stool of movement leadership is a starting point to support the people driving the movements we need in today’s world. Sustainability is one leg that holds up effective movement leadership as a whole. Movement leaders thrive when they are part of collective spaces where they can build trust, deepen political analysis, ideate, and take risks. And because movement leaders function well beyond their organizations in a broader ecosystem, they need squads – people within and outside their organization playing diverse roles – to support them. Finally, movement leaders can be more effective when they can hone skills such as base building, conflict resolution, and narrative development.

Which leg does your organization and movement need to strengthen? If you are a funder, how do you already support movement leaders and what more could you do, particularly around centering sustainability? If you are working at a social change non-profit organization, how can you generate practices to create a culture of well-being? And, are there more legs that the stool needs?


Theory of Change

Theory of Change is a method or technique that can assist communities to think about, plan and evaluate their work. It involves ‘backwards mapping’ from the goals or desired outcomes of the program to identify what is needed in the program design to accomplish these goals. This website offers in depth resources, guides, and examples for how to develop and apply a TOC.


Organizational v. Movement Building Capacity: A Fact Sheet for Differentiating Between the Two

This fact sheet from BMP highlights some key differences between capacity building for organizational sustainability and capacity building for social change. It identifies nine areas identified as important building blocks of social movement capacity for nonprofit organizations.


Beyond Marketing: Becoming a Constituent Centered Organization

This article provides concrete examples and ideas about engaging constituents in all facets of an organization.