Category Archive For "organisations"
What stops us embracing an organising approach?
A colleague in some recent handover notes wrote ‘while we talk a good game on organizing, we’re still really focused on mobilising’, or something to that effect. It’s a very fair challenge and one that I’ve been reflecting on since reading it. Like many in the campaigning sector, I’ve got really excited about the opportunities …
Speed, Sophistication, Structures and Space – 4 trends that will define the future of campaigning
In my role as Head of Campaigns and Engagement at Bond, I was ask to write about the trends that will impact the campaigning of members over the next 5 years, and what it means for our work to support members to campaign brilliantly. I came up with the following; 1 – Speed The first campaign …
While I've been away.
I’ve been in self-imposed blog exile for the last couple of months. A combination of running a small part of an election campaign, two trips to the US for work, participation in an amazing action learning process hosted by the Common Cause team and a number of other commitments have meant that I haven’t been …
Why has Kony 2012 been so successful?
The Kony 2012 campaign is everywhere….if you haven’t heard about it you soon will! Since releasing their latest campaign film just days ago it’s had millions of views (the statistics on the Vimeo dashboard show the way that views of the film have grown and grown since its release on Monday), been trending worldwide all …
The US Presidential election and the future of campaigning?
It’s the US election season, and suddenly anyone who’s watched an episode or two of the West Wing will become an expert on the best approach to win the 270 Electoral College seats needed, the opportunities presented by the Michigan Primary and the role of Super Delegates in a tight convention. While predicting the result of …
Learning from Stop the Pipeline campaign
The Stop the Keystone pipeline campaign is one that may have passed many in the UK by but in the US its resulted in a huge victory for environmental campaigners. In brief, the campaign was looking to halt the construction of a pipeline that would transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada across the Midwest …
The National Trust – the UKs most influential campaigning charity?
The Guardian had an interview with Dame Fiona Reynolds, the Director General of the National Trust on Saturday, where it asks if she is the most powerful woman in Britain at the moment based on the way that the organisation is currently campaigning against reforms to planning laws that threaten the countryside. While, we don’t have a way of systematically ranking …
Astroturfing, 38 Degrees and MPs views of e-actions
Should we be concerned about Stephen Phillips MP writing to constituents in response to 38 Degrees last campaign to say that he will; ‘in the future not respond to campaigns run by what purports to be a, but what to is most evidently not, a non-political organisation’ Perhaps not, unless you work for 38 Degrees …
Evaluating Advocacy – Craft or Science?
“Advocacy requires an approach and a way of thinking about success, failure, progress, and best practices that is very different from the way we approach traditional philanthropic projects such as delivering services or modeling social innovations. It is more subtle and uncertain, less linear, and because it is fundamentally about politics, depends on the outcomes of fights …
Learning from the 'Countdown to Copenhagen' campaign
Evaluation might be the last step in the advocacy cycle, but from my experience it’s often the one that we’re quickest to overlook, moving onto the next campaign as opposed to spending time reflecting on what’s happened. It’s great to see Christian Aid make an evaluation of their ‘Countdown to Copenhagen’ campaign available online for others to …
mrtombaker
Director of Campaigns and Organising at Save the Children, previously worked for Bond, Tearfund and Christian Aid, co-founder Campaign Bootcamp, blog about campaigning because I'm passionate about seeing more campaigns win, election geek (and recovering Labour Party activist), interested in monitoring and evaluation, this blog is all my own views. Prone to bad spelling!