Every year I collate a list of some of my favourite readings from the year. So settle in with a glass of mulled wine and enjoy…
Is Too Much Funding Going to Social Entrepreneurs—And Too Little to Social Movements? – This article totally hits the nail on the head about why we need to invest in advocacy, despite all the challenges.
Are Uber and Facebook Turning Users into Lobbyists? – Is the the new face of campaigning? More here.
How We Won Marriage: 10 Lessons Learned – A great playbook from one of the big campaign wins in 2015 in the US.
Why Nonprofit Leadership is so Darn Hard – because it is!
Taking a Cinderella issue to the ball: 11 lessons from a long campaign – I’m a huge fan of the work that Shelter have done to get housing up the political agenda. This is a great summary.
What are the implications of ‘doing development differently’ for NGO Campaigns and Advocacy? – Duncan Green at his challenging best.
2015 really was the first digital general election: here are 7 lessons you should know – remember the election – lots of good learning about what the Conservatives did to win, see also Paul Abbott at ConHome and Jon Quinn.
Slacktivism is having a powerful real-world impact, new research shows – time to revisit the assumptions about the impact of slacktivism – plus more here on why people protest.
Advocacy and Lobbying: What Can We Learn from the Bad Guys – we spend lots of time learning from our friends but what about those we target (clue – they often focus on obscure processes)
How the Mad Men lost the plot – Ian Leslie on how advertising is changing, but lots of application to campaigning and how we get our messages across.
Inside the war on coal – This week many have celebrated the successful conclusion of the climate negotiations in Paris, but the story of how groups like the Sierra Club have built momentum in the US is part of the untold story of how that deal could be reached.
Mobilising vs organising – This is a great summary of a cracking book. Looking forward to welcoming Hahrie Han to the UK next year.
Inside Invisible Children’s massive grassroots network – I could have selected dozens of articles from Mobilisation Lab but this is fascinating. If you’ve not already you need to sign up for there regular Dispatch mailing.
Charities shouldn’t campaign? History suggests otherwise… – 2015 has been a tough year when it comes to the space to campaign this reminds us our work is critical
Upwell – sad to see the end of this project to get people talking and advocating about oceans, but he blog lives on packed full of insight about how to get your issue into conversation on social media.
What have you read this year that you’ve enjoyed? Please use the comments below to post your favourite campaign reads from 2015.