Tools for Grassroots Activists by Nora Gallagher

Author:Nora Gallagher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business: Nonprofit
Publisher: Patagonia
Published: 2016-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

Networks Are Impacting Our Personal, Work, and Civic Lives

What this story illustrates is the power of the technology to connect you with people who share your interests and passions—and you can instantly work together in real time to communicate, solve problems, and take action. It also illustrates three digital revolutions that have disrupted the way nonprofits do their work; three trends behind the rise of the network-centric approach to social change. And, according to recent studies from the Pew Internet and America Life Project, these three things impact our personal, professional, and civic lives.

1Eighty-two percent of Americans have access to broadband Internet: Internet access is more pervasive and fast in parts of the world, like the United States (and Cambodia, as I discovered). It’s no longer a slow, frustrating experience to get online, and more and more of us rely on using it for both our work and personal lives.

2Eighty-nine percent of Americans have a smartphone that is connected to the Internet. We are no longer tethered to a desktop to communicate or inspire people to take action. We can get on the Internet and use social media anytime, anywhere.

3Seventy-two percent of Americans use at least one social network. And according to the Pew studies, that network is Facebook. Social media and social networks are no longer just for early adopters or kids; they have become like air to us, allowing us to keep in touch with family, for work, to discover news, and, of course, for social change.

No single nonprofit or individual can do it alone. Collaboration, coordination, and working in networks are becoming the new normal, as leaders across sectors take a network-centric approach to moving the needle on today’s most pressing problems.

What does this look like? Grassroots mobilization has experienced a steep climb in speed and power in the last couple of years, as witnessed by the Twitter-enabled Arab Spring, the KONY 2012 campaign that put a long-invisible crisis in Africa on the public radar, and many other political, cultural, and social justice examples.

In 2014, we saw how people turned to their online networks to raise money and awareness for ALS through the Ice Bucket Challenge. Millions participated, resulting in over $100 million in donations to advance research.

And then there are collaborative efforts on sites like Wikipedia that continue to grow and redefine how we access expertise. The power of networks is apparent in field-level collaborative projects such as RE-AMP, a network of environmental organizations that have aligned their policy and advocacy efforts to reduce coal plant production.

The backdrop to all of it is this: Your nonprofit is operating in an age of networks and connectivity, and is part of something larger. It is no longer good enough to simply be an isolated entity on Facebook; you have to be a networked nonprofit.

The Networked Nonprofit

Networked nonprofits are simple, agile, and transparent organizations that are expert at using social media tools to make the world a better place. Everyone in a networked nonprofit is empowered to use social

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