What is it?
Throughout history, we’ve seen progress brought about by strength in numbers, from micro-volunteering to street protests. More recently, mutual aid, protest action and citizen-led research have demonstrated the power of working together.
After the events of 2020, in a climate of continuing social unrest, pandemic-driven unemployment and environmental catastrophe, there’s clear need and potential for crowd power.
So what?
The act of galvanising, supporting and building communities is bread and butter to the third sector. But the rapid pace at which the world is changing right now demands that we change with it, and that means understanding and incorporating new strategies to mobilise communities.
In this article we offer inspiration to help you reconsider the power of the crowd, and how you harness it to deliver impact in a constantly-changing world.
“What happens when people get together to support one another is that people realize that there’s more of us than there is of them. This moment is a powder keg.”
Dean Spade, lawyer and activist, interviewed in The New Yorker
CROWDFUNDING
Gold & Ashes marks the fourth anniversary of Grenfell with a crowdfunded photo series and exhibition to remember the lives lost, and the people impacted by the Grenfell fire.
Open Street Coalitions across New York have raised money from their neighbourhoods to pedestrianise streets and fund activities like salsa dancing, meditation and jazz performances.
Crowdfunded journalism could change the game by reconnecting with audiences and offering alternative forms of journalism driven by public interest, like long-form articles and in-depth investigations.
Aspiring lawyers and pilots are crowdfunding to cover the cost of their training to further their careers, where sponsorship programs and loans have failed them.
Crowdfunding organisation Kiva operates through loans not donations, making the transaction cyclical and providing long-term benefits to donor and recipient.
In 2019, the activist group Led by Donkeys raised almost £500k in 160 days to buy billboards across the UK to challenge the government’s approach to Brexit.
CITIZEN SCIENCE
Zooniverse is one of the world’s biggest platforms for people-powered research. Current projects cover topics including the arts, language, physics, social science and space.
Look Wild is an app run by National Parks UK, encouraging amateur ecologists to record plant and animal species, using the data to ‘protect and enhance’ our natural environment.
Women in Kampot, Cambodia are rewilding mangrove forests that protect the province from storm damage, as part of ActionAid’s She Is The Answer campaign.
Dark Sky Meter is an app that encourages people to use their phone cameras to document ‘sky glow’, allowing scientists to measure and understand light pollution.
PatientLikeMe is a social media platform inviting people with chronic conditions to connect and track their health. Patients can also help others by taking part in research that aims to create a brighter future for all.
MASS MOBILISATION
A Glasgow community, operating through the No Evictions network, forced the release of two Indian men detained under suspicion of ‘immigration offences’.
The Metropolitan AME Church has filed a lawsuit against the leader of Proud Boys, which could expose the group’s dubious finances and see other members taken to court.
Mutual aid in Minneapolis sustained a community suffering the fallout of COVID-19 and social unrest with initiatives such as Seward Cafe, Sisters Camelot and LEAFF.
BTS Stans have derailed a Trump rally, drowned out white supremacists using keyword squatting, matched the K-Pop group’s $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter, and raised two million rupees for COVID-19 relief in India.
Shell has agreed to accelerate its shift to low-carbon emissions after almost a third of shareholders, co-ordinated by climate group Follow This, voted in favour of the resolution.
Act now
1. CONSIDER - Mobilising your supporters:
How can you mobilise your supporter base to enable people to advocate and act on behalf of your charity’s cause? How can you crowdsource solutions or galvanise your base to share their data to progress research?
2. EXPLORE - New models for support:
How could mutual aid provide a blueprint for moving beyond charitable donations? How could we work towards a system that helps communities to become self-sustaining? And what would this look like for your cause and your mission through a hyper-local lens?3. COLLABORATE - Strength in numbers:
Which organisations could you partner with, to strengthen your numbers, and amplify your voice and reach? How can you collaborate with others in your mission area to create greater reach?
4. CHALLENGE - New models to fight for our rights:
Crowd power can be a force for bad as well as good, and protest isn’t effective everywhere. The aftermath of protests in Belarus led to Soviet-era tactics to silence Lukashenko’s opposition. Still, people are taking to the streets again. If people power isn’t working, do we need a new method to fight the powers that be?
“We must fight for our values abroad – but, as importantly, we have to live them at home. It could be your holiday plane suddenly downed, or your child indefinitely detained without trial after some protest march. Beware. Democracy is precious; the assault on it anywhere is our concern. Time to rouse ourselves.”
Will Hutton, The Observer