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So you want to build a movement?

Movements are the hot charity topic right now. Maybe it’s because they’re an effective way of creating a two-way relationship and shared purpose with your supporters. Maybe it’s because there’s a lot to protest right now, from cost of living crisis to climate catastrophe to discrimination. Or maybe it’s because of the recent success and prominence of environmental movements like Extinction Rebellion (hint: it’s most likely all three).

On one hand we have the classic impact-focused, social movements, like Black Lives Matter. Whilst on the other hand there’s a new wave of charities building movements into their core mission-infrastructure, like Parkinson’s UK who hired a ‘Movement Building Lead’.

But before you decide to hop on the movement bandwagon, there are some key questions we recommend you consider, to decide whether a movement is really what you need and want.

What is a movement?

To be clear: a movement is not a campaign, community or network. A movement can contain all of these, but in and of itself is larger than the sum of all of these combined. What sets movements apart is that the power and agency within them belong to the people involved, rather than the organisation driving them. It’s traditionally a non-hierarchical group of individuals embracing a shared purpose, which can change over time as the context changes.

If this sounds a bit theoretically dense, consider these examples. Think of the UK movement to end period poverty, which was started by individual campaigners, but really got off the ground when it started inspiring people to share their personal stories. Ultimately, it was driven by people campaigning, self-organising, and recruiting others to their version of the cause. Then think of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Yes, it was widespread. Yes, it required participants nominating/recruiting others. But, crucially, it did not drive people to self-organise and drive their own version of the cause. That is a (very effective) campaign, but not a movement.

What is the point of your movement?

Why do you want to create a movement? First, you have to understand your own motivation in doing this - if you don’t know why you’re acting, why would anyone else know where you’re coming from? And why would they buy into your movement if they don’t understand it?

So, is the purpose of creating your movement income generation, brand awareness, or because of a genuine need for social impact? Be clear on your motivation. If it’s fundraising or awareness that are motivating you, then a movement probably isn’t the right solution.

Genuine movements are what get people involved. They’re not going to get behind a movement that only serves the needs of your organisation, instead of the problem it's trying to solve.

At the end of the day, being involved in a movement is inherently uncertain - they’re constantly developing because of their nature. If we want people to invest in that uncertainty, we need them to 1) genuinely believe the cause is worthy, 2) feel a true emotional connection to the cause, 3) believe that the movement is built on the same emotional connection that they feel to the purpose.

A good movement built for the wrong reasons isn’t going to be what inspires people to drive the movement further, and is much more likely to fall apart at the first hurdle.

What is your organisation's role in the movement?

It’s important that supporters of a movement take ownership of it and drive its ultimate direction. Sounds very anarchical. I’m sure some of you must be wondering what the role of your organisation could then be in driving a movement. Well, whilst a movement should give up ownership to its members, it shouldn’t be without organisation. What this organisation looks like depends entirely on you and your vision.

The large majority of the social movements we’re seeing in the media at the moment (Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil) are very focussed on power to the people. Ideally, the organiser creates a catalyst and platform, and supporters that buy into the purpose come together and take the actions that they want to take in support.

This level of ownership and emotional engagement can be incredibly powerful. We’ve all seen the amount of people that rally behind these decentralised movements - think about the amount of people it took for XR to occupy so much of London in 2019. But it also has clear implications: it can get away from the organiser’s vision very quickly. In fact, the point is that it does.

Charities driving social movements usually want more control of the narrative they’re driving. I mean, what would the board say if your brand was suddenly associated with mass arrests? It can be a tough sell internally, even if it is effective.

So consider how much power you want to hand over when you’re creating a movement. On the scale between simply giving your supporters the platform to having a heavy hand in steering a movement’s actions, where do you want to lie?

In practical terms, whatever happens, you don’t want your movement to go the wrong way, or fall apart under the weight of conflicting opinions. So consider the following:

Develop (and clearly communicate) a shared vision with all of your supporters.
Create a roadmap to achieving your purpose. Be as vague or as precise as you want to be.
Make hardline values and principles for how the movement should operate.
Define the exact role of your organisation. What tools, resources, and training (if any) are you providing?

Case Study: Extinction Rebellion

What is it?

Extinction Rebellion is possibly one of the most famous (if not THE most famous) environmental movement right now. They were founded in 2018, on the principle of nonviolent protest. I won’t dwell on their background, I’m sure everyone is familiar with their work. If you’re not - we’re talking about the people who put the big pink boat in the middle of Oxford Circus a few years ago.

What is the point of the movement?

Clearly geared towards social impact.

What is the organisation’s role in the movement?

XR drives people to self-organise entirely. It’s a decentralised organisation, made up of small, autonomous groups that co-exist in the larger Extinction Rebellion network. Essentially, anyone who organises a nonviolent protest in pursuit of XR’s main demands (and adheres to its principles) can say they’re doing it in the name of XR.

A lot of work has gone into making XR largely decentralised. The bigger groups do organise large-scale protests for smaller groups to join, but mainly the organisation provides the platform, training, branding, and resources for smaller organisations to do as they please.

Who is joining the movement, and what is their role?

In theory, everyone who wants to have a voice in XR can have a voice. People power is at the heart of their philosophy.

On the flip side, XR comes under fire for alienating whole sections of society on a regular basis, and not without reason. Working class people (tube strikes disproportionately impact the working class); younger generations (lack of understanding of young people/don’t listen to younger voices enough); BAME communities (disproportionate impact of mass arrests on BAME protestors).

It’s worth thinking about how their decentralised structure shifts the responsibility for being inclusive to the local and regional sub-groups that make up the movement.

What outcome do they want?

XR has been very clear in their branding that they have three demands for the UK government: Tell The Truth, Act Now, and Decide Together. The idea is to increase visibility for the demands and not to call off the movement until they’ve been achieved. So far, their strategy has been to scale up the movement by using their bigger campaigns as a launching pad for recruitment and training sessions for new members to then create new sub-groups.

Not all movements need to be to the scale of Extinction Rebellion. They could be localised, driven by a nicher purpose, or an easier-to-achieve goal.

Who is joining your movement, and what is their role?

You’ve got the framework of your movement, but who’s joining you? It could be your members, campaigners, volunteers, funders, stakeholders, or supporters of any kind. Ideally, once they’re involved, they draw in people from their own personal spheres and start a chain reaction.

From here on out, a common mistake is telling your supporters how involved to be instead of letting them decide for themselves. It takes a level of agency away from the members, and adds a barrier to entry. People are going to want to contribute because you’ve made it clear that acting is necessary to achieve this purpose. You’ve provided a catalyst and sparked a response that should drive them towards their own action. It’s all about genuine purpose. It doesn’t work if you’re demanding a certain level or type of engagement, or if your supporters aren’t genuinely motivated.

Again, there’s an infinite amount of different ways this could actually look. How are you helping people self-organise (if you’re letting them self-organise at all)? Do you run a town hall model to hear their opinions? Do you give them preset packs that let them organise their own version of your action? Do you give everyone free reign to self-organise (as long as they hold themselves to your values/vision/roadmap)?

Finally, what outcome do you want?

Most importantly - what’s your end point? Ideally, you have a roadmap that clearly defines what you want to get out of your movement. Is it an ongoing goal (raising awareness for something, similar to WWF’s Earth Hour), or a demand (Extinction Rebellion’s three actionable demands for the UK government)? Think about the time frame this is achievable in. Also worth thinking about is whether or not you intend to scale the movement or let it reach an end when something is achieved.