Resources to Help You Disrupt For Good

There is a lot going on in the world right now. Big problems and big feelings in our faces, all the time. But in the midst of it, if you look for them, are story after story of ordinary people using what they have and standing up to bullies. So what I'm sharing today is a collection of resources that have come to my attention over the last few months that could help equip you for whatever disruption you are cooking up, big or small. Because we need you!

1. Digital Campaigning Basics
This self-paced course from Hive Mind walks you through the steps to mobilize your own people-powered campaign. I went through it on the weekend just to check it out, and it is really good. Following the steps in this course will make sure you have a strong strategy and well-planned message before you jump into the tactics. 

2. Five Good Ideas to Influence Public Policy
The Maytree Foundation's Five Good Ideas series is a wealth of inspiration. In this episode, Matthew Mendelsohn shares his five ideas for influencing public policy:

1. Political science matters – interests, institutions, ideas, identity, and incentives all constrain outcomes
2. Understand the political process, the bureaucratic process, and the issue
3. Relationships and trust are capital
4. Stories matter to help frame problems and solutions
5. The announcement is the end of the beginning – details and implementation matter

This is a recorded webinar and there is also a transcript, along with links for additional resources at the link above.

3. Writing the Best Op-Ed Possible
​I stumbled onto this resource from Word Force last week: Writing Opinions, a comprehensive guide to thinking of, writing and placing Op-Eds by writer, editor and Word Force Senior Advisor, Lawrence Downes. Op-Eds are a great tool for spreading ideas and shaping narratives, open to anyone, and this guide can help you get your Op-Ed published.

4. Practical Ways to Create Narrative Change
This is episode 41 of the Foreward podcast. It is an interview with Rinku Sen from the Narrative Initiative. She summarizes narrative change so well, and gives several good examples of changing narratives and ways to spot narratives that are causing harm. Well worth

5. Going Horizontal: Creating a Non-Hierarchical Organization, One Practice at a Time
This is a great little book by Canadian Samantha Slade. It's also a movement, with trainings, a community of practitioners, and a resource commons. For those of us rethinking and unlearning some habits from the charity world, Mutual Aid by Dean Spade and Going Horizontal by Samantha Slade can go together not only because it rhymes...they pack a powerful one-two punch of organizing for change.

Do you have resources to add to the list? Put them in the comments so others can find them, too. Thanks for reading, and thanks for continuing to disrupt our sector for good.