Library
Learn from those who do it.
Free guides, webinars, courses and templates from organizations that train progressive organizers around the world. Each one is selected, summarized and linked; the credit belongs to the people who made them.
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Materials
- The death of the follower: Progressive organizing in the age of algorithmic discovery
Why followers no longer guarantee reach in algorithmic feeds and what to do instead: native content, micro-creators, alternative platforms and owned lists. Read before planning your social strategy.
- The Mobilisation Cookbook
Recipes for people-powered campaigns: how to move supporters from clicks to taking on tasks and leading. A good starting point for designing your engagement ladder.
- Organizing Guide: People, Power, Change
The community-organizing handbook based on Marshall Ganz: relationships, narrative, team structure, strategy and action. The theoretical and practical foundation for any mass campaign.
- What is Organizing? The "People, Power, Change" Framework
Short introduction to the five leadership practices of the Ganz method. Use it to align your team on what organizing means before handing out tasks.
- Public Narrative
Marshall Ganz's 15 video lessons on public narrative (story of self, us and now), with a worked example and coaching techniques. Ideal for training spokespeople and volunteers.
- The Marshall Ganz playbook for progressive change
Summary of the Ganz method applied to today's progressive campaigns in Europe, with video of the session. A quick read if you lack time for the full course.
- Mobilizing stories into action: The power of public narrative
Webinar on turning personal stories into a call to action. Useful when preparing narrative workshops for your team; free account required.
- Campaign Canvas
One page to map the whole campaign: vision, strategy, audiences, story and metrics. Use it in your first planning meeting.
- Engagement Pyramid
Visual tool to map a supporter's levels of engagement, from observing to leading, and plan how to move them up.
- Campaign Strategy Workbook
Workbook with tools, theory and templates to set a campaign's goals, targets and escalation. Built for organizers and strategy coaches.
- Steps in a One-on-One Organizing Conversation
Step-by-step outline of the one-on-one organizing conversation: inviting someone in, uncovering motivations and making a concrete ask. Use it to train volunteers.
- Beyond the First Click: How Today’s Volunteers Build Power for Movements and NGOs
Research on what makes volunteers stay and grow in movements and NGOs. Read it when designing the volunteer journey after sign-up.
- Beyond Vanity Metrics: Toward Better Measurement of Member Engagement
How to swap likes and list size for metrics that track real power (actions, retention, leadership). Useful when building your campaign dashboard.
- Supporter Engagement
Where to find new supporters, how to engage and keep them, plus a list of practical tactics. A solid guide for whoever manages a campaign's base.
- Why belonging matters in digital organizing
Beth Becker explains why making people feel at home from first contact builds lasting bonds with supporters. Read it when reviewing your welcome emails and messages.
- Doorstep meets digital — how Mamdani’s campaign ticked all the boxes for success
How Zohran Mamdani's New York campaign combined mass door-knocking with organic video. A case study for anyone integrating street and social.
- “Organize, don’t despair!” — Lessons from Zohran Mamdani’s victory
Practical lessons from Mamdani's win for progressive campaigns outside the US: volunteers, a cost-of-living message and organized optimism.
- Posting the protest: Lessons from students in Serbia
How Serbian students used social media to break through media control and sustain months of protest. Background reading for the Serbia playbook.
- Grassroots Activism Under Pressure: 10 Creative Practices from Hungary and Serbia
Ten creative practices from movements that pushed back against populist governments in Hungary and Serbia, drawn from ECDA analysis. Great for action ideas.
- The network effect: How WhatsApp messaging boosted turnout in Italy
How WhatsApp messages between acquaintances helped drive turnout in Italy's 2026 referendum. A reference for relational campaigning on messaging apps.
- Over 500,000 signatures in 50 days: How an Italian petition became a mass mobilization
How an Italian petition grew into a nationwide movement for a referendum, with targets, daily rhythm and a volunteer network. Also available in Italian on the same site.
- The Croydon Story: How losing an election taught us how to win
Rowenna Davis tells the story of her Croydon (London) mayoral campaign and what losing taught her about direct contact and trust. Good for post-election reviews.
- Small but mighty—How donations turbo-charged Možemo’s campaign in Zagreb
How the green-left Možemo! party funded its Zagreb campaign with small donations and won again. A European example of grassroots fundraising.
- How 80% turnout ended 16 years of autocratic rule
Webinar on Hungary's 2026 election: how record turnout ended the Orbán era. Free account required.
- Over 1 million conversations: Digital and field lessons from Sweden
Webinar on a Swedish campaign that logged over a million conversations by combining digital tools and fieldwork. Free account required.
- Go viral or go home: The TikTok strategy progressives need
TikTok strategy for progressive campaigns: formats, frequency, tone and common mistakes. Read before opening or relaunching your account.
- How the far right learned to look normal on TikTok
Caitlín Otway analyses how far-right figures normalised themselves on TikTok and why progressives must show up there. Useful for understanding the opposition.
- How Europe’s ad ban will build better campaigns
With Meta and Google pulling political ads from the EU, this piece shows how to compensate with owned lists, organic content and organizing. Essential for European campaigns.
- How to use Discord: A Guide for Progressive Organizers, Parties & Movements
ECDA guide to setting up a Discord server for volunteers: channels, roles, moderation and examples from parties and movements.
- Making Political Impact through Podcasts
ECDA's steps for launching a political podcast with impact: format, guests, distribution and clips for social.
- Campaigning on Social Media
Campaign Lab research on local Facebook groups, Nextdoor and neighbourhood forums as spaces for political conversation. Useful for local campaigns.
- Digital Campaigning to Counter the Rar Right with James Clark and Mar Garcia Sanz
A 50-minute conversation with James Clark and Mar Garcia Sanz on digital campaigning against the far right (the original title contains a typo).
- Winning Words: Create messages that don't miss
Fundraising expert Harvey McKinnon shows how to write messages that drive action, with before-and-after examples. Use it when revising emails and appeals.
- The Common Cause Handbook
Handbook on how intrinsic values (solidarity, care) underpin support for progressive causes and how to frame messages around them.
- The Power of Moral Language for Mobilisation
Campaign Lab experiment on whether moral language turns sympathisers into activists. Useful for testing volunteer asks.
- Mobilising Campaign Supporters' Social Influence
Research on which asks get supporters talking to friends and family about the campaign. An evidence base for relational programmes.
- Relational SMS: Can a Text to Activists Ripple Out?
Test of whether a text to your own activists ripples out to neighbours and acquaintances. Useful for designing relational actions with a base that has opted in.
- Campaign Lab: Winning in May
Campaign Lab's package for the UK's 2026 local elections against the far right, with tools and findings that apply to any local race.
- From Zero to Hero: Digital Infrastructure Checklist for Small Donor Fundraising
ECDA checklist of everything to set up (forms, CRM, email, payments) before asking for small online donations.
- M+R Benchmarks 2026
Annual study with data from hundreds of nonprofits on online giving, email open rates, SMS and social. Use it to benchmark your own numbers.
- Seven practical ways to use AI and automation in your digital fundraising program
Seven concrete uses of AI and automation in digital fundraising, from segmentation to copy testing. Read it to save time without losing the human tone.
- The brave new world of political communication in the age of AI
Overview of how AI is changing political communication and what progressive campaigns should do (and avoid). Good for setting internal AI-use rules.
- Polis Knowledge Base
Polis documentation: how to run an open consultation, moderate comments and read opinion maps. Use it to listen to your base before setting priorities.
- EBOOK: Leading Groups Online
Free book on facilitating online meetings and trainings with real participation: breakouts, roles, energy and large groups.
- Herramientas
Training for Change's Spanish-language section: facilitation and organizing exercises and guides ready to use in workshops.
- Introduction to digital organizing
ECDA's four-week online course (digital organizing, email, small donors, data) for staff of European parties and NGOs; limited places and scholarships.
- Organisiert Euch – Selbstlernkurse für Aktivist*innen und Engagierte
Free German-language courses, no registration, with videos and exercises to help activist groups grow, recruit and work better together.
- Beautiful Trouble Toolbox
Hundreds of interlinked tactics, principles, theories and case studies of creative action. Consult it when you need an action that grabs attention without violence.
- Nonviolent Struggle: 50 Crucial Points
CANVAS's strategic manual, heir to Otpor!: planning, pillars of support, recruitment, communication and risk management for nonviolent movements.
- Lucha no violenta: 50 puntos cruciales
Spanish edition of CANVAS's 50 Crucial Points manual, for training Spanish-speaking teams in nonviolent strategy.
- La lutte non-violente en 50 points
French edition of CANVAS's 50 Crucial Points manual, for training French-speaking teams in nonviolent strategy.
- Defending the Vote from Authoritarians: Lessons for Nonviolent Movements
CANVAS report on how movements defend elections under authoritarian regimes: monitoring, mobilization and responding to fraud. Background reading for Serbia and Hungary.
- 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action
Gene Sharp's classic list of 198 methods of protest, non-cooperation and intervention. Use it as a menu when planning a campaign's escalation.
- Civil Resistance: A First Look
ICNC's introductory video on why civil resistance works and how movements win. A good opener for a training.
- Activist or protester?
EFF's digital-security path for activists: risk assessment, phones at protests, encrypted communication and social media. Share it with your team before street actions.
- Participando De Um Protesto
Portuguese (Brazil) version of EFF's guide to attending protests safely, with a printable pocket sheet.
- Asistir a una protesta
Spanish version of EFF's guide to attending protests safely, with a printable pocket sheet.
- Holistic Security
Manual combining digital, physical and psychological security for activist teams, with exercises for building security plans and agreements.
- Security in a Box
Practical guide to digital-security tools and tactics (passwords, phones, social media, messaging) maintained by Front Line Defenders and Tactical Tech; also in Spanish, French and Portuguese.
- Data Detox Kit
Short, practical steps to cut your digital traces, secure accounts and spot misinformation; great to hand out to volunteers in several languages.
- Digital Security Helpline
Free 24/7 helpline for activists, journalists and rights defenders facing hacked accounts, attacks or surveillance. Save the contact before you need it.
- Guide d’Autodéfense Numérique
Comprehensive free French-language manual of digital self-defence, from computers to phones and the internet. For those who want to understand, not just follow recipes.
- Guia para o desenvolvimento de uma análise de risco e medidas de segurança
Escola de Ativismo's guide for groups to run their own risk analysis and agree on security measures. Use it before high-exposure campaigns.
- Protection & Resilience Strategies for Nonviolent Activists
CANVAS report on how activists protect themselves from repression, harassment and burnout, with collective resilience strategies.
- The Debunking Handbook 2020
Consensus of 22 researchers on debunking without reinforcing the myth: fact, warning, fallacy, fact again. Read it before responding to attacks.
- A Practical Guide to Prebunking Misinformation
Guide by Cambridge, BBC Media Action and Jigsaw to inoculate audiences against manipulation techniques before the rumour arrives, with a short-video blueprint.
- Understanding Information disorder
First Draft's essential guide defining dis-, mis- and malinformation and their types. Good for giving your team a shared vocabulary.
- Misinformation Toolkit
Full Fact's simple tools for checking images, numbers and quotes. Good material for training rapid-response volunteers.
- Algorithmic Authoritarianism: Inside Orbán’s digital army
How Orbán's digital machine worked (paid influencers, networks and aligned media) and how it adapted to the end of political ads. Read it to recognise the pattern elsewhere.
- Flipping the script on gender information warfare
Webinar on gendered disinformation attacks against women in politics and how to respond and protect candidates. Free account required.
Who publishes
European Center for Digital Action
Brussels-based nonprofit that trains progressive European parties and groups in digital organizing; blog of case studies, guides and free webinars (account required).
The Commons Social Change Library
Australian online library for organizing and campaigning, with thousands of curated guides — including ECDA's — and a video channel.
MobLab (Mobilisation Lab)
Lab born at Greenpeace that researches and teaches people-powered campaigning; free tools, studies and practical templates.
Leading Change Network
Global network of organizers built around Marshall Ganz's method (public narrative, relationships, strategy, action); open resource center.
Resistance School
Political training project started at Harvard in 2017; published Marshall Ganz's public narrative course on YouTube.
Training for Change
US trainer-of-trainers organization for movements; hundreds of free exercises, guides and workbooks, some in Spanish.
Campaign Lab
UK volunteer community that tests with data what works in progressive campaigning; publishes research, experiments and tools.
Common Cause Foundation
UK nonprofit researching how human values shape support for social causes, and how to communicate through them.
M+R
US agency for nonprofits and progressive causes; publishes the yearly Benchmarks study on online giving, email and engagement.
The Computational Democracy Project (Polis)
Nonprofit behind Polis, the open-source mass-deliberation tool used in Taiwan and participatory processes worldwide.
Beautiful Trouble
International collective of activists and trainers maintaining an open toolbox of creative tactics, principles and theories of change.
CANVAS — Center for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies
Serbian center founded by veterans of Otpor!, the movement that toppled Milošević; free manuals and reports on nonviolent struggle in many languages.
Albert Einstein Institution
Institute founded by Gene Sharp, a global reference on nonviolent action; free publications translated into dozens of languages.
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
Center dedicated to civil resistance, with a resource library in nearly 70 languages, online courses and introductory videos.
Bewegungsakademie
German training academy for activists and volunteers; offers open materials and self-paced courses in German.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
US digital-rights organization; maintains Surveillance Self-Defense, a digital security guide translated into many languages.
Tactical Tech
Berlin-based international nonprofit working on technology and civil society; author of Holistic Security and the Data Detox Kit.
Front Line Defenders
Irish foundation protecting human rights defenders; co-publishes Security in a Box with Tactical Tech.
Access Now
Global digital-rights organization running a free 24/7 digital security helpline for activists and journalists.
Guide d'Autodéfense Numérique
Anonymous French-speaking collective that has kept a free, detailed digital self-defence manual for over 15 years.
Escola de Ativismo
Brazilian collective training activists since 2011 in strategy, communication and security, with free guides in Portuguese.
Skeptical Science
Science-communication site hosting the Debunking Handbook 2020, written by 22 misinformation researchers, and its translations.
Jigsaw (Google)
Google unit researching threats to information; co-authors practical prebunking guides with universities.
First Draft (arquivo)
Pioneering anti-misinformation project that closed in 2022; its archive of guides and training remains online.
Full Fact
Independent UK fact-checking charity with simple tools anyone can use to spot bad information.
Tectonica
Strategy and technology cooperative for progressive campaigns, with staff and networks across Latin America, Europe and the US.
Ayni Institute
US social-movement education institute (movement ecology, campaign strategy) with self-paced courses.
Campact
Germany's largest online campaigning organization, with over 4.5 million supporters; its blog discusses tactics and progressive politics.
Derechos Digitales
Chile-based Latin American digital-rights organization publishing in Spanish on privacy, security and protecting at-risk communities.
Nossas
Brazilian activism lab behind networks such as Meu Rio and open-source citizen mobilization tools.
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