"Change requires more than righteous anger. It requires a program and organizing, which is the only way to bring about lasting change", explained President Obama.
These eight training programs are ideal for organizers. Some have trained organizers for decades. Others are new. All are cost-effective. Many are free.
Midwest Academy
The training institute was founded in 1973 by Heather Booth. It teaches progressive community organizers about strategy, tactics and movement building. It has trained over 25,000 organizers from labor, women’s rights, the environment, racial justice, immigrant rights and corporate accountability groups.
Social Movement Technologies
SMT is a non-profit that offers training on organizing strategy and campaign support for organizing groups and unions in the digital age. Its cost-effective training teaches online advocacy as a means to amplify and broaden offline work. Training is delivered through individual coaching, large scale webinars and year-long certificate programs.
The Great Battlefield
This regular podcast is hosted by Nathaniel G. Pearlman, the founder of NGP VAN. It shares ideas, lessons and best practices from progressive political entrepreneurs. It is a great resource to learn effective techniques from others in the movement. The podcast format makes it convenient to learn from over 250 episodes.
OFA trains organizers at no cost to them through online trainings, digital tool kits and guides. The crash course features in-depth sessions facilitated by OFA trainers via recorded audio, with corresponding visual components, supporting materials, and interactive exercises.
Beth Becker offers week-long immersive trainings in Digital Organizing. They blend strategy with hands-on expertise in the use of social media to organize grassroots movements and energize campaigns. Topics include building a digital campaign strategy; mapping engagement paths for supporters and how to integrate digital tactics with offline organizing.
Uses proven organizing strategies with digital tools to create an expansive network of changemakers to strengthen democracy worldwide. It supports movements by coaching emerging movement leaders, training organizations and connecting everyone to a global ecosystem of movement support.
Trains young people of color on the skills needed to become campaign staff. The training covers campaign management and policy with a focus on sociological systems of thought, race, and culture. The training is delivered through small, hands-on workshops in the Southwest.
Steve and Sharon Edelman are former television producers who now train democratic candidates to speak persuasively on camera. Their course “Speak Real: Authentic and Relatable" is delivered both in person on location and online through webinars.
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