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DOI

10.9707/1944-5660.1708

Key Points

This article explores how philanthropy can support movement organizations and networks organizing for long-term power building that transforms who holds governing power. PowerSwitch Action, a network of influential regional advocacy and organizing groups in the U.S., draws on a recent evaluation that laid out key elements of its approach to the work to share learnings in hopes that they will benefit both other movement organizations and the philanthropic sector that provides critical backing to the field.

Specifically, the article identifies three recommendations for funders: 1) support long-term efforts to shift governing power rather than expecting quick victories; 2 recognize how local, state, and national strategies can reinforce — or undermine — each other and fund both on-the-ground organizations and networks that operate across geographies; and 3) understand that relationships and structures are essential to building the scale and scope of collaboration and fund in ways that support collective success.

Philanthropy is a crucial ally in the success of these approaches. This reflective analysis seeks to “lift the veil” on what it takes from organizers, advocates, and philanthropic partners to work — and manage resources — in networked and aligned ways that will lead to an economy that works for all. Achieving transformational change requires movement organizations to adapt to new ways of operating and funders to adjust the ways they fuel such long-term power-building work. Even when multiple crises have pushed the U.S. to an inflection point, this work is still possible, and even more necessary.

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