Companion Lectures
For
Progressive Community Organizing in a Globalizing World
By
Loretta Pyles
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
organizations and social
change
• The institutionalization of a movement, campaign, or social
change endeavor can easily lead to bureaucratization that
can silence the marginalized voices it was intending to
amplify in the first place
• Organizations originally intended for social change can
easily succumb to the pressures of funding streams, the
professional culture of the nonprofit world, and
organizational maintenance.
• In an era of a globalizing economy, “Market ideas have
influenced these organizations’ vocabulary, program
emphases, staffing patterns, funding sources, and their
relationship with constituents” (Reisch, 2005)
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
maintaining a Social change climate
in organizations
• Create a work plan that outlines the larger issues the organization
seeks to address, and collectively evaluate and reflect on annual goals
using the organization’s political framework
• Meet every week to make decisions as a group, inform each other
about work, and assess workload and organizational capacities
• Include journal writing and other methods for staff to communicate
their personal work as part of collective movement building
• Schedule dedicated days for staff political education, including taking
turns facilitating discussions
• Every three months, take time for team building and bonding
• Take care of personal selves by monitoring pace of work, hours
worked, and time off
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
fundraising and organizational
decision-making
• Determine the campaigns and projects that your
organization wants to engage in, making sure that such
decisions are accountable to the constituency. Then
look for funding to do the work. Do not do it the other
way around and have the funder determine your
priorities.
• If the funder is a private foundation, research who the
financier is. Is the foundation part of a corporation
engaging in oppressive social or economic practices?
Are their values commensurate with your
organization’s values?
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
fundraising and organizational
decision-making (Pt. 2)
• If the funder is a governmental agency, consider the
political climate and agenda that the state may be
trying to promote. Is the agenda commensurate with
the values of your organization?
• What kind of evaluation and reporting requirements
are there? Are there resources available to build the
capacity of the organization to evaluate the work? Is it
be possible to do participatory evaluation, involving
constituents in the process of determining what
worked and what did not work?
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
A leader committed to an
empowering organization…
• Is willing to acknowledge his or her own power and
privilege
• Utilizes a transparent decision-making process
• Is not removed from everyday struggles
• Is committed to and models conflict-resolution
processes when injuries and damages occur within the
organization
(SPAN, 2005)
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
consensus decision-making
• Consensus is defined as agreement among a substantial
number of members that is reached after group study
and discussion. It is the sense of what the group
supports. It is not a vote, not a majority, and not
necessarily unanimity
• Emerging from feminist, environmental and anarchist
organizing, this kind of decision making requires a
group of individuals who are committed to the values
and principles of nonhierarchical organizing
• Tends to be more successful in smaller groups
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
group conditions that
support consensus
• Principles of unity
• Equal access to power
• Autonomy of the group from external hierarchical
structures
• A willingness in the group to spend time to attend to
process
• A willingness in the group to attend to attitudes
• A willingness in the group to learn and practice
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Challenges with Evaluating
Social Change Work
• Cause and effect approaches and logic models assume
linear nature of change and may not account for external
factors
• Climate of “success” in evaluation and funding can limit
organizations ability to talk about failure
• Research and evaluation is time consuming and may take
away from the “real” work
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Community organizing
outcomes
• Instrumental changes in the environment
• Leadership development
• Development of an organization’s resources and
capabilities
• Increasing public awareness
Mondros & Wilson (1994)
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Principles for doing
evaluation research
• Social change organizations should be
involved in developing, interpreting and
communicating the results of the evaluation
and receive adequate support to carry out
those responsibilities
• Evaluation should be designed to be useful in
improving the work of grantees, the field, and
others
• Evaluation should build the group’s internal
capacity for self-evaluation, and/or build on
existing mechanisms for reflection and selfassessment
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Principles for doing
evaluation research (pt. 2)
• Evaluation should respect and
acknowledge the context in which the
organization is operating
• All the costs of conducting the evaluation
should be fully funded
• Candor should not be punished, inside an
organization or by funders
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Participatory Action Research
• Response to positivistic approaches to research
(expertise, physical sciences and linear)
• Roots in popular education and natural
community action inquiry
• Values constituent participation and leadership
and the importance of leveraging knowledge into
action
• For some, the overall goal is to create community
researchers, to advance the self-determination of
communities to do research.
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2nd Edition, by Loretta
Pyles. New York: Routledge.