Organizing Training and Resources Bank

Downloadable Resources

Welcome! This collection of organizing trainings, manuals, worksheets, and more is a labor of love put together by Power Shift Network members and allies.

PSN recognizes that young organizers, communities of color, low-income communities, and those most directly impacted by climate crisis need a baseline of theory and skills as a foundation for our justice movements. While capitalism perpetually suggests that competition is key, we know that to thrive, we must collaborate, pool our resources, and decentralize access to learning. So save your limited time and energy by uplifting the great work of your fellow leaders and utilizing their wonderful resources.

Want to share a tool you created with others, or know of a great resource that belongs in this bank? This is a living, evolving project, and we invite you to help us co-create it. Click here to submit a resource to the bank.

Have comments, questions, or feedback? Email us at theteam@powershift.org.

  • AntiOppression

    Affirmative Consent

    Training Materials

    Adapted for SPROG: Understand the definition of Affirmative Consent and why it is important, Identify verbal and nonverbal clues that communicate others’ feelings, wishes, and boundaries

  • AntiOppression

    Anti-Oppression 101, 201

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Learn about identity categories and explore our own identities, Understand how privilege works within systems of power, Visualize ways to intervene and disrupt oppressive patterns in real-world scenario, Learn basic vocabulary and concepts for Anti-Oppression, Understand how oppression manifests in personal actions, institutions, and culture

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Base Building 101: Recruitment

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand the definition and importance of building a “base”, Know why people get involved and stay involved in groups, Learn tools for list building and data management for mobilization, Understand the different levels of involvement members of their base will have, Be familiar with common tactics for outreach (phone banking, canvassing/tabling, group raps).

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Base Building 201: Mobilization

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand the definition and importance of building a “base”, Know why people get involved and stay involved in groups, Learn tools for list building and data management for mobilization, Understand the different levels of involvement members of their base will have, Be familiar with common tactics for outreach (phone banking, canvassing/tabling, group raps).

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Campaign Planning 101: Intro to Grassroots Campaigns

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Campaign Planning 201: Anatomy of a Campaign

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Campaign Planning 301: Spectrum of Allies

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Campaign Planning 401: Tactics and Escalation

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Know the difference between service-based, education-based, and change-based campaigns, Understand the three types of power (power over, power with, and power within), Understand the components that make up a strategic campaign, Understand the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to plan strong long- and short-term campaign goals, Learn how to use the spectrum of allies tool, Understand the theory behind mobilizing allies to build power, Learn the components of a strong tactic, Understand how to plan escalating tactics in a campaign, Know the difference between tactics and strategy, Learn how to work backwards on a timeline to plan a campaign.

  • Climate Justice

    Climate Justice 101: The World We Have, The World We Want

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Learn new anti-oppression vocabulary, Understand how climate change and systems of oppression are connected and interrelated, Understand our shared challenges and our shared solutions, Understand that fighting climate change requires us to reach beyond individual-oriented solutions and address the root causes of exploitation and oppression, Develop a shared understanding of “extractive economy” and how this economic model leads to climate change, social and economic inequity, Learn the six steps of the Just Transition Framework and explore what they could look like in practice as we organize to move our society beyond an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

  • Climate Justice

    Climate Justice 201: Toward a Just Transition

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Learn new anti-oppression vocabulary, Understand how climate change and systems of oppression are connected and interrelated, Understand our shared challenges and our shared solutions, Understand that fighting climate change requires us to reach beyond individual-oriented solutions and address the root causes of exploitation and oppression, Develop a shared understanding of “extractive economy” and how this economic model leads to climate change, social and economic inequity, Learn the six steps of the Just Transition Framework and explore what they could look like in practice as we organize to move our society beyond an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

  • Narrative Building

    Communications 101: Framing and Messaging

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand what strategic messaging and frames are and why they are important, Understand the crucial role of values in campaign messaging, Learn to tailor messaging to a particular audience.

  • Allyship

    Community Solidarity

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand how to approach a community and speak about resources and intentions, Value the development and support of campaigns that are driven by voice, Be able to recognize the limitations of the Sierra Student Coalition model in certain organizing settings and learn how to adapt familiar organizing models to better suit community needs, Recognize intergenerational, horizontal collaborations an anti-oppressive tool, Be able to apply knowledge gained from anti-oppression trainings (identity and privilege) and begin to explore the roles of power and solidarity in community work.

  • Facilitation and Running a Good Meeting

    Facilitation Training

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand the importance of facilitation for effective groups and campaigns, Know the basics of how to facilitate.

  • Demonstration Safety

    Facing Attack Challenge

    Training Materials

    Outlining 4 main ways to deal with verbal attacks, with time to apply each in a hypothetical scenario.

  • Allyship

    How to Be Real: Allies, Accomplices, & Anti-Oppression

    Training Materials

    Explore allyship framework and provide tangible tools to leverage privilege in a way that builds supportive coalition for those being oppressed. Includes an interactive "Privilege Walk" activity.

  • AntiOppression

    Intersectionality

    Training Materials

    2 hour training on systems of oppression and how they intersect

  • AntiOppression

    Intro to Environmental Justice

    Training Materials

    Covering topics of Environmental racism and environmental justice, this lesson helps students understand how pollution disproportionately affects people who are poor and members of racial and ethnic minorities as well as use a map to locate environmental injustice.

  • Leadership Development

    Leadership Development 101: Building an Effective Team

    Training Materials

    Recognize and appreciate different leadership styles, Understand why welcoming diversity in leadership styles is an anti-oppressive practice, Recognize the importance of leadership development in campaign work, Understand the concept of the Leadership Ladder, Learn how to plan an Indy Meeting.

  • Leadership Development

    Leadership Development 201: Roles and Delegation

    Training Materials

    Recognize and appreciate different leadership styles, Understand why welcoming diversity in leadership styles is an anti-oppressive practice, Recognize the importance of leadership development in campaign work, Understand the concept of the Leadership Ladder, Learn how to plan an Indy Meeting.

  • Leadership Development

    Leadership Development Training

    Training Materials

    A 1 hr 45 min training on leadership development, including Ladder of Engagement, one-to-ones, propositions, and creating an inclusive/accountable culture.

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Meeting with Decision-Makers

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand that meeting with decision-makers is a tactic that is part of a larger strategy, Learn a 9-step process for an effective meeting with a decision-maker.

  • Climate Justice

    Movement Generation: Just Transition Zine

    Training Materials

    A strategic framework for a Just Transition 

  • Community Engagement

    Open Space - Tool for Participant Led Conversations

    Training Materials

    Understand Open Space Technology as a tool to facilitate emergent group conversation, Learn from fellow participants through exploring topics and creating caucus spaces.

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Organizing Skill Rotation [2018]: Working with Media, Fundraising, Movement Songs

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand the rich history of songs in our movements, Know how and when to respectfully utilize songs in a movement, Understand the principles of fundraising, Recognize the importance of fundraising for a purpose, Know where to find additional resources on fundraising for a campaign, Recognize the roles that different types of traditional media can play in a campaign, Understand how to attract and retain media coverage of campaign events, Have the confidence and skills to effectively promote your message through mainstream media.

  • Research Justice/Participatory Action Research

    Our Data, Our Analysis

    Training Materials

    This manual includes step-by-step facilitation instructions to conduct a data analysis workshop for survey or other quantitative analysis results. It includes four workshops created to move from getting comfortable with data to analyzing and making statements with data and developing a policy strategy to share the data. Participants will spend time thinking about audiences and key strategies for communicating the results as well as how their research will feed into their organizing agenda.

  • Narrative Building

    Public Narrative 101: Story of Self

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand the crucial role that motivation plays in organizing, Identify personal experiences that motivate us to do the work we do (why are you here today?), Begin to see how personal narrative can be used to build motivation and inspire action, Begin to recognize the diversity of experience and identity that we all bring to our movements, Understand the three stories that comprise a public narrative, Begin to see how story and narrative build motivation and power to create change, Understand the role of Anti-Oppression principles in solidarity organizing.

  • Narrative Building

    Public Narrative 201: Story of Us & Now

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand the crucial role that motivation plays in organizing, Identify personal experiences that motivate us to do the work we do (why are you here today?), Begin to see how personal narrative can be used to build motivation and inspire action, Begin to recognize the diversity of experience and identity that we all bring to our movements, Understand the three stories that comprise a public narrative, Begin to see how story and narrative build motivation and power to create change, Understand the role of Anti-Oppression principles in solidarity organizing.

  • Organizing & Mobilizing

    Recruitment, Retention, and the Leadership Ladder

    Training Materials

    Simple, 2-page training guides on Recruitment & Retention, and Leadership Development.

  • Leadership Development

    Role Clusters - Building the Container for a Leaderful Community

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Role clusters are teams of participants who all hold the same role (Coordinator, Facilitator, Community Care, Messenger). Role Clusters work together to support the whole training community by fulfilling their key function.

  • Community Accountability

    Self Care 101

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Understand how to sustain movements by caring for ourselves and each other, Analyze cultural norms of self-care, Understand the relationship between productivity & self-investment, and how we can approach self-care through an anti-oppressive lens.

  • Community Building

    Story Sharing & Resonance

    Training Materials

    Created for SPROG: Storysharing and Resonance is a practice adapted from the work of the Relational Center (relationalcenter.org), an organization which partners with social movement leaders to build a culture of radical engagement centered on relationships and empathy. At SSC we see storysharing and resonance as a practice that embodies Principle #9 about prioritizing relationships and centering them in our work. This practice helps community members build trust with each other, and also witness the critical role that vulnerability plays in powerful leadership and resilient relationships.

  • Digital Organizing

    Top 2018 Tools & Tactics to Bump Up Your Online Organizing Game

    Training Materials

    An overview of ways you can deploy online tools & tactics in combination with offline organizing to engage supporters, broaden your base and win campaigns. Drawn on lessons learned from resistance movements in 2017, and the latest online developments and social media trends. Learn what other organizers are doing to win and how to do it with limited time and money. 

  • Research Justice/Participatory Action Research

    We Can Be Surveyors

    Training Materials

    This manual includes step-by-step facilitation instruction to conduct a series of workshops on survey design and implementation. It includes workshops created to move from survey project planning, survey tool design and piloting and implementing the survey. The manual is a tool for staff and leaders working on social change that want to include community in the survey process. Any sections of the curriculum can be used based on the level of community engagement you are planning for the project.