To build a groundswell of advocates around the country, Climate Advocacy Lab is providing transformational organizing support through the Partnerships Program. Our Partnerships Program provides campaign and organizing support through a focus on building strong relationships and personalized coaching for you!
The Partnerships Program strengthens the capacity of environmental and climate justice organizations by supporting sustainable organizing structures, skill-building, and leadership development. We aim to build durable power by improving recruitment and retention practices, internal capacity, and providing organizations a space to workshop ideas with our seasoned team.
Our Coaching Philosophy
We believe transformation is relational, strategic and rooted in care. Our coaching philosophy is:
- Relational before transactional: Trust building is central to the process
- Co-designed, not prescriptive: Partners define goals with support
- Power aware: Coaching holds systemic context, multiracial, gendered, class-based dynamics
- Rooted in movement care: Attend to burnout, grief, joy as organizing realities
Who is the Partnerships Program for?
Organizations and organizers who:
- Are running climate and environment focused campaigns.
- Have at least 2 years of organizing experience and in need of personalized coaching.
- Are under-resourced and in need of additional support and skills. At this time this program is intended for organizations with an annual budget less than $1 million and less than 20 full-time staff.
- Want to build their leadership and organizer skills to be successful.
- Want to develop and implement new tools and insights.
- This program is for c3 organizations. We cannot support c4 organizations at this time.
What The Lab’s Partnerships Program Offers
Partners will create 3 goals and choose from a selection of topics to develop over the course of the program.
Topics Covered in the program:
- Organizing Capacity - Hard Skills: Organizing Capacity supports organizations to build independent, flexible, and committed constituencies through improved recruitment and retention practices, robust leadership development, and stronger relational infrastructure. This track is designed to deepen participants’ understanding of power, uncover informal leadership structures, and strengthen foundational engagement skills like one-on-one conversations and base-building strategy.
- Strategic Capacity: Strategic capacity improves your ability to navigate uncertainty, sustain collective action, and effectively allocate time and resources. Improve participant capacity, campaign partners, organizing team, etc. by streamlining processes, shifting priorities, and making sure members are skilled up to take on more responsibilities.
- Coalition Organizing: Relational organizing is at the core of maintaining a strong coalition structure. This track focuses on the ability to build independent, flexible, committed constituencies, and work well in coalitions. The goal is to improve coalition structure to expand coalition members’ capacity for coalition members and increase overall buy-in.
- Strategic Culture: Strategic culture is the development of shared beliefs, goals, assumptions, and behaviors that shape the collective identity and group relationships. Having a strong culture helps your movement reach its goals and protects the campaign on internal and external threats that could jeopardize the collective work.
- Leadership Development: This track is designed to strengthen a group’s processes to develop individuals skills and ability to take on leadership roles within an organization. It will focus on improving facilitation and coaching skills, understanding how to navigate conflict, and assessing your organization’s culture.
Training topics and offerings include:
- Measuring Organizational Capacity: Participants will assess their organization’s current strengths and gaps across recruitment, retention, leadership development, and communication. This includes facilitated reflection on staffing, volunteer engagement, relational trust, and alignment across teams or coalition members.
- Power Mapping (Internal & External): Participants will learn about power mapping both internal organizational power dynamics (e.g., who holds influence, how decisions get made) and external landscapes (e.g., targets, allies, opponents). Participants will leave with visual tools and strategy insights to inform their campaigns or coalition planning.
- Spectrum of Support Analysis: Participants will evaluate where their base currently falls along the spectrum from active opposition to active support and how to move people toward deeper alignment.
- One-on-One Conversations 101 (with Practice): Participants will learn and practice core principles of relational organizing through 1:1 conversations on how to build trust, surface values,identify leadership potential and learn to make the hard ask. Includes real-time practice and feedback.
- Measuring Strategic Capacity: Participants will identify areas to increase/decrease efforts and take stock of their campaign. Strategic capacity brings flexibility and reflection into your campaign and allows groups to be able to react to campaign shifts.
- Security Culture: PParticipants will improve or implement security protocols, evaluate retention practices, and learn how to be proactive with security and safety.
- Burnout: Participants will be able to identify signs of burnout and create practices to combat burnout within the organization/campaign.
- Digital and Narrative Support: Participants will improve digital and online communications to create online paths for members to deepen their knowledge and engagement.
- Coalition Culture and Decision Making: Participants will reflect on their coalition space to uncover informal power dynamics, get clarity on shared goals among members, and develop practices to promote equitable decision making. Using the Blueprint for Multiracial, Cross-Class Climate Movement, participants will understand how to build a collective identity, strengthen buy-in, and create a resilient culture.
- Conflict Management: Participants will be trained on how to facilitate discussions, manage conflict in organized spaces, understand how to build strong communication networks, and foster spaces for open discussions through culture self-assessments and brainstorming tools.
- Retention and Community Engagement: Participants will understand how to use the ladder of engagement to develop strategies to skill up their base. They’ll create practices to keep their case engaged and explore creative community engagement activities.
- Deepening Facilitation Skills Participants will understand the differences between facilitation, training, and coaching and when/how to use each skill set to meet campaign needs. They will also gain experience in scenario planning and facilitating through campaign shifts.
What is the Commitment?
There are not many spaces to receive direct coaching and peer learning opportunities from other organizers. We believe this time with others is key to strengthening and developing organizing skills. From past partnerships, it’s clear that organizations get out what they give in to the program. Take advantage of the time and space. Commitment includes monthly calls and regular check-ins. Attendance is mandatory. We can be flexible with scheduling, but frequent cancellations will result in losing your spot in the program.
Length of the program: 6 months beginning in October. 2025
Estimated monthly time commitment: 4 - 5 hours a month including scheduled sessions and prep time.
- 15 minute pre-coaching survey at beginning of program
- Bi-weekly 60 minute coaching session
- Monthly 60 minute peer-to-peer call
- 15 minute post-coaching survey at completion of program
- Development of lessons learned/impact story at completion of program
Important Dates
- Applications open September 4th, 2025
- Applications close September 22nd, 2025
- Applicants notified by September 29, 2025
- Welcome Call on October 2nd, 2025
- Program end in April, 2026
Interested? Apply here! Applications close September 28th, 2025.
For any questions or additional information needed, reach out to kerrina@climateadvocacylab.org.
Current Partners
Alaska Wilderness League
Alaska Wilderness League stands with, serves and supports the many people and organizations that believe in a sustainable future for Alaska. We honor and respect the cultures of Alaska Natives whose way of life remains deeply connected to the state’s land, waters and wildlife. We believe that Alaska’s long-term economic future and subsistence traditions are inexorably tied to the health and sound stewardship of its natural resources, which support hunting, fishing, tourism and unrivaled outdoor experiences that are central to Alaskans’ quality of life.
Boston Cyclists Union
The Boston Cyclists Union believes that bicycling is a meaningful way to shape the future of our cities. Our mission is to transform the streets of greater Boston into equitable and inviting people-centered spaces affording access and connection for every body. We accomplish this through organizing, advocacy, public actions, and holding city and state agencies accountable to build out the network of safe, protected bike infrastructure.
Families for a Livable Climate
Families for a Livable Climate is a network of Montana parents, caregivers, and community members working to ensure that our kids have a vibrant, secure, and healthy future. We create community for climate action in Montana by engaging families of all kinds in community-oriented climate events, educational opportunities, advocacy, and leadership.
Houston Clean Air Alliance
Houston Clean Air Alliance works to reduce the public health impacts from air pollution through research, education, and advocacy. We recognize that Houston’s metropolitan area is a place of diversity where each community faces different challenges. Our campaigns take into consideration the various air quality issues and environmental injustices in neighborhoods, focusing on advocating with underserved communities who experience disproportionate and cumulative impacts from multiple sources of air pollution (Ethylene Oxide, Particulate Matter 2.5, Benzene, etc.).
Ignatian Solidarity Network
Through in-person and virtual programs and campaigns, ISN provides social justice education grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, and works to mobilize its 90,000+ network members to take action on timely issues related to migration, care for creation, racial justice, and economic justice.
Mountain Mamas
The Mountain Mamas are guided by our commitment to organize, inspire, and activate Mamas across the Rocky Mountains to advocate for our climate, clean air and water, and public lands. Mountain Mamas protect our air, water, climate and public lands for future generations.
Past Partner Testimonials
"There’s been so much that has changed the way we, as the Energy Democracy Project, organize as a result of working with the Climate Advocacy Lab! The biggest area of growth in 2023 centered on the ways in which we approach the development of messaging. We know we needed to refine our messaging if we wanted to build a broad base of support for energy democracy. We realized we needed to be able to talk about energy in ways that were tangible and accessible to people who aren't already within the energy democracy space. In collaboration with the Lab, we conducted focus group research and those insights directly informed the Messaging Guide that is a public tool for the public and our Project Collaborators to utilize."
- Selena Feliciano, National Campaign Coordinator, Energy Democracy Project
“In 2023, NY Renews was able to launch new projects with greater strategic support and evidence-based research from the Climate Advocacy Lab.The support of Nicole and Climate Advocacy Lab was critical for the NY Renews Steering Committee 2023 Retreat. Nicole’s facilitation brought a mixture of disciplined preparation, and flexibility that set us up for success and led us to strategic outcomes and more alignment on our longer term legislative strategy.
Additionally, as we were designing our "Adopt a Legislator Program," Justin and Nicole offered overall consultation and best practices that we want to educate and support our members to implement. The Lab’s outside perspective and deep expertise supported us in honing our internal process and applying razor-sharp focus on our shared outcomes.”
- Xaver Kandler, Campaigns Director, NY Renews
“Working with Kerrina has been a truly transformative experience! She has supported me to find a new sense of clarity and direction, not only in my organizing career, but in a way that spills over into informing other parts of my life. Kerrina blends incisive strategy knowledge with a spiritual framework for a uniquely holistic approach. My coaching experience with her has been both joyful and impactful. ”
- Anna Tsomo, Sixth Street Community Center
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What happens if I need to miss a session?
If you need to miss a session, participants are required to give advance notice as early as possible. We understand many people have other obligations, but frequent cancellations will result in losing your spot in the program.
Do I have to be a member of the Climate Advocacy Lab to apply?
You do not need to be a member of the Climate Advocacy Lab in order to apply for the cohort, but we do require all TFI Cohort participants to become Lab members so they are able to easily access our resources and tools. We encourage all applicants to get that process started by filling out this new member form.
Do you have accessibility alternatives for completion of the application for those who need it?
We are more than happy to provide additional support for those who would like to use an alternative process for submitting an application, like interviews or video/audio submissions. Please contact us with your request at the email listed below.
I have a question about the program or application. Who can I contact for clarity?
Please feel free to contact us through email with any questions by contacting Kerrina (kerrina@climateadvocacylab.org).
Who has previously participated in the Partnerships Program?
Past partners have included: Asian Pacific Environmental Network, NY Renews, Energy Democracy Project, USCAN, Sixth Street Community Center, Dayenu, Citizens Climate Lobby, and others.
Asian Pacific Environmental Network(APEN) is an environmental justice organization with deep roots & history in California’s Asian immigrant and refugee communities in Richmond and Oakland. APEN has been leading a just transition away from an extractive economy based on profit and pollution and toward local, healthy, and life-sustaining economies that benefit everyone through an organized movement demanding fundamental changes to economic and social institutions.
Our work with APEN is focused on expanding this organizing work across multiple generations, dialects, and languages, in 2024 and supporting the launch of a Statewide Membership of young Asian Americans who are equipped to support the leadership of frontline communities and build greater power for climate & environmental justice across the state
The question of transforming the climate crisis is fundamentally a question of people power. Building this power means organizing at scale in the communities most impacted by the crisis. As the largest network of grassroots organizations in the U.S. the Center for Popular Democracy and their 48 affiliates play a vital role in building the power necessary to tackle the climate crisis.
Our work with the Center for Popular Democracy is grounded in testing scalable base building strategies and creating an understanding of what is effective in activating and retaining more Black, brown, and working class communities to engage deeply on climate.
Across the country, communities agree: people should be able to make their own decisions about the cost and reliability of electricity, instead of allowing corporations to profit off of something we need to survive and thrive. The Energy Democracy Project launched the Reimagined Energy for our Communities, U.S. (REFOCUS) campaign to unify diverse, local, and frontline organizations and put power back in the hands of the people.
Our work with the Energy Democracy Project is focused on building a public narrative on energy democracy that activates people across race and class and learning how to effectively leverage a network to support fractal movement-building, wherein network collaborators become the main messengers of a shared narrative.
The Climate Leadership and Protection Act (CLCPA) is among the nation’s most aggressive climate and environmental justice laws. Building on this historic win and years of campaigning experience, NY Renews is currently organizing around the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package, a legislative roadmap to rapidly decarbonize New York.
Our work with NY Renews is rooted in maximizing the strategic capacity and power of the coalition to make the state healthier and more equitable, ensure a just transition for workers, and help create an accessible green economy for all.
US Climate Action Network (USCAN) works to build trust and alignment among its network of 190+ organizations that are fighting climate change in a just and equitable way.
One of the key strategies in USCAN’s 2023-2025 strategic plan is a new initiative wherein members vote on 2 campaigns for the network to collectively support. Our work with USCAN is focused on supporting the staff and larger network as they pilot this new model, providing training for members as well as strategic support and coaching for campaign leads.