Public Resource
Understanding Strategic Capacity in Constituency-Based Organizations
Jane Booth-Tobin, Kal Munis, Lynsy Smithson-Stanley, Hahrie Han. P3 Lab at Johns Hopkins.

Two core ways that movement organizations can build and wield “strategic capacity” are by (1) continuously learning about what tactics have worked and which haven’t and (2) re-organize or adapt its resources to new challenges and opportunities. “Strategic capacity” is the ability of an organization to make decisions with uncertain information about how to deploy its resources to achieve a goal. Democratic governance structures within organizations can be especially key in building and deploying strategic capacity. This report delves into much more detail about each of these components and describes a few organization case studies, such as of Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Dakota Access Pipeline protests, and 38 Degrees. A secondary attached report provides guidance on how an organization can execute a process to evaluate its own strategic capacity. See the report home page for a fuller summary.