A good formula for leveraging health messaging for climate advocacy: Tell people about the health consequences of climate change, health benefits of climate solutions, and include a call-to-action. This experiment found that each of these categories was worth including in a message to help motivate Americans to contact Congress. Within each of these categories, a variety of specific types of information were tested, with the most effective overall combination being a message that first described the negative impacts of climate change on air quality, then explained how transitioning to clean energy will benefit people’s health, and ended by explaining that most Americans support this solution, and many are taking action to advocate for it.             

There are six key steps to executing the best “one-on-one” conversation—specific to a union organizing setting, but potentially applicable to other settings. Step One: Discover the issues—ask open-ended questions to understand the problems the worker cares most about. Step Two: Agitate—ask provocative questions about the frustrations expressed by the worker. Step Three: Elucidate—provide your worker with alternatives, such as enhancing worker power with a union. Step Four: Make an “ask”—before assuming you will be rejected, ask the worker to take a concrete action. Step Five: Innoculate—prepare the worker for the toxic arguments that the boss will give in fighting union power. Step Six: Follow up—check in after the conversation to try to ensure consistent communication and action.             

Figuring out where to start with digital tools can be daunting. Check out these practical tips for moving forward incorporating digital tools into your climte advocacy work. Here are the first three tips – open up the tip sheet to see more! 

Gamification is a viable way to get people engaged on climate change. This review of 64 research papers on the impact of various climate games and gamification found that they are generally having a positive effect. Whether the games are digital or analog, they tend to make participants less fatalistic about climate change and more motivated to take climate action. For example, games where players interact with peers often result in increased optimism about local and international cooperation to address climate change.             

Every year M+R Strategies, a digital services firm for progressive non-profits, releases its Benchmarks Study. The 2021 version analyzes the nonprofit digital advocacy and fundraising field using data from over 220 participating organizations. The Study covers these areas:

• Digital advertising
• Email messaging
• Mobile/SMS messaging
• Social media
• Fundraising
• Membership
• Website traffic and useage

To create pro-environmental behavior change, use targeted messages that activate one of three basic values: concern for other humans, for equality, and for other living things. This resource reviews the research on these three values as motivators of sustainable behavior and provides concrete recommendations for how to activate them:
• To activate prosociality, or concern for humans, emphasize climate change’s harm to future generations.
• To activate egalitarianism, or concern about equality, emphasize climate change’s harm to those suffering the most (and who often have contributed the least to climate change), such as people living in hot and vulnerable climates.
• To activate concern about animals, emphasize climate change’s harm to animal life. Research shows that this even works when discussing harm to insects!             

This series chronicles the Fight for 15 organizing campaigns in various U.S. cities and states over the past few decades. Examples include Detroit, Chicago, and Seattle. Various articles and interviews—written by different authors—describe the history of organizing efforts, policy goals, and organizing strategies behind both victories and losses. Multiple articles focus on the successful Florida 2020 minimum wage ballot question campaign—particularly the role of workers on the campaign, digital and communications GOTV tactics, and what overall lessons leftists and progressives can take away.             

When it comes to running a campaign that will build power, persuade targets, and win, the first and most important step is to design for success. Here are nine essential considerations for how to design a campaign plan that “considers the evidence” at each step of the planning process. And remember: it’s not a plan unless it’s written down! Includes guidance on:

• Developing a guiding vision and set of values for the campaign
• Selecting the right targets to pressure and influence
• Integrating equity into every step of the planning
• Developing a strong audience-centered communications strategy
• And more!

Getting wins increasingly depends on engaging voters online, using digital advocacy and engagement tools, platforms, and vendor services. Since 2019, State Voices has demo-d over 50 tools for functions such as relational organizing, phone dialing, and online fundraising, and distilled this information into a guide to help progressive organizations navigate a complex digital space and find tools to meet their needs. In this guide, you will find an overview of each tool, including pros and cons, and cost and technical support information, as well as a breakdown of State Voices favorites.    

When drumming up support for a movement, remind people of their moral identity - that is, the extent to which they feel that moral traits (such as being fair, caring, and kind) are important to who they are as a person. This survey study finds that the strength of an individual's moral identity is significantly associated with their support for an emerging youth climate movement, Fridays4Future. However, given that this study uses a convenience sample of German adults and focuses on a highly polarizing social movement in Europe, caution should be taken when generalizing this result to the U.S.