Broad-Based Organizing
Definition
The Alinsky / IAF tradition of building coalitions across congregations, unions, and neighborhood associations so that no single institution can be isolated by the target.
The model treats dues-paying member organisations (not individuals) as the unit of power: each brings its own constituency, credibility, and reach to a campaign, and the coalition wins when the target cannot peel any one member off without losing the rest.
It is distinguished from single-organisation mobilising by its deliberateness about who is at the table — typically the campaign spends more time on coalition recruitment than on the campaign itself. The IAF Foundations of Community Organizing curriculum — the longest continuously-running US organiser-training program for faith-based broad-based community organising, traceable to Saul Alinsky’s original rules — formalises the craft as a five-block pipeline: one-to-one relational meetings inside an institution, research into the institutional power-holders relevant to a target, face-to-face negotiation with the target, action if the negotiation fails, and evaluation and growth of the institutional base. [source: iaf-foundations-organizing] The IAF method is the parent tradition of UK Citizens UK (founded by IAF-trained organisers) and the German DICO. [source: iaf-foundations-organizing] [source: alinsky-fr]
FAQ
What is broad-based organizing?
Broad-Based Organizing is the Alinsky / IAF tradition of building coalitions across congregations, unions, and neighborhood associations so that no single institution can be isolated by the target. It treats dues-paying member organisations — not individuals — as the unit of power: each brings its own constituency, credibility, and reach to a campaign, and the coalition wins when the target cannot peel any one member off without losing the rest.
What distinguishes broad-based organizing from single-organisation mobilising?
It is distinguished from single-organisation mobilising by its deliberateness about who is at the table — typically the campaign spends more time on coalition recruitment than on the campaign itself. Because member organisations — not individuals — are the unit of power, the recruitment decision is the campaign’s first strategic choice. Each dues-paying member brings its own constituency, credibility, and reach to the table, and the campaign wins when those members cannot be peeled off one by one.
How does the IAF curriculum formalise the craft?
The IAF Foundations of Community Organizing curriculum — the longest continuously-running US organiser-training program for faith-based broad-based community organising, traceable to Saul Alinsky’s original rules — formalises the craft as a five-block pipeline. The blocks are: one-to-one relational meetings inside an institution, research into the institutional power-holders relevant to a target, face-to-face negotiation with the target, action if the negotiation fails, and evaluation and growth of the institutional base.
Full page: [[broad-based-organizing]].