Mobilize+People


 * //What are networks good for? //**

We have observed five common reasons that leaders tap the power of networks: to weave community, access many and new perspectives, build and share knowledge, mobilize people, and coordinate resources and action. Just as most social change efforts have multiple purposes, many network solutions are designed to capture several of these benefits at once. As a result, the descriptions of network purposes that follow are archetypes, rather than mutually exclusive or exhaustive categories.

__Mobilize People __ Network approaches are useful for motivating people to act, and inspiring collective action.  The new social tools are easy to use, lower the cost of coordination, and help catalyze public action on a large scale because activity can be viral and doesn’t have to be routed through a central authority, illustrated famously by the Iranian election protests in 2009 and other so-called “Twitter Revolutions.”  There are also a number of examples of foundations who have thoughtfully applied networks knowledge to movement building and mobilization efforts. The Marguerite Casey Foundation is building a grassroots movement of low-income families advocating for greater equity by funding supports that enable organic development of networked action. For instance, they have supported town hall meetings in communities throughout the U.S. where regular people can connect with ideas and others engaged in the movement. They’re also supporting individual network weavers to connect like-minded leaders and activities within a particular region.  California Counts!, a multi-funder effort led by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, is a campaign to include ‘hard to count’ Californians in the 2010 census. Initiated with seed funding of $4 million from The California Endowment, and support from ___ other funders, the collaborative was able to raise a budget of $__million for making sure that ‘hard to count’ Californians were not left out of the 2010 census – and thereby reducing state and federal resources dedicated to their social services. The funds were then channeled to a network of community based organizations across the state who had local social networks connecting them to the ‘hard to count’ populations. By distributing leadership and leveraging local networks, California Counts! has mobilized an impressive effort to ensure greater accuracy in the 2010 census.  