Organizing 101: 
Fundamentals of Grassroots Organizing for Change

Presented by UUWF Director, Ann Wiesner

Session One: Building Blocks of Organizing Strategy
(March 12, 6:30-7:30 pm central)
In this session we’ll explore the fundamentals of grassroots organizing, including:

• The difference between organizing and mobilizing
• Clarifying goals, strategies, and tactics   
• Common pitfalls of organizing campaigns and how to avoid them

Session Two: Building Power for Justice (March 26, 6:30-7:30 pm central)
This session covers:

• The use and mapping of power
• Base-building 101
• Matching targets and tactics

Session Three: Engaging Others (April 9, 6:30-7:30 pm central)
This session offers an overview of:

• The One-on-One
• Guiding questions for when things get stuck
• Tip Share–hearing from each other about what’s worked and what hasn’t

Ann Wiesner worked in the nonprofit sector advocating for children and families for 10 years before joining a startup national grassroots organizing consulting firm in 2000. Over the next 20 years, she helped build the firm from four employees to 40 at its peak, and led consulting projects with nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and mission-based corporations around the country. She left the firm in 2019 to go solo. In over 25 years, Ann has helped hundreds of organizations develop sustainable grassroots organizing, advocacy, and voter-facing programs, grow and train grassroots activists, and build organizational culture grounded in relationship and justice.  In 2020 as interim director for the UUWF, Ann helped UUWF re-imagine their work in the context of the shifts in the social justice landscape, craft a new vision, staff up, and launch new programming that centers relationship building and activism skill development. She joined UUWF as permanent director in 2022.  

We hope you will join us for all three sessions of this program. If not, partial participation is also welcome. The program will be recorded.