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Learning from a Decade of Issue Advocacy July 2019 About Omidyar Network

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Learning from a Decade of Issue Advocacy July 2019 About Omidyar Network FIGHTING FOR CHANGE LEARNING FROM A DECADE OF ISSUE ADVOCACY JULY 2019 ABOUT OMIDYAR NETWORK: Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm that invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre, and Pam Omidyar, the organization has committed more than $1.4 billion to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations across multiple issue areas. To learn more, visit www.omidyar.com, and follow on Twitter @omidyarnetwork #PositiveReturns. ABOUT RALLY: RALLY is an issue-driven communications firm that takes on sticky political and social problems and finds ways to push them forward. Our team consists of experts in political, digital and media strategy and our clients are leading foundations and advocacy organizations, as well as nonprofit and charitable organizations. RALLY worked with Omidyar Network to help answer the question - what makes for a successful issue advocacy campaign? The goal was to discern patterns in successful campaigns and identify best practices, trends, and lessons learned that could be adapted and applied to other issue areas. WEARERALLY.COM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the following people for contributing to the research and writing of this report and lending their time for interviews: Dr. Vicki Alexander, Heather Barmore, Martin Bourque, Kenny Bruno, Dan Cramer, Josh Daniels, Julia Dionne, Michelle Dixon, Ernesto Falcon, Andrea Flores, Kaitlin Funaro, Evan Greer, LeeAnn Hall, Hahrie Han, Heather Hurlburt, Margarida Jorge, Liam Kerr, Kristi Kim- ball, Jane Kleeb, Annie Kim, Richard Kirsch, Dr. Jim Krieger, David McIntosh, Hillary Moglen, Jeff Nesbit, Tom Novick, Khalid Pitts, Lana Ramadan, David Segal, Sara Shor, Sara Soka, Dr. Theda Skocpol, Anthony Swift, Steven Teles, Larry Tramutola, and Alisha Qiu. Without their effort, the completion of this project would not have been possible. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY 2 SCHOLARSHIP REVIEW 4 POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY THEORY 4 RESOURCE MOBILIZATION THEORY 4 FRAMING THEORY 5 1.0 AND 2.0 MODELS 6 LIMITATIONS OF SCHOLARSHIP 8 CAMPAIGNS 13 TEA PARTY 14 HEALTH CARE 24 BREXIT 33 FIGHT FOR $15 43 KEYSTONE 49 MASSACHUSETTS CHARTER CAP 55 NET NEUTRALITY 61 SODA TAX 69 HIGHLIGHTS 80 CONCLUSION 83 INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY As part of its ongoing learning ethos, Omidyar Network distinctions between social movements that took place before commissioned an examination of recent social movements and the establishment of social media as a key tool, and those campaigns of significance to identify the factors that lead to that followed Barack Obama’s revolutionary 2008 presidential success in an advocacy effort. The goal was to discern patterns campaign, which marked a new era for campaign tactics and in successful campaigns and identify best practices, trends, and digital culture. As a result, all of the campaigns we analyzed lessons learned that could be adapted and applied to other issue began after 2008. areas. We then compiled a list of 30 campaigns that fit our criteria: To accomplish this goal, we posed a series of questions about the campaign had to have taken place since 2008, have an the essential elements of campaigns: available body of scholarship and research, and have leaders who were willing or able to share their insights. After offering • What is the difference between a social movement and a campaign? a broad list to Omidyar Network, we refined our research, which pointed to the eight campaigns that you will read about • Are there conditions that are always necessary for in this report. success? • Why do some campaigns fail? The campaigns we studied have taken place over the last 10 • How are issues framed in ways that mobilize and years and cover a broad range of topics across the political activate supporters? spectrum, both globally and in the United States. When they’ve • How have different campaigns effectively used succeeded, they’ve captivated the public, transformed opinion, resources like technology, money, or people power? created lasting change, and often achieved legislative success. • How do campaign structures differ and what are We also included several campaigns where “success” is still the advantages and disadvantages of particular pending, and one in which a referendum failed outright. In all, organizational structures? we reviewed and analyzed 405 articles, books, and reports • How do campaigns address evolving environments? for this research. A full works cited with all of the reference • What were the cultural contexts that made campaigns material is included after each section. particularly timely or resonant? While our research gleans important insights on what works • What defined success? and what doesn’t, it is widely accepted by scholars and To answer these sweeping questions, we approached the work practitioners that the task of evaluating advocacy is an systematically. especially difficult one. Change is almost never linear. Failing campaigns often lay the groundwork for the success of related We grounded our understanding by reviewing social movement movements, help craft the narrative around an issue, and scholarship and theory. We gained additional insights from raise public awareness. For these reasons, it is important to campaign evaluators and foundations that have considered understand that there often is no “end” date to advocacy. ways to assess advocacy. To deepen our knowledge, we interviewed renowned political scientists and sociologists who This report first introduces fundamental social movement have been studying the field for decades. We identified clear scholarship and research followed by a detailed analysis of eight different campaigns in chronological order. 2 SCHOLARSHIP REVIEW SCHOLARSHIP REVIEW WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MOVEMENT AND A CAMPAIGN? For research purposes, we defined a “campaign” as an movements. Though it was criticized for being overly rigid, organized effort with a specific, concrete goal and a limited newer research has made the theory more dynamic (Caren 1-4). time frame. On the other hand, social movements are defined Depending on the scholar, there may be slight variations but in sociology as group actions focusing on a political or social the five key elements of the theory are as follows: issue. Their main objective “is to change the public debate so that [progressive] reforms become politically viable” (Dreier 1. Political opportunities: This is typically defined as 30). Campaigns are an essential element of social movements, an event or social process that makes the status quo as they serve as stepping-stones to further victories within a political system vulnerable. Examples include wars, movement by helping to change the political climate (Dreier 33). widespread demographic changes (such as the election of more women and people of color to leadership), and In short, movements are like an ecosystem in which multiple weakening of repressive structures. campaigns, which may or may not be affiliated with each other, 2. Mobilizing structures: These are existing organizations can be carried out by different advocacy groups concurrently. or networks that can mobilize and engage people in For example, the LGBTQ rights movement broadly advocates for collective action. Examples include schools, churches, LGBTQ people in society and demands fair treatment and equal non-profit organizations, or activist networks. rights. However, the fight to legalize gay marriage is considered 3. Framing process: At a minimum, there are two a campaign because it had specific policy goals and was led by necessary elements for framing. The first is a interest groups. Campaigns and these interest group-led actions persuasive diagnostic frame that can clearly describe have deep roots in social movements, and they should not be the problem. The second is the prognostic frame, separated from the greater context. which presents a feasible solution. Framing theory is KEY SOCIAL MOVEMENT FRAMEWORKS AND a framework in its own right and will be explained in more detail further below. THEORIES 4. Protest cycles: These cycles denote sustained and We began our scholarship research with a broad scope by clustered protests where large groups participate in reviewing literature on social movements. The following social increasingly confrontational tactics. These serve as movement frameworks and theories are the most dominant catalysts for social movements. in sociology and are those we used to analyze and compare 5. Contentious repertoire: Although activists campaigns. There is significant overlap among these theories, theoretically have an unlimited arsenal of ways to but we delve into each one separately. make themselves heard, constraints on resources mean most rely on the tried and true: strikes, Political Opportunity Theory demonstrations, and petitions (Caren 1-4). Political Opportunity Theory, or Political Process Theory, Resource Mobilization Theory is considered the leading paradigm for social movement research. It was developed in the US during the 1970s and Resource mobilization theory (RMT) is considered a 1980s as a way to make sense of the various movements of the breakthrough in the study of social movements. Previously, prior decades, such as the Civil Rights, anti-war, and student social movements and the people involved with them were 4 viewed as irrational, emotional, and disorganized. However, 5. Material: Money, property, equipment, supplies, office RMT considers
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