About

The Building Movement Project (BMP) supports and pushes the nonprofit sector to tackle the most significant social issues of our times by developing research, creating tools and training materials, providing guidance, and facilitating networks for social change.

We know the landscape

With over two decades of experience, the BMP team understands the short- and long-term effects of social and political change on the nonprofit sector. Our research and consulting services draw on our expertise to help organizations navigate internal and external changes, build greater momentum, and achieve new victories.

In the times ahead, as organizations tackle equity, diversity, and inclusion, and work to align social justice principles with their operating practices, we will continue to offer the experience and knowledge nonprofits need to help them transform the world.

WE KNOW NONPROFITS

We understand the unique opportunities and challenges of the nonprofit sector. From helping organizations with leadership transitions to steering community-based organizations past a roadblock, we guide nonprofits in their journeys towards making impactful, lasting change.

Through our work in three distinct areas – leadership, service and social change, and movement building – we push organizations to ask difficult questions and offer productive tools to guide them through the process of seeking answers.

How We Do It

BMP ignites nonprofits’ potential to have an impact in advancing movements for progressive social change and focuses that potential into tangible action

Listening and Learning: Through surveys, focus groups, interviews and convenings, we explore ways organizations can shift their focus to transforming the structures and systems causing inequality and injustice.

Leading and Influencing: BMP advances ideas that matter. We bring a critical, values-based, and inclusive perspective to shape ideas and practices in the nonprofit sector.

Consulting and Training: BMP supports nonprofits, philanthropy, and networks in order to align their practices with their values and to better address issues facing their communities.

OUR HISTORY

How We Got Started
In 1999, 20 people from leading social change nonprofits gathered to explore what impact their organizations were having on the broader nonprofit sector and discuss how to build their capacities as change agents. These discussions created the Building Movement Project, a nonprofit that examines movement building to catalyze progressive social change.

What We Work On
We help organizations build their vision, leadership, and capacity to make change. We seek new solutions to shift the systems that make it difficult to address the needs of the people we serve. We offer tools to address barriers for people of color in the sector and generational differences in nonprofit leadership. We develop resources to support service providers in meaningfully engaging their constituents and achieving their mission.

The BMP team understands the impact the external environment has on how nonprofits work. We provide up-to-date analysis of current landscapes, make practical recommendations, and develop innovative tools that align social justice principles with operating practices.

Originally housed at the Hauser Center for Nonprofits at Harvard, Building Movement Project is now fiscally sponsored by TSNE.

If your organization seeks more customized, hands-on support, Building Movement Project conducts keynotes, workshops, presentations, and also offers consulting services for nonprofit organizations.

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