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New Resource | Co-Executive Directorship Learnings
As BMP transitions from a decade of operating under a co-directorship model back to a single executive director, this moment offers an opportunity to reflect on lessons learned that can […]
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Fortifying for the Future: 5 Infrastructure Promises from Building Movement Project
by Janis Rosheuvel, Executive Director at Building Movement Project Fortifying For the Future: 5 Infrastructure Promises from Building Movement Project We once more find ourselves as a sector in a […]
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New Report | Sounding the Alarm: Nonprofits on the Frontlines of a Polarized Political Climate
Nonprofits are facing a range of unique threats and challenges in today’s political climate. As the 2024 elections near, BMP is releasing a special report, Sounding the Alarm, to raise […]
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From Service to Action: A Case Study on a Memphis Organization’s Civic Engagement
by Hector Malvido, Senior Manager of Partnerships at Building Movement Project Setting the Table Ahead of the 2024 election, voters are already breaking records in early voting compared to the […]
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AANHPI Movement Challenges, Community Needs, and Infrastructure Recommendations: 2024 Election and Beyond
Originally published on asianlawcaucus.org Between July and September 2024, the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), in partnership with Aurora Commons and the Building Movement Project, […]
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One Year of Genocide, Decades of Solidarity
By Priti Nemani, BMP Staff In October 2023, as the genocide in Gaza began and Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim community members began experiencing backlash and scapegoating here in the United […]
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Continuing BMP’s Legacy: A message from BMP’s New Executive Director
Dear BMP Community, It is with great pleasure that I write to let you know I have assumed my role as Building Movement Project’s executive director. I come to this […]
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Transitions and Transformations: 25 Years of Activating Change at BMP
by Frances Kunreuther In 1999, while I was working at Harvard’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, I convened a group of 20 people from across the United States to talk […]
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Webinar Recap | Blocking the Backlash
Hosted by Building Movement Project Quick Access: Presentation Slides, Recording, Transcript, Blocking the Backlash: The Positive Impact of DEI in Nonprofit Organizations Report During the 60-minute webinar, Building Movement Project’s […]
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From Security to Wellbeing: Reflections from Our First Cohort
by Hector Malvido, Senior Manager of Partnerships For a decade, the Building Movement Project (BMP) worked in New Mexico with service providers committed to amplifying and strengthening the voice and […]
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The 2024 Elections and Beyond
Fortifying Ourselves, Our Organizations, and Our Ecosystems Election cycles can be opportunities to deepen community engagement, sharpen narratives, and clarify organizational and movement values. As we head towards the November […]
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New Report Explores the Positive Impact of DEI in Nonprofit Organizations
BMP’s latest Race to Lead report, Blocking the Backlash: The Positive Impact of DEI in Nonprofit Organizations, investigates the impact of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on nonprofit staff and […]
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Listening and Learning: Reflections on a Decade with the Building Movement Project
After more than eleven years on staff at the Building Movement Project, my last day is June 28, 2024. I transition out of BMP proud of the work we have […]
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Announcing BMP’s Incoming Executive Director
The Building Movement Project is pleased to announce the appointment of Janis Rosheuvel as Executive Director, effective September 16, 2024. Rosheuvel will lead all aspects of BMP’s work to provide […]
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Webinar Recap | Reckoning with Sustainability
Hosted by Building Movement Project Quick Access: Presentation Slides, Recording, Transcript, Reckoning with Sustainability: Black Leaders Reflect on 2020, the Funding Cliff, and Organizing Infrastructure Report On Wednesday, May 29, […]
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Social Justice Nonprofits Facing Multiple Threats Need Solidarity and Support
by Deepa Iyer, Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives In today’s polarized political climate, nonprofit organizations are contending with a range of issues that could hamper their vital work to advance systems […]
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Webinar Recap | For the Long Haul: Supporting and Sustaining Leaders of Color
Hosted by Building Movement Project Quick Access: Presentation Slides, Recording, Transcript, Push and Pull Report On Thursday, April 4th, 2024, Building Movement Project hosted a 60-minute webinar. During the webinar, […]
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Moving from Words to Actions: How can nonprofits prepare their staff to have hard conversations about race?
by Mercedes Brown, Director, Race Equity Assessment, Building Movement Project Three years have passed since many nonprofit organizations began to make a more concerted effort to become more racially equitable […]
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Join Us: Solidarity Is 2024 Programs
Join the Solidarity Is 2024 Programs by the Building Movement Project to enhance your skills, deepen connections, and advance justice. Explore virtual gatherings, a rapid response lab, and a transformative solidarity cohort.
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New Survey to Assess the Impact of Current Political Climate on Nonprofits
Nonprofits around the country are confronting a myriad of challenges and restrictions in the current political climate. Since the US Supreme Court rejected the use of affirmative action in higher […]
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New Report | Reckoning with Sustainability: Black Leaders Reflect on 2020, the Funding Cliff, and Organizing Infrastructure
The latest report in the Movement Infrastructure series, Reckoning with Sustainability: Black Leaders Reflect on 2020, the Funding Cliff, and Organizing Infrastructure captures insights and wisdom from more than 50 […]
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Building Movement Project’s Executive Search
Against the backdrop of increasingly polarized political and social divisions, BMP’s organizational health is stronger than ever. With a solid foundation of fiscal strength and a respected organizational reputation, BMP […]
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New Report | The Push and Pull: Declining Interest in Nonprofit Leadership
This report presents findings from BMP’s 2022 survey of more than 3,000 nonprofit staff on the factors related to their aspiration to top leadership roles, as well as the experiences […]
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Meet BMP’s Newest Team Members: Ava and Romana
Our team at the Building Movement Project has grown in the past few months, and we wanted to introduce you to our newest staff members! Read on to get to […]
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New Report | 100 DAYS OF BUILDING POWER AND SOLIDARITY: OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS FOR PALESTINIAN, MUSLIM, AND ARAB GROUPS IN THE U.S.
Since late 2022, the Building Movement Project has released a series of reports on the infrastructure needs of various communities and movements in order to provide ideas and recommendations to […]
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A Special Announcement from BMP’s Co-Executive Directors
January 11, 2024 We have important news to share with our Building Movement Project Community. On the eve of BMP’s 25th Anniversary and after 10 years of shared leadership, we […]
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Building Movement Project Welcomes Romana Lee-Akiyama as Senior Director of Institutional Advancement
January 8, 2024 On January 8th, we are thrilled to welcome Romana Lee-Akiyama to the Building Movement Project’s staff as the Senior Director of Institutional Advancement. In this new role, […]
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Webinar Recap | Security to Wellbeing Framework
Quick Access: Presentation Deck, Recording, Transcript On Thursday, December 7th, 2023, Building Movement Project hosted a 60-minute webinar on our Security to Wellbeing Framework: a tool for direct service organizations […]
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GUIDING SERVICE PROVIDERS TOWARD SOCIAL CHANGE WORK: A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE OPPORTUNITY
November 30, 2023 | Héctor Malvido, Senior Manager of Partnerships, Building Movement Project Building Movement Project (BMP) is organizing a cohort slated to begin in Q1 ‘24 to further refine […]
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Meeting the Moment: The Role of Nonprofit Service Organizations in Making Broad Social Change
On December 7th, the Building Movement Project (BMP) is excited to host a conversation about the Security to Wellbeing Framework (SWB), a new tool that supports service organizations to begin or expand their social change work.
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Webinar Recap | BB4C Pro for Consultants
Quick Access: Presentation Deck, Sample Report, Recording, Transcript On October 19, 2023, Building Movement Project hosted a 60-minute webinar on our new Race Equity Assessment resource: Building Blocks for Change Pro […]
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New Resource | Writing A Solidarity Statement: Considerations and Process Questions
The summer of solidarity is upon us. News headlines are full of stories about strikes happening in Hollywood, workers advocating for equitable pay and work conditions in delivery and retail […]
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Webinar Recap | BB4C Info Session
Quick Access: Presentation Deck, Sample Report December Info Session Recording November Info Session Recording August Info Session Recording July Info Session Recording June Info Session Recording Building Movement Project hosts […]
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Meet BMP’s Newest Team Members: Maham, LaShayla, and Héctor
Our team at the Building Movement Project continues to grow and deepen, we want to introduce you to our newest staff members! Read on to get to know Maham, LaShayla, […]
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Building Blocks for Change | Monthly Info Sessions
Join the Building Movement Project’s (BMP) Monthly Information Session to ask questions and learn more about our new race equity assessment, Building Blocks for Change (BB4C). Building Movement Project developed […]
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Webinar Recap | Community Conversation: Asian American Groups Respond to Crises and Build Power
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript On March 30, 2023, the Building Movement Project hosted a 75-minute conversation about the infrastructure needs, both short and long term, of Asian American groups that […]
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New Report | Balancing Act: Asian American Organizations Respond to Community Crises and Build Collective Power
Over the past three years, Asian American organizations have been engaging in a precarious balancing act: responding to community crises in the form of targeted violence while simultaneously building solidarity […]
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Lessons learned from BMPs new race equity assessment development process
Written by Mercedes Brown (Director of Race Equity Assessment, BMP) In my previous blog, I celebrated the public launch of Building Movement Project’s (BMP) automated race equity assessment, Building Blocks […]
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Supporting the Real Needs of All Nonprofits: Where Is More Infrastructure Needed?
Chris Cardona, Frances Kunreuther, Sean Thomas-Breitfeld The social sector provides vital services, connection, and advocacy in the U.S. and around the globe. Nonprofits represents more than 10% of the U.S. […]
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Meet BMP’s Newest Team Members: Adaku, Camryn, and Jasmine
Our team at the Building Movement Project has grown in the past few months, and we wanted to introduce you to our newest staff members! Read on to get to […]
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Webinar Recap: Race Equity Assessment Info Session (Building Blocks for Change)
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript, Presentation Deck Download the Sample Report On February 16, 2023, the Building Movement Project hosted an Info Session webinar for our new Race Equity Assessment: Building […]
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Building on years of research, BMP’s new race equity assessment is the tool nonprofits need
Written by Mercedes Brown (Director of Race Equity Assessment, BMP) Last week, Building Movement Project (BMP) launched Building Blocks for Change (BB4C), an automated race equity assessment to help nonprofits […]
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New Report: Funding Movement Infrastructure Brief
Download the Report: Funding Movement Infrastructure This report is the second in Building Movement Project’s (BMP) Movement Infrastructure Series. Funding Movement Infrastructure (January 2023) draws upon our ongoing work to encourage philanthropic […]
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2022 Highlights from Building Movement Project and Solidarity Is
Written by UyenThi Tran Myhre (Movement Building Coordinator) As the year draws to a close, I’ve been reflecting on my time at Building Movement Project and SolidarityIs. My one year […]
Read More Webinar Recap: Meeting the Need: Building the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript, Presentation Deck Download the Report: Meeting the Need: Building the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations On December 1, 2022, the Building Movement Project hosted a webinar to […]
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NEW REPORT – Movement Infrastructure Series Meeting the Need: Building the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations
BMP surveyed leaders in the nonprofit sector to find out what they needed to maintain and build their organizational infrastructure in order to fulfill their mission. The survey explored challenges that organizations face in achieving their mission by first asking respondents about four overarching domains that are key to maintaining and building nonprofits: 1) Operations, Communications, and Development, 2) Staff Wellness and Development, 3) Strategy and Evaluation, and 4) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Read More Webinar Recap: Making and Taking Space: Preparing Organizations for Leadership Progressions
Building Movement Project hosted a conversation with four New Mexican leaders on the planning, challenges and lessons learned from their Executive Leadership transitions and how they worked through them.
Read More Webinar Recap: The Long Arc of Building Power: Election Debrief with New Mexico Women of Color
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript On November 11th, 2022, the Building Movement Project hosted a conversation with civic engagement and movement leaders based in New Mexico to discuss the challenges, opportunities, […]
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Take the 2022 #RaceToLead Survey Today!
The Race To Lead Survey is back for 2022. Please click here to complete the survey. The Building Movement Project conducted our first national survey on race and leadership in nonprofits back in […]
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Meet BMP’s Newest Team Members: Lisa, Mercedes, and UyenThi
Our team at the Building Movement Project has grown in the past few months, and we wanted to introduce you to our newest staff members! Read on to get to […]
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Webinar Recap: Funding Movement Building in New Mexico
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript, Move the Money Resources On April 14th, 2022, the Building Movement Project hosted a conversation with philanthropy and movement leaders based in New Mexico to discuss […]
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When do Boards reach the “Tipping Point” from diversity to equity?
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld (Co-Executive Director) Over the past six years of our Race to Lead initiative, I’ve been curious about how we measure progress towards making nonprofits and our […]
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Solidarity and Community as a Healing Balm in Atlanta
Featured image via Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta. March 16th marked the one year anniversary of the spa shootings in Atlanta which killed 8 people including 6 Asian female […]
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Webinar Recap – Trading Glass Ceilings for Glass Cliffs: A Conversation with Black Nonprofit Leaders
Quick Access: watch the full webinar recording, read the transcript, and download the report Last week the Building Movement Project hosted a national webinar where Sean Thomas-Breitfeld (Co-Executive Director) unpacked […]
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NEW REPORT – Trading Glass Ceilings for Glass Cliffs
The Building Movement Project has released Trading Glass Ceilings for Glass Cliffs: A Race to Lead Report on Nonprofit Executives of Color. This new report focuses on the experiences and challenges […]
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Sparking Hope in Challenging Times
Here at BMP, we are immensely grateful to the individuals, organizations, and networks that have supported, engaged with, and sustained our work throughout this difficult year. At a time of […]
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Webinar Recap – Women of Color in Philanthropy: Centering Community and Advancing Equity in New Mexico
Quick Access: Recording & Transcript Last week the Building Movement Project held a conversation with four women of color working in philanthropy in New Mexico, moderated by our New Mexico-based […]
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Racialized Transitions and Glass Cliffs
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld (Co-Director) The Building Movement Project’s latest report – Making (Or Taking) Space – sheds light on the added challenges involved in executive transitions where a person […]
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Teaching Beyond 9/11: Lessons for Solidarity and Justice
Written by Kitty Hu (Communications and Programs Assistant) For many young people in K-20 classrooms today, 9/11 is a day frozen in time, but we must recognize it is part […]
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Support Native Leaders, Organizations, and Communities On and Beyond Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Written by Catherine Foley (Communications, Programs, and Operations Associate) Next Monday, October 11th marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which commemorates, honors, and celebrates the history and culture of Native American peoples. […]
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Strengthen Your Solidarity Practice During Hispanic Heritage Month
Written by Anna Castro (Manager, SolidarityIs) Beloved Chicano activist, Betita Martinez, once said, “I still believe if we’re ever going to really have the power and build a movement strong […]
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How Nonprofits Can Mark the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
September 11th is a day that holds significance for all of us, individually and collectively. Some of us hold lasting memories of that terrible day and its aftermath while others […]
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Power Up Internship Program’s Class of 2021 Graduates
The Power Up Internship Program launched in mid-June with a cohort of 20 outstanding youth leaders. More than 230 youth leaders ages 18-25 applied for the program and finalists were […]
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Celebrate Our Demands: Acting in Solidarity with LGBTQ Immigrants Beyond Pride Month
Written by Anna Castro (Manager, SolidarityIs) I attended my first Pride event during my junior year of high school. I told my mother I was visiting museums in Downtown Los […]
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Introducing the Summer 2021 Power Up Internship Program Cohort
Building Movement Project and Solidarity Is are proud to announce the Summer 2021 Cohort of the Power Up Internship Program. Over the course of the next two months, we will […]
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BMP Releases Move The Money to Catalyze Support for Social Movements
On June 23rd, the Building Movement Project (BMP) released Move The Money: Practices and Values for Funding Social Movements and launched the new project with a national webinar featuring Crystal […]
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BMP Receives Generous Donation from MacKenzie Scott
Yesterday, MacKenzie Scott announced a generous commitment of $2,739,000,000 in gifts to 286 organizations, and the Building Movement Project (BMP) was one of those groups. We are humbled by the […]
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New on the Solidarity Is This Podcast: Centering and Uplifting Asian American Communities
In the May 2021 episode of Solidarity Is This, Bo Thao-Urabe (the executive and network director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders – Minnesota) joins Deepa Iyer to share how […]
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Solidarity Stories: A Toolkit, Case Studies, and Reflection Questions for AAPI Heritage Month and Beyond
At a time of increased anti-Asian hate and ongoing violence targeting Black, indigenous and Latinx communities, solidarity is a practice that can anchor us. Over the past year, BMP and […]
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Webinar Recap — Building Power: A Conversation with Nonprofit Leaders of Color in Public Office
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript, BMP + New Mexico, On the Frontlines report, Race to Lead Revisited report, Race to Lead in New Mexico Earlier this week, the Building Movement Project […]
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Lessons and Action Items for AAPI Heritage Month
Written by Catherine Foley (Communications, Programs, and Operations Associate) May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM), a national observance that is marked by celebration, joy, and appreciation among […]
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One Year Later: New on the Solidarity Is This Podcast
After more than a year of living in a global pandemic, we are in a time of reflection and transition. How do we make meaning out of what we have […]
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Why Nonprofits Should Care about the George Floyd Murder Trial and Verdict
We were already seeing the headlines, video footage, and testimony in the trial about the murder of George Floyd, when we heard the news of another Black man, Daunte Wright, […]
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Webinar Recap – Looking Back, Looking Forward: Nonprofit Leaders of Color on COVID-19, Equity, and Justice
In March, the Building Movement Project hosted a national webinar to explore the ongoing effects of the pandemic and structural racism on nonprofits. Jorge Gutierrez (Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement), Laura […]
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Webinar Recap – One Year Later: New Mexico, COVID-19, and Leaders of color
Quick Access: Recording, Transcript, On the Frontlines Report Last Tuesday, the Building Movement Project hosted a webinar with four nonprofit leaders of color in New Mexico on how the COVID-19 […]
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What’s Ahead for US Nonprofits: One Year of COVID, the Stimulus Bill, and More
Written by Catherine Foley (Communications and Operations Associate) It’s been one year since the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States. The individual and collective trauma, grief, and […]
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Finances, Funding, and the Racial Wealth Gap: Strategies for a More Equitable Future
Written by Tessa Constantine (Research Analyst) The past year has seen scores of Americans face hardships as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. From mass unemployment, to increased need for food […]
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4 Takeaways for Nonprofits from the r/WallStreetBets, GameStop, and Robinhood Episode
Written by Anna Castro (Manager, SolidarityIs) The first month of 2021 came with a series of shocks and surprises. Among the surreal events of January, we witnessed what some in […]
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Re-Applying a Generational Lens
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld (Co-Director) The Building Movement Project started exploring generational differences using a race-based lens twenty years ago. The emphasis on race has also been our primary lens […]
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Between Resistance and Rebuilding
Written by Deepa Iyer (Director of Strategic Initiatives) Four years ago this month, I was facilitating strategy conversations about the Muslim ban, an executive order issued by the Trump Administration […]
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Support, Invest, and Engage: A Resource List for Non-Black People in Nonprofits and Philanthropy
Written by Catherine Foley (Communications and Operations Associate) This Black History Month should be different. After enduring months of overlapping crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impact on […]
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New Mexico Nonprofit Leaders Talk Solidarity in COVID Times
Written by Leah Steimel (New Mexico Coordinator) Leaders of ten New Mexico service nonprofits gathered in mid-November 2020, virtually, to share their insights and challenges with building alliances and gaining […]
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Learning, Collaborating, and Building Capacity for Equity
The Building Movement Project is part of a group of race equity practitioners and consultants convened by Equity in the Center at the end of 2019. Despite the challenging and […]
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The BMP Team Reflects on a Challenging Year
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that we need to be connected to each other, and to be committed to creating social change. During this unprecedented year, we […]
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Our Inaugural Power Up Internship Program Cohort
This fall, BMP and SolidarityIs launched the Solidarity Semester, a five-week online program for young people to learn about movement building and solidarity. This year, youth have shown up on […]
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Meet BMP’s Newest Team Member: Anna Castro, Manager of SolidarityIs
Written by Anna Castro (Manager, SolidarityIs) This week, I joined BMP as the Manager of SolidarityIs, a project that develops tools, trainings, and narratives for organizations and individuals. I’ve worked […]
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Solidarity Semester and Beyond
Written by Kitty Hu (Communications & Administration Intern, Fall 2020) The Fall 2020 Solidarity Semester has officially ended, but the opportunity and need to sustain solidarity work remains. Over the […]
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How Can We Prepare Ourselves Beyond the 2020 Election?
Written by Catherine Foley (Communications and Operations Associate) Updated 11/5/20: The IG Live with Deepa Iyer has been moved to Tuesday, November 10th at 6pm ET. The days and weeks ahead […]
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Webinar Recap: Nonprofit Leaders of Color Confront COVID-19 & Structural Racism
Last week, the Building Movement Project hosted a webinar on the release of our newest report On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism. We […]
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Webinar Recap: New Mexico and the Effects of COVID-19 on Leaders of Color
As part of the research for BMP’s recently released On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism, we conducted several interviews with leaders of nonprofit […]
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NEW REPORT: On the Frontlines: Nonprofits Led by People of Color Confront COVID-19 and Structural Racism
Kavita Mehra (Sakhi for South Asian Women) is one of the executive directors of color that Building Movement Project interviewed in the process of producing our latest report, On the […]
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Webinar Recap: Race to Lead in New Mexico
The Building Movement Project (BMP) recently hosted a webinar on the newly released publication, The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap in New Mexico: A Race to Lead Brief. The findings of the report […]
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Practicing Solidarity and Hope in Movement Building
Written by Kitty Hu (Communications & Administration Intern, Fall 2020) “Part of my resilient practice is to hold onto hope. It’s not rainbows and unicorns and blind optimism,” offered Greisa […]
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Poverty & the Pandemic: How Service Providers Can Build Community Power
Written by Olivia Peña (Networks and Learning Practice Coordinator) The release of the Census Bureau’s latest data on U.S. poverty highlights the realities and challenges that lower income communities face. […]
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Opportunities for Young Activists: Reflections and a Call to Action
Written by Catherine Foley (Communications and Operations Associate) SolidarityIs, in partnership with the Building Movement Project, is launching a five-week online movement education program for young activists that will take […]
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Webinar Recap: Race to Lead in the Memphis Area
Earlier this month, the Building Movement Project (BMP) partnered with Momentum Nonprofit Partners to present the findings of a new publication, The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap in the Memphis Area: […]
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What’s in Your Movement Pantry?
Written by Deepa Iyer (Senior Advisor) and Trish Tchume (Social & Racial Justice Practitioner) During the first few weeks of the shutdown, many of us responded to the crisis by […]
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Webinar Recap: Race to Lead in the Milwaukee Area
Written by Tessa Constantine (Research Analyst) The Building Movement Project (BMP) recently hosted a webinar on the findings of the newly released brief, The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap in the […]
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Black Women in the Nonprofit Sector: New Findings from the 2019 Race to Lead Survey
Written by Ofronama Biu (Senior Research Associate) The recent Black Lives Matter protests in response to police violence have resurfaced conversations about anti-blackness in the workplace. What do Black women […]
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Three Takeaways from BMP’s Race to Lead Revisited Webinar
The Building Movement Project (BMP) recently hosted a webinar on the findings of the newly released report Race to Lead Revisited: Obstacles and Opportunities in Addressing the Nonprofit Racial Leadership […]
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BMP Releases Race to Lead Revisited
The Building Movement Project (BMP) is pleased to announce the release of Race to Lead Revisited: Obstacles and Opportunities in Addressing the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap. This is the first […]
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BMP Supports Black-Led Organizations in Movements for Justice
It’s been two weeks since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Since then, we have seen protests around the country demanding justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, […]
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Three Takeaways from “We’ve Been Here Before: Community-Based Nonprofits Confront Crises”
On May 13, the Building Movement Project and SolidarityIs hosted the second webinar in our “Nonprofits and COVID-19” series. The webinar featured Ashley K. Shelton of The Power Coalition, Seema Agnani […]
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We Need to Collect More Data During COVID-19 (and Believe It!)
Written by Tessa Constantine (Research Analyst) Last week, learning of the news of President Trump saying during a press conference that light, heat, and injecting disinfectants could cure the coronavirus, […]
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Race Equity Is Essential Work
Why Organizations Cannot Postpone It Even In Times of Crisis Written by Gerald Mitchell (Consultant, BMP Organizational Race Equity Assessment) UPDATE 5/14/2020: We’re interested in hearing examples of what your […]
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The Nonprofit Sector and the ‘Shake Shack Effect’
Written by Deepa Iyer and Frances Kunreuther This article is cross-listed on the Philantopic blog. These days, we’re hearing a lot about how federal legislation passed in response to the […]
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Three Takeaways: Our Conversation with Grassroots and Movement Leaders on COVID-19
Written by Deepa Iyer On April 14, 2020, Building Movement Project and Solidarity Is hosted a webinar with four women of color who work with Latinx, Asian, Black, and Native […]
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Mapping Our Social Change Roles in Times of Crisis
Written by Deepa Iyer. This article is cross-listed on Medium.com. I am a rapid responder but over the past few weeks as the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the world, […]
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Spaciousness and Solidarity in the Time of a Pandemic
Written by Deepa Iyer The past few weeks have seemed like one interminable day, and perhaps you, like me, have been moving through periods of feeling disoriented, confused, outraged, and […]
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A Message from Building Movement Project: Sustaining Non-Profits in a Time of Crisis
Like all of you, here at Building Movement Project, we are grappling with the sudden changes affecting our workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities. These are times of uncertainty and confusion. At […]
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New Release: Collaboration Across Race in the Reproductive Movement: A Case Study of the Reproductive Health Equity Act in Oregon
We are pleased to announce the release of our most recent publication, Collaboration Across Race in the Reproductive Movement: A Case Study of the Reproductive Health Equity Act in Oregon, […]
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Interview with Zeenia Junkeer: RHEA and the Work of Coalition Building
Written by Catherine Foley Our newest report, Collaboration Across Race in the Reproductive Movement: A Case Study of the Reproductive Health Equity Act in Oregon, focuses on how advocates passed […]
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Interview with Linda Campbell: A People’s Atlas of Detroit
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld A new book titled A People’s Atlas of Detroit, co-edited by Linda Campbell, who directs BMP’s work in Detroit, narrates the lived experiences of people engaged […]
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Video: Learn More About Us!
For over twenty years, the Building Movement Project (BMP) has been working on issues related to movement building, service and social change, and leadership in the nonprofit sector. We conduct […]
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Webinar Recap: #OurNeighborhoods Anti-Displacement Toolkit
The Building Movement Project (BMP) recently hosted a 60-minute webinar featuring Quinn Rhi of National CAPACD and Manisha Lance and Karimah Dillard of Raksha, Inc. Quinn presented the new #OurNeighborhoods […]
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Congratulations to Detroit Community Leader, Linda Campbell
On February 21, 2020, the Mary Turner Center for Advocacy honored Linda Campbell and the Detroit People’s Platform with the Nida Donar Social Justice Award. Linda has worked for over […]
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Squads, Spaces, and Sustainable Movements
Written by Deepa Iyer Over the past three years, I have participated in the Solidarity Summit, a space for movement leaders working on racial justice issues. We meet regularly to […]
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WEBINAR—Tools2Engage: #OurNeighborhoods Anti-Displacement Toolkit
Join us on Thursday, February 13th 2020 at 1pm EST for a FREE webinar on one of our newest Tools 2 Engage resources: the #OurNeighborhoods Anti-Displacement toolkit. This toolkit was […]
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Reflections on the 2019 NJ Nonprofit Diversity Report
Written by Catherine Foley The Center for Non-Profits just released the 2019 New Jersey Non-Profit Diversity Report, which is based on their 2018 NJ Non-Profit Compensation and Diversity Survey. While […]
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Beyond Hashtags and Slogans: When Solidarity Becomes Transformative
Written by Deepa Iyer Reflect for a moment. Have you attended a protest, a rally, or a march in the past year? Have you used a hashtag online to indicate […]
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Introducing Solidarity Is
Written by Deepa Iyer I am excited to join Building Movement Project where I will be supporting BMP’s movement building initiatives and leading Solidarity Is, a project that I have […]
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More Than Food: How Service Providers Engage Their Communities and React to Policy
Written by Helga Garza The Common Good Action Project is a cohort-based program that BMP developed to support nonprofit leaders in New Mexico to learn how to align their direct […]
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Webinar Recap: Census, the Citizenship Question, and the Community and Organizational Response
Recently, the Building Movement Project (BMP) hosted a 60-minute webinar featuring XP Lee (Program Manager for Policy & Special Projects with the Minnesota Council on Foundations), Joseph Shoji Lachman (ACRS Civic […]
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Organizing for Communities to Be Counted in Census 2020
Written by TC Duong For the 2020 Census, the Trump Administration proposed adding the following question to the form: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” Fortunately, the […]
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Take the 2019 Race to Lead Survey Today
In 2016, the Building Movement Project conducted a national survey on race and leadership in nonprofits. The data from that survey led to the development of the popular Race to […]
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Webinar Recap: Engaging Constituents, Addressing Root Causes: Food Banks and Beyond
Recently, the Building Movement Project (BMP) hosted a 60-minute webinar featuring Randi Quackenbush and Lyndsey Lyman of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier (FBST) and Alicia Swords, Associate Professor at Ithaca College. […]
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Building Movement Project Releases Report on CEOs in Nonprofits
For Immediate Release: May 28, 2019 For the nonprofit sector to achieve more diverse leadership, it must not only commit to increasing the number of leaders of color, but also […]
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Launching Discussion/Working Groups in Response to WOC Race to Lead Report
In April, the Building Movement Project hosted a webinar featuring a presentation and discussion of findings from our Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector report. During the webinar, participants […]
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Webinar Recap: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector
Last week, the Building Movement Project (BMP) hosted a 60-minute webinar featuring a presentation of our latest report– Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector. This report takes an intersectional approach […]
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Stories Behind the Data: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector
Written by Ofronama Biu and Noelia Mann At Building Movement Project, we believe that the qualitative data we gather about individuals’ personal experiences, whether they reinforce or challenge our findings, […]
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WEBINAR—Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector
Join us on April 18th at 2 pm EST for a FREE webinar on our latest report – Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector. This report takes an […]
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Women of Color and Leadership – Intersectional Tides Lift All Boats
Written by TC Duong As a man of color who has spent much of my career working in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations at the national level, addressing […]
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Webinar Recap: How Social Change Happens, the View from Detroit
Written by Noelia Mann On Feb. 26, the Building Movement Project (BMP) hosted a webinar designed to help listeners explore how service providers and organizing groups work together to shift power. During the […]
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The “How” of Social Change
In the late 90s and early 2000s, one of the Building Movement Project’s founding members, Linda Campbell, was working with service providers struggling with shrinking budgets and increased need in […]
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Building Movement Project Releases Report on Race and Gender in Nonprofits
For Immediate Release: Feb 5, 2019 Report finds that racial and gender biases, not lack of experience or talent, blocks advancement for women of color (New York, NY) – The Building […]
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What’s in a Name: Shifting Language and Mindsets about Public Assistance
Written by Noelia Mann Illustration: Rob Dobi It’s been about a month since Jazmine Headley’s son Damone was ripped from her arms in the Human Resources Administration building in Boerum Hill, […]
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2018: The Year in Review
2018 has been Building Movement Project’s busiest year ever! We’ve been crisscrossing the country talking about the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap, documenting how groups are working across boundaries to create movement for social change, and supporting important place-based […]
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Webinar Recap: Racial Wealth Learning Simulation
Written by Noelia Mann This piece is a follow-up to a recent Tools to Engage webinar hosted by the Building Movement Project. The Building Movement Project (BMP) recently hosted a webinar designed to help listeners […]
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Data: What is it Good For? Learning (with you) from Race to Lead
Written by Frances Kunreuther and Ofronama Biu The Nonprofits, Leadership, and Race Survey – the basis for the Race to Lead reports – was developed to learn more about why so few […]
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Bridging Differences and Movements
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Recently, I was in Detroit for a community summit organized by our partners at the Detroit People’s Platform and led a workshop on coalitions and alliances. Since the […]
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Webinar Recap: A Deeper Dive into Advocacy
Written by Noelia Mann This piece is a follow-up to a recent Tools to Engage webinar hosted by the Building Movement Project. Now, more than ever, direct service organizations are being called […]
Read More Resisting Nonprofit Complicity in Family Separations
Written by Noelia Mann Family separations at the US/Mexico border have been at the forefront of the national conversation over the last several months, with good reason. Amid daily reports of terror and trauma at […]
Read More The Trumpification of the Gen Z Workforce
Written by Megha Patel Generation Z, considered the most diverse generation and the last to be majority white, is already beginning to transform the American workforce. Pew Research defines Generation Z […]
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Why Family Definitions Matter
Written by Sean Thomas-BReitfeld As Pride month came to a close this year, LGBTQ people were reminded that the struggle continues to have our lives and loves be valued equal […]
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Webinar Recap: Systems Change with an Equity Lens
Community Interventions that Shift Power and Center Race Written by Natalie Bamdad from MAG and Noelia Mann from BMP This piece is a follow-up to a recent webinar on systems change and […]
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The Power of “Duh”
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Nearly a year ago, I started traveling around the country to present to a variety of groups on the findings from BMP’s survey on nonprofits, leadership and […]
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Confronting Our Complicity in Racial Inequity
GEO Guest Post Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld If Monday’s plenary inspired us to dream about GEO’s 2038 vision, the discussion during Tuesday’s lunch snapped us back to the fierce urgency of […]
Read More A Better Match: Nonprofit Boards and Community Representation
Written by Ofronama Biu Image: This graph depicts responses to the CGAP survey question regarding Board member-community match. Nonprofit boards exist to ensure organizational viability. Board members help guide organizations […]
Read More Strong Families New Mexico: Building the Common Good by Building Alliances
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado This entry continues our series highlighting the work of our allies in New Mexico and the common good in action. Click here to read the previous entry. […]
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BMP Returns to the Boston Foundation to Present MA Race to Lead Report
Written by Megha Patel On April 2nd, Building Movement Project (BMP) co-directors Sean Thomas-Breitfeld and Frances Kunreuther presented the most recent installment of the Race to Lead report series at The […]
Read More Think Integrating Clients Onto Your Board is Impossible? Think Again!
Service providers know the value of integrating client voices more actively, but often face a variety of barriers in doing so. The idea of including current or former clients on […]
Read More Integrating Civic Engagement for Nonprofits
A Session with UndiosUS Affiliates Written by Noelia Mann On a snowy second-day of Spring, I facilitated a workshop with BMP Co-Director Sean Thomas-Breitfeld at the UnidosUS Leaders in Action Summit in […]
Read More The Golden State Difference
New Report Says CA Leads When It Comes to Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership, But Barriers Persist Written by Frances Kunreuther and Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Following its groundbreaking national report on why […]
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Millennials and the State of Race in America
Written by Noelia Mann Interest, scholarship, and opinion pieces focused on the Millennial generation have increased in recent years, as Millennials have finally overtaken Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest […]
Read More UPCOMING WEBINAR on Tools to Engage: Resources for Nonprofits
Hear from Maria Mottola, Executive Director of the NY Foundation Our new website, Tools to Engage: Resources for Nonprofits is up and running! Based on the structure of the popular NICE Guide, Tools […]
Read More Tools to Engage: Resources for Nonprofits
Building Movement Project’s new resource database Tools to Engage: Resources for Nonprofits is officially LIVE! Loosely based on the structure of the popular NICE Guide, this website is an interactive, multi-level search portal […]
Read More New Survey of Boards Backs Up Race to Lead Findings
Earlier this week, BoardSource released Leading with Intent: 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices. BoardSource provides nonprofit leaders with tools, resources, and research to increase board effectiveness and strengthen organizational impact. Leading […]
Read More Katrina, Sandy, Harvey: Centering Race and Class at the Eye of the Storm
Written by Noelia Mann We’ve seen this before. Natural disasters strike and communities of color and those affected by poverty are hit the hardest. As with the storms named Katrina […]
Read More Second Report in Race to Lead Series Launches 7/11!
On Tuesday, July 11th, the Building Movement Project launched a new report, Working at the Intersections: LGBTQ Nonprofit Staff and the Racial Leadership Gap, and media platforms from across the nonprofit […]
Read More New Report Cites Racial Discrimination As Primary Barrier for LGBTQ People
Systemic racial bias, compounded by anti-LGBTQ bias, prevents qualified LGBTQ staff of color from ascending to leadership positions in the nonprofit sector Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Today, the Building Movement […]
Read More Race to Lead Launches Successfully
On Tuesday, June 6th, the Building Movement Project launched a new report, Race to Lead; Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap, and a corresponding website, racetolead.org. We’re pleased to see that the […]
Read More New Report and Website Highlight Lessons from Nonprofits, Leadership, and Race Survey
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld The Building Movement Project launched a new report — Race to Lead: Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap— and website – www.racetolead.org – based on data from more than 4,000 […]
Read More Briefings in New Mexico Reaffirm the Importance of Strong Partnerships
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado During the first week of May, the Building Movement Project team gathered in Santa Fe and Albuquerque with local partners and community members to share […]
Read More Sustaining the Movement for Sustainability
Written by Noelia Mann At the Climate March last weekend, over 200,000 people took to the streets of DC, again. This time, they gathered in the name of environmental justice. Thoughtful planning ensured […]
Read More How to Think Differently about Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership: Get Comfortable with Discomfort
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld It would be an understatement to say that the past few months have been uncomfortable. The national election was downright ugly, and it exposed just how […]
Read More When Community and Labor Join Forces
Parent, Student and Teacher Partnerships that Yield Systemic Change Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld On March 31st, I sat down for a fast-paced webinar with two veteran organizers, and I knew our conversation […]
Read More The “Common Good” in Action
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado and Leah Steimel Last week, a cohort of organizations addressing homelessness in Albuquerque came together for a peer learning session on client engagement. Among the […]
Read More Permanently Affordable: The Community Land Trust Model
Written by Noelia Mann As anyone who has ever lived (or tried to live) in New York City knows, rent price tags are no joke. In NYC, chronic disinvestment in communities […]
Read More Reflecting on the Women’s March on Washington
Written by Frances Kunreuther The day after Trump’s inauguration, I was one of the 500,000 or 1.2 million who marched in Washington, D.C. I was glad to be there, even with the flaws. […]
Read More Detroiters Changed the Narrative to Push for Community (not just corporate) Development
Written by Linda Campbell Detroit, Michigan, recently became the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance designed to give community members a voice in negotiations with big developers. […]
Read More Job Announcement- Research Associate
About the Building Movement Project For over a decade, the Building Movement Project has been advancing the potential for nonprofit organizations to have an impact on building movements for progressive […]
Read More 2016 New Mexico Nonprofit Survey Launch
We are excited to let you know that the 2016 New Mexico Nonprofit Survey is online, and your input is more critical than ever. This survey will provide valuable information on the […]
Read More Building the CBO Movement in Detroit
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld with artwork by Sean Bieri, courtesy of www.metrotimes.com Detroit and many cities across the country that experienced disinvestment, white flight and redlining a generation ago, are […]
Read More Embracing a Diverse Sector by Pushing Past Diversity
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This blog post was written for Independent Sector‘s blog for their New Frontiers Conference to be held in Washington, DC from Nov 16-18. To read the full post, click here. […]
Read More Ask Questions, First to Learn but Then to Act
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This article was written for the Stanford Social Innovation Review as a part of their “Putting Grantees at the Center of Philanthropy” series, produced in partnership with Grantmakers for […]
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Webinar Recap: Feedback Loops vs Constituent Engagement
Thank you to all of those who registered for and participated in BMP’s recent interactive webinar: “Feedback Loops vs Constituent Engagement.” It was a resounding success full of conversation and […]
Read More New Life for Reproductive Rights and Justice
Written by Frances Kunreuther Last week, the Supreme Court struck down abortion clinic restrictions in Texas. The Court’s ruling has given organizers, activists, movement builders, and supporters the opportunity to […]
Read More The #BMPRaceSurvey Closes with Over 4,000 Responses
Written by Noelia Mann We are pleased to announce that the 2016 Nonprofits, Leadership and Race Survey has officially surpassed its goal of 4,000 responses! When we launched the survey on […]
Read More The Land of the Common Good
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Tourists fall in love with New Mexico because of the food, culture, and natural landscapes. But over the past three years of BMP working with a […]
Read More Why Race and Leadership?
Written by Frances Kunreuther We have been overwhelmed by the positive response to the Nonprofits, Leadership, and Race survey. Over 2,500 surveys have been completed, representing all 50 states except Wyoming […]
Read More Understanding Movements for Social Change:
An Interview with Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This interview was conducted by Nell Edgington and reposted from Social Velocity. To read the full interview, click here. Nell: What is the role of leadership in […]
Read More Part II: One for the Money, Two for the Show…
…Three for Effective Nonprofits, Way to Go! Written by Noelia Mann Last week, I wrote a blog post questioning some of the conclusions that were presented in the Stanford Social Innovation Review series […]
Read More One for the Money, Two for the Show
Why SSIR Analysis of Low Voter Turnout Just Doesn’t Cut It Written by Noelia Mann With election season in full swing, things are getting pretty hairy: metaphorical (and not so […]
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Stay Just a Little Bit Longer
Written by Frances Kunreuther This weekend I will be on a panel with three amazing women – Katherine Acey, Trishala Deb, and Krystal Portalatin at the Barnard’s Scholar & Feminist 41 conference. We will “share […]
Read More What Race is Your Organization?
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Race is often a hard thing to talk about, especially in increasingly multicultural nonprofit organizations where there may not be an obvious numeric majority; and it […]
Read More Emergency (Mis)Management and the Silencing of the Black Voice in American Democracy
Written by Noelia Mann In mostly poor, mostly black areas of Flint and Detroit, children were poisoned with lead, parents were infected with (and killed by) Legionnaires’ disease and schools were closed […]
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A New Report (with Tools) For Deciding on Extended Executive Transitions
Written by Stephanie Clohesy Download your copy of the report and its tools here. I have a friend who has a hard time leaving any gathering…a meeting, a party, the restaurant, […]
Read More Feeling Triggered Over “Diversity”
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld A recent article in the Harvard Business Review by a trio of social psychologists raised fresh doubts about whether corporate diversity initiatives really work. To be sure, this […]
Read More On Executive Orders and Movement Building: Immigration Reform and Gun Control
Written by Jesse McGleughlin President Obama recently announced new executive action on gun control. According to a White House fact sheet published on Monday, the executive orders would expand background checks, […]
Read More Getting Out of Poverty Takes More Than Grit
Written by Jesse McGleughlin Jesse is a recent graduate of Brown University and a 2014 Fulbright recipient. Earlier this month, Aisha Sultan wrote an article for the Atlantic titled “The […]
Read More The Difference Between Feedback and Power
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Recently, the nonprofit sector has been buzzing about the idea of feedback loops. Nonprofits are adapting customer feedback models from the private sector in their desire to listen […]
Read More BMP Hits The Road: Alliance for Nonprofit Management Conference
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Earlier this month, Frances and I went to the Alliance for Nonprofit Management’s annual conference, held at Portland State University. We’re partnering with the Alliance on the Nonprofits Integrating […]
Read More Are We All Intersectional Now?
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Frances wrote earlier this year about our struggles to tease out “intersectionality” the buzzword from intersectionality as an analytic approach that moves beyond single-issue organizing and advocacy. The […]
Read More Organizations and Leadership
Written by Frances Kunreuther Recently, we have been getting a lot of requests to talk about two of our reports that came out a few years ago, Structuring Leadership: Alternative Models […]
Read More Collaborating for Social Change: 5 Lessons from a Collective Effort to End Homelessness in CT
Written by Tina Law According to its most recent study in 2013, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness estimates that more than 600,000 individuals experience homelessness across the country. In Connecticut, advocacy organizations, government […]
Read More Black Love in Cleveland
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This past weekend, I had the honor to attend the Movement for Black Lives convening in Cleveland. It was a historic gathering of more than a thousand black organizers, activists […]
Read More Winning: Rights and Respect
Written by Frances Kunreuther In reproductive justice circles, the victory of the Respect ABQ Women campaign received a flurry of attention in the fall of 2013 when Albuquerque voters defeated a ban […]
Read More Beyond the Wedding Cake: The Fight Continues
Written by Alex Nguyen In its monumental decision this past Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a 5-4 decision that same-sex marriage is a legal right protected by the […]
Read More Detroit: The Inequality Landscape
Written by Linda Campbell I experience inequality when my 40 year plus near perfect driving record causes my insurance rates to be 3x that of my suburban peers. I experience […]
Read More Reflections from the 3rd Detroit People’s Platform Annual Meeting
Written by Murphy Austin “We have worked out a system to deal with the system.” These words, spoken by Detroit People’s Platform member Jocelyn Harris at our annual meeting, stand […]
Read More Funding Needed for Black Organizing
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Around the country funders are coming together to support community organizing in black communities. Earlier this month, I moderated a panel discussion at the North Star […]
Read More Public Protest Molds Public Opinion
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Earlier this month, a new poll revealed that there was a “deep divide” between blacks and whites on race and the criminal justice system. I’m not sure that […]
Read More The Role of Nonprofits in Increasing Income Mobility
Written by Tina Law Last week, The New York Times released an interactive dataset comparing what income mobility looks like in different neighborhoods across the country. This dataset, which comes from years […]
Read More Millennials and Racism
Written by Alvin Young Three weeks ago my friends and I, all men of color in our twenties, took a trip to Davenport Park in New Rochelle, NY. We pulled […]
Read More #BlackWorkersMatter
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This blog was originally posted on DEMOS‘ PolicyShop Blog. Two weeks ago, New York City joined ten other states and municipalities in banning the use of credit checks […]
Read More New Mexico Student Protests and the Common Good
Written by Julie Radoslovich Creating a safe space at a school contributes to the common good in ways that reverberate throughout a community. South Valley Academy, a public charter school […]
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Sharing the Hard Decisions: How Co-Leaders Can Do More Together
Written by Frances Kunreuther This blog post is due to the courtesy of NCRP NCRP’s new report, Cultivating Nonprofit Leadership, is an important addition to the philanthropic sector, making the case for […]
Read More Happy Tax Day!
Written by Alvin Young In celebration of tax day, we at Building Movement Project wanted to present two informative links to understanding tax policy. First, the latest blog post by Kim […]
Read More Who’s in Charge of Transforming Detroit?
Written by Frances Kunreuther This blog post is due to the courtesy of openDemocracy. Bill and Billie Hickey live in Brightmoor, a neighborhood about twenty minutes away from the gentrified Midtown area of Detroit. […]
Read More Mapping an Emerging Network of Nonprofits in New Mexico
Written by Tina Law There is growing recognition among nonprofits and funders that networks can play a distinct role in advancing social change. As noted by Network Impact and Center for Evaluation Innovation in […]
Read More Detroiters Stand up to Tax Foreclosures
Written by Alvin Young Faced with the possibility of displacement, Detroiters filled the Detroit City Council on Tuesday, March 24th, to demand that they pass a resolution urging the Wayne […]
Read More Predatory Lenders Crush the Common Good
Written by Ona Porter This entry continues our series highlighting the work of our allies in New Mexico and the common good in action. Click here to read the first entry. Politics before […]
Read More SouthWest Organizing Project: Lifting up the Common Good in New Mexico
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado Over the next few weeks, the Building Movement Project will highlight the work of our allies in New Mexico and how they are contributing to […]
Read More #BlackLivesMatter: It’s More Than a Hashtag
Written by Alvin Young This week, I had the opportunity to join the Progressive Technology Project’s webinar on #BlackLivesMatter. BLM Co-Founder, Alicia Garza, explained how #BlackLivesMatter is a tool to address the dehumanization […]
Read More BMP Welcomes New Staff Member, Alvin Young
My name is Alvin Young and I am excited to be joining Building Movement Project as its new Program Assistant. I look forward to fulfilling the BMP’s administrative needs, external […]
Read More Considering Structure and Bias on Oscar Sunday
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld I’m a fan of movies and the award shows that honor them. So I was upset – like much of the rest of the twitterverse – that Selma […]
Read More Intersectionality: Beyond the Hype
Written by Frances Kunreuther Sean and I have been grappling with how to talk about the (frequently overused) concept of intersectionality. For years, we have admired the pioneering work of Kimberlé […]
Read More A Snapshot of the State of Nonprofits in New Mexico
Written by Tina Law Today, we are releasing, “Working Towards the Common Good: A Preview of Findings from the 2014 New Mexico Nonprofit Survey.” This brief provides a preview of data […]
Read More Detroit People’s Platform, Reclaiming Martin Luther King for Detroit
Written by Aaron Handelsman Below is a speech given by Aaron Handelsman, on behalf of the Detroit People’s Platform, during the 29th Annual Martin Luther King Day Symposium at the University of Michigan’s Detroit […]
Read More Donations Remind that Crises in Detroit Continue
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Last week, two Muslim groups donated $100,000 to help Detroit residents whose accounts are past-due with the city’s water department. The announcement from the two organizations – The […]
Read More Looking Back to 1965, Looking Ahead to 2015
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This weekend, the movie Selma opens nationwide. The film’s release doesn’t just launch the latest awards-season buzz; it connects directly to the movement moment we’re in, and kicks off […]
Read More Blame and Forgiveness
Written by Frances Kunreuther It is striking to me that in all the tension and cacophony we are experiencing here in New York City and around the country – from […]
Read More Reflections on the Penas for the Common Good
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado As the year comes to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on the past year and think about the work ahead of us. […]
Read More Detroit: The City vs The State – Another Round
Written by Frances Kunreuther Residents must be gaining some power in Detroit. Because each time they start to organize something, the state tries to intervene to usurp their gains. This […]
Read More Lessons from Detroit
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Many commentators have taken to calling Detroit the canary in the coal mine, as a warning to other cities facing de-industrialization, unemployment and other “urban” woes. But […]
Read More Coming Home Again
Written by Tina Law Growing up, I was part of a number of youth programs designed to help me and other kids of color in our predominantly low-income neighborhood to […]
Read More Common Good in New Mexico
Written by Frances Kunreuther This Halloween I was in New Mexico presenting at the New Mexico Association of Grantmakers conference with my colleagues Andrea Plaza executive director of Encuentro, Jenny Metzler […]
Read More Post-Election Wake-Up Call
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld In the wake of Tuesday’s elections, I was left wondering how many nonprofits had registered and turned out voters. This year’s midterms will probably be remembered […]
Read More The Scale of the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld I started my career working for organizations led by people of color. I never thought this was a remarkable thing, but lately I’ve become more aware […]
Read More Help Us to Tell the Story of New Mexico Nonprofits
Written by Tina Law Today we are launching the 2014 New Mexico Nonprofit Survey. This survey effort is being led by BMP, in partnership with many New Mexico nonprofits such as Albuquerque […]
Read More Understanding “Hong Kong People!”
Written by Tina Law Growing up, my dad often introduced himself as being “Hong Kong people.” The first thing he wanted you to know was his name; the second thing […]
Read More BMP Welcomes New Staff Member, Tina Law!
Written by Tina Law My name is Tina Law and I am excited to be joining the Building Movement Project as its new Research Associate. BMP has been an invaluable […]
Read More BMP Conference Sessions on Community Engagement
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Austin may be famed for the South by Southwest music festival, but from September 17 to 19, it was the gathering place for nonprofit leaders, capacity […]
Read More Update from the 3rd Peña for the Common Good
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado As we sat in the community room behind the St. Martin’s Coffee Shop on the corner of Lomas and 2nd Street listening to Mark Allison, former Executive […]
Read More Persistent Poverty, New Roles for Service Providers and Advocates
Written by Tina Law This week, the Census Bureau released its annual data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the U.S. On the whole, little change occurred in 2013: the […]
Read More Surprise! Boomers are Aging
Written by Frances Kunreuther Even though we’re not going back to school, we at the Building Movement Project have entered the fall thinking about the year ahead. We are meeting […]
Read More Reflection on Movement Leadership
Most of the time, we talk here about the leadership of organizations related to age, race, gender, style, outcomes, and social change. We think about leadership pipelines and transitions, and […]
Read More Just Bread
Written by Aaron Handelsman The Capuchin Soup Kitchen (CSK) used to be called The Charity Guild. It first opened its doors in Detroit in 1929 with a mission of feeding the poor. […]
Read More The Debate About Boards
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld I recently attended the biennial conference of the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT). This year, GIFT held the Money for our Movements conference in Baltimore, and more than […]
Read More Boards: A Historic Relic?
Written by Kim Klein This entry by Kim Klein was first published on July 19th as part of her monthly advice column “Dear Kim” for the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT). BMP’s Co-Director, […]
Read More Three Secrets of Effective Leadership I Learned from Linda Campbell
Written by Aaron Handelsman Four summers ago I was a frustrated community development officer for a large bank, venting in my living room to a friend. As a third-generation Detroiter, […]
Read More Detroit People’s Platform Calls on Public Health Officer to Take Action Against Water Shutoffs
Written by People’s Platform Water shutoffs in Detroit have been garnering media attention (this oped and this article). The People’s Platform, which Building Movement Project has been helping to coordinate this past year, […]
Read More Update from the 2nd Pena for the Common Good
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado On June 12th, we hosted our 2nd Peña for the Common Good at the beautiful campus of South Valley Academy, a public charter school in […]
Read More Detroit People’s Platform, A Year Later
Written by Aaron Handelsman What does it mean when even after a last-minute venue change over 100 overworked community activists across seven city council districts turn out to an event […]
Read More The Next Generation of Leaders We Really Need in Detroit
Written by Linda Campbell In addition to being on the BMP Project Team, Linda Campbell is a CSI fellow and has been a convener of the People’s Platform in Detroit. This […]
Read More Tools for Reflecting on Leadership
A Vision for Change Written by Caroline McAndrews With each new report BMP produces, we try to capture new and emerging data and share it with leaders in order to […]
Read More Wise Fools
Written by Frances Kunreuther I went with trepidation. It was the second convening of Wise Fools – convened by Ginny McGinn at the Center for Whole Communities and Akaya Windwood from the Rockwood […]
Read More Announcing New Partnership with the Alliance for Nonprofit Management
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld The Building Movement Project and the Alliance for Nonprofit Management are excited to announce that we are joining forces to create the “Nonprofits Integrating Community Engagement” project. NICE […]
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Planning for New Roles but Few Rules
Written by Frances Kunreuther It IS happening! The older Boomers are starting to leave top roles in nonprofit organizations, and many more are thinking about what is next. Our latest report in […]
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Reflecting on Your Readiness to Leave
Written by Caroline McAndrews Since releasing The Leadership in Leaving, BMP has received many different responses, but one that we hear again and again is, “How do I know when it […]
Read More Penas for the Common Good
Written by Alicia Lueras Maldonado On Friday, May 2nd, over 25 nonprofit service providers, advocates and community organizers joined together in what was the first of a series of “peñas” […]
Read More Relationships Are (the) Work
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Lately, I’ve been thinking about relationships. Maybe it’s that my partner just proposed to me. Or maybe it was the time with our Project Team earlier […]
Read More Talking Taxes
Written by Kim Klein Today is commonly known as “Tax Day” in the United States. I am a partner in a consulting firm and we pay “estimated” taxes, so I have just […]
Read More Three Emergent Themes
Voice of the Poor, Trickle-Down Funding, Support for Leaders of Color Written by Frances Kunreuther Every six months, we spend four packed days with our Project Team to discuss the Building Movement […]
Read More Feminist Answers to Nonprofit Questions
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld As Women’s History Month comes to a close, it seems like a good time to reflect on the debt that the not-for-profit sector owes to the […]
Read More “5% Shifts” Series Featured in Working Strategies Magazine
We are excited to announce that a profile of our series, “5% Shifts to Social Change”, was featured in this year’s winter edition of Working Strategies magazine. The profile, […]
Read More Connecting Taxes to the Common Good
Written by Kim Klein This post originally appeared on the Bolder Advocacy Blog For at least the past 15 years, almost all nonprofits have experienced the effects of government funding cutbacks. […]
Read More Team Member Linda Campbell Chosen for CSI Fellowship
We are happy to announce that our Project Team member Linda Campbell, who leads our work on the ground in Detroit, has been chosen as a 2013-2014 Field Fellow at […]
Read More ACF Fellows Commit to Integrating Civic Engagement
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Earlier this week, I facilitated a meeting for the Alliance for Children & Families’ 2014 New Voices Civic Engagement Fellows. This year’s fellows, who are sponsored by Alliance member […]
Read More Understanding Alignment and Scale through the New Bottom Line
Over the last few years, there’s been growing interest in – and analysis of – alliances. From the 2010 report by Manuel Pastor that Frances looked back at last week, to […]
Read More Alliances: Trust and Transformation
A few years ago, Manuel Pastor and his colleagues put out a report, Connecting at the Crossroads documenting the emergence and importance of alliances as a key movement building strategy. Today, the […]
Read More Detroit: Not as “Abandoned” as it Seems
Written by Caitlin Endyke There are two opposing narratives about the estimated 78,000 buildings that stand vacant and abandoned in Detroit. On one hand, the “ruins” stand as captivating relics […]
Read More Looking for Collective Stories in Black History Month
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This past week, an article about Black History Month by Theodore Johnson in The Atlantic really moved me. Johnson writes that our focus on historical icons makes this […]
Read More One Step Forward for Equality, But Long Road Ahead
Written by Caitlin Endyke Last summer, we released our report At the Crossroads: The Future of the LGBT Movement the same week that the Supreme Court struck down DOMA and Proposition 8. […]
Read More Why Creating Change is So Different
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld What do Laverne Cox, Rinku Sen, Nona Hendryk, and Tarso Luis Ramos have in common? It’s Creating Change 2014! Frances and I spent last weekend at the 26th annual Creating Change conference in […]
Read More Featured Tool: Root Cause Analysis
One essential shift that organizations make as they embrace a social change perspective is to begin examining the underlying systemic and structural issues that are really behind the reasons that […]
Read More New Tools, Seeking Users
Launching anything on the ‘interwebs’ is a little bit like the riddle of whether a falling tree makes any noise: you never know if the work put in to crafting […]
Read More Praise for Service and Social Change Tools
The Building Movement Project relies on the feedback, guidance and encouragement of other practitioners in the nonprofit sector. We are so thankful for all of our friends who have supported […]
Read More Bettering Services, Saving Money
Written by Caitlin Endyke What happens when a conservative state reforms an entire social service program, with the goal of making it more cost-effective? Usually, you’d probably end up with […]
Read More What Nonprofits Can Learn from Community Organizing
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Last week, I participated in a great panel on the lessons that nonprofits can learn from community organizing. The other panelists were Julia Watt-Rosenfeld, the Director […]
Read More Sports: For the Greater Good?
Written by Caitlin Endyke I have a chalkboard in my apartment that counts down day-by-day until the next Olympics. I love the Games. I love the history, I love the […]
Read More The Crucial 5% Shift: Building Relationships
Written by Frances Kunreuther In 2013 we released five mini-reports on 5% Shifts for service groups to engage in social change. We were able to draw on the work of organizations – […]
Read More SNAP Cuts Hit Hard in New Mexico
Written by Caitlin Endyke In the lead up to, and during, the federal government shutdown late last year, we wrote a lot about how governmental cuts and shutdowns tend to affect America’s […]
Read More Catching On
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld At BMP we have talked a lot – and for many years – about how service providers are the groups in the nonprofit sector with the […]
Read More Kicking off 2014: Lessons from New Mexico
Written by Frances Kunreuther Starting a new year calls for optimism and hope. Here in New York City we are looking forward to the work of our new Mayor, Bill de […]
Read More A New Year
Written by Frances Kunreuther One thing that I learned in 2013 was how to blog! Okay, I know I am late to the field, but it is still shocking how […]
Read More Playing with Democracy
Written by Caroline McAndrews Tomorrow, the Detroit City Council will be voting on whether or not to allow the expansion of the Detroit Development Authority (DDA), a move that would […]
Read More 
On Learning How to Co-Lead
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld When I joined the BMP staff eleven months ago, it was accepted as a natural next step in my career. It certainly didn’t raise any of the awkward […]
Read More Prosperity and Poverty During the Holidays
Written by Caitlin Endyke Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.And overcoming poverty […]
Read More 
So Long for Now
Written by Caroline McAndrews After nine years with the Building Movement Project, I will be leaving at the end of this month. We’ve spent the last six months preparing for […]
Read More A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
Written by Caitlin Endyke An estimated 92 million shoppers took advantage of holiday deals on Black Friday this year. Yet as those of us too full from Thanksgiving leftovers to […]
Read More Movements, Funders, and Making Change
Written by Frances Kunreuther Last week, Sean and I participated in the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations conference on supporting movements. We did an introductory session for funders on the basics of movement building, […]
Read More Co-Directorship – What Does it Mean?
Reflecting on Ten Months of Shared Leadership Written by Frances Kunreuther It wasn’t by chance that Sean and I became co-directors, but it was good luck. It didn’t take long to see how two […]
Read More Building Unlikely Partnerships to Create Change
A Series of 5% Shifts Written by Caroline McAndrews Most communities have a wide range of groups aimed at addressing the needs of community members; however, due to both the […]
Read More A Guaranteed Income for Everyone?
Written by Caitlin Endyke At Building Movement, we’ve been writing a lot recently about poverty in America and the importance of a strong social safety net. During the recent government shutdown, we […]
Read More Can We All Do Better if We All Did Better?
A Toolkit for the Common Good Written by Kim Klein “Set aside politics. Set aside competitiveness. Imagine what it would be like if there was enough money to go around. […]
Read More Detroiters Stand Up For Democracy on Election Day
Written by Linda Campbell Despite recent efforts by the state government to curtail the progression of democracy in Detroit, thousands of city residents made it to the polls on Tuesday, […]
Read More Detroit Leaders Create Space for Rejuvenation, Reflection, and Practice
On the evening of October 29, a group of Detroit youth leaders – all under 40 – gathered in the living room of an immaculate home operated by Sister Mary […]
Read More The Most Unequal Place in America
Written by Caitlin Endyke In 1994, Time Magazine set out to identify the poorest place in America. They settled on Lake Providence Parish, a small community in rural Louisiana where they […]
Read More Scaling and Ecology
Written by Frances Kunreuther Every couple of years, new phrases suddenly permeate the air. In the nonprofit sector right now there is “scale”, “collective impact”, “network”, “movement”, “evidence-based”, “transformation” and […]
Read More Report Back on “Making it Real with 5% Shifts”
Written by Caroline McAndrews On Tuesday, BMP Co-directors Frances and Sean led a webinar on 5% Shifts for Grassroots Grantmakers. The webinar included what we’ve learned so far about how small shifts […]
Read More Detroiters March for Transit Justice
Written by Caitlin Endyke It’s a tale of two cities when it comes to Detroit. While certain pockets of the city that are home to entrepreneurs and the “creative class” […]
Read More In Shutdown, Need to Remember Who Is Affected Most
Written by Caitlin Endyke As we enter the second week of the government shutdown, we’ve heard stories of its effect across the country – from the shuttering of national parks; to NASA’s […]
Read More Shutdown Ends, but Suffering Designed to Continue
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld The 16-day government shutdown came to an end early this morning. Apparently the warnings that the U.S. would run out of the money needed to pay […]
Read More Making it Real with 5% Shifts
A few weeks ago, Building Movement Project released our newest report, “Advancing Community Level Impact”. The report was the fourth in our series on how service providers can make small “5% […]
Read More BMP at Independent Sector
Written by Caroline McAndrews This past week, staff at the Building Movement Project had the opportunity to present some of our recent work at the Independent Sector conference. As is […]
Read More Shifting Strategies to Advance Community Level Impact
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld When service agencies embrace broader social change and community-level work, it requires a shift in organizational strategy. By strategy, I mean both the motivating vision for […]
Read More New Resources: Tools for Leadership
Written by Caroline McAndrews For the past several years, we have been researching and writing reports about how to work across generations and build leadership for social change in your […]
Read More Reflecting on the Immigration Movement
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Today I’m in DC to attend the Center for Community Change’s annual Change Champions Awards dinner. Both Frances and I have long histories with CCC – […]
Read More Celebrating Successes AND Failures of Occupy Wall Street at 2nd Anniversary
Written by Caitlin Endyke As we mark the second anniversary of the start of the first encampments in Zuccotti Park that sparked the movement now known as “Occupy Wall Street” […]
Read More Happy Poverty Day!
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld You didn’t know Poverty Day was a thing? I kid, it’s not really something worth celebrating, but this is the one time a year when we […]
Read More Independent Sector’s NGen Program
Welcoming Newcomers into the Fold Written by Caroline McAndrews This past year, I’ve been a part of the advisory committee for Independent Sector’s NGen pre-conference. I’ve also been an attendee for […]
Read More Obamacare: The Potential in Service to Social Change
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld This past week, the Building Movement Project Team had the privilege to hear from several leaders in Los Angeles about how the implementation of Obamacare is being leveraged […]
Read More Big Money for Nonprofit Navigators
Written by Caitlin Endyke Despite our recent disappointment with Michigan governor Rick Snyder (you might have seen our discussions of the governor’s passage of the Emergency Manager Law against popular […]
Read More Nonprofits Proven Effective in Getting Out the Vote
Written by Caitlin Endyke Here at Building Movement Project, we believe that nonprofit organizations should serve as robust sites of democratic practice. Which is why we’ve promoted the work of our […]
Read More Detroit (Still) on My Mind
Written by Frances Kunreuther Last week, Linda Campbell wrote about her experiences in Detroit. In These Times has a terrific article, Detroit’s Downfall: Beyond the Myth of Black Misleadership, by Marilyn Katz that gives […]
Read More Is it a Crisis?
Written by Frances Kunreuther The Chronicle of Philanthropy has featured our new report publication The Leadership in Leaving in their article “Calling it Quits” (pdf). For years we heard that the leadership transitions in […]
Read More Building Movement Begins Work in New Mexico!
Written by Alicia Maldonado Greetings from New Mexico! My name is Alicia Lueras Maldonado and I am happy to be working with the Building Movement Project to coordinate their work […]
Read More Detroiters Reclaiming Voice and Power
Written by Linda Campbell On July 18 of 2013, Kevin Orr, the appointed Emergency Manager for Detroit, announced that he was filing for bankruptcy on behalf of the city. Subsequent […]
Read More Presenting at the Alliance Conference
Written by Frances Kunreuther Each year the people who provide you with technical assistance, organizational development, leadership training, transition management, and a host of other supports for nonprofits meet together […]
Read More The Nonprofit Leadership Crisis We’ve All Been Waiting For
Written by Caitlin Endyke Earlier this week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on an interesting phenomenon in Charlotte, North Carolina. It appears that nonprofit executives there are finally proving right the 2006 theory that a […]
Read More 
Webinar Recap: At the Crossroads: The Future of the LGBT Movement
Written by Caitlin Endyke Last Tuesday BMP hosted a webinar based on the findings of our recent report, At the Crossroads: The Future of the LGBT Movement. Following the court […]
Read More 20th Anniversary
Reflections on the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Children and Family Fellowship Written by Frances Kunreuther This weekend I will be in Baltimore to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Annie E. […]
Read More Evolving Beyond the Gay Marriage Agenda
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Although I am a gay man and an activist, for most of my career I have opted out of LGBT activism and organizing and instead devoted […]
Read More Asking the Right Questions
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld There are many questions that nonprofit leaders ask of themselves, the communities they serve and the society at large. Often these questions are very big picture […]
Read More Breakfast in Detroit
Written by Caitlin EndykeSean Thomas-Breitfeld This piece originally appeared in Transformation, a new online publication from Michael Edwards and openDemocracy. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear […]
Read More The Long and Short of It
from Kim Klein and the Commons Written by Kim Klein This post originally appeared on Kim Klein and the Commons. Last week, the Nonprofit Quarterly featured a piece announcing a large grant that […]
Read More Court Rulings Must Lead to Broader Alliance Building
Written by Frances Kunreuther Our new report, At the Crossroads: The Future of the LGBT Movement, was conceived over a year ago. Little did we think then it would be released the […]
Read More For Full Inclusion and Equality, Must Look Beyond Marriage
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Like many other LGBT people, I’m eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court’s rulings on same-sex marriage. If the Court supports the right to marry, it will be very validating […]
Read More Learning How to ACT UP
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld I first saw the documentary United in Anger: A History of ACT UP a year ago. As I watched the film, I was engrossed in the story of […]
Read More Keeping an Eye Out for Detours, While Staying on Track
Written by Caitlin Endyke We’ve written before about how much we try to integrate reading and learning into our work here at the Building Movement Project, as we try to stay abreast […]
Read More Detroit People’s Platform and Convention held at Marygrove College
Written by guest Patrick Geans is a reporter for the Michigan Citizen, a weekly local publication that focuses on economic and social development throughout Michigan’s urban communities. This piece was written following […]
Read More The Leadership in Leaving
By the Numbers Written by Frances Kunreuther I am astounded when I read that 10,000 people in the United States turn 65 every day. So I did a little math of my own. […]
Read More Learning to Lead
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Although it’s popular to think of a select few individuals as “natural born leaders,” people actually learn how to lead. And much like the other elements of […]
Read More Webinar Recap: Vision for Change
Written by Caroline McAndrews Last week, Helen Kim and I hosted a webinar that reviewed the findings of Vision for Change: A New Wave of Social Justice Leadership. The report was based on […]
Read More Leaving Long-term Leadership
Personal Stories and Shared Experiences Written by Frances Kunreuther Our research on leadership started over a decade ago with a focus on the generational transfer between older and younger leaders […]
Read More Small Shifts, Big Change
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld The idea for our new series of Service to Social Change reports came out of the blue. As part of my efforts to get up to […]
Read More “Neoliberalism & Marketization” Revisited
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld By Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, Co-Director Last month, the Building Movement staff and project team discussed two articles on the connections between neoliberalism, marketization and the current realities of the nonprofit sector. Both articles […]
Read More What do “Neoliberalism & Marketization” Have to do With the Nonprofit Sector?
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Posted by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, Co-Director Here at Building Movement, we often talk about the importance of devoting time for learning as the first step in the Transformation […]
Read More The Pipeline Project
Written by guest blogger MacArthur Antigua is Director of Alumni Engagement for Public Allies, where he has overseen both the growth of their national network to 21 cities and the highest […]
Read More Webinar: Vision for Change, A New Wave of Social Justice Leadership
Over the course of several months, the Building Movement Project interviewed seventeen US social justice leaders under 40 who serve as the executive or co-director of an organization to learn […]
Read More Call for Submissions: Uniting Detroiters People’s Atlas Project
The Uniting Detroiters Project is seeking submissions from current and former Detroit residents, activists, students, scholars, visual artists, poets, and cartographers for Detroit: A People’s Atlas. They are interested in […]
Read More The Nonprofit Leadership Crisis We’ve All Been Waiting For
Written by Caitlin Endyke Earlier this week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on an interesting phenomenon in Charlotte, North Carolina. It appears that nonprofit executives there are finally proving right the 2006 theory that a […]
Read More “Five Percent Shifts” Series
A Series of Five Percent ShiftsOur research and experience shows that relatively small shifts in service provision can cause ripple effects; raising up constituent voice, fostering community cohesion and increasing […]
Read More Detroit Emergency Management and What it Means for Democracy
The City of Detroit has been in the news a lot recently, as Michigan Governor Rick Snyder decided to pass a controversial Emergency Manager law (a similar law was defeated by popular […]
Read More Sequestration and the Need for Movement Building
Written by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld In my first few weeks at the Building Movement Project, I’ve been doing a lot of travel to get up to speed on the work that […]
Read More BMP Welcomes New Project Team Members!
The Building Movement Project is excited to announce the addition of two new members to our Project Team! Dushaw Hockett and Andrea Plaza will begin their tenures on the team […]
Read More Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Joins BMP as Co-Director
The Building Movement Project is happy to announce that Sean Thomas-Breitfeld will join the staff as Co-Director starting February 1, 2013. Sean, along with the current director Frances Kunreuther, will […]
Read More BMP Study Featured in Chronicle of Philanthropy Article
Our upcoming study on younger nonprofit executive directors was featured in a Chronicle of Philanthropy piece about what it takes to be at the helm of an organization. The report, written by […]
Read More Nonprofit Vote on Election Day
There’s less than 24 hours until Election Day kicks off tomorrow morning. Since Building Movement Project believes that nonprofit organizations should serve as robust sites of democratic practice, we’re encouraging […]
Read More UPDATE: Offices Open & Sandy Relief
As many of you are aware, the East Coast was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy this past weekend and we are still in the midst of recovering. The BMP staff […]
Read More Caroline McAndrews Featured on a Chronicle of Philanthropy Live Discussion!
Many nonprofit workers could succeed as leaders of their organizations, but they often need to improve their people skills or learn how to raise money. How can you judge if […]
Read More Building Movement Detroit Video: “People’s Atlas” Convening
This post originally appeared on BuildingMovementDetroit.org On August 10, 2012, Building Movement Detroit hosted the second Uniting Detroiters Convening at the Solanus Casey Center. Over 50 people gathered to discuss citizens […]
Read More New Resource: BuildingMovementDetroit.org!
Our partners in Detroit have recently launched an exciting new resource for the progressive movement in the city- BuildingMovementDetroit.org. this new web portal seeks not only to capture all of the […]
Read More Independent Sector’s NGen: Moving Nonprofit Leaders from Next to Now
Independent Sector’s NGen: Moving Nonprofit Leaders from Next to Now is coming to San Francisco November 10 and 11. Register for this two day conference today and receive the rate of $150 […]
Read More Detroit Accountable Community Governance Event
In July, 2012 William Copeland and Rayven Roberts represented EMEAC at the Accountable Community Governance Convening held by the South by Southwest Experiment in Jackson, Mississippi. This event, to be […]
Read More From Our Partners: RCLA’s Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Service
Our friends at NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action is now accepting applications for its Emerging Leaders in Public Service Fellowship. The 2012 fellowship begins in November 2011 […]
Read More Uniting Detroiters Convening
The BMP team in Detroit will be gathering on August 10th as part of their Uniting Detroiters project, which seeks to bring together residents from across the city and unite […]
Read More BMP Detroit Uniting Detroiters Project Wins Scholar-Activist Grant
We’re pleased to share that BMP’s Uniting Detroiters team has received a Scholar-Activist Award Grant from the Antipode Foundation. They were one of five projects who were selected out of […]
Read More Spotlight On: Nonprofits Talking Taxes
How many times have you heard someone at your nonprofit say, “We just have to do more with less”? The recent financial downturn, cuts to government services and rising costs […]
Read More Featured Movement Builder: Center for Popular Democracy
Building Movement Project recently launched our Movement Building Portal– a series of resources for folks who end up on our site looking for information on social movement and how to build […]
Read More BMP Detroit Partners Featured in Huffington Post!
The North End Woodward Community Coalition, a longstanding BMP partner in Detroit, recently made headlines by announcing that it will file a Title VI Civil Rights complaint against the Detroit […]
Read More The Real Deal with Detroit Transit
Our Partners at Progress Michigan recently released this video where they interviewed every day commuters in Detroit about their experiences with the severe bus cuts that recently ravaged the city’s […]
Read More Updates from our Partners: Somos Mayfair
Somos Mayfair is a long-time partner of BMP on our work on Social Change for Service Providers. They’ve recently started a new campaign to reverse education and health inequities in […]
Read More BMP Spotted at NYC’s first Participatory Budgeting Vote
Beginning in October of 2011 and culminating in a final vote a few weeks ago, New York City just completed its first round of participatory budgeting. Four city council members, […]
Read More Really Talking About Taxes
Yesterday I participated in a workshop on Active Listening. This is a way of listening that actually involves LISTENING instead of just waiting for your turn to talk. One person […]
Read More Catalysts for Change Podcast with the San Francisco Foundation Center
Frances Kunreuther, director of the Building Movement Project, discusses how service organizations can take part in activities beyond delivering direct services to address the systemic causes of issues affecting their […]
Read More Movement Building Resources
At Building Movement Project, we work to strengthen the role of US nonprofits as they build a movement toward progressive social change. While our focus is working with other organizations […]
Read More Current Movement Building Organizations
There are some groups we’d like to highlight that are currently building movements in their communities. Head to their websites for more information about what they’re doing and how they’re […]
Read More Key Readings and Other Resources on Movement Building
While the purpose of this page is mainly to give you a brief outline of social movements in the United States and point you to groups currently dedicated to movement […]
Read More History of Social Movements in the United States
The history of the United States provides rich examples for social movements and movement building. Below are some resources that you might find useful for a historical outline of modern […]
Read More Theory and Definitions
At BMP, we generally use a 5-step process to outline the stages of movement building. They are: 1) MAKING VISIBLE THE INVISIBLE– While issues that movements are built around are […]
Read More Nonprofits and Social Change
If you are associated with a nonprofit or service provider that is interested in increasing its social change work, you’ve come to the right place. BMP works to help nonprofits […]
Read More NYU Wagner’s RCLA to Host Global Social Change Leadership Institute
Through this two-week intensive program, university and graduate students and recent college graduates from across the globe can gain the practical knowledge and skills to effectively advance social justice in […]
Read More Key Findings from What Works: Developing Successful Multigenerational Leadership
“With up to four generations at work, nonprofit leaders are now struggling to make room for the ideas and skills of newer generations, while figuring out how to support the […]
Read More Stories from the Field: Successes at St. Stephen’s
In this next installment of Stories From the Field, we bring you news from St. Stephen’s Community House in Toronto. We first heard about the work at St. Stephen’s house 5 years […]
Read More Key Themes from Catalysts for Change
In 2009, with the support of The California Endowment, the Building Movement Project launched an initiative to explore whether California-based health and human service providers engage in activities beyond direct […]
Read More Women of SNCC: Passing the Torch, Preserving the Flame
On Sunday, January 15th more than 60 Detroit area women and girl activists and advocates representing a variety of causes and racial ethnic groups, gathered to celebrate the historic role […]
Read More Podcast: NAMAC Structuring Leadership Telesalon
As the Baby Boom generation ages, there is more discussion about the future leadership of nonprofit organizations. At the same time, many leaders have found their next steps limited or […]
Read More Nonprofits Talking Taxes
A Common Conversation for the Common Good On December 8th, Project Team member Kim Klein hosted this webinar about how Nonprofits need to see themselves as a “common good lobby” […]
Read More New Report from YNPN
Young Nonprofit Professionals Network recently surveyed over 1,100 emerging nonprofit leaders across the country. Conducted in Spring 2011, YNPN’s National Voice Survey tested several interventions targeting leadership development in the […]
Read More News from the Detroit Food Justice Taskforce
The Detroit Food Justice Task Force is a group of Black and People of Color led organizations and supporters that share a commitment to creating a food security plan for […]
Read More Building Movement Battle Creek
A few years ago, Building Movement Project traveled to Battle Creek, Michigan, where they helped nonprofit organizations in the community begin their transformation from standard service providers to agencies of […]
Read More Part of the 99%
Here at BMP, we’re excited to be in New York at the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement. We’ve been watching for two weeks now as protestors continue to […]
Read More Stories from the Field: Building Solidarity Across Silos
Two months ago we launched our Stories from the Field series with a case study about developing board readiness for advocacy. This month’s submission takes us to the state of Illinois […]
Read More Trish Tchume, Director of Civic Engagement Moves On
BMP Director of Civic Engagement, Trish Tchume will be leaving to become the first National Director of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network which has over 30 chapters and over 30,000 […]
Read More Budget 101 and Other Great Resources from the Coalition on Human Needs
While congress may have reached a debt deal, many questions still remain about the federal budget and the impact that it will have on the social services that many of […]
Read More New Voices Civic Engagement Fellowships
The Alliance for Children and Families and United Neighborhood Centers of America have launched the New Voices Civic Engagement Fellowshipto support civic engagement leadership at the local and regional level. The fellowship is designed to […]
Read More Stories from the Field: Developing Board Readiness for Advocacy
If you’re familiar with our reports such as Making Social Change: Case Studies of Nonprofit Service Providers, you know that we here at the Building Movement Project love a good story […]
Read More Millennials in the Workplace: BMP Guest Blog at Social Citizens
In the lead up to the Millennial Donor Summit, hosted by the Case Foundation on June 22nd, Director of Leadership & Communications, Caroline McAndrews was asked to guest blog over at […]
Read More Couldn’t Make Our Call for EDs and Senior Staff? You Can Download the Audio Here!
On Wednesday, May 18th, the Building Movement Project hosted the second of our ongoing series of “cohort calls” that concentrate on the different roles/activities of service providers involved in social […]
Read More Webinar: Nonprofits Increase Voter Participation–New Research from the Field
Learn about exciting new evidence documenting the impact nonprofits have when they talk to their clients and constituents about voting. Professor Kelly LeRoux will discuss a new study that tracked […]
Read More Calling All EDs and Senior Staff of Service Organizations Doing Social Change Work!
You don’t want to miss this call! On Wednesday, May 18th the Building Movement Project will be hosting the next in our ongoing series of social service and social change […]
Read More Building Movement Project in Detroit
While the Building Movement Project is a nationally-focused organization, we’ve always had a very special relationship with Detroit. Linda Campbell – long time Detroit resident and member of the Building […]
Read More Background and Media Coverage of Detroit
According to most of the articles and reports published about Detroit since the census, the city is a wasteland that people are flocking from, but if you visit Detroit or […]
Read More Census Release: Hard-to-Count Populations Counted at Higher Rates than Expected
The most recent newsletter from Nonprofit VOTE (formerly the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network (NVEN) reports that the recently released 2010 Census figures show that members of the population deemed “hard-to-count” were included […]
Read More Missed our Call for Organizers in Social Service Organizations? Here’s the Low Down.
On Wednesday, March 16th, the Building Movement Project hosted the first of what will be an ongoing series of “cohort calls” that concentrate on the different roles/activities of service providers […]
Read More Bringing Food Self-Reliance to Impacted Michigan Communities
Congratulations to BMP partner Our Kitchen Table, who recently received a large grant to expand their food reliance projects throughout several neighborhoods in Michigan. Our Kitchen Table works in low-income […]
Read More Is the Charitable Tax Deduction Really Fair?
BMP Project Team member Kim Klein argues in this Nonprofit Quarterly article that if we really want to incentivize charitable giving—and create a more just tax code—then it’s time to eliminate the […]
Read More BMP Project Team Member Kim Klein in Nonprofit Quarterly
Read Kim Klein’s piece Talking about Taxes from the Fall 2010 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Find out more about the nonprofit tax crisis, and why the nonprofit sector needs […]
Read More Engaging Community: A Toolkit for Building Healthy and Resilient Communities
BMP partner Neighborhood Centers, in partnership with the Berkana Institute, have combined a how-to guide on the use of Appreciative Inquiry as a method of engaging community with other materials in a […]
Read More Building Movement Project Featured in Nonprofit World
This month’s issue of Nonprofit World features both an article written by Building Movement Project Director, Frances Kunreuther, and another profiling BMP’s Director of Civic Engagement, Trish Tchume. Frances Kunreuther’s article, Are You […]
Read More Social Movements and Philanthropy: How Foundations Can Support Movement Building
In an excellent article published by The Foundation Review, a peer-reviewed journal, Barbara Masters and Torie Osborn identify how foundations can support movement-building. As they seek to catalyze broad-based social change, […]
Read More Team Member Robby Rodriguez discusses Bridging Generation Gaps at Nonprofits
BMP team member Robby Rodriguez recently took part in a live online discussion on how nonprofit executives can promote harmony among workers with different generational outlooks. The conversation was hosted by the Chronicle […]
Read More Suggested Reading on the Commons: The Value of Nothing
The latest book in our suggested readings on the Commons is Raj Patel’s The Value of Nothing: How to reshape market society and redefine democracy. This short, timely and inspiring book reveals that our […]
Read More BMP’s Trish Tchume on Generational Leadership Panel hosted by American Express Philanthropy
The American Express Nonprofit Leadership Academy is a nationwide program that supports the development of the country’s finest emerging nonprofit leaders through a weeklong workshop and training program and will be concluding […]
Read More Alliance for Children and Families Civic Engagement Survey
One of BMP’s partners, Alliance for Children and Families is looking to develop an evaluation tool to measure the impact of civic engagement and the first step in this process is asking […]
Read More BMP Featured in ACOSA’s Fall Newsletter
Bob Feikema – Director of Community Initiatives at Family Resources in Pittsburgh, PA and participant in the Building Movement Project’s Social Service and Social Change convening this past June – […]
Read More A Powerful Tool to Get Low-Income Voters to the Ballot Box
Despite our successes in broadening access to the franchise over the past 200 years, troubling disparities in participation—including a large gap based on income—remain. In a recent article for Yes! Magazine our […]
Read More Mobilize.org Launches Target 2020
For the first time in the 21st century, the current generation of college-aged Americans will be less educated than our parents. Fewer than 46% of students at 4-year universities complete their degree […]
Read More Become a Facebook Fan of “Show Me the Money!” – A Tax Workshop by BMP’s Kim Klein
Show Me the Money! is a fast paced workshop offered at no cost for nonprofit organizations in California seeking ways to talk about the state and local budget crisis and […]
Read More Materials Available from BMP Presentations at CompassPoint Nonprofit Day
On August 31, over 500 members of the nonprofit community gathered in San Francisco for Nonprofit Day 2010. BMP Director Frances Kunreuther and Project Team member Kim Klein gave presentations […]
Read More Project Team Member Kim Klein Interviewed in Real Change News!
Real Change is a Seattle-based newspaper that seeks to create opportunity and a voice for low-income people while taking action to end homelessness and poverty. In this interview with Real Change founder […]
Read More BMP’s Kim Klein wins the McAdam Book Award!
At last week’s Alliance for Nonprofit Management Conference, BMP’s Kim Klein received the Terry McAdam Book Award for her recent publication Reliable Fundraising in Unreliable Times. The McAdam Book Award is awarded annually to the […]
Read More BMP Team Members Featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The front page story in last week’s Chronicle of Philanthropy featured the staff of the SouthWest Organizing Project, along with their Executive Director, Building Movement Project Team member Robby Rodriguez. The article […]
Read More Kim Klein and the Commons
Follow Project Team members Kim Klein and Sean Thomas-Breitfeld (along with guest bloggers) at Kim Klein and the Commons. Read their thoughts on immigration, taxes, nonprofits, and how to apply this […]
Read More Show Me the Money! BMP’s Kim Klein Offers Free Tax Policy Training for Nonprofits
How many times have we found ourselves saying “as a nonprofit, we do more with less?” If we continue this approach without challenging the status quo, we’ll end up doing […]
Read More Voter Participation for Nonprofits
The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network is hosting a special web training event: “Voter Participation for Nonprofits” Thursday, August 12th 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET This webinar will focus on principles […]
Read More BMP, PACE, and Innovation Network Present: The Emerging Framework for Civic Engagement Evaluation
On June 15th, the Building Movement Project and Innovation Network presented a webinar on “The Emerging Framework for Civic Engagement Evaluation” on behalf of Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE). […]
Read More USSF 2010: BMP Reports on our Sessions from the Forum
Over 15,000 organizers, activists, and social service nonprofits gathered in Detroit, MI at the second United States Social Forum to build unity around common goals of social justice, strengthen ties between organizations, […]
Read More American Express NGen Fellows – including BMP’s Trish Tchume – Release Leadership Report
Independent Sector’s American Express NGen Fellows program gives emerging nonprofit leaders an exceptional opportunity to strengthen their capacity for future impact. Over the course of nine months, fellows collaborate with other […]
Read More Somos Mayfair Receives Over $1M to Fund Social Service and Social Change
It’s been a year since we published Making Social Change: Case Studies of Nonprofit Service Providers which featured five human service organizations that are integrating social change activities into their work. The […]
Read More USSF 2010: Another Detroit is Happening!
We’ve just returned from the US Social Forum in Detroit, where over 15,000 grassroots community organizers, activists, social service nonprofits, and individuals envisioned another US! We will be sharing more […]
Read More Grand Opening Event for Water Station on Pajarito Mesa
Recently, the New York Times covered the SouthWest Organizing Project’s efforts to deliver water services to the Pajarito Mesa in Albuquerque, NM. The SouthWest Organizing Project is directed by Building Movement Project […]
Read More InterACT Column: Gates, Buffett, World Poverty, Nonprofit Staff
A Confession I have not taken a test in a long time, but, if memory serves, some tests have a series of words or images and you have to name […]
Read More The Color of Change: Inter-ethnic Organizing and Leadership for the 21st Century
Building Movement Project Director, Frances Kunreuther and Project Team member Robby Rodriguezwere among the 50 participants at the The Color of Change: Inter-ethnic Organizing and Leadership for the 21st Century, hosted by the Bill […]
Read More SWOP’s Community Organizing Efforts Featured in NY Times
For over 10 years, the Southwest Organizing Project in Albuquerque, NM has worked hard to deliver water services to the Pajarito Mesa. A recent NY Times article takes a look at life […]
Read More Why Should Nonprofits Care About Tax Policy and Reform?
Building Movement Project Team Member, Kim Klein, has recently been featured as a guest blogger on the Women’s Foundation of California blog. The piece focuses primarily on the critical role that […]
Read More Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in Challenging Times
Join Demos, the Building Movement Project, and Common Cause/NY for a special forum on April 8 in New York with author and activist Paul Loeb on the new version of […]
Read More Leadership Development and Beyond
In October 2009, the Ms. Foundation for Women led a collaborative 2-day leadership symposium focused on how to most effectively advance the leadership of young women of color, transgender and […]
Read More USSF 2010: Register and Get Involved
Get involved in the US Social Forum (USSF)! The national event, which will take place June 22-26 in Detroit, MI has officially opened registration for individuals and organizations and there […]
Read More Fundraising for Food: New Demands in the New Decade
Are you an employee or board member of a nonprofit organization in Southeast Michigan providing “food” programs for your community? Looking for more ways to approach fundraising in 2010 and […]
Read More Kim Klein and the Commons: Foreclosures
What is a commons solution to helping people keep their private property, particularly when the scale of foreclosure is so large? There are many creative solutions being proposed, but any […]
Read More Get Ready for USSF 2010!
At the upcoming US Social Forum (USSF) Building Movement Project will join an expected 15,000 people, including grassroots community organizers, activists, and social service nonprofits in Detroit, MI on June […]
Read More Kim Klein and the Commons: Reflecting on Haiti
Written by Kim Klein For obvious reasons, the celebration and glee of Carnival was suspended in Haiti this year. It’s as if the Lenten somberness of tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday started […]
Read More Working Across Generations’ Featured on SavannahNow
The Business of Nonprofits: New generation taking up nonprofit leadership mantle by Sarah Todd, manager for the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, has featured Working Across Generations in a recent article that addresses inter-generational […]
Read More Suggested Readings on the Commons
We’ve had many requests for a list of articles that we’ve found to be the most helpful when trying to get a grasp on what the commons (and commons-based thinking) […]
Read More Where Do We Go? A New Career Narrative
Over the past decade, nonprofits have increased their interest in developing leadership as well as attracting and retaining a skilled work force. One motivator has been alarm that the aging […]
Read More Tools for Social Change: Assessing Your Work
Assessing Your Work *Evaluation Work for Racial Equity: This toolkit offers a comprehensive set of resources for groups “Who want to know more about how to do evaluation; Who are […]
Read More Tools for Social Change
This online resource center is a space to share and highlight practical tools that organizations can use to integrate movement-building and social change strategies into their everyday work. Here you’ll find a […]
Read More Tools for Social Change: Additional Tools and Resources
Building Movement Project Resources * Social Service and Social Change: A Process Guide: A guidebook that was developed for staff and board members of non-profit service organizations who are interested in […]
Read More Tools for Social Change: Learning and Awareness Tools & Exercises
* Theory of Social Change: Many service agencies use some sort of theory of change to articulate their service provision goals. This exercise uses this familiar framework to help organizations develop […]
Read More Tools for Social Change: Getting Started
* Why Nonprofits and Social Change Work? This excerpt from Social Service & Social Change: A Process Guide, makes the case for why nonprofits are well positioned to do social change work. It […]
Read More Tools for Social Change: Frameworks for Determining Social Change Work and Civic Engagement
Frameworks for Determining Social Change Work and Civic Engagement * Features of Movement Capacity Building for Nonprofits: How do organizations develop strategies and structures to facilitate the process of building momentum […]
Read More Tools for Social Change: Examples and Stories of Social Change Work and Civic Engagement
Examples and Stories of Social Change Work and Civic Engagement * M.O.V.E. Coalition (Family & Children’s Service, Minneapolis, MN) * Community Leadership Development Program (Family & Children’s Service, Minneapolis, MN) * The Family Project (Family & […]
Read More NonprofitNext Report Quotes Dir. of BMP
A new report produced by NonprofitNext, a research initiative of La Piana Consulting that explores the future of the nonprofit sector, quotes Building Movement’s Director, Frances Kunreuther on the intergenerational workplace. In approaching the topic […]
Read More Alliances for Change Featured in Jesse Smith Noyes Newsletter
Workers’ centers, youth-based action groups, and urban justice organizations are among those changing the face of traditional community organizing. Many of these groups engage a range of approaches beyond targeted […]
Read More BMP Leaders Featured on NCRW Big Five Blog
Frances Kunreuther, Director of Building Movement Project, and Project Team Member, Helen Kim, recently contributed to the annual Women’s Leadership Symposium in New York City. Their contribution to the event as […]
Read More Making Social Change Case Studies: Additional Web Resources
Resources available in PDF format and on the web: Queens Community House * Visit their website * Identifying Values: a step by step exercise used during a community building retreat. […]
Read More Retirement USA
Last week, the Building Movement Project signed on as a supporter of Retirement USA, a national initiative that is working for a new retirement system that, along with Social Security, will […]
Read More Kim Klein and the Commons: Financial Literacy is a Key to Reform
According to a study commissioned by the National Council on Economic Education, only 7 of the 50 United States require high school students to received financial education in the schools. […]
Read More Kim Klein and the Commons: Paying for Pollution
Today’s morning paper had this headline, “Fish Fail Mercury Test” with the subhead, “Toxin found in 100 percent of samples from streams across the U.S.; industrial pollution blamed.” Basically, a […]
Read More Canadian Fundraising & Philanthropy Interviews Kim Klein
In a recent online article of the Canadian Fundraising and Philanthropy eNews Project Team Member, Kim Klein, is interviewed on her valuable fundraising experiencing and strategy for the current economic climate. Klein’s discussion […]
Read More BMP Project Team Member is Featured on Huff Post
Sean Thomas-Breitfeld recently submitted a piece to the Huffington Post on the challenges that progressives still face with the new administration in paving the way for change. Thomas-Breitfeld incites that the […]
Read More BMP Contributes to Open Government Dialogue
The White House has launched an “Open Government Initiative” in order to generate new ideas for creating a more participatory, transparent, and collaborative government. The first step in this process […]
Read More Commons Blog from Kim Klein!
The commons is a short, simple phrase that describes all the resources a community has rights or access to. Read Kim Klein and the Commons to find out more about the issues […]
Read More Featured Movement Builder: David Bollier and the Viral Spiral
Check out this month’s featured movement builder! David Bollier is an independent policy strategist, journalist, activist and consultant with an evolving public-interest portfolio. His recent book, Viral Spiral: How the Commons Built a Digital […]
Read More ACCESS Project Participate in First Arab American Advocacy Week
The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services’ (ACCESS) project – the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) – came together for the first annual Arab American Advocacy […]
Read More Working Across Generations Authors Interviewed in the Grassroots Fundraising Journal
Pick up the current issue of the Grassroots Fundraising Journal to read an interview with Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim, and Robby Rodriguez, authors of Working Across Generations. Kim Klein talks to the authors […]
Read More Kim Klein Featured on National Radio Project
In Tax Me, I’m Yours, Project Team member Kim Klein lends her expertise to the nation’s current tax structure and how it can be re-formatted to better serve the commons. Listen […]
Read More Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network
NVEN says that, “communities served by nonprofits were the highest turn-out groups at the 2008 presidential election polls.” The organization recently released a report titled, America Goes to the Polls: A […]
Read More ROPE Bakers Invited to Inauguration Day
ROPE is a baking employment project of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, a human service organization in Detroit, MI that is sponsored by the Capuchins of the Province of St. Joseph. […]
Read More 1+1=10: A New Equation for Social Change
The social change organization dilemma is, “we know we can’t do it all and yet what we do isn’t enough.” What is this dilemma? It’s that even if we executed […]
Read More Project Team Members React to Obama’s Win
Frances Kunreuther – New York, New YorkWhat a stunning historic moment. Last night it all happened so fast that I could hardly believe it when they projected that Obama would be […]
Read More Kim Klein Featured in Foundation Center Philanthropy Chat
Listen as Project Team member Kim Klein shares strategies and insights on how nonprofits should approach fundraising during difficult economic times, including paying attention to taxes and tax policy and […]
Read More Half a Million Nonprofits Could Lose Their Tax Exemptions
An article by Suzanne E. Coffman, January 2009 Newsletter Did you know that in May 2010, half a million nonprofits could find themselves stripped of their exempt status? The IRS […]
Read More Philanthropy’s Leadership Gap – The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Read the transcript of a live discussion about whether charities are doing enough to prepare their next generation of leaders. Caroline McAndrews (Director of Leadership and Communications for Building Movement Project) […]
Read More Nonprofits and Democracy: Engage, Educate, Activate, and Assess
There has been a subtle shift in the last several years in the ways we talk about nonprofit organizations. The nonprofit sector is discussed as an important cornerstone of civil […]
Read More The ABC’s of U.S. Tax Policy: An Historical Perspective
Amata Miller, IHM, 1990 revised by Catherine Pinkerton, CSJ, 1997 From the days of George Washington to that of the present Administration, taxes have been a subject of national controversy. […]
Read More Nonprofit Governance Models: Problems and Prospects
This article by Pat Bradshaw explores existing and alternative non-profit board structures. The authors present four possible models and the possibilities of developing hybrid models based on the needs on […]
Read More Understanding the Next Generation of Nonprofit Employees: The Impact of Educational Debt
A study conducted for The Building Movement Project by Amanda Ballard. Educational debt rates have skyrocketed in the past decade, raising concern that educational debt will deter graduates from public […]
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