Power Up:
Community
Organising
and Big
Charities

The first section maps out the key definitions that we draw on throughout this paper. It also captures some of the key drivers behind the current resurgence of community organising within big charities and emerging typologies. 

The second section looks in detail at key observations and reflections. This is split into three chapters. 

• Chapter one is a deep-dive into community organising as a practice and how to ensure new organising efforts are authentic and community-led. 
• Chapter two looks briefly at how big charities can apply these principles without necessarily committing to full community organising approaches. It acknowledges that organising isn’t right for everyone, but there is still much we can learn from organising practices in the realm of community engagement.  
• Chapter three then takes a much broader look at how big charities can use community-centred approaches to deliver systemic change - especially in the realm of Directed Networks Campaigning. 

The paper closes with some topline reflections and suggested next steps. 

Finally, we want to stress that this is a live project. We warmly welcome feedback on this paper and the assumptions, recommendations and conclusions within it.