Conclusion and Next Steps

Many big charities are thinking deeply about how they build, shift and wield power. 

This trifecta is vital for a stronger, fairer and more just society. 

For decades, pioneering campaigners across the third sector have been urging big charities to think in these terms. 

We are now seeing sustained and meaningful collaboration between big charities, organisers, and infrastructure bodies to power up communities. 

Community organising is one vital piece of the puzzle. 

This report has shown how big charities can play a vital role in: building people power through community organising; nourishing existing grassroots action; and supporting a thriving community organising sector. 

However, big charities must acknowledge that community organising rests on full community accountability. The end goal is to build power, not achieve specific results. 

This is a significant culture shift for most big charities, especially around ceding control to communities. 

As a result, big charities should consider whether community organising is right for them and the communities they serve before adopting it in place of other strategies. 

This paper hopes to help big charities navigate this question. 

Where full community organising is not the right path, big charities aiming for greater community accountability can learn from organising practices. They can also play a vital role in nurturing people power. 

In short, the overarching aims of building, wielding, and sharing power are vital. If organising isn’t right for your organisation, you can still learn from it to support these aims. 

Directed Networks Campaigning in particular offers an important opportunity for big charities aiming to win sustainable and structural change through people power. 

Big charities can play a vital role in: 

• mobilising supporters and members in solidarity with existing grassroots action
• strategically deploying their resources in key geographies and the places where people are working together for change
• collaborating and connecting nodes of community power into wider, strategic campaigns for change.

Adopting these approaches will still require a wider rethink about the role of big charities in challenging the status quo. This includes thinking differently about time, risk and scale - and being open to serious collaboration. 

This specific research project has drawn to a close, but the conversation is only just beginning. 

For the next stage, we encourage big charities to:

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Thank you again to everyone who has taken part in this project. Your wisdom, insight, and generosity of time and spirit was astounding and testament to what is possible when we come together in the pursuit of change.