Strategic Action & Campaign Design is built for organizers, small nonprofits, and emerging leaders who are ready to move from intention to impact. This cohort trains advocates to design campaigns that work—from selecting tactics like protests or petitions to mapping power and evaluating what actually moves change. If you’ve ever felt pulled in ten directions without a plan, this track helps bring structure, confidence, and a grounded sense of momentum to your work. Whether you’re building your first campaign or leveling up an existing one, this track turns big ideas into tangible action.
Introducing yourself isn’t just a formality—it’s a movement skill. This class helps learners claim their role as advocates by showing them how to introduce themselves with clarity, purpose, and power.Participants will learn the CLAIM framework, a strategic tool for crafting introductions that reflect their context, lived or learned experience, alignment with others, intention, and key message. The class explores common pitfalls—like over-explaining, leading with credentials, or defaulting to apology—and replaces them with approaches rooted in values, identity, and relationship-building. Through relatable scenarios and the CLAIM Builder tool, learners will gain confidence adapting their intro to different settings: legislative meetings, coalition spaces, and community events.This matters because too many advocates shrink their story or stumble through key moments of connection. Whether in a hallway, a hearing, or a group call, a strong introduction can open doors, shift dynamics, and build collective clarity. The class centers accessibility, inclusion, and the power of everyday people to speak from where they stand.This session is especially useful for organizers, emerging leaders, public speakers, coalition members, and anyone preparing for public testimony or meetings with decision-makers. It’s the foundation for later classes like Crafting Your Advocacy Elevator Pitch and Developing Your Personal Advocacy Story, but it stands powerfully on its own.
When someone asks, “So, what do you do?”—do you have a response that builds power? This class helps advocates craft a clear, concise, and strategic elevator pitch they can use in high-stakes or fast-moving moments. Whether you’re introducing yourself at a rally, in a legislative hallway, or during a coalition meeting, your ability to speak with purpose matters.In this session, learners will build their own advocacy pitch using Basecamp’s original S.P.A.R.K. framework—Standpoint, Purpose, Ask, Relevance, and Key Message. The class includes guided reflection, real-world scenarios, and downloadable tools to support the development of both short and long-form pitches. We also explore how to adapt a pitch for different audiences, including policymakers, journalists, peers, and internal leadership.This skill is vital because introductions aren’t just icebreakers—they’re moments of leverage. A well-constructed pitch helps advocates clarify their role, signal credibility, and open the door to collaboration or support. For those working from the margins, it’s also a way to claim space and speak with authority in rooms that often overlook frontline voices.This class is ideal for community organizers, emerging leaders, campaign staff, and anyone preparing to speak publicly or represent their work. It pairs especially well with Developing Your Personal Advocacy Story and Messaging Under Pressure, forming a strategic messaging foundation for anyone building a visible advocacy presence.
Introducing yourself isn’t just a formality—it’s a movement skill. This class helps learners claim their role as advocates by showing them how to introduce themselves with clarity, purpose, and power.Participants will learn the CLAIM framework, a strategic tool for crafting introductions that reflect their context, lived or learned experience, alignment with others, intention, and key message. The class explores common pitfalls—like over-explaining, leading with credentials, or defaulting to apology—and replaces them with approaches rooted in values, identity, and relationship-building. Through relatable scenarios and the CLAIM Builder tool, learners will gain confidence adapting their intro to different settings: legislative meetings, coalition spaces, and community events.This matters because too many advocates shrink their story or stumble through key moments of connection. Whether in a hallway, a hearing, or a group call, a strong introduction can open doors, shift dynamics, and build collective clarity. The class centers accessibility, inclusion, and the power of everyday people to speak from where they stand.This session is especially useful for organizers, emerging leaders, public speakers, coalition members, and anyone preparing for public testimony or meetings with decision-makers. It’s the foundation for later classes like Crafting Your Advocacy Elevator Pitch and Developing Your Personal Advocacy Story, but it stands powerfully on its own.
The legislative process can feel like a black box—but for advocates, understanding how laws actually move is essential to building power. This class breaks down the real-world dynamics of lawmaking so learners can intervene strategically at the right moment, with the right tactic, aimed at the right decision-maker.In this session, learners will gain a clear grasp of how the legislative process works in practice—not just on paper. They’ll be introduced to Basecamp’s original tool, the Inside Track Checklist, a five-step strategy lens for mapping where a bill is, identifying who controls the next gate, and choosing a tactic that fits the timing. The class includes grounded examples, three realistic advocacy scenarios, and two downloadable tools to support action planning and tactic alignment.Too often, advocates use the wrong tool at the wrong time—or feel locked out of the process entirely. This class helps learners break through that fog. It demystifies the process, highlights hidden power dynamics, and supports more accessible, inclusive engagement with policymaking. Because strategy is a practice—and everyone deserves a path into it.This class is designed for organizers, nonprofit staff, issue advocates, and anyone trying to influence legislation from outside the halls of power. It pairs well with “Tracking Legislation: Tools & Tips for Staying Informed” and “How to Schedule & Prepare for a Congressional Meeting.”
Advocacy isn’t one-size-fits-all. This class teaches learners how to make deliberate, values-aligned choices about what type of advocacy to use—and when. By breaking out of default tactics and introducing a clear strategic filter, this module helps organizers and changemakers act with purpose instead of pressure.In this session, learners explore three foundational types of advocacy—Direct Advocacy, Grassroots Organizing, and Public Engagement—and learn how to layer or sequence them across a campaign. The class introduces the STRATEGY Filter, a decision-making lens that helps advocates assess their current conditions, role, capacity, and goals. Learners also work through real-world scenarios, receive a downloadable STRATEGY worksheet, and are invited to apply the framework to their own campaigns.This class responds to a common challenge: most people inherit their advocacy approach instead of choosing it. Without strategic grounding, even passionate action can lead to burnout or misalignment. By building strategy as a practice, this class helps learners create impact without exhaustion—and reinforces Basecamp’s core values of clarity, care, and collective power.This training is designed for grassroots organizers, nonprofit teams, advocacy leaders, and individual changemakers alike. It pairs especially well with Messaging Under Pressure and Engaging Decision-Makers, offering a strong foundation for anyone navigating tactical choices or power-building across time.
Advocacy that lasts requires more than passion—it requires direction, rhythm, and care. This class teaches learners how to build long-term advocacy plans that are sustainable, strategic, and aligned with real movement power.At the heart of this session is the Advocacy Compass, a directional tool with four core anchors: North (Vision), East (Ecosystem Awareness), South (Sustainability), and West (Wayfinding). Learners will explore how to apply each anchor to their own planning process—whether they’re working solo, leading a campaign, or coordinating a team. The class includes real-world scenarios, reflection prompts, and a downloadable Compass Check-In tool for ongoing use.This training helps interrupt common burnout patterns and reframes sustainability as a movement-strengthening practice, not an individual burden. It equips learners to identify when urgency is overriding strategy, when structure is breaking down, and how to reset using clear, shared direction.This class is built for organizers, nonprofit teams, campaign planners, and anyone supporting movement work over the long haul. It pairs especially well with future Basecamp trainings like Building a Long-Term Campaign Strategy and Leadership Without Ego, and serves as a foundation for anyone committed to building advocacy that lasts.