>> How do we recruit more of the right people?

>> How do we build teams of members that get stronger over time, learning and adapting to changing conditions?

>> How do we develop members’ skills, understanding, and commitment to work together toward a shared purpose?

>> How do we identify when things are going wrong—and know what techniques we can use to address them?

>> How do I best utilize my role as a staff organizer to effectively build leadership and scale my organization?

>> How do I grow as an organizer when I’m not getting the kind of supervision I need…or know how to ask for it?

Nerdy Movement isn’t “organizing 101.” 

It is a comprehensive, six-week program for experienced organizers to learn evidence-based approaches for recruiting new members, increasing their commitment and capability to lead, and building strong member teams that learn and adapt to changing conditions.

Nerdy Movement goes beyond the interpersonal. It focuses on structural approaches and organizational practices that create the conditions necessary for quality motivation and improved performance and well-being of volunteers and members.

Week by week, you’ll gain a theoretical understanding of why people do what they do, study inspiring examples of these principles in action, and build practical skills to use in the design of organizing programs and daily interactions with members...

…while also connecting with other organizers across issue areas, geography, and organizational type to learn from and with each other.

“I signed up for the Nerdy Movement course just as I was preparing to step in as project lead for a new program at work convening a diverse cohort of advocates, researchers, and organizers. 

I was interested in learning specific strategies for building and cultivating a shared sense of ownership over the outcome, to improve my relationship management and organizing skills, and to gain access to a community of like-minded people who I could learn from and with. I got that and so much more through this course. 

I feel much more confident and equipped to meet our program goals because of the specific, actionable, and evidence-based strategies I learned for designing systems that build power and where participants are self-motivated.

The course design also ensured we had ample space on each call to practice what we were learning, and troubleshoot challenges we encountered in real time. I can't recommend this course highly enough!”

– Azza Altiraifi

Fact: 

More people + more activity does not necessarily equal more power.

Without a plan to win, it’s impossible to effectively recruit and mobilize people. And without building teams of self-driven people committed to the mission and equipped to navigate shifting political environments, it’s impossible to win.

Also true: 

Success depends on recruiting more of the right people—and keeping them.

Motivation by control doesn’t work. What does: Creating environments that satisfy people’s universal psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, leading to greater well-being and improved performance… and creating a virtuous cycle of ever-increasing capacity and commitment.

The study

Each week, you’ll unlock one of the six modules that contains more than 30 individual written or video lessons, including optional and supplementary content if you want to go deeper into a specific area. 

The small group

Based on your role and goals, you’ll be placed in a learning circle with two or three other people to discuss the content and practice what you are learning.

The implementation

Each week’s content is accompanied by quizzes, activities, examples, and templates to help you retain what you are learning and apply the lessons to your work right away. 

The 1:1

In the early weeks, we’ll gather your goals. After your six-week cohort, you’ll have a 1:1 call between you + Randall or Sophia to support you in applying what you learned.

The practice

We gather weekly for a two-hour video call where, as a group, we’ll discuss and practice what you’re learning with both your small group and other organizers. 

The community

Ongoing access to a private Slack workspace gives you space to ask questions of and share experiences with a global cross-movement community of people like you.

“Nerdy Movement really gets me thinking critically about the work I’m doing.

Throughout the program, PowerLabs is providing so many tools in a really generous way. I think Nerdy Movement is unique in that it is really seeking to help us understand the why behind the modules, the what, and a lot of concrete examples of how to try on and implement what we're learning. Bringing together the why, what and how is not an easy task. 

My experience of PowerLabs is that they are really movement generous, and as I click through all of the resources it's pretty much everything we need to learn and implement and try new things. 

It's almost as if Nerdy Movement is giving us a giant how-to toolkit packaged up in the course. But it's so much more than a how-to because it includes the why and what. 

I've taken a lot of trainings on a lot of topics in my life because I really like learning.

I've only come across one other trainer (who focuses on another topic) who provides students with the same breadth and depth of information with the same level of generosity and enthusiasm for the content. And even that trainer relies on open space office hours for interaction with students rather than the very carefully curated spaces PowerLabs puts together for Nerdy Movement.

The encouragement for critical reflection, content that brings together learning on the three levels of why, what, and how, the movement generosity and the playbook for action are all things I can’t underscore enough with Nerdy Movement.” 

- Mary Alice Crim

"I'm building a trans liberation movement narrative infrastructure in the South and Midwest for Transgender Law Center. It's a daunting task given the political environment and I joined Nerdy Movement Study Group looking for some grounding on how to lead high functioning teams in the midst of overlapping cycles of crises. I didn't realize what I was actually looking for was a way to motivate myself and others to believe we have all the tools we need to win when we work together.

The class was a welcome break from my day-to-day barrage of Zoom meetings and drafting strategy documents. Reading case studies from the field - both the progressive movement and the opposition - and every week getting a new tool to try out was a gift! No matter what I was doing in my work, I found something that inspired an A-Ha! moment or gave me a tool to turn my anger or despair into action. Through the course readings and the weekly gatherings with fellow movement leaders, I found some high-quality motivation that I could share with my coworkers and colleagues.

I used what I learned in Nerdy Movement Study Group as I was learning it! I designed and delivered an Advanced Spokesperson Training that was part narrative principles and part organizing goodness which led to an overall feeling of, "We're funny. It makes the work easier to navigate." High quality motivation for the win! And I plan to keep my work, myself, and my colleagues focused on that irresistible vision of a movement that has fun AND wins."

- Anna Castro

Hi, I’m Randall Smith:

I’m a director at PowerLabs, where I help organizations design and run high-participation, people-powered campaigns.

I got my start as an activist when I joined a walkout to protest the first Gulf War in middle school. Later, I interned with a youth organization doing the spade work that contributed to a high profile and inspiring fight, and my future in organizing was sealed. 

Since then, I’ve helped dozens of organizations apply insights from the science of motivation to their work, and they have used those insights to:  

• Introduce and popularize the Green New Deal and pass historic climate legislation,

• Win state-level legislation and ballot measure campaigns,

• Grow from 50 volunteers to 150 chapters in 18 months,

• Create dozens or hundreds teams building the organization in their community.

The short list of organizations I’ve worked with includes Courage California, Forward Together, Free Press, IfNotNow, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Movimiento Cosecha, Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Collaborative, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Sunrise Movement, and United for Respect.

But my favorite thing is to introduce new organizations to this work through Nerdy Movement, where organizers show up in community to reimagine how they partner with their members to thrive as they pursue a collective purpose.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me skateboarding, biking, or walking in the woods with my family, or indulging in being a homebody with a nerdy book or research paper on my porch.

Hi! I’m Sophia Zaia:

I’m an associate consultant at PowerLabs, where we support organizations in their work with volunteers and teams.

I got my organizing start as a student in the fossil fuel divestment movement. In my first year of organizing, I helped organize a thirty-day sit-in in my school’s administration building, and right before graduation I organized a hunger strike of students and professors.

Since then, I’ve supported campaigns from the inside and out, leveraging the youth vote in support of Kendra Brooks’ and Nicolas O'Rourke's at-large city council races in Philadelphia, working as deputy field director on Jessica Cisneros’ 2022 campaign for Congress, and running a distributed voter contact program that made more than 6 million dials and sent more than 1 million postcards during the 2020 election cycle, including making the majority of calls for Jamaal Bowman's 2020 congressional campaign.

Prior to joining Randall, I worked for five years with the Sunrise Movement, doing local and distributed electoral organizing.

After nearly burning out from organizing altogether, I found answers to so many of the challenges I faced inside Nerdy Movement.

When I first learned about the knowledge, skills and wisdom included in Nerdy Movement, it felt like a decoder key that could support me to make sense of my experiences and see a path forward to more effective organizing. Having the opportunity to support others to have similar epiphanies and see the transformation in their work is so fun and fulfilling! 

When I’m not working, I’m likely two-stepping at a honky tonk in my home city of Austin, Texas, salsa dancing, spending time in the sun with friends/family, or bird watching … while continuing to feel most lit up while organizing.

An insatiable love of learning and a willingness to show up. 

If we say “nerd” and your brain lights up in recognition…then you’re our people.

We’ll be honest: There’s training that’s much more straightforward than this–do this; don’t do that. That kind of blueprint/formulaic training can be valuable for brand new organizers. 

Nerdy Movement, however, is for experienced organizers who want to get a fresh take on motivation + organizing, practice new skills, and build stronger and more effective member teams.

Within the program, you’ll look at the research with a critical eye, discover specific practices to try, and learn why they work so you can adapt them or create entirely new methods appropriate for your context.

Nerdy Movement requires a good deal of both curiosity and effort in our six weeks together–much more than attending that two-day, lecture-based training–but four years and nine cohorts of proven results say trusting the process is well worth it. 

A readiness to buck the status quo and create organizations that make real change.

You may be rightly dissatisfied with your organization right now: the working conditions, its approach to power building, and its lack of impact… or maybe just your own.

But that doesn’t mean you’ve lost hope.

You know that every day, ordinary people across race, class and postal code are coming together with the potential to win big things.

You also know it’s going to take bucking the status quo to create organizations we need now: Those that can learn and adapt to challenges and opportunities instead of getting stuck doing things the same way they’ve always been done.

And, you are committed to exploring and practicing new methods and approaches that will create the conditions for people to do the work to achieve the world they want to see.

A desire to learn from and practice with others.

No change was ever made in a silo. 

You are excited by the idea of being in community with other people who are grappling with the same challenges as you.

You’re open to learning from various disciplines and organizations. (Including right-wing movements and corporations.)

You look forward to showing up for the other few people in your learning circle to discuss the content and work together to practice what you’re learning each week.

“The Nerdy Movement Study Group course provided tons of great frameworks and resources to improve on our member engagement in our organizing work.

I joined because I wanted to learn about how other orgs have found success in building volunteer teams, but to be honest, the course exceeded my expectations in how many practical tools were offered.

We now have frameworks, activities, and even meeting agenda templates that we're putting into practice as we evaluate and grow our national membership teams.

The balance of theory, evidence-based studies, and implementation tools made this course well worth the time and energy. I'm already reaching out to others in my organization to encourage them to take the course, too.

– Ryan Crump

I'm currently in my first full-time paid organizer position and am growing our volunteer orientation/welcome call program during a big movement moment. I was hoping to come away from Nerdy Movement with more skills on how to structure programs and lead volunteers in an effective way that wasn't just taking a shot in the dark based on (good and bad) experiences in other orgs as a volunteer.

The cohort gave me an opportunity to self-study at my own pace while still having a deadline to work towards every week. It was a nice mix between statistical studies, theory, lectures/webinars, and knowledge checkpoints. In the cohort meetings themselves, there was ample time to connect with other organizers across the globe and learn from each other. I gained a lot not only from the curriculum but also from the experience of being in relationship with other organizers who were growing in similar ways to me. A lot of my hunches were reinforced by actual data and expert analyses, but most of all I learned things I would've never considered or integrated into my programs without this course.

I was initially apprehensive to join because of the time commitment, but I'm really glad I did it. I learned so much, and all of it was directly applicable to my work and easy to integrate to things I was already doing with volunteers, leaders, and fellow staff. I launched teams more effectively and confidently, structured team agendas proactively and generatively, and have already gotten feedback that volunteers are getting much more out of their time in our teams. I'd recommend Nerdy Movement to anyone looking to refine, learn, and discover effective ways of motivating new volunteers and cultivating deeper commitments from their base.”

— Charlie "Court" Valentine

“Before joining the course, our new member-led grassroots organisation was struggling to retain members, meaningfully involve them in the campaign, and support them to take on responsibility for setting and working towards our goals.

The way the course was set up supported me to apply the learnings to my work week by week, and the results were frankly astonishing. We went from having meetings with 2 or 3 members to 11-15 people (week 2 how to make recruitment more effective) and we’ve launched three teams (campaign strategy, outreach, internal systems) in which I’m coaching each member to take on an active role in making the team successful (week 3 & 5). 

The energy and commitment within the group has never been higher. This all happened within 2 weeks of completing the course! I can’t wait to see how what I’ve learned will continue to support us to grow and strengthen participation in our campaign.

Nerdy Movement has transformed my organising practice for the rest of my life. I couldn’t recommend it enough!”

- Naia Bazin