Strategic relationship management and civic information in an activist organization

Abstract

This study examines the organizational practices of CODEPINK: Women for Peace, a social activist organization, between January 1 and October 1, 2018 to understand the organization’s strategic data-driven practices during activist campaigns. The results provide important insights into the mechanisms a digital-grassroots organization takes to spread civic information to users for political participation. In a series of semi-structured interviews, analyzed with content-analysis, respondents indicated organizational practices that included the use of a non-partisan political customer relationship management (CRM) platform, social matching, and interest-based targeted emailing. CODEPINK uses these tools to help facilitate support for fundraising, direct marketing, and organizing campaigns. Understanding how social movement organizations use media innovations to support their action repertoires provides a better framework for understanding modern-day activist practices.

Developing data capability with non-profit organisations using participatory methods

“…Given their social value mission, non-profit organisations are an important site for developing data capability. Data activism has played a well-documented role for civil society organisations and actors, in the ‘use, mobilization and creation of datasets for social causes’ and to disrupt harmful corporate and state uses of big data (Kazansky et al, 2019; see also Reile, 2020). In a more operational sense, non-profits are increasingly looking to data-driven systems and analysis to streamline operations in the management of volunteers, track and understand patterns in donations or the impact of outreach activities, help to monitor public sentiment and events or develop predictive capabilities to aid decision-making and inform support provision (e.g.…”