Join the We’re a Nerdy Movement Study Group

A comprehensive program for designing and running organizing programs where members thrive.

The newly updated program is the only one of its kind that will help you use evidence-based methods to: 

  • Recruit new members 

  • Increase their commitment and ability to lead

  • Build strong member teams that learn and adapt to changing conditions

What will I learn?

  • This module is an introduction to the leading theory of motivation — self-determination theory — and sets the stage for the practical application methods in the following weeks.

    The study group starts with theory because theory provides a basis for understanding phenomena and a way to explain, describe, analyze, and predict outcomes.

    Theory helps us make informed choices about methods to use. Theory also supports us in developing new methods for different contexts.

    On the first weekly call, you’ll meet the other two people in your learning circle, discuss your learning goals and make a plan to support each other to get the most from the program.

    A previous participant said:

    This lesson helped me to understand why people were ghosting us. Our organization feels like a leaky bucket, with people only staying involved for days or weeks. Now I recognize our attempts to motivate people are causing them to feel anxiety, tension, and guilt. I have a few ideas of what to change and am excited to learn more.

  • You'll learn why you might not want to screen people out based on their commitment to an issue and what to do instead.

    You'll also learn why people who are affected by an issue often seem not to care about it and what you can do to make it more likely they get involved.

    Finally, you'll learn why it's essential to acknowledge members' anxieties and fears and get a simple script to support people to participate.

    On the weekly call, you’ll discuss the content from the week and observe a coaching demonstration to prep for week three.

    A previous participant said:

    I didn't believe the anti-abortion movement research at first. It goes against everything I thought I knew about why people get involved. After some reflection and a conversation with one of our member leaders, I realized that the same thing happens in our organization, but we never recognized it. I'm feeling inspired to make changes and have some ideas of what to do from the Cosecha example.

  • Coaching is one of our best methods to increase a member's leadership capacity.

    Coaching increases a member's skills and ability to make the right choice in uncertain situations.

    Coaching also increases the member's commitment and persistence in the face of setbacks.

    You'll learn a simple coaching framework and practice it with your learning circle this week.

    A previous participant said:

    Our organization has undergone a complete transformation in our understanding of the role of the organizer since Nerdy Movement. We’re all in on the organizer as coach now. The organizers are less stressed and we discovered that members can take on more leadership than we thought possible.

  • You'll learn the results of three studies on member retention and get ideas for things to try in your organization.

    You'll also learn the five characteristics of a role that can be changed to increase the motivation, satisfaction, and performance of a volunteer.

    You’ll practice redesigning a role with your learning circle during the weekly call.

    A previous participant said:

    We redesigned our GOTV phone bank roles using what we learned in Nerdy Movement. The results were immediate. People said it was the best phone bank they had been a part of. We also used the post-shift reflection script, and it worked! More people are coming back and bringing friends with them.

  • Creating a great team doesn't have to be left to chance.

    In week five, you’ll learn an evidence-based framework for designing high-performing teams and practical methods to launch and support teams.

    On the weekly call, you’ll evaluate a team you care about and get ideas from your peers on how to improve the team.

    A previous participant said:

    Aaargh, I wish I knew about this framework before. I really resonate with the research that the source of conflict in teams is because of a bad team design. There is so much conflict within our volunteer and staff teams and it has only gotten worse during the pandemic. This framework gives me hope that we can stop putting on bandaids of conflict resolution and solve the root problems.

  • Psychological safety is the belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.

    Amy Edmondson, the primary researcher and proponent of the concept, describes psychological safety as "taken-for-granted beliefs about how others will respond when one puts oneself on the line, such as by asking a question, seeking feedback, reporting a mistake, or proposing a new idea. Teams with high psychological safety are likelier to learn, adapt, and achieve remarkable outcomes, especially in complex, uncertain, and interdependent environments."

    In week six, you'll reflect on your leadership behaviors and learn the three steps team leaders can take to increase psychological safety.

    On the weekly call, you’ll share an organizing challenge and get ideas on how to approach it from your peers.

    A previous participant said:

    We used the psychological safety script and other tools from the study group to launch a new project building neighborhood teams. The project was a huge success, partially because the organizers were able to talk openly about how we were doing and what we could do better. We’re now using the psychological safety assessment to coach the team leaders to improve their leadership skills. I’m excited to see what they’ll accomplish using this new approach.

What will I experience?

Nerdy Movement is carefully designed to maximize your learning and support you in applying what you are learning immediately. Most participants start trying new things out by the end of the second week.

The program uses a flipped classroom format. That means most knowledge-building happens through weekly readings and videos you complete on your schedule. You'll also try out new skills with independent activities and assignments. Most people find this takes them two to three hours a week. You'll get more out of the program if you spend 15-30 minutes a day over several days instead of cramming.

You'll build essential skills by trying them out and getting feedback from other organizers on the two-hour weekly calls. You'll develop your ability to choose which new practices to apply and when through small group discussions with your peers and weekly written reflections completed on your schedule.

Most people spend 4-5 hours a week over six weeks.

Shane Samarasinghe of YoungMinds said the following about Nerdy Movement.

This is the most comprehensive course I’ve experienced. You will practice the theory and techniques on what you need to build and coach effective teams as you go along, helping you to experience what it will be like to bring the approaches into your own organisation and with volunteer teams.

The course material is expertly designed and thought-provoking, drawing on a wide range of evidence and real-life examples. You’ll come away with actionable plans and a ton of reading material and session plans to keep drawing from.

Randall and the team hold the spaces safely and are always on hand to follow up on queries and explain the materials. Highly recommend!

The program consists of nine components.

  • An online course with six weekly modules that contain over 30 individual written or video¹ lessons. Each module requires two to three hours to complete and includes many hours of optional and supplementary audio, written, and video content if you want to go deeper into a specific area. You will have lifetime access to the course content when you enroll.

  • Quizzes, activities, examples and templates to help you retain what you are learning and apply the lessons to your work right away. You will have lifetime access to help you implement what you learn in this program.

  • Six weekly two-hour video calls to discuss and practice what you are learning with other organizers.

  • A learning circle with two other people to discuss the content and practice what you are learning.

  • A 1:1 call with the instructor to support you in applying what you learned.

  • A private Facebook group and Slack to ask questions and get answers from a global cross-movement community of people like you.

  • A bonus orientation call to meet other people in the study group and get tips on making the most of your experience.

  • Bonus weekly study halls to help you focus as you work through the content.

  • Bonus calls to reconnect and build skills after the program.

What have other people said?

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, Liberation in a Generation²

I have been an organizer for over a decade, and this study group brought me back to the core of what I am doing day in and day out - building volunteer teams that have the creativity, resilience, and skills to lead our work forward.

The facilitators present a whole landscape of research in succinct, concrete, and compelling ways so that we can focus on applying these learnings to our work. And the research that we wrestled with here was truly eye-opening and agitational in terms of what is actually effective to engage people in a deep and sustained way and overtime build organizations with high strategic capacity.

I walked away with very helpful tools and frameworks that I'm itching to try out in my work. And the study group itself modeled what it's like to motivate teams, since the vast majority of the learning and application we did during the weekly calls was in small groups where we were in charge of our own learning. This study group should be essential for honing the craft of strong organizing.

– Phoebe Gardener, Movimiento Cosecha

When does it take place?

The weekly calls start on May 23rd and end on June 27th.

The calls are Thursdays from 2:00–4:00 PM Eastern | 11:00 AM–1:00 PM Pacific | 7:00–9:00 PM UTC | 8:00-10:00 PM Central European Time | 12:30-2:30 AM India Standard Time | Fridays 6:00–8:00 AM Australian Eastern Daylight Time | Find your local time.

Enrollment for cohort nine closes on May 3rd.

How much does it cost?

Enrollment is a sliding scale based on your organization's budget.

  • $1,200 USD per participant for organizations with budgets above $10 million

  • $1,000 per participant for organizations with budgets above $5 million

  • $800 per participant for organizations with budgets between $2 million and $5 million

  • $600 per participant for organizations with budgets below $2 million

The financials of this program only work if you register at the level of your organizational budget (and not at a lower level). Please register at the appropriate level to support people from smaller organizations and people from low-income countries to participate.

There are a few reduced-fee registration spots available. Apply here.

Your enrollment includes lifetime access to the course content, weekly calls with the other participants, a 1:1 with the instructor, and lifetime access to a community of other people using research-backed insights to build people-powered campaigns.

The course platform makes it easier for you to complete the content and keep track of your progress. You’ll also get little nudges to help you meet your goals.

Who is responsible for this?

Hi, I’m Randall Smith.

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

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

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

  • organize a day of action with 700 simultaneous events,

  • mobilize people to hold 2,500 house meetings on a single day, and

  • create 500 action and political education teams building the organization in their community.

Organizations I have worked with include Courage California, Discerning Deacons, Free Press, Future Majority, IfNotNow, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Movimiento Cosecha, MPower Change, Pilipino Workers Center, Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Collaborative, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Sunrise Movement, and United for Respect.

Is Nerdy Movement for me?

The study group might be a good fit for you if you want to:

  • Move people who are concerned about an issue but sitting on the sidelines into active participation

  • Make the work that members do more enjoyable while increasing the quality and quantity of their work

  • Develop members' capacity to act in the face of uncertainty

  • Build teams that get stronger over time, contribute to the growth and learning of team members, and produce excellent work

  • Be in a community with other people who are grappling with these challenges, and

  • Are open to learning from various disciplines and organizations (including right-wing movements and corporations)

The study group is not a good fit for you if:

  • Your organization doesn't create teams of members (and doesn't want to). Two of the six weeks are focused on designing, launching, and supporting strong member teams. We believe that teams are the fundamental unit of a social movement or social change organization and that improving the effectiveness of teams should be a major focus of our efforts.

  • You want to cut to the chase and get a blueprint of what to do. It’s not a typical organizing training with a step-by-step formula to follow. There’s nothing wrong with that format, but this is different. Nerdy Movement teaches theory, principles and methods. It’s more effort than attending a training, but we think the results are worthwhile. You’ll learn specific practices to try, but you’ll also learn why they work so you can adapt them or create entirely new methods appropriate for your context.

  • You are looking for an introduction to organizing training. New organizers have attended the program and given it positive reviews, but this program isn’t intended as an “Organizing 101” training. Participants have an average of seven years of organizing experience. Email [email protected] with a description of your work if you’d like a recommendation for training on organizing fundamentals.

  • You don't want to learn in a community with other people. The social aspect is one of the things that makes the study group effective. You'll be in a learning circle with two other people to discuss the content and work together to practice what you are learning each week. 

  • You can't give four to five hours a week of attention to the program. The program is a big time commitment, but it can also make a big impact on the effectiveness of your work.

  • You aren’t an organizer (or supervisor of organizers). One of the things that makes Nerdy Movement effective is people apply what they are learning during the six weeks of the program and discuss their progress with others. This interdependent format doesn’t work if there are academics, consultants, funders, capacity builders and other folks in the program. Email [email protected] if you have questions if Nerdy Movement is a good fit for you.

Questions your fellow organizers have asked before signing up

 
 

  • You might tell your boss that you'll apply what you learn directly to your job and tell them which of your organization's goals this course will help you accomplish. Focus on the outcomes of the program instead of the process.

    You know your boss better than I do, but I made a memo for you to edit and share with them.

  • Previous participants have worked for national and global organizations, including 18 Million Rising, ACLU, Akbayan Youth, Animal Think Tank, Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Beyond the Bomb, Campaign to Defend UK Aid and Development, Catholic Climate Covenant, Citizens' Climate Lobby, Climáximo, Common Horizon, Corporate Accountability, Democratic Socialists of America, Discerning Deacons, Dissenters, Dogwood BC, Forward Together, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Fundacja Lasy i Obywatele, Future Majority, Galvanize USA, Greenpeace, GreenFaith, Green New Deal Rising, Haiyya, Humane League, IfNotNow, Ignatian Solidarity Network, Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace, Laudato Si' Movement, Leadnow, Liberation in a Generation, ME Action, Mercy For Animals, Mi Familia Vota, MoveOn, Movimiento Cosecha, MPower Change, National Black Worker Center Project, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Never Again Action, NextGen America, Open Progress, Our Turn, Partij van de Arbeid, Planned Parenthood, Protect Our Winters, Save the Children UK, SEIU, Sierra Club, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Standing Together, Sunrise Movement, Union of Concerned Scientists, Working Families Party, WSCHÓD, Vot-ER, United for Respect and many more.

    There have also been participants who work for local or regional organizations, including 350 Colorado, 350 Seattle, Alabama Arise, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Bay Rising, Better Wyoming, Chinese Progressive Association, Earth Quaker Action Team, Engage VA, Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition, Forward Montana, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Lansing People's Initiative, MN350, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, Organization for Black Struggle, Pennsylvania United, Pilipino Workers Center, Providence Student Union, San Francisco Rising, Southerners on New Ground, Voces de la Frontera, Wild Montana, and Women Engaged.

    The job titles of previous participants include campaigner, community organizer, distributed organizing director, executive director, field director, national distributed organizer, and organizing director.

    Past participants have ranged from less than one year to over 20 years of experience, with an average of seven or more years of organizing experience.

    Participants have joined from Australia, Canada, England, France, India, Israel, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, and the United States.

  • The curriculum pulls together research from a range of disciplines.

    You will be reading, watching, and listening to the works of Edward Deci, Amy Edmondson, Richard Hackman, Hahrie Han, Ziad Munson, Richard Ryan, Ruth Wageman, and several others.

    The overarching theory—self-determination theory—is developed by a global community of researchers and practitioners examining participants in diverse locations, including Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Uganda, Peru, and Russia. The research in weeks two and four primarily looks at people and organizations in the US. The research covered in weeks one, three, five, and six was conducted with participants and organizations from around the world.

  • Most of the examples in the study group are from US-based organizations and a wide range of organizing traditions. There are also examples from the anti-abortion movement and corporations.

    Previous participants from around the world have found that they can apply the lessons taught in the study group to their context because the group focuses on the theory and principles of human behavior, not just methods. Learning theory and principles will support you in adapting what you learn to your context.

  • To help people with their real challenges, the conversations on the calls are kept off the record. There are no recordings of the weekly calls. Please do your best to attend each call so you don't detract from the learning experience of the people in your learning circle.

  • The Nerdy Movement study group is entirely online. You can access the course content anywhere you have a computer or smartphone and internet access. The content is on a website and available via an iPhone or Android app. The community video calls are on Zoom, and the community forum is a private Facebook group and Slack instance.

  • Yes, it is. The We’re a Nerdy Movement study group is a significant and challenging commitment.

    It’s four-to-five hours of work each week for six weeks.

    The program is challenging for two reasons.

    You’ll read excerpts from academic papers and watch videos of researchers describing their work. Researchers and academics make content for other researchers, not for organizers. It takes work to understand what they are trying to communicate. I think the effort is worth it, but I often struggle to grasp what they are trying to say.

    The study group is also challenging because you have work to complete on your own each week. The program uses a flipped classroom format. That means you’ll build your knowledge through two to three hours of weekly readings and videos on the course platform. That content is not repeated on the weekly calls. You’ll build your skills in a breakout room on the calls.

    It would be misleading to say the study group is easy. It’s not.

    If this isn’t a good fit, subscribe to our newsletter for recommendations and resources for designing and running people-powered campaigns.

  • You will continue to have access to the course materials, templates, Facebook group, and Slack.

  • Yes, email Randall at [email protected] to discuss your options.

    If you are registering your organization's staff, please share this page with them so they can decide for themselves if they want to participate.

    The study group is challenging and requires a significant amount of time and effort.

    It’s not for everyone.

    This isn't a typical training where people can just show up and watch.

    People must be fully committed to four to five hours of participation for six weeks for this program to be worth the time and money.

    If people don’t fully participate, it will detract from the learning experience of other people in the study group.

  • Email Randall at [email protected], and I'll do my best to get you answers.

What other organizers got from the program

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, Working Families Party

I'm building 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 We Are A 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 We Are A 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, Transgender Law Center

I came onto course hoping to learn about teams and how to fix them - I had no idea launches & pre-work was so important to team success. The 6 conditions (and this course) has radically shifted how I think about teams and coaching.

The two hour call was the most relaxing part of the week. I love Randall’s emphasis on connecting and learning together - he is so wise but doesnt teach in the sense of how a lecturer would. He lets us learn & discuss together, with a shared basis of knowledge you learn and connect with so many people and take away such deep learnings.

I feel like I have the answers for everything. I know I don’t but I feel I have a super solid basis of learning to grow on and an attitude of constantly learning & iterating that keeps me itching to try again."

– Jasmine Walker, Tomorrow Movement



¹ The course videos have closed captions available.

² Organizations listed for identification purposes only.