Rally Reads is a series of blog posts where we ask the people who inspire us to share what books, documentaries, articles or films that inspire them. This edition features Rachel Erskine who we’ve been a big fan of for many years.
RALLY READS: WITH INDIA THOROGOOD
SOLIDARITY. DOWNLOADABLE UKRAINIAN ACTIVIST ART.
RALLY READS: WITH LUCY CALDICOTT
LANGUAGE MATTERS: DO YOU ATTRACT OR ACQUIRE SUPPORT?
Language matters. It’s an obvious thing to say: how we choose to express ourselves gives an insight into how we think about the things we do, see and experience.
Take the word acquisition and think about its definition.
Acquisition: the buying or obtaining of assets or objects.
Buying or obtaining.
Assets or objects.
It's a word taken from the corporate world where customer acquisition is a thing. We'd argue that we should reject the term because we are not in the business of selling products or services. It’s a word that depersonalises the public and presents them as commodities rather than people.
Acquisition perpetuates an Old Power mindset of ownership:
My donors.
My supporters.
My staff.
My ideas.
My clients.
We believe in a New Power mindset of collaboration and sharing.
So we use the word attraction.
Attraction: the action or power of evoking interest in or liking for someone or something.
Rally works with clients, and the sector more widely, to champion an attraction-based approach. Together we develop strategies that help achieve our clients’ goals by using their values as a magnet to attract all who share them.
The focus is simple: to inspire like minded people who share our values to join us and actively participate in the change we all want to see.
And while we are on the subject of language. Here is the definition of another widely used sector term.
Retention: the continued use, existence, or possession of something or someone
Possession. Nice.
Main Photo by Marl Clevenger on Unsplash
RALLY READS: WITH DAMIAN O'BROIN
UK DIGITAL BENCHMARKS STUDY: A CAMPAIGNER'S PERSPECTIVE.
We’re delighted to bring you a campaigning / organising perspective on the UK Digital Benchmarks Study from Tom Baker. We love Tom for many reasons, not least his incredible and insightful blog, The Thoughtful Campaigner, where he writes about his observations of advocacy trends in the UK and beyond. Tom is Director of Campaigns and Organising at Save the Children UK, and has previously worked at Bond (the UK network for organisations working in international development), Tearfund and Christian Aid.
RALLY READS: WITH FIONA PATTISON
BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO BUILD POWER & MAKE TROUBLE.
Rally exists to help build power. To show people they have it and help them to use it.
One way to do this is to bring together like minded people who don’t know each other in an attempt to create connections that didn’t exist, which can lead to collaborations that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.
A few weeks ago our founder Paul de Gregorio and one of our favourite people in the world Georgie Laming, collaborated to put on a virtual screening of an episode of the incredible US documentary ‘And She Could Be Next’. In the film makers words - ‘a documentary series that focuses on a defiant movement of women of colour, transforming politics from the ground up’. Here’s the trailer…
RALLY READS: WITH RUBY BAYLEY
In this edition Ruby takes us through a reading list that explores strategy, anger, feminism and protest. Ruby describes herself as a fundraiser and feminist organiser. She’s raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for good causes in her career and is a fundamental believer in the art of protest. As are we.