Community organizing strategies: The ladder of engagement

What is community organizing?

Community organizing strategies have developed in recent decades along two lines. First is the organizing model of creating deep personal relationships with individuals who will be a core part of the organization’s goals. The second model is around the mobilization of more loosely connected supporters of the organization to take actions like donating, writing a lobbying email, posting on social media, etc. These two models are connected by a ‘ladder of engagement’ that places a supporter on the ladder. Beginning at the bottom, the supporter engagement might just be becoming aware of the organization, and from there, they move up the ladder to donate, volunteer, and perhaps even lead the organization. Mobilization and organizing models work in tandem with most advocacy and nonprofit organizations.

Technology has impacted these two models since mass mailers became possible in the 1960s, through the web and software revolutions of the late 20th century, to the point where the concept of distributed organizing is becoming more commonplace. Distributed organizing mixes the best of organizing and mobilizing under a software system that allows the organization to grow as a network. This means the organization has many local ‘chapters’ run by regional leaders. These people are core to the organization and, in turn, manage and direct activities in their local area somewhat autonomously from HQ. Suppose you want to scale up your advocacy group, nonprofit, or political party. In that case, you will use this model to get the best from supporters and manage their climb up the ladder of engagement.

The perennial challenge for nonprofits, candidates and advocacy strategies is getting supporters to actively engage with your message or cause. The key to winning the hearts and minds of the public firstly lies in an organization’s ability to motivate and mobilize core supporters. The activists are out there, but the remaining stumbling block is how to incentivize your supporters to go from digital defenders/virtual voters to real-life campaigning champions. This guide aims to give you actionable steps to activate your network. Here, we take you through key learnings from activists worldwide who have succeeded in this.

The ladder of engagement

The ladder of engagement is a great conceptual model for advocacy and nonprofit organizing. It helps staff understand how strong their support network is and is a straightforward way to strengthen it. Supporters are onboarded and brought up through the ladder to a point of leadership. This is a direct line, and it does not change, so even if you have staff changes, everyone knows the current state of play with supporters and what they need to do next. If you are starting out, then ask yourself these questions:

• What are your primary means of communicating with supporters?
• Have you connected with supporters on your social channels?
• Have you signed them up for a regular newsletter with opt-in consent?
• Have you got them to answer a survey to learn more about them?
• Have they been asked for a small donation?
• Are they connected to your volunteer or field teams?
• Do your leaders have a way of directly connecting with them, either through regular meetings or through network software?

Action tip: Map out your ladder of engagement with specific steps to bring supporters through. Have tags on each supporter in your software system so you know where a supporter is at any one time and so you know what to ask them next to move them up.

Motivating and moving people up the ladder

Before we get too process-driven, remember that this is not an exact science. Even though there is no right way of motivating people up the ladder, there are many wrong ways. Focus instead on authenticity and treating these supporters with respect, as only by doing this will you find your way to motivate them. Oh, and make sure you track everything so you are learning as you go. The questions you need to ask yourself with regards to understanding those supporters include:

• Do you know why supporters are interested in what you are doing?
• Is their motivation to act the same as your reason for being?
• Can you develop supporter personas to workshop the various motivations that might be leveraged?
• How are you communicating your message to motivate individuals?

Your work profiling supporters, building supporter personas, and understanding different motivations will now come into play. Consider what projects interest your various personas and match projects to persona groups and motivations. You might want to send one group out on a party rally, another into the community to gather feedback through surveys, other groups might want to organize a community engagement event, and others might be more interested in direct lobbying and emailing through multi-channel campaigning.

Action Tip: Understand what drives your supporters by asking them directly. Build a simple spreadsheet to map messaging to each persona’s unique values. Next, plan a calendar of diverse events and projects. Promote each one where your supporters spend their time online, using tailored messaging that speaks to what motivates them most.

Introducing the ladder of engagement to your team

Shifting to a supporter-first strategy is transformative. It builds stronger relationships, enhances capacity, and creates a lasting foundation for growth. But making it happen takes thoughtful planning. Here’s how to bring the ladder of engagement into your organization—step by step.

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Case Study: How Sarah Hamilton’s Political Campaign Engaged Edmonton

Running for City Council, Sarah Hamilton grew her team from 8 to 40 over four months using Ecanvasser. She credited the ease of onboarding new volunteers to the campaign team.

First-time technology users found the software very user-friendly, and a seamless onboarding process allowed for quick mobilization. It also introduced a sense of excitement for first-time campaigners, and this blend worked really well. Ecanvasser changed the way the Hamilton team viewed data and their voters. Delegating to local teams allowed the campaign to put in solid groundwork. They knocked on over 13,000 doors from a database of nearly 40,000 constituents. Hamilton received 6,156 votes, while her nearest rival received just 3,626 in a total field of nine candidates.

Distributed Leadership - The snowflake model

At the heart of effective community organizing is one key principle: empowering local leaders with autonomy and control. The goal isn’t just to decentralize for its own sake—it’s about building a model that’s more responsive, adaptive, and ultimately, more successful than a top-down approach. Enter the snowflake model.

The snowflake model thrives on distributed leadership, where local chapter leaders are deeply connected to the mission, well-trained, and constantly communicating—not just with the head office, but also with each other. This interconnected approach fosters collaboration, avoids isolated decision-making, and allows for more nuanced, locally informed strategies.

But distributed leadership doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires an infrastructure that connects every part of the organization seamlessly. Without unified tools, aligned data systems, and shared frameworks, the snowflake model can quickly unravel into chaos. Leaders need to operate within a networked software model that ensures alignment while granting local autonomy.

Here’s how to make distributed leadership work in your organization:

• Delegate Authority Thoughtfully: Establish clear guidelines on when and how to pass decision-making power to local leaders, supported by connected systems that align everyone with the broader mission.
• Empower Without Compromising: Use permission-based access to ensure local leaders have the tools they need to act while safeguarding the integrity of your organization.
• Build an Upward Path: Foster an organizational culture that rewards effort, creating clear pathways for leaders to advance and contribute more meaningfully.

Action Tip: Adopt software systems that connect your organization while enabling local chapters to operate independently. Your system should offer a dynamic map of your supporters, citizens, and chapters, with the ability to toggle between these perspectives for both granular and big-picture insights. Tools like Ecanvasser Organizations provide the infrastructure to lead your organization through this transformation, empowering your team and streamlining your snowflake model for success.

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Conclusion

Implementing the ladder of engagement can transform passive supporters into active leaders within your organization. You can build a resilient and dynamic community by understanding their motivations, providing clear pathways for involvement, and fostering distributed leadership. We encourage you to share your experiences and insights on integrating the ladder of engagement into your initiatives. Your contributions can inspire and guide others in their community organizing efforts.

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