Five lessons from building an anti-authoritarianism nonprofit

How to scale a democracy organization

IAN BASSIN AND STEPHANIE LLANES

This week, Ian is a guest on Masters of Scale, the award-winning podcast on entrepreneurship. Listen to the episode here. 

The episode talks about a lot of issues — but above all, it covers what we’ve learned in the seven years where Protect Democracy has grown from a scrappy startup to a team of 120+ people in 26 states. 

Defeating authoritarianism isn’t just about being on the right side of history. We also have to be organized. We have to build sustainable organizations and coalitions capable of achieving a monumental, generational mission. 

So to accompany the episode, the two of us wanted to share the top five things we have learned about building a democracy organization since November 8, 2016. 

Culture is the DNA of our (and every) org

When we founded Protect Democracy in the weeks and months after Trump’s election, the first thing we did was to intentionally set our culture. It felt like the world was on fire, but we forced ourselves to just stop. We spent hours envisioning the sort of team and culture we wanted to consciously build. 

It was the best strategic decision we’ve ever made. That upfront investment has paid dividends thousands of times over.

You see the same thing across for profit companies and nonprofit organizations — teams, organizations, coalitions and initiatives with strong and intentional cultures tend to thrive and have massive impacts. Those without often struggle with conflicts or roadblocks that have little to do with the work itself. 

But the truth is you can’t just speak culture. It isn’t just principles on the wall. You have to weave it into every aspect of the organization and live it, from the top down and with constant reinforcement and practice. 

A precise and clear mission is and must be the metricnbsp;

The pro-democracy field has always had a fundamental challenge: as a movement, we’re fighting for our right to disagree about politics and policy. 

On almost any other goal, you can build a movement largely out of people who have the same values and worldviews. Ours isn’t like that. Defeating authoritarianism requires a broad, cross-ideological coalition that may not line up on the same side on any other issue. 

That’s why a firm commitment to (and clarity around) mission has been especially important. It’s helped us stay focused on impact and build a diverse team that’s capable of rising to this moment.

If we can’t as a democracy movement bring people together across political differences, how can we expect our country to do it? 

Read the full piece here >>