Organizers can care for new activists by giving them credible and meaningful ways to make real change in the world. Make sure they understand why their work is important. Celebrate positive outcomes, no matter how small. 

In this stage, it’s particularly important for organizers to give away work that encourages activists to grow their capacity. Don’t let people get stuck in low levels of engagement. Encourage activists to contribute in ways that stretch their capacity and force them to gain skills. 

Understand that while high levels of engagement can be joyful, eventually, they can lead to burnout. Encourage breaks, vacations, maintaining relationships outside the movement, and self-care. Sometimes, norms of poor self-care can exist in a community without anyone meaning to create them. Correct them when you notice their cues. 

One example of this used by a participant was when an organizer would talk about the urgency of the problem of animal agriculture as a way to motivate others. Another example of this may be an organizer regularly talking about how little sleep they get as a way to explain away poor performance. While it can be appropriate to receive emotional support from co-organizers on either of these topics, beware of making light of poor self care or citing urgency as a way to demand more or better work. These can create a culture of overworking that will lead to burnout- and burnout means less work gets done over time, not more. Instead, leaders should be role models of a healthy balance between the movement and other parts of their lives.

When describing the most inspiring moments in participants’ careers, a wide range of stories came up, generally describing some kind of success or show of movement power. 

Interestingly, sometimes, one person’s most inspiring moment is another’s least. On several occasions, a most inspiring moment for one participant was described by another as a low point or as an example of leadership’s misstep, such as a particularly controversial DxE disruption. 

In another few instances, a participant who was asked about a high or low point of their activism used one story to relay both a high and low point. These point to the power of framing outcomes as victorious and focusing on the positive impacts of actions, even when they didn’t go according to plan. 

While this advice on framing outcomes as victories has been written about before, I always thought of this as something I did for other activists. I thought that I was supposed to manage my feelings of defeat privately, and then report back to others that we were winning and this was why. What I heard participants do, when they ended their story about a low point in a high point, was turn the power of that victory framing on themselves. 

An example of this was Cordelia Stone, when asked about a low point in organizing, described an AV Cube event that, despite her best attempts at promotion, drew out no volunteers besides her partner. She went ahead with the two person event and described a successful event with numerous meaningful conversations. 

Another example was Amber Canavan, citing a Veg Fest she organized with low turnout, which then inspired someone to organize a more successful event in the same city. 

Surely, organizers are also activists, and caring for our own motivation is a smart way to care for others. I want to be clear that these victory framings were not delusional- organizers were articulate in where their political losses lay and what they would like to have done differently. The surprising cognitive tactic was in how fully they celebrated the victories within the defeats. 

Rather than the extreme humility described earlier, some new activists instead present with insufferable puppy energy. They have a million ideas and many of them are pretty bad. They might seem a little too interested in the more glamorous roles. They’re blowing up the group chat and generally coming on way too strong. 

Activists in this stage need, most of all, patience. Resist the urge to take it personally or suggest that they might be infiltrators. You might notice thoughts like, “They’re really overstepping”, “This person doesn’t seem to respect me”, “Why wasn’t I consulted first?” and “They’re trying to take over.” While frustration is understandable, do your best to assume good intentions. 

Celebrate their desire to contribute, and hold that celebration while you give them feedback if their behavior is making it hard to work with them, help to develop their ideas if they aren’t in line with your organizational values, and encourage them to learn more about Nonviolence and your theory of change. As discussed in more depth later on, organizations must have a conflict resolution policy. Intervene early and often to resolve tensions involving enthusiastic new activists.  Imagine the patience you’d like to extend to a new puppy who needs to learn both that humans are safe and shoes aren’t for chewing.

Savvy organizers should be looking for ways to build movement capacity for its own sake and moving activists up a ladder of engagement. There is no reason to wait until you feel a pressing need to ask for help; remember that your invitation to do more work may be a crucial moment in someone’s relationship with the movement.