No, this program is designed for teams, not for individuals. If you are by yourself and have a campaign idea that you are excited about, you can recruit other committed leaders to be part of your team and apply together.

• Once applications are open, you may apply by providing information about your campaign and your leadership team.
• Our team will review all applications and shortlist the strongest teams.
• We will then hold initial meetings with all the shortlisted teams to assess their campaigns and organizing challenges, align on program expectations, and secure commitment to full participation in training, coaching sessions, and campaign assignments.
• Admitted teams will be assigned a Leading Change coach, who will meet with team leaders to launch the leadership. Throughout the program, the coach supports the team in developing and executing the campaign strategy.

Effective campaigns require focus—that means a clear constituency that is (or needs to be) organized, a well-defined problem, and a strategic change that addresses that problem. So, campaigns should have some clarity around their people (the constituency most impacted by the issue), problem (the specific need to be resolved, not a general topic), and the change they seek (the concrete outcome they want to achieve in response to the problem).

• First and foremost, participating teams must be committed to building the power of their people. In other words, it’s a commitment to organize and not just to mobilize people to action or advocate on their behalf. Organizing includes taking action on the ground (not just digitally), regularly building relationships to recruit and grow supporters and leaders to join the campaign, reflecting on actions taken to learn, adapt, and re-strategize, and maintaining shared accountability to teammates, coaches, and most importantly, the constituency you are organizing.

• Secondly, participating teams must commit to participating in all the program sessions. See the next question for details.

• Thirdly, once accepted into the cohort and before the program kick-off, participating teams must become Leading Change members.

• Once accepted into the program, teams are expected to meet with their assigned coach at least once before the kick-off.

• We kick off the program over a full day in the first weekend of June, where all the teams gather to get to know each other and be introduced to the basics of the People, Power, Change framework. During the kick-off, teams will participate in plenary teaching and hands-on exercises in breakout rooms with their coaches.

• After the kick-off, each team will meet separately with their assigned coach every 2 - 3 weeks to strengthen the team formation, devise a solid campaign strategy, and begin executing their campaign on the ground and troubleshooting it in real-time.

• Participants are highly encouraged to attend LCN events, including the member-only Skill Practice Sessions, which offer participants an opportunity to hone their organizing skills and apply the People, Power, Change leadership practices in a safe and supportive environment.

• Participants are expected to attend another two all-cohort gatherings, one midway evaluation in October, and one celebration to close the program in December.

• Participants are also expected to complete two evaluation surveys throughout the program.

Campaign Labs is made possible by the generous support of our Network coaches and trainers, who volunteer their time and energy to support the teams accepted into the program. Every team must become a Leading Change member before the start of the program. We understand that not all teams are well-resourced, so we offer a flexible sliding scale for membership. We expect teams to pay whatever fee they can at a suggested sliding scale of $20-200.