Movement Strategy Center / MSC has been a powerhouse in supporting movements across the nation. The core insights and challenges that gave rise to MSC centered on the belief that incremental change was not enough for communities of color. In order for the deep transformation of our communities to occur, change needed to happen inside out and bottom-up.

Start the Journey

The Beginning

Founded in Oakland in 2001, MSC launched as a movement building intermediary and technical assistance provider, as well as a research and resource hub for advancing intergenerational social justice organizing efforts.

The political and economic crises in our society are, at their roots, a crisis of spirit and culture, and that transformation wil only come from starting at these roots.

Our Impact

Young Organizers

Partnered with, designed, and invested in an ecosystem of young organizers through different projects and entities, including the Generational Alliance, Young People For, League of Young Voters, United States Student Association, and others.

Alliances & Entities

Supported the launch of several critical alliances and entities across multiple sectors and geography including the Alliance for Educational Justice, Strong Families Initiative, Movement Generation, Climate Justice Alliance, Move to End Violence Initiative, HEAL Food Alliance, YO! Cali, and Youth Vote, which eventually merged with Mobilize the Immigrant Vote to become Power California.

Thought Leadership

Produced dozens of papers that have provided critical thought leadership on topics such as Transformative Movement Building, the role of spirituality in movements, youth organizing, community-driven planning processes, and a host of other critical topics.

Veteran Organizers

Provided a movement home to former Executive Directors and veteran organizers to take a breath, integrate deep personal practice, and bring forth new ideas, including Lisa Russ (Strong Families Initiatives), Anasa Troutman (Culture Shift), Billy Wimsatt (Gamechanger Labs), and Navina Khanna (HEAL Food Alliance), among others.

Philanthropic Partnership

Grounded in racial justice and equity, our work in philanthropic services has involved co-design and fiscal management of grantmaking initiatives strategically investing in and fostering cross-learning across under-resourced frontline organizations. As examples, the Next Generation Fund and Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative reflect experiences and power building from the field to advance racial equity and transformation.

Incubation

Provided space and support for experimentation -- including through labs, resourcing, and infrastructure -- to bold visionaries and projects grounded in racial equity and social and environmental justice, enabling leaders and organizations to spark, accelerate, and sustain new pathways and practices at the forefront of movement innovation.

Innovation Center

Accelerating people-powered solutions

During the last five years, MSC’s fiscal sponsorship program has grown exponentially, meeting increasing needs from the field for critical infrastructure.

We enable ideas, projects, movements to be successful through transformative operations, finance, and infrastructure that help build people power.

Transitions Initiative

Transformative
movement building

Over the last five years, through in-house staffing and fellowships, we incubated and advanced a networked community in shared inquiry around transformative movement building practices. Along the way, we co-created a network of practitioners comprised of over 150 multigenerational grassroots movement builders from over 50 organizations, alliances, and networks to pursue emergent thought, build new relationships, and workshop innovative tools and hypotheses.

100-year vision

 How do we transition from a world organized around domination and extraction to one organized around resilience, regeneration and interdependence?

Just Transition for People, Place, and Planet

Community-Driven
Design and Applied Practice

Through in-house staffing and fellowships, we incubated and advanced ecosystem capacity building and readiness for climate equity, resilience, and community-driven planning. Alliances, entities, and networks include Climate Justice Alliance, National Association of Climate Resilience Planners, and more.

The Evolution

In order to harness our core contributions as a movement incubator, MSC is streamlining our focus and role in continueing to nurture an ecosystem- and network-driven approach to movement building. We are transforming into Movement Strategy Fund to resource the maturing and leader-full ecosystem we have co-created over the last two decades, while strengthening the social and environmental justice infrastructure movements need.

Curious about
Movement Strategy Fund?

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