Democratizing advocacy?: How digital tools shape international non-governmental activism

ABSTRACT

Legacy advocacy organizations face growing competition from digitally native organizations. Interviews with leaders and staff of both types of organizations reveal that legacy NGOs with professionalized and staff-led advocacy strategies are less comfortable than digital natives to cede substantial control over campaigns to their supporters. At the same time, legacy NGOs and digital natives acknowledge similar challenges with regard to enhancing the civic agency of their supporters. Digital natives are more open to online feedback and supporter-led actions, while both types of organizations report similar challenges in utilizing digital tools for sustained and long-term organizing.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-governmental organizations
• advocacy
• social media
• digital activism
• online participation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors of the special issue, Nina Hall and James Dennis, for their suggestions and comments. We also thank the interviewees, who have dedicated their time and intellectual resources to enhancing the quality of this study.

Notes

1. This survey covered 5,352 NGOs mainly based on English-speaking countries. It provides a limited snapshot of the evolving digital behavior of NGOs, mainly based in Canada, Europe, or the United States.

2. For details see: https://citizenevidence.org/about/and https://decoders.amnesty.org/.

3. The Indivisible Project offers a broad range of tool kits for grassroots advocacy, media engagement, or lobbying Members of Congress (see: https://indivisible.org/guide).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School/Syracuse University.

Notes on contributors

Hans Peter Schmitz

Hans Peter Schmitz teaches at the University of San Diego and is the cofounder of the Transnational NGO Initiative. His current research interests include international nongovernmental organizations, human rights, digital activism, and global philanthropy.

J. Michael Dedmon

J. Michael Dedmon is a doctoral candidate in political science at Syracuse University. His dissertation research focuses on the politics of financial crises. His other research interests include European and EU politics, transnational advocacy, and digital activism.

Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken

Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken is Principal Consultant at Five Oaks Consulting. From 2003 to 2019, she was the Director of the Transnational NGO Initiative at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs/Syracuse University.

Jaclyn Mahoney

Jaclyn Mahoney is a data developer at Sports Reference, where she supports storytelling about women’s professional sports through data availability. From 2013 to 2019, Jaclyn was engaged in doctoral research concerning nonprofit reputation at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.