Organizing Toolkit

What’s in the toolkit?

• Reuse Principles Statement
  • There are countless ways to go about changemaking, so it is helpful to get on the same page about how we want to do our work. These reuse principles lay out some key definitions and understandings to share across the reuse movement. Groups should unify around a set of shared principles like these at the start of their work together.
• Identify Reuse Problems and Solutions in Your Community
  • This worksheet is a powerful starting point that pushes changemakers to create a foundation of knowledge to organize from. It should be used to identify the core impacts and key decision-makers of the plastic and single-use crises in a local community. This worksheet also prompts research into reuse solutions already underway in a local community, or common areas of opportunity for reuse solutions.
• How are People Organized and How to Reorganize Them
  • In order to make the change we need to win a reusable future, we have to gather all sorts of interested people and put them into formation. This worksheet will help do exactly that. First it details some basic definitions and understandings of how people are currently organized out in the world, and then it gives definitions and understandings of the types of groups that people can join. Use this worksheet in tandem with the Governance Guidance worksheet if you want to decide on which group or coalition you might want to form.
• Sample Power Map
  • Part of the problem in the single-use crisis and make-take-waste economy is who has power, and who doesn’t. Fighting for reuse will require challenging or convincing decision-makers and a variety of stakeholders that knowingly or unknowingly hold up a disposable status quo. This power map can help changemakers visualize and plot power & the key stakeholders to target in their work.
• Steps to Launch Your Group or Coalition
  • The heart of organizing is getting people together! It can be a daunting task to start something new at the best of times, and it becomes even more nerve-wracking when stopping the single-use crisis enters the mix. This list helps break down the process of launching and supporting your group. This list can help changemakers just getting started, or can help existing leaders in the reuse movement think through what the next step or next cycle in their group looks like.
• Local Action Plan
  • A local action plan is the road map that reuse changemakers can use to guide their work. This contains many elements from big to small that enable powerful work across teams on a timeline.
    • Serve Up Reuse Local Action Plan: The Serve up Reuse campaign is currently the central campaign at the Story of Stuff Project, and this document lays out how to win it by defining the goals and strategies of the campaign. 
    • Other Examples: This document also provides many examples of the mission, goals, and strategies that might exist in a group or coalition. Look through and pick the ones that work best for your work. 
    • Strategy setting/first meetings agendas (coming soon):  Facilitating meetings is a skill that every leader needs, and one of the keys to a successful meeting is having a strong agenda. Here are agendas for the first couple meetings of your coalition or group where you’ll be discussing your mission, principles, goals, strategies, and more.
• Ladder of Engagement
  • The Ladder of Engagement is a visual tool to help changemakers understand how people flow in organizing. The goal is to capture momentum as people get them involved and create clear pathways for where to go!
• Recruitment Planning
  • Recruitment is how you will find the people and organizations that you’ll need to accomplish the Local Action plan you’ve laid out for your work. Some new recruits will come from people already interested in reuse, and some will need to come from new communities, but we know that reuse has something for everyone. With focused outreach and intentional follow-up, changemakers can use less energy to engage more people.
    • Sample Recruitment Plan: Included in this document is a simple recruitment plan for how to set a recruitment goal and then work to achieve that goal!
• Involvement Planning
  • Once new people have joined your group or coalition it takes careful planning to keep them involved. Involvement starts with a strong trainings & welcome system, & follows that up by giving people clear places within a structure with appropriate responsibilities.
    • Sample Serve Up Reuse Involvement Plan: This is where the Local Action Plan gets broken down and assigned to changemakers. This specific involvement plan shows how to assign tasks for the Serve Up Reuse Campaign.
• Trainings and Presentations
  • Get examples of trainings and presentations used to onboard or upgrade reuse changemakers. This section includes slides & recordings of our Changemaker Bootcamp and has versions that you can copy and edit for your own work.
• Leadership Diagnostic Tool
  • Strong leaders think long and hard about the work they do! Use this tool to evaluate how your group or coalition is currently engaging in the reuse movement, and to brainstorm changes you can make. This tool can be used by facilitators to guide future planning, or can be shared across a whole coalition for collective feedback.