Distributed Organizing
The Play
In many contexts, different groups—NGOs, grassroots movements, student unions, local influencers—want to run their own GOTV campaigns. Distributed Organizing offers a way to bring them together, not by enforcing full alignment, but by creating a shared minimum that allows everyone to contribute on their own terms.
This approach makes mobilization scalable. Instead of building a single, centralized campaign, it provides a common pool of tools—messaging guides, visual assets, calls to action—that others can use, adapt, remix, and expand. What links the efforts isn't uniformity, but a shared purpose: driving voter turnout.
Each group speaks in its own voice, using the language, tactics, and tone that best suit its audience. But all draw from the same public goods, ensuring coherence without conformity. The goal is to empower a wide range of actors to act autonomously, but in sync.
To make this work, a central hub is essential. Not to control—but to enable. Its role is to produce and distribute high-quality resources, support timing and alignment, and hold the center while letting the network lead.
Why it works
- Unleashes collective power. By enabling many groups to act in their own ways, it expands reach and creativity far beyond what a single campaign could achieve alone.
- Builds ownership and authenticity. Letting people adapt tools to their own voice makes participation more personal and effective.
- Scales fast. Distributed organizing removes the need for top-down control, allowing the campaign to grow quickly through decentralized initiative.
- Increases resilience and adaptability. When multiple actors lead, the campaign can flex, recover, and respond faster to changing contexts or attacks.
How it works
1. Form a central hub and define mobilization targets
Start by assembling a small, focused coordination team with expertise in data analysis, communications, and organizing. This team will serve as the central hub, responsible for identifying priority voter targets and determining the best ways to reach them.
Since each mobilization target requires its own language and approach, the hub's mission is to support diverse, independent efforts by providing high-quality, tailored tools. Throughout the campaign, this hub will distribute the campaign's "public goods": ready-to-use resources such as messaging guides, strategy briefs, visual assets, and calls to action.
2. Spread resources within a network
Map key networks and communities to identify who should receive your public goods first. These resources are open to anyone—but effective distribution begins with strategic outreach.
Start with your strongest allies: trusted organizers, community leaders, and partner groups already connected to your target voters. Share tools directly, build momentum, and encourage them to adapt the content to their local context. From there, let the materials spread organically. The more people remix and circulate them, the stronger the collective impact.
3. Support key actors in the network
While anyone can use the materials—they are public goods— some groups have a greater ability to spread them and mobilize others, because of their reach, trust, or organizing experience. Identify these key actors early and give them extra support.
That support can be simple: personalized guidance, check-ins, or help adapting the materials to their needs. By investing in the right nodes of the network, you multiply the campaign's reach and impact.
4. Align around key moments
Distributed Organizing thrives when people act both together and on their own terms. Different groups should feel free to lead their own initiatives. Still, while each group operates independently, the central hub should work to align messaging and action around critical moments—like early voting periods or major debates. This isn't about control, but about rhythm: timing the release of public goods so they resonate across different groups, creating greater impact. A simple content calendar can guide this coordination and ensure coherence without sacrificing flexibility.
5. Facilitate Ongoing Dialogue
Distributed organizing only works when people stay connected. Set up simple, consistent channels—like WhatsApp groups, regular Zoom calls, or shared folders—so campaigners can share experiences, refine tactics, and stay aligned. Create spaces for visibility, mutual learning, and support. A living network sustains energy, builds trust, and allows the campaign to adapt in real time.
6. Celebrate wins
In a distributed campaign, people might never meet—or even get along. But recognizing successes can boost morale across the network. Celebrate anything that pushes the shared GOTV purpose forward: a community post that got attention, a volunteer who convinced three friends to vote, a local action that sparked discussion. Every small win reinforces motivation and reminds people that their effort matters to drive broader participation.
Tips
A. Hold the Center, Enable the Network
A strong central hub doesn't impose, it enables. Its job is to make distributed action possible: connecting parallel campaigns and creating messaging toolkits, templates, and timely calls to action that others can use, adapt, and expand.
In a decentralized model, overlap and messiness are part of the deal. The goal of the central hub isn't to eliminate them, but to orchestrate them. That requires a low-ego, high-trust mindset—trusting that different actors can lead in their own contexts.
If this hub holds the center, it ensures the campaign is scalable, adaptable, and resilient—not by controlling what happens, but by making it easier for others to act.
B. Timing is Everything
In distributed campaigns, well-timed action beats perfect plans. Even the best-designed efforts can fall flat if launched at the wrong moment. That's why the central hub must keep an eye on the context, spot key opportunities, and issue clear calls to action when they matter most.
Timing isn't just about speed; it's about being strategic, synchronized, and relevant. Success depends on activating and amplifying the right messages at the right time, while still allowing space for local adaptations.
Who's done it well?
France: French Civil Society Campaigners
Record Turnout Through Decentralized Action
Minutes after a resounding defeat by the far right, France's President Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and called for snap elections in three weeks. In response, civil society organizers swiftly created a WhatsApp community that brought together over 130 campaigners from various organizations and grassroots groups across France. Their key strategy (and only hope) was decentralization.
So, after aligning on primary goals, each organization and platform was set free to act independently. Still, they kept constant communication to share ideas and coordinate specific actions within the group. This WhatsApp community became a driving force behind civil society-led campaigns, working in parallel —and sometimes coordinating with— political parties.
Moreover, the campaigners produced a messaging guide to help more people communicate effectively. This guide outlined core messages specific to each audience and offered content ideas that anyone could produce and share online. Decentralization fueled a wave of creativity: activists, influencers, and everyday citizens adapted these resources to create unique, authentic content in their own voices, resonating deeply with their audiences.
These collective efforts led to historic mobilization, and voter turnout soared to a record high of 66%, helping to push the far right into a third-place finish.
"Ironically, not having time for sophisticated planning or ironing out differences became our strength. It allowed us to laser-focus on what we already agreed on. All energy was directed at our shared goals, not wasted on debates over the small stuff. Urgency became a driver of mobilization, an instinct that quickly aligned organizers across the board."
USA: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
A Decentralized Model to Win the Bronx Primary
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (AOC) 2018 Democratic primary campaign adopted a decentralized model, using simple digital infrastructure to support distributed action across the district.
The campaign empowered local leaders to organize activities, coordinated through a central hub. This approach broadened participation and allowed messages to adapt to local needs, building genuine community connections that reflected life in the Bronx.
To map these decentralized efforts, they developed a mobile app called Reach, enabling volunteers to mobilize in busy places like bars, churches, and subway stations, and collect voter contact information. After 14 months, volunteers had gathered data on 12% of registered voters.
By synchronizing offline efforts with online engagement, the campaign built momentum from the ground up. AOC's unexpected victory over a veteran Democrat showed how clear principles, local empowerment, and online-offline coordination can deliver success..
"Decentralization was key. Transparent, open communication wasn't just for 'giving orders'—it was for sharing progress, celebrating wins, and gathering feedback. This kept the team motivated and the message strong, making every person feel heard, valued, and connected to the bigger picture."
Learn more
D-Hub Resources
- D-Hub. 2024. "Defusing the far-right bomb." The Fight For Democracy Chronicles, Volume 8.
Other Resources
- Durieux, Sarah. 2024. "From Struggle to Victory: The Role of Civil Society in the Last French Election."
- Geekwire. 2019. "The app that helped AOC get elected is spreading to progressive campaigns across the country." Commons Library
- Reach App. https://www.reach.vote/. Web page
- Politico. 2019. "How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Broke All the Rules of New York Politics."
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