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activism
Nonprofits and Advocates Can’t Rely on Social Media Giants. Here’s How They Can Adjust.
Given all the upheaval in today’s landscape, organizations must ensure they can reach their audiences in a multitude of ways, without relying on a single platform.
May 04, 2025
Nonprofits and advocacy groups are in the midst of a mounting crisis: Social media giants are growing more chaotic, untrustworthy, and dangerous.
Just consider what’s happened in the past few weeks. Without warning, explanation, or human review, Meta suspended the Instagram account of Presbyterian Outlook—a progressive, well-established news outlet for the Presbyterian Church. The outlet noted that it had thoughtfully invested in the platform to expand its reach, but would not return given the possibility of another abrupt cancellation.
Then, weeks later, X—which has been plagued by reports of increasing misinformation and amplifying far-right accounts—was hit with cybersecurity attacks that downed the platform.
Just as social media platforms revolutionized our world decades ago—we are in the midst of another pivotal technology movement.
And Meta recently announced that it would draw from X’s technology to employ “Community Notes” on its platforms—which are purportedly meant to fill in the gaps left after the company fired its fact-checking team. Experts have warned that such a system could easily be exploited by groups motivated by their own interests.
These events are just the latest in a growing pile of evidence that organizations and advocates can’t count on social media giants like they once did. They’re fueling misinformation, inflammatory perspectives, and partisan divisions—all in the name of profits.
To continue to be effective in our increasingly digital world, organizations will need to adjust to this new landscape.
Unquestionably, charting the path forward is challenging. Many organizations and advocates have spent years investing in and building profiles on established media platforms. These groups depend on this technology to share their messaging, organize, provide educational tools, fundraise, and more. It’s difficult to shift all these resources.
Other organizations have yet to build up a robust digital presence, but don’t know where to begin, especially in today’s chaotic climate.
Wherever nonprofits and advocates fall on this spectrum, they can and should invest in technology. Here’s how they can be most effective.
First, organizations must recognize that—just as social media platforms revolutionized our world decades ago—we are in the midst of another pivotal technology movement. Given all the upheaval in today’s landscape, organizations must ensure they can reach their audiences in a multitude of ways, without relying on a single platform.
As such, they should build out opportunities for subscription-based data creation. That means reinvesting in collecting more traditional contact methods—like emails and phone numbers. It also means investing in technologies that allow them to share their messages without censorship from outside sources. Blogs and newsletter platforms can be powerful tools to communicate with audiences and provide rich discourse free from external interference.
Protected digital communities—which are only open to certain groups or are invitation-based—can also help strengthen connections between an organization’s supporters. We’re starting to employ this strategy at the Technology, Innovation, and Digital Engagement Lab (TIDEL), which is housed at Union Theological Seminary. Right now, we’re working with a cohort of faith and social justice leaders to deploy new technology to advance their missions.
We’ve recommended a platform called Mighty Networks, which uses AI to help creators build and manage online communities. Two of our fellows are using this service to support Black clergywomen through education and practical application, focusing on mental health awareness and balance. Another pair of fellows is aiming to use the platform to deliver digitally-based educational programming and sustain a community of care professionals committed to improving access to spiritually integrated, trauma-informed care.
Make no mistake: Nonprofits and advocacy organizations need a digital presence to be effective. But they’ll have to adjust to shield themselves from the chaos and malice of social media giants.
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Social Justice and Eclipse: Predicting and Preparing For Change
It is best to approach social justice the same way the world prepares for an eclipse—with foresight, community, and coordination.
Apr 23, 2025
Millions of people across the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico recently witnessed a total solar eclipse—a rare and breathtaking alignment of the Earth, moon, and sun. Scientists had predicted its precise timing and path years in advance, with detailed maps showing where the event would be most visible.
Across the U.S., communities prepared—gathering in fields, schools, and rooftops with protective glasses and cameras in hand. They trusted science. They trusted preparation. They showed up.
In the same week one year later, over 600,000 people across all 50 states signed up to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump and his ongoing threat to democracy for the Hands Off Protests in 1,300 locations. These protests were not spontaneous—they were planned, anticipated, and powerfully aligned. Total estimates for the day’s peaceful protests are 3 million people.
It is not always possible to predict the exact moment of breakthrough, but one can prepare for the shift through mutual aid, political education, youth leadership, and conflict transformation training.
If it is possible to chart the movement of celestial bodies with such precision, then it is also possible to chart the social conditions that produce change. Responses to the conditions that cause criminality, injustice, or violence can also be charted and faced.
A crime can unfold in seconds, but its consequences—especially in marginalized communities—can last a lifetime. The root conditions that set the stage—poverty, childhood trauma, environmental injustice, disinvestment in education, and systemic racism—are all in place and can be addressed.
Knowing the precursors of injustice, it is prudent not to sit still and wait for tragedy before taking action. It is best to approach social justice the same way the world prepares for an eclipse—with foresight, community, and coordination.
Research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirms that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—like neglect, abuse, or household dysfunction—can have long-term impacts on health, behavior, and justice involvement. Communities with higher poverty rates have higher crime rates, not because of moral failure, but due to decades of disinvestment and inequality.
As someone who has spent decades working for criminal and social justice reform in communities and far beyond, I see that systems and practices can indeed seed meaningful social change.
The Theory of Change is a framework that maps how and why desired change is expected to happen in a particular context. It’s not magic. It’s modeling. And when used correctly, it helps communities anticipate outcomes and align resources toward justice.
Like eclipse chasers who travel to be in the “path of totality,” social justice organizers prepare to be where the change is coming. They build coalitions, train communities, and develop infrastructure so that when the time is right, they do not to miss the moment to act.
At this time in history when daily political efforts are aimed at reversing timeworn, proven paths to social justice, such as defunding financial assistance to federal programs, universities, associations, and individuals based on principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is urgent to prepare and put into place ways to counter the effects.
This preparation involves policymakers, funders, nonprofits, communities, advocates, individuals, families, institutions, and faith-based organizations to work toward the goal of social change of equity, fairness, access, and justice.
You cannot stare directly at an eclipse without special tools. Similarly, you often can’t see the slow build of a movement until it’s in full swing. Yet humans can sense change—like animals do before an eclipse, like trees that darken and cool in response to a shadow overhead.
Similarly, social change is intangible yet deeply felt. It is not always possible to predict the exact moment of breakthrough, but one can prepare for the shift through mutual aid, political education, youth leadership, and conflict transformation training.
Preparation now is crucial. Facing funding cuts nationally to vital services, rollbacks of civil rights protections, and an increasing normalization of political violence, it is urgent to create needed structures that assess possibilities in order to anticipate and respond proactively.
Throughout history, research shows that Black women have sensed these shifts and led people and communities through them—not just during well-known moments—but in everyday resistance throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
For example, Rosa Parks didn’t just refuse to give up her seat one time; she was a seasoned organizer and a supporter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or the SNCC Legacy Project. Shirley Chisholm wasn’t just the first Black woman to run for president—she helped reframe what political leadership looks like.
Barbara Jordan called out President Richard Nixon with such clarity it redefined accountability in American politics. Tennis icon Serena Williams crip-walked across a tennis court and reclaimed joy on a global stage. First Lady Michelle Obama wore sleeveless dresses and shattered expectations of what dignity and leadership looked like in a Black woman’s body.
A 2021 Texas A&M University study reports, “Black women, through their inclusive, community-based activist endeavors, continue to carve out fugitive spaces and counterpublics where counternarratives are actively generated to fight for a more equitable and inclusive democracy that serves all.”
As a Black woman, I see that Black women are the eclipse, the unexpected alignment. They have known through history how to bring light through the dark.
Social change can happen in quiet corners—in small towns, church basements, classrooms, or in the act of mentoring one young person. It doesn’t have to be a massive protest or a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. It can be both.
But when those moments do arrive—like the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the LGBTQ+ rights movement—they are rarely surprises. They are the result of decades of work, layered with setbacks and strategy.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But that arc doesn’t bend on its own. It requires intention and action.
It is time not just to watch the changes happening, but to prepare and to make change, witnessing the outcomes together.
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How to Turn the Anti-Trump Resistance Into a Movement
All these protests, marches, emails, petitions, and social media posts will naturally be somewhat anarchic and disarrayed, but if they don’t build toward power, we won’t have much impact.
Apr 17, 2025
The protests are getting bigger and louder. On April 5, about 3 million people joined 1,400 protests and marches across the U.S., unleashing outrage at this country’s most fascistic, bigoted, and destructive president in memory. Resistance to President Donald Trump and billionaire henchman Elon Musk is all over the place—protests in the streets; mass phone calls, emails, and petitions; social media and news flooded with outrage and growing desperation over Trump’s assault on democracy and government.
In Washington, D.C., state capitals, and city halls, resistance is rising, and an array of nascent movements are budding. A nationwide group calling itself 50501 (50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement) has helped mobilize protests at city halls, state capitals, and in Washington, D.C. Local Indivisible groups, the Federal Unionists Network for federal workers, and immigrant rights organizations nationwide have stepped up actions. One small federal agency even blocked Elon Musk’s teenaged “DOGE” coders from entering the building. Resistance is rising.
While most Democrats seem either dormant or lost, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have mobilized massive crowds in their barnstorming “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, drawing more than 34,000 in Denver, Colorado. The urgency of combating Trump fascism and creating an alternative is palpable and inspiring.
Even as we mobilize in the streets and in halls of power, and fight like hell to stamp out fascist fires, we must begin to build toward something.
Now it’s time to ask—where are these actions going, and how can they build power that can help change conditions now and in the future? What are the strategies beyond displaying our rage and disgust with an administration wreaking havoc and harming countless lives? What do we do and where do we all go after the big protests? As resistance rises, where does all this energy, momentum, passion, and potential power go? When will these movements coalesce, at least strategically when and where they can, to amass far greater numbers and impact?
With most Democrats mired in a reactive mode, looking grimly meager, wavering, and inconsistent in their response, grassroots movements and other resistance efforts are largely on their own, which could ultimately be a good thing. Yes, some Democrats are speaking out and pushing back, but so far with little concrete effect.
Don’t count on the Democrats to lead the resistance. Some, like Sens. Sanders, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas), and others will be allies, but what rises up and builds must be US—all of us. Remember Bernie’s clarion, JFK-like call, “Not Me, Us?” In the face of fast-boiling Trump fascism, everyone who cares about democracy, human and civil rights, and our ecological and existential future, must become some kind of activist, in whatever way we can. Trump’s vicious and vile onslaught is not just a test for the Democrats, it is a test for all of us.
While the initial uprisings provide a torchlight of hope in this dark oceanic tempest, and a growing community of shared outrage and compassion, there must be a move toward greater unity, coalition-building, and strategic thinking that builds concrete impact and power. All these protests, marches, emails, petitions, and social media posts will naturally be somewhat anarchic and disarrayed, but if they don’t build toward power, we won’t have much impact.
Other than blocking or hampering some of Trump’s political and legislative thuggery through the courts, what is the vision? What is the plan?
As I write this, I hear millions of liberals in my ear, insisting the plan is to win back the House, maybe even the Senate, in 2026. I’ll heartily support those efforts. But while winning the midterms will be a steep climb and a ray of hope, there is a real danger—and a dreary loss of power and imagination—in channeling the resistance into the next election cycle. This moment and the emerging movements are far bigger than that.
If the emergent movements can find ways to solidify, coalesce, and build power, they should do it outside of the Democratic Party, even while allying with it. Why? Because the Democratic establishment, while vastly better than Trump and MAGA Republicans for humans and the planet, are profoundly compromised and show no signs of transcending their decades-long immersion in corporate neoliberalism.
Since Bill Clinton captured the party and the presidency in 1992, the Democrats’ enmeshment with neoliberalism and corporate power has been disastrous—giving rise to much of the working-class alienation and rage (no longer just white rage) that helped propel Trump. Think NAFTA and other Democratic neoliberal policies that deepened corporate power and inequality, aiding Trump wins in 2016 and 2024. For anyone wanting a more progressive, egalitarian, and sustainable future, there is a real danger that the Democrats will lean right in 2026 to capture disaffected Trump voters and continue their moribund trajectory away from economic populism.
If the resistance amounts to restoring moderate corporate Democrats in power, while that is undeniably better than Trumpian fascism, it will only bring more neoliberalism with its lesser-evil abandonment of poor and working people and its erosion of social safety nets, economic equity, and populism.
All of this is fraught with tensions. Many moderates and liberals who are outraged by Trump would likely support a “Blue No Matter Who” return to the safe, familiar harbors of Democratic centrism—even though that corporate-abiding agenda failed disastrously under the electoral banner of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s worth remembering that while Biden-Harris did some good domestic things on infrastructure and climate-repairing jobs, and preserved the Constitution, government services, and DEI, they also, hideously, enabled Israel’s genocidal annihilation of Gaza. Although Trump is incalculably more injurious and destructive, our resistance to his fascism and bigotry must not hold space for the Democrats’ support of genocide.
As we rage about Trump’s gutting of federal agencies and workers, the answer isn’t the centrist Clintonian “reinventing government” model that was, in some ways, a precursor to Musk’s grotesquely worse “DOGE.” If we are sickened by Trump’s racist dog-whistling attacks on brown immigrants from south of the border, the response shouldn’t be more Democratic enabling of the false notion that immigration is a problem or a “crisis.” If we are protesting MAGA Republican attacks on LGBTQ people and “DEI”—diversity, equity, and inclusion—then we must support these communities and principles while building a broadly unifying movement.
We are in a critical if confusing and uncertain moment. The resistance movements are just being born, the Democrats are in the wilderness, and we are years and many miles away from a clear political turnaround. We are in a fragile triage moment where democracy itself, and the future of the nation as we know it, is very much in question. There is no quick fix or easy answer.
We must do everything in our power to defy and resist the Trump-Musk-MAGA plunge into fascism. We must block terrible things wherever and however we can, in the name of saving lives and diminishing harm. We will win some battles and lose others. Even as we mobilize in the streets and in halls of power, and fight like hell to stamp out fascist fires, we must begin to build toward something. What emerges will find its own path and won’t be one linear thing. But if we want to save, protect, and support the people and places and ideas being thrashed and eviscerated by Trump, we must come together, coalesce, and strategize how to build a future that is more humane and democratic, and we must start doing that now.
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