Movement Metrics Research

How to use this site

This website is an accompanying resource to a report about measuring the impact of social movements, researched and written by members of the Ayni Institute.

The main areas of focus on this site include:

• The Momentum framework of movement organizing - a model that seeks to guide movements with the flexibility to seize big opportunities and the sustainability to transform moments of high energy into long-term power.
• How movements shift culture/public opinion on issues, why the impact of movements on public opinion is important to winning long-term demands, and how that has been undervalued by onlookers, organizers, and movement funders alike.
• Existing evidence that contemporary movements are shifting our societal attitudes – and consequently, changing the political terrain of what is possible to win.
• Reflections on our efforts to gather this data, and tools for others to go further.

This site is a start at providing an overview of what is out there when it comes to assessing the impacts of Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, certain parts of the US immigrant rights movement, and the movement for same-sex marriage in the US on public opinion and attitudes. As far as we know, no other such overview resource exists.

You are encouraged to read through it like a book or to skip to the section that catches your interest. Each page is designed to stand-alone and to cross-reference other relevant pages.

Additional resources on Momentum:

Coming soon: Research report on movement metrics for philanthrophists.

Book: This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt is Shaping the 21st Century by Mark Engler and Paul Engler, co-founder of the Momentum Training. "Nonviolence is usually seen simply as a philosophy or moral code. This Is an Uprising shows how it can instead be deployed as a method of political conflict, disruption, and escalation. It argues that if we are always taken by surprise by dramatic outbreaks of revolt, we pass up the chance to understand a critical phenomenon—and to harness its power to create lasting change."

Handbook online and in print: The Resistance Guide, by Paul Engler and Sophie Lasoff. "A powerful social movement has risen in this country to oppose Trump and to build a better America. This guide is designed to give you the essential tools and strategies to grow and maintain a resistance powerful enough to win."