For 25 years, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has helped build the power of Black, Brown, and poor people to break the cycles of incarceration and poverty, and to make communities safe, healthy, and strong. Based in Oakland, California, the organization has secured major wins including the closure of all five California youth prisons and passage of the Racial Justice Act. Named after civil rights activist Ella Josephine Baker, who believed in the power of people to create mass change, the Center works to shift resources away from prisons and punishment toward schools, housing, employment, and healthcare for communities hit hardest by mass incarceration.
With support from Progressive Multiplier, the Ella Baker Center launched a Mini Academy for Leaderful Action to expand their resource organizing work and build sustainable revenue streams. The project centered on a condensed, one-day training designed to educate participants about the organization's work while empowering them to fundraise within their own networks. By testing a greatly reduced curriculum with less time commitment, the Center aimed to discover whether this streamlined approach could activate more supporters to participate in end-of-year fundraising activities. The initiative built on their established Academy for Leaderful Action program, which had successfully trained resource organizers over six to eight weeks, but had not yet been tested in a compressed format designed specifically for fundraising mobilization.
The Ella Baker Center's approach involved several integrated components. The Mini ALA training, held in November, brought together existing members, mid-level and major donors, board members, and former Academy participants for an intensive session. Using curriculum developed by Eri Oura from Lavender Phoenix, the training educated participants about resource organizing principles while encouraging them to increase their own giving and mobilize their networks. The Center set clear goals: recruit 26 potential resource organizers with 75 percent committing to participate in an end-of-year donation drive. Each trainee would learn the Center's resource organizing model and use that knowledge to seek membership and donations from their personal networks.
The outreach strategy focused on targeted, personal contact. Staff conducted one-on-one texting and calling, particularly with major donors, to ensure attendance. The team leveraged a $20,000 matching gift from the Haas Jr. Foundation to create urgency and motivation. After the training, staff followed up with personalized emails containing donation links and ways to get involved, then made individual calls to invite attendees to participate in a holiday card party and continue their fundraising efforts. The approach emphasized collective fundraising, creating an energized group environment where donors could inspire and support each other rather than making decisions in isolation.
The Mini ALA experience revealed important insights about engaging supporters in active fundraising roles. The Center discovered that fewer Academy alumni participated than expected, despite the event being designed with them in mind. In response, staff committed to directly asking past Academy participants to take on fundraising responsibilities through personal outreach. The team also learned that maintaining continuity during training sessions matters. When they included a break in the curriculum, they lost six participants, a mistake they will not repeat in future iterations.
Staffing transitions during the project underscored the value of external accountability. When a key team member left just three weeks before the November event, the grant commitment kept the project on track. Without that external motivation, staff might have postponed or canceled the initiative. The experience also highlighted the importance of preparation conversations with potential donors before fundraising events. For future campaigns, staff plan to help donors anticipate the ask and come prepared with concrete numbers, rather than responding in the moment with vague commitments to follow up later.
An unexpected attendee brought home the power of authentic storytelling. A formerly incarcerated friend who had practiced resource organizing while in prison showed up and shared his personal experience with the Ella Baker Center, changing the tone of the entire conversation. His presence reminded everyone why the work matters and who benefits from it. This experience prompted staff to consider including more recently released individuals and potentially involving currently incarcerated people in future fundraising efforts, not as a tactic but as a genuine opportunity for them to practice making asks and contributing to the movement.
The Mini ALA training generated results that extended beyond immediate fundraising numbers. A major donor who had previously given $5,000 annually doubled her gift by making an immediate $5,000 contribution during the event and committing to an ongoing monthly gift totaling $5,000 per year starting in 2025. The project successfully re-engaged supporters who had drifted away. One donor who had contributed $25,000 to a building project five years earlier but had not given since 2021 donated stock worth over $1,000 at the training. Another Academy alumna who could not attend the event reached out afterward to commit a $15,000 gift increase for the year and offered to perform her one-woman show about incarceration at a local theater, donating the proceeds to the Center.
The initiative also catalyzed action among board members who had been discussing hosting a fundraiser but had not moved forward. Three board members who attended the training solidified their commitment and hosted a party in February that raised $5,000. A participant from the first Academy cohort who had been between jobs and unable to make a financial contribution finally signed up as a monthly member at three dollars per month. While modest in amount, this gift represented the realization of the Academy's core principle that resource organizing training should be accessible to everyone, not just wealthy people, and that every contribution matters regardless of size.
The program created a pathway for continued engagement with resource organizers. The list of Mini ALA participants now serves as a target audience for recruiting the next Academy cohort. Staff are refining their messaging to help Academy alumni understand the Mini ALA as a natural next step in their involvement rather than a separate program for different people. Looking ahead, the Center plans to implement this fundraising strategy multiple times per year and potentially incorporate it as a regular part of operations. The success established that collective fundraising in an energized group environment can be more effective than individual appeals, and that a compressed training format can successfully activate supporters to fundraise within their networks without requiring a multi-week time commitment.