Service and Social Change
For over two decades, the Building Movement Project (BMP) has engaged in a body of work called Service and Social Change worked with direct service providers on the front lines of national struggles against poverty and inequity. While meeting rising service demands is essential, it is not enough to create lasting change. More organizations are now evolving to meet individual needs while also addressing the systemic issues that create those needs.
Security to Wellbeing Framework & Cohort
BMP explored these shifts in our 5% Shifts series, highlighting how small but strategic changes can expand an organization's impact.
In New Mexico, BMP partnered with communities for many years through the Common Good Action Project (CGAP), where teams from diverse organizations engaged in peer learning through a cohort-based experience. During this time, BMP conducted surveys to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing nonprofits in the state. Through these efforts, communities came together to share resources, learn from one another, and collaborate in advancing the common good.
Building on these learnings, BMP developed the Security to Wellbeing Framework and cohort, equipping direct service providers with tools to integrate social change work into their organizations.
Security to Wellbeing Cohort
Direct service organizations often face challenges in expanding and deepening their work into efforts that pave the way for broad social change, due to funding, staff capacity, and other constraints. The Security to Wellbeing Cohort confronts these challenges by creating an intentional space for peer-learning between direct service organizations, identifying opportunities to engage in social change work with their current assets, and building a rich and meaningful community in the process to further develop and refine the Security to Wellbeing Framework.
This framework is an offering to help direct service organizations tap into their power, deepen their relationships in the community, and shift the belief that they don’t have a role to play in enacting positive and broad social change in their communities.
Security to Wellbeing Practice Guide
Practice Guide supports change-makers within direct services in their work to help their nonprofit become an organization dedicated to service and social change.
Who are the change-makers?
Anyone who is a stakeholder of the organization; from those who work directly with the communities served such as Frontline Staff and program managers, to Executive Leadership to, most importantly, program participants.
What is a Service and Social Change Organization?
These are organizations that, in addition to providing important services to the community, engage in building their capacity and align internally around social change goals. Social change goals determine how the organization will contribute to community-level and systems change, that is, to address the policies, laws, and administrative regulations contributing to the problems facing the organization's target population.
Past Webinars
Past Blogs
From Service to Action: A Case Study on a Memphis Organization’s Civic Engagement
From Security to Wellbeing: Reflections from Our First Cohort
GUIDING SERVICE PROVIDERS TOWARD SOCIAL CHANGE WORK: A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE OPPORTUNITY
Meeting the Moment: The Role of Nonprofit Service Organizations in Making Broad Social Change
Mailing List
The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap in New Mexico: A Race to Lead Brief
The Building Movement Project has released The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap in New Mexico: A Race to Lead Brief. This brief is part of a series of regional reports based […]
Working Towards the Common Good 2016: Findings from the New Mexico Nonprofit Survey
This report analyzes 2016 New Mexico Nonprofit Survey responses. It’s a snapshot of the work that nonprofits do to support New Mexico’s communities, the key issues they are working on, the opportunities and challenges they face, and how they work together to advocate for the common good.
Working Towards the Common Good 2015: Findings from the New Mexico Nonprofit Survey
This report analyzes 2015 New Mexico Nonprofit Survey responses. It’s a snapshot of the work that nonprofits do to support New Mexico’s communities, the key issues they are working on, the opportunities and challenges they face, and how they work together to advocate for the common good.
Working Towards the Common Good 2014: Findings from the New Mexico Nonprofit Survey
In New Mexico, nonprofit organizations have long played an integral role in ensuring the well-being of the state by caring for its people, environment, and natural assets. Recognizing the important […]
Meeting Need, Making Change: 2013 Survey of Nonprofit Service Providers in New Mexico
New Mexico is a state rich with resources – both natural and human – and a history of community engagement and collaboration to support the common good. The state’s traditions […]