Organizers and trainers often look to documentation of other campaigns to learn from and apply to their own campaigns. Often called case studies, such accounts of organizing campaigns show how organizing has been adapted and practiced in various regions, cultures, thematic areas, and contexts around the world.

Documenting an organizing campaign is valuable, not only because it can inspire others to build on that campaign and develop their own campaigns, but also because it provides an opportunity for the organizers who ran the campaign to reflect on and learn from their journey in depth, even if the campaign was not entirely successful.

Moreover, telling our stories of the power of collective action is critical in building hope in organizing. And if we don’t tell our own stories, someone else will, likely their versions of the stories that sideline people power. It is critical for us to take ownership of keeping records and archiving memories of our campaigns, and contribute to building a broader movement narrative.

In fact, if it were not for the organizers who came before us and documented their successes and failures, we would not be here right now, using the leadership and organizing practices that were built upon those past experiences. It means that if we document our campaigns now, we can leave our stories and lessons for the next generations of organizers to learn from.

In this document, we introduce various formats and depths of campaign documentation (or case studies) that you can choose to create for your campaign. We hope that in however much depth or whatever format that fits you best, you choose to document and share your campaign and your learning with the community.

Table of contents

• Why document your campaign?
• Planning campaign documentation
• Various formats of campaign documentation
• Various depths of campaign documentation
  • What did you learn from the campaign?
  • What happened in the campaign?
  • Why did it happen the way it happened? (in-depth case study)
• Steps to write an in-depth case study
• Templates to get you stareted
  • Visioning template: What is the story of your campaign?
  • Case study template
• Further resources
  • Resources at the Commons Social Change Library
  • Examples of campaign documentation at LCN

If you have any questions or suggestions about this guide or about campaign documentation,, please feel free to contact Haruka Sano, Resource Center Lead at Leading Change Network, at haruka.sano@leadingchangenetwork.org.