Common Cause
Resourcing narrative experimentation and learning from what works, what fails, and what grows in between.
Common Cause was a one-off experimental grant programme that funded nine organisations across seven countries to test new approaches to building narrative infrastructure in the face of rising anti-rights and fascist movements.
Illustration created by Sabrena Khadija for Unbound Philanthropy x Fine Acts
Experimenting together
The programme was launched in 2022, during the co-design process that shaped the Hive itself. It started from a set of questions that had surfaced across many conversations with movement actors: what do movements need to create and experiment together around narratives? To dream together and build shared visions? To look ahead and develop narratives for the future? To coordinate their work and counter anti-rights narratives effectively?
Rather than prescribe answers, Common Cause resourced organisations to develop their own. The grants were designed as experiments, with room for risk, iteration, and failure. In 2024, participating organisations came together in virtual learning spaces to reflect collectively on their projects, sharing what worked, what didn't, and what funders can do differently to support this kind of work.
What it surfaced
The collective reflection process produced a published report, Countering extreme right narratives across movements: learning from experimentation, available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, and Russian. It sets out key lessons for both activists and funders, drawn from the participants' practice and exchange. Among them: know your adversary and how they operate; know and trust your community; budget for failure and adaptation; and dare to experiment without guaranteed outcomes.
