Indivisible began in late 2016 after former congressional staffers came together to write The Indivisible Guide, a practical guide for newly engaged civic activists to take action in defending their progressive values within their local communities. The first step was to start a group -- an informal local community of people dedicated to taking action together.

The Guide quickly sparked a nation-wide progressive grassroots movement, with more than 5,000 local Indivisible groups registering across the country in 2017. In order to support this emerging movement, the authors of the Guide formed Indivisible Civics, a registered 501(c)(3) organization committed to providing civic education, policy resources, strategic guidance, and targeted trainings for groups across the country. With this support, Indivisible groups were empowered with the resources and tools they needed to hold their elected officials accountable and ignite change within their communities. Indivisible groups have held tens of thousands of actions in their local communities, from district office visits to marches and voter registration drives.

Read more about Indivisible’s impact in our 2019 Annual Report.

 

WHAT IS INDIVISIBLE PROJECT?

Indivisible Project, a 501(c)(4), was established to lift up that grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. It supports local Indivisible groups by offering legislative advocacy and political expertise and by building political power everywhere. Learn more about Indivisible Project here.

 

 

The Indivisible movement has created something rare in the advocacy space: a nationwide, locally-led, multi-issue movement that uplifts the power of local communities. Our distributed organizing model empowers local groups with the agency and resources they need to sustain their activism. The result is a uniquely effective way to mobilize and resource millions of people nationwide to take action and promote progressive values and policies within their communities. 

  • Leveraging Local Leadership: Local Indivisible groups don’t parachute in ahead of a single event or policy campaign - they are local, long-term progressive infrastructure that is responsive to the communities they live in. Our distributed organizing model empowers local leaders to take charge and make use of their own resources, tapping into local knowledge, skills, and networks. By its very nature, independent local leadership creates a sense of ownership, innovation, and personal investment.

  • A Virtuous Cycle of Civic Engagement: Indivisible groups engage where they can have the most impact, whether that’s voter registration or organizing to advance progressive policies. Indivisibles also pivot from local to state to national advocacy, responding to opportunities and showing up to defend progressive values. As a result, Indivisible groups are building a lasting community-based progressive infrastructure designed for the long-haul. 

  • Sustaining a massive base, including in rural and suburban communities: Our distributed model has empowered thousands of sustainable local Indivisible groups that continue to thrive in every state in the country, including in suburban areas and deeply rural communities. A 2019 study that looked at the distribution of Indivisible groups across the country found significant Indivisible presence in, “Rural, rural-mix, and sparse-suburban districts across Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, West Virginia, Texas, and beyond.”

  • Power of Community: People are more likely to get involved and stay involved in activism if they feel like part of a community. Indivisible groups build social networks that fight burnout and mobilize their members to make commitments of time and energy.

  • Partnering Across the Progressive Space: Core to Indivisible’s theory of change is the belief that we are stronger when we stand together. Indivisible Civics prioritizes building strategic and intentional partnerships with other organizations in the progressive ecosystem. We know that our groups are more powerful when they tap into existing grassroots networks in their communities, forming statewide coalitions and joint actions to create a powerful grassroots movement. 

 

The depth and breadth of our movement in undeniable. Our committed, fired-up, grassroots movement continues to thrive in every state across the country. Since the beginning of 2019, Indivisibles have made 73,625 calls to Congress using our tools and have organized a total of 2,438 grassroots events in all 50 states across the country. 

Our largest single day of action ever took place on January 3, 2019, when Indivisibles held over 160 events around the country celebrating the opening of the new Congress by encouraging their representatives to support inclusive pro-democracy reform. That energy is not waning. In September 2019, Indivisibles held nearly 200 actions from Colorado to Maine during our Defund Hate week of action to encourage Congress to decrease funding to ICE, CPB, and DHS, and instead shift that money into humanitarian programs that will actually help address the crisis at the border. 

These are just a few examples of how groups across the nation have come together to hold their elected officials accountable, taking action on issues like immigration, healthcare, and the climate crisis. Indivisibles across the country will continue to show up and defend progressive values in their local communities and beyond — taking on the most pressing issues issues of our time.

 
 

Prioritizing Democracy: While Indivisible began in late 2016 as a “resistance” organization, the movement has evolved. When we surveyed Indivisible members about their issue priorities, 75 percent placed pro-democracy reforms as one of their top three priorities -- the highest of any issue. Indivisible groups in rural, urban, and suburban parts of the country, in all 50 states, recognize and understand that the current political environment is only the symptom of an accelerating breakdown of our democracy -- that regardless of any single election, the system will remain broken and the rules rigged, at both the federal and state levels. By demystifying the policy process, building intentional partnerships, and providing key trainings, Indivisible Civics will continue to work with our groups nationwide in organizing against anti-democratic and discriminatory policies. Ultimately, we know that structural democracy reform is critical to creating a bold and inclusive democracy.  

Indivisible Civics provides support to our network to strengthen their local activism:  

  • Sustainable Grassroots Leadership: 
    Indivisible’s organizing model provides local Indivisible groups with direct support from in-turf organizers. Our in-turf organizers support local groups in providing trainings, connecting them with other groups to create state-wide coalitions, and strategic guidance on organizing for our national campaigns. This direct support provides groups across the country with the guidance and resources they need to build power in their local communities

  • Demystifying the Policy Process:
    Indivisible Civics is committed to turning policy education into activism. Through our online resource library, we provide groups with the policy and political guidance needed to take action in their local communities. These resources demystify Congress and state legislatures to ensure that local groups can build power on their home turf. Our team designs issue-specific guides, call scripts, explainers, and organizing toolkits to ensure our groups feel empowered and informed to take on complex policy issues on the local, state, and national level. 

  • Improving coordination by building and strengthening statewide structures: 
    Indivisible supports the development of statewide Indivisible coordinating structures where they don’t currently exist and helps strengthen coordination where statewide structures are already in place, in order to continue facilitating peer learning and strengthened leadership -- allowing for joint events and strength in numbers.  

  • Building Skills and Knowledge: 
    In order to build a responsive and sustainable movement, we recognize the importance of providing our groups with the training and support that they need to organize and take action within their communities. In 2018, Indivisible Civics launched an expanded training program that reached 4,000 group leaders and members. Indivisible staff trained group leaders on effective organizing skills and tactics, racial justice and equity, and leadership development. 

  • Translating Policy Education into Activism: 
    Our policy resources don’t just live online. Indivisible’s organizers in the field turn these educational resources into national strategic action. With this support, groups hold thousands of events across the country every year. 

  • Amplifying the Grassroots through Press Support
    Indivisible's press staff offers groups resources, trainings, and direct support to ensure they can engage with local media as part of their advocacy

 
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“Indivisible groups were instrumental in pressuring members of Congress not to end Obamacare, again taking a leaf from the Tea Party by showing up, well briefed and vocal, at members’ town hall meetings.”

- Brookings Institution


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“...Greenberg and Levin’s blueprint—which helped shake many white-collar progressives out of their abstract, coffeehouse-and-protest idealism and reacquaint them with a belief in shoe-leather, show-up-with-bodies democratic politics.”

- Politico (Indivisible is #2 on Politico's 2017 list of top 50 influencers)


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“Indivisible, the political-activism organization founded by former congressional staffers Leah and Ezra, started with a group of friends offering their contribution to a long history of community organizing. [...]Leah and Ezra have built a powerful network of folks ready to fight for justice and inclusion in health care, at our borders and in the Supreme Court. They did not do this work alone, and perhaps most commendably they are quick to step back, create space and center those most impacted by issues. In times of division, they’ve been a constant force for good..”

- Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, TIME, April 2019

Help us educate and empower civic leaders across the country by supporting Indivisible Civics, a 501(c)(3) organization, through a tax deductible contribution online here.

If you’d like to give by check, please make it out to “Indivisible Civics” and mail to PO Box 43884, Washington, D.C. 20010. For wire transfer instructions or other questions, please contact donate@indivisible.org. If you are interested in giving a grant to Indivisible Civics, please contact us at grants@indivisible.org.

Donations to Indivisible Civics (EIN 82-2355901) are tax deductible.