Measuring Impact: Power from Below
We often think that a smaller number of people means a smaller number of impacts. That 5
people sitting around a dining table talking about an issue like climate change does nothing. But
this is only true in some situations. All attempts to make an impact, still make one, no matter
how big or small. Every big movement starts with a single idea.
When a movement is led by a small group of people who do not have a widespread influence, it
is called grassroots activism. According to the Oxford Review (Wilkinson 2024), the definition
of grassroots activism is a collective action driven by ordinary people (those with no power or
influence) to create a social or political change. Citizens start this movement when they see
something that is wrong, such as social injustice or issues in their local community. They come
together to change policies, laws, institutions, and everyday life. This shifts the power back to
the citizens, which is the foundation for a democratic system.
To achieve the goals set, grassroots activists rely on communication methods such as phone
banking. While grassroots groups rely on diverse outreach methods, including door-to-door
canvassing and text campaigns, phone banking remains a primary tool for inspiring community
change. Today, the way most people gain attention is through social media and online
advertising. While commercial advertisements may convince someone to buy a product, political
figures are realizing that in order to get traction, they have to be more relatable, or reachable.
However, you can’t reach everyone with a poster or an ad. This is where phone banking comes
in. Political phone banking is a process in a political campaign using phone calls to get a vote or
support. This is either manual (in-person or virtual), or automated, where pre-recorded messages
can be used. Phone banking can reach a large number of people in short amounts of time, even
with a small number of people.
With a small number of people getting big outreach, a question brought up would be: how does
the phone-banking process work? The process starts with creating a contact list that shows
location, voting history, and demographics, which can highly influence voting, but can make
conversation effective when targeting certain people. If able, you can use a phone banking
software like CallHub, which helps with automated dialing, pre-written scripts, and real-time
tracking. Ecanvasser is also another option for peer-to-peer sharing. You then gather volunteers
to help make the calls and get bigger engagement. Once all of those steps are completed, you
make the call, ask the questions, and log the outcome of the call response. Phone banking can be
used for voter identification (who they support), reminding people to vote, persuade, fundraise,
and recruit volunteers to help on election day.
While phone banking allows for direct conversation, many people avoid answering calls from
unknown numbers. To solve this, grassroots movements also rely on text banking. Setting it up is
simple and much like phone banking: gather your volunteers, choose a text banking platform,
and upload your curated contact lists. From there, volunteers can send thousands of texts with
just a few quick clicks.
Those five people around the table can reach ten people, and those ten people can reach
hundreds. By working from the bottom up, they successfully petitioned to make public
transportation more accessible. With these digital resources, ordinary people can shift national
conversations. We all possess the power needed to start, and we all have a say!
References
Wilkinson, D. (2024). Grassroots activism - Definition and Explanation. In The Oxford Review -
OR Briefings.
ots-activism-definition-and-explanation/
Grassroots Authority. (2020). Grassroots Authority.
How to do Phone Banking for Your Campaign. (n.d.). In www.ecanvasser.com. Retrieved
August 11, 2026, from https://www.ecanvasser.com/blog/phonebanking
Sequeira, S. (2022, April 19). What Is Phone Banking? A Simple Guide To Get You Started.
Amnesty International. (2025). Grassroots activism. In Amnesty International USA.
NGPVAN. (2024). Shifting to auto-commit to save data and time NGP VAN. In NGP VAN.
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