A major new piece of research
Common Cause makes the case for a different approach to creating change.
Most current approaches to creating change focus on specific causes (for example, biodiversity conservation or international development; climate change or disability rights). They identify key interventions - changes in people's behaviour, or policies for example - that will help to advance these causes. And then they promote these interventions.
Common Cause makes the case that this approach, important as it is, isn't sufficient. We confront huge challenges. If we are to step up to addressing these, then our approaches need to add up to more than the sum of their parts.
We have built the case that we need also to look 'across' a wide range of causes. In this way we can identify the values that motivate people's concern about these causes, and work to engage and strengthen them.
Common Cause has accumulated a large body of evidence for this approach. But much of this evidence comes from studies run by academics who don't necessarily set out to address the specific challenges faced by charities. Often we hear from communicators and campaigners in charities that the material tested in these studies isn't very 'realistic'.
A new study
Today we're publishing a new study, which we have been working on for many months. It combines the best of both worlds. On the one hand, we've worked on it with some of the world's leading experts on values. On the other hand, we used it to test the effectiveness of material produced by staff in WWF (a conservation charity) and Scope (a disability charity). The study makes use of a large panel of nearly 14,000 people managed by the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton. Having read text describing the work of either WWF or Scope, in either intrinsic or extrinsic terms, we then asked people about their intention to help one or other of these charities - by donating money, volunteering, lobbying their MP, or joining a public meeting.
Here are some key findings, each of which I'll be unpacking further in subsequent blogs. Read more