Bridging Movement Alignment Council
Greater impact, together
“BMAC is the perfect example of a collaboration where the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts.” -Ken Powley, Team Democracy.
“BMAC is a powerful collective with smart, central, and dedicated members.” -Nichole Argo, Over Zero
It’s easy to feel small when combating toxic division. The problem is far too wicked for any one organization. BMAC exists to create greater impact together.
BMAC is a community of ~100 top bridging leaders who support each other and lean in together to reach new heights. Leaders of individual organizations invest their time and talent in BMAC Working Groups, our field's engines of collective impact.
Bridging Movement 3-layer Theory of Change
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Footprint: Increase the aggregate paid and volunteer headcount of bridge-building organizations.
Diversity: Increase the diversity of bridge-building staff such that it becomes fully reflective of the demography of the United States in terms of ideology, race, income, education, and age.
Effectiveness: Increase the number of bridge-building organizations that produce and publicize evidence-based outcomes.
Funding: Increase aggregate annual funding for bridge-building organizations.
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Sector Adoption: Increase reported adoption of bridge-building practices in these priority sectors and others:
Higher education
Faith communities
Business & workplaces
Federal, state, and local legislatures
Community Adoption: Increase geographically-based bridge-building efforts.
Individual Adoption: Increase the number of Americans reached by one or more bridge-building organizations / interventions.
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Affective Polarization: Increase Americans’ positive feelings towards people and groups of different political perspectives and decrease Americans’ belief that those in the opposing party are a “serious threat” or “clear and present danger” to America and its people.
Cohesion & Collaboration: Increase the share of Americans who describe the country as united versus divided; increase adoption of collaboration as a societal and institutional norm for solving national, state and local problems.
Political & Hate-Fueled Violence: Reduce public acceptance of violence to thwart “others’” political gains and reduce the share of Americans who believe violence against the government can be justified. Reduce incidence of hate-fueled violence, hate speech and hate crimes; reduce membership in groups supporting violence.
Agency & Belonging: Increase Americans’ reported feeling of inclusion and acceptance in their local community, institutions and the country, as well as their experience that they have the power and voice to have a meaningful impact.
2023 BMAC Working Groups
Click on the above working group names to learn more. (Some pages are still under development.)
2023 Accomplishments
Refined and advanced Bridging Movement Collective Impact Strategies
Goals & Measures Program, funded by New Pluralists, launched a Resource Hub & Supported SCIM (Social Cohesion Impact Measure) adoption by 20+ partners
Cultivated a strategic partnership with the National Governors Association to co-create a joint, expanded Disagree Better campaign to meet the moment of 2024
Launched Bridge Entertainment Labs to ignite compelling narratives that bridge divides
Launched Bridging Movement Livestream Program in partnership with Citizen Connect
Developed Bridging Movement Badging & Micro-credential Program
Launched Marketing Intelligence Hub highlighting actionable research performed by the Goals & Measures Program, Meeting of America, and other programs
Developed running list of Everyday American Motives for Participating in Bridging Programs to inform our individual and collective marketing efforts
Launched Storytelling & Media Relations Hub highlighting prominent media on our movement
Built relationships with top journalists at the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, PBS, C-SPAN, and TIME Magazine. Many partners featured in national media
Built relationships with members of the U.S. House and Senate
Congressional testimony resulting in several changes proposed and passed by the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
Proposals through several BMAC working groups and direct work with Congressional sponsors led to introduction and bi-partisan co-sponsorship of the Building Civic Bridges Act
6th Annual National Week of Conversation (NWOC) kicked off BMAC Sectors Engagement
Launched Place-based Bridging strategy and hosted the first annual Bridge-Building Innovation Showcase
Held an in-person convening with Meta, organized by Common Ground USA
Engagement of the National Service/AmeriCorps ecosystem resulted in the agency making organizations with bridging missions specifically eligible to receive AmeriCorps grants
Launched work to equip tens of thousands of AmeriCorps members to learn mindsets and skills for connecting across differences
Background
BMAC is the Collective Impact initiative focused on bridging divides in America. Collective Impact brings organizations together in an intentionally structured way to achieve social change beyond what any of them could achieve alone. It focuses on the relationships between organizations and the progress toward shared objectives. Partners learn together, align, and integrate their actions to tackle complex challenges. The power of collective impact comes from enabling collective seeing, learning, and doing. Cascading levels of collaboration create multiple ways for people to participate, communicate lessons, and coordinate their effort. Unlike most collaborations, collective impact initiatives involve a centralized infrastructure, a dedicated staff, and a structured process. Collective Impact has five conditions…
Common Agenda: Coming together to collectively define the problem and create a shared vision to solve it.
Shared Measurement: Tracking progress in the same way, allowing for continuous learning and accountability.
Mutually Reinforcing Activities: Integrating the participants’ many different activities to maximize the end result.
Continuous Communication: Building trust and strengthening relationships.
Backbone Support: A team dedicated to aligning and coordinating the work of the group.
The BMAC Steering Group provides strategic direction for the Collective Impact initiative and champions its work. Listen First Project serves as the backbone organization for BMAC and galvanizes the wider bridging field behind collective actions and outputs from BMAC.
BMAC + the broader Listen First Coalition
BMAC is a robust Collective Impact initiative toward social cohesion and collaboration. Its members (~100 organizations) are those most deeply invested in driving greater impact together, which they do through BMAC Working Groups and Task Forces. The broader Listen First Coalition (~500 organizations including BMAC members) welcomes and engages bridging movement partners at all levels of collective impact investment. BMAC plays a leading role for the broader Coalition as it sparks collective actions and produces resources for the entire field.
BMAC Steering Group Charter
Provide strategic direction for the BMAC Collective Impact initiative and champion its work. Establish goals and priorities. Support Working Groups to be the engines of collective impact. Support collective fundraising.
BMAC Steering Group Members
Kamy Akhavan (USC Center for the Political Future)
David Eisner (Pro-bono Consultant)
David Fairman (Consensus Building Institute, backbone)
Tom Fishman (Starts With Us)
Mary Ellen Giess (Interfaith America)
Pearce Godwin (Listen First Project, backbone)
Monica Guzman (Braver Angels)
Kristin Hansen (Civic Health Project)
Shelley Hoy (92NY Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact)
Mariah Levison (Convergence)
Liz Joyner (The Village Square)
Becca Kearl (Living Room Conversations)
Brandyn Keating (YOUnify)
David McCullough (American Exchange Project)
Manu Meel (BridgeUSA)
Mike Murphy (FixUS)
Erik Olsen (Common Ground Committee)
Nealin Parker (Common Ground USA)
Abhishek Raman (American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Our Common Purpose)
Karissa Raskin (Listen First Project, backbone)
Prahba Sankaranarayan (Mediators Beyond Borders International / TRUST Network)
References: Collective Impact Forum: What is Collective Impact, SSRI: Collective Impact, SSIR: Essential Mindset Shifts for Collective Impact, SSIR: Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work, SSIR: Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact