We’re bringing people together in community to convince organisations to publicly cut ties with fossil fuel funding banks – by switching accounts to green alternatives or ending sponsorship deals. Everyone is connected to different communities and every community has different types of organisations that they could target.

Communities can be based on location, interests, beliefs, workplaces and many other things. Every community has its different targets, ways of influencing institutions, and networks that can support our campaigns. Which communities have you got connections to?

Here are some of the communities people are already organising in: Charities, Faith, Health, LGBTQI+, Local Government, Schools, Sports, Events, Unions and Universities.

Once you’ve decided which community you can have an impact on, it’s time to pick an organisation in that community to target. 

Questions to ask: Which organisations might be easier to shift? Do we know who any organisations bank with? What personal connections do we have? 

Some organisations have complex banking arrangements and will be hard to move. Starting with easier targets is a good way to build momentum in your community.

You may need to do some research at this stage to answer these questions. But don’t let this hold you up – start building a team!

It’s hard to run a campaign on your own. Speak to people you know and other people in your community to get a core group of people together who can run this campaign.

If you’re part of an existing group, ask them if they want to run a boycott campaign. If not, you’ll have to build your own team. 

This can all start with just a few people.

Campaigns work best when a range of voices comes together to ask your target to drop fossil banks. If you can make links across a range of groups that’s great!

Some groups might be up for becoming proactively involved in your campaign and you could co-organise events. For other groups, fossil banks may not be a priority but they do reject them in principle so they may be up for signing a letter or promoting your actions.

The larger and more diverse your coalition, the more convincing it will be. So keep on adding new voices along the way.

Before you go public with your campaign, contact the people making the decisions at your target organisation to discuss the issue with them. 

They might commit to drop fossil banks before you even launch a public campaign. Even if they don’t do it straight away, you should keep on engaging with them at every step of your campaign.

To get the best results, you need to approach them in a respectful way and make a serious case for why they should cut their ties to fossil banks.

Top Tip: Showcase similar organisations that have already moved.

If the decision-makers at your target are resistant to moving straight away, then you’ll need to go public and show that there is wide support for your demands.

While the steps before this are important, don’t spend too much time on them – start doing stuff, get people talking about the issue, and start building some momentum.

There are loads of things you can do to show public support including: Starting a petition and getting people in your community to sign it, getting a story in the media about the campaign, and asking allied groups to sign an open letter.

Now it’s time to get out in person so your target see’s your campaign.

A straightforward way of gaining attention for your campaign is to host a picket outside their main office or building. This could be as simple as holding a couple of banners and placards.

Make sure you engage with people entering the building to try and get them on side and take good photos of the action. If your target doesn’t have a great office location, then try your local shopping street or go door to door in your streets, chatting to your neighbours and asking them to sign your petition.

Running a creative protest is a great way to get some local media attention. It doesn’t have to be a big action – it could be something simple.

Getting creative is also a great way to get more people involved. You can run fun sessions where you come up with exciting ideas, make banners and props and have a social after the action.

Pictures tell stories so think about what the image you want to make is and how that links to your demands. We can help you plan an action if you’ve not done this before.

If they’ve still not boycotted fossil banks, then you’ll need to think about how you can increase the pressure on your target.

There are loads of other ways you can make sure your campaign doesn’t slip off the organisation’s radar, including letter writing, phone calls, through social media and going back to do more creative actions and pickets.

The four key ways you can build pressure are: getting more people involved, increasing the diversity of voices in your movement, taking more regular actions, and increasing the disruptiveness of your actions.

Every time an institution ditches a fossil bank we can use this to help increase the pressure on other targets. We’ll announce wins through the WhatsApp group so keep an eye out. Help get the word out on social media and let your target know.

When your campaign wins make sure you let us know so we can help you to spread the word and maximise your impact.

As well as making every bank boycott as public as possible, we want to make sure the banks know about why customers are leaving. We can support organisations with their public announcements and communications. 

Take the time to celebrate. Then pick another target!