Dear MoveOn member,
This is not a time for despair. This is a time for sustained, strategic, massive mobilization. This is the year we reach 3.5%.
We're Adrienne and Saskia, and we lead MoveOn's mobilizations—large days of coordinated protests all across the country. And we're writing because the choice before us is stark: Do we accept what's happening on American streets as the new normal, or do we mobilize in numbers large enough to make resistance impossible to ignore?
After Alex Pretti's killing in Minneapolis, after ICE raids across the country, after everything we've witnessed—an authoritarian government believes it can act with impunity.
They're wrong.
You've probably heard the 3.5% number before. According to decades of research on nonviolent civil resistance movements, no government has ever withstood a challenge when 3.5% of its population mobilizes against it in a sustained way.1 That's approximately 12 million Americans.
If you're ready to help us reach that goal, will you start a monthly donation of $5 to MoveOn today to build and power the organizing infrastructure we need? Even if you keep reading, please consider clicking here to make your donation first—every dollar helps us train more volunteer leaders to host protests in their own communities and plan more actions.
Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. (If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
We're already closer than you might think. Last October, MoveOn volunteers helped power No Kings Day—the largest day of protest in modern American history, with nearly 7 million participants. That's 2% of the U.S. population. We're more than halfway to our goal.
But right now, we're living through federal masked agents killing American citizens in broad daylight for exercising their constitutional rights. In Minneapolis and all across the country, communities are patrolling their own neighborhoods, protecting each other from government violence and helping families in hiding. Ordinary people are showing extraordinary courage—and they're not alone.
This is our moment. When we're being told to look away, to accept the unacceptable, to believe that resistance is futile—this is exactly when we need to show up in numbers too large to ignore.
That's why your support is so critical right now. Will you chip in $5 a month to help us scale up our organizing and reach 3.5% of Americans in sustained, safe, nonviolent resistance?
Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. (If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Here's what reaching 3.5% really means—and why we're building toward it the right way:
It's not just about one massive day of action. It's about sustained mobilization: multiple protests over time, ongoing community organizing, and building the infrastructure to keep people engaged over time. The research is clear: Momentum matters as much as size.
Safety is nonnegotiable. As part of our leadership in organizing mass mobilizations, our team at MoveOn works to ensure that every single event host receives training in nonviolence and de-escalation. Our volunteer team works 1-on-1 with event hosts to provide individual support based on their needs, like our hundreds of hosts in Minnesota. We provide comprehensive toolkits and trainings, offer office hours to support preparation, and run host hotlines on protest days for emergency support. Safety planning and de-escalation training isn't glamorous work, but it's what keeps millions of Americans safe in the streets.
Our goal of 3.5% will be realized only through building a diverse, broad-based movement. History shows that successful civil resistance campaigns bring together people across demographics, geographies, and experiences. That's why we train and prepare thousands of first-time event hosts in neighborhoods across the country—everyday Americans stepping up to lead.
This approach works. In a matter of days after Renee Good’s murder, our infrastructure helped hundreds of thousands of people safely attend 1,300 protests across the country. And last year, we helped power No Kings Day with 7 million people. We're proving that Americans will show up when we make it safe, accessible, and purposeful to do so.
But we need to do more. Much more.
If we can raise the resources we need, we can:
- Hire more organizers to support our staff and volunteer structure that vets, trains, and prepares every single event host
- Provide more resources and materials, such as bullhorns, safety lights, safety vests, training guides, and know-your-rights cards
- Plan larger, more frequent mobilizations that bring Americans out in every corner of the country
From 7 million to 12 million. From 2% to 3.5%. This is the path to making our resistance impossible to ignore.
We know the stakes. We're watching Americans lose their rights in real time. We're seeing neighbors targeted by their own government. We're living through what many are calling the greatest threat to American democracy in our lifetimes.
But we also know the power we have. When communities in Minneapolis face down federal violence with solidarity networks and mutual aid. When protesters fill the streets despite intimidation. When even conservative newspapers call out government brutality. These are signs that resistance is contagious. That courage is spreading. That we're building something powerful enough to win.
History is on our side. Research shows that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to succeed as violent ones. Every movement that reached 3.5% in sustained mobilization achieved transformative change. From the People Power movement in the Philippines to the Cedar Revolution to the fall of apartheid—3.5% is not just a number. It's a proven threshold for change.2
We're already mobilizing at a scale that would have seemed impossible a few years ago. Now we need to go further, faster, smarter. We need your help to get there.
Will you start a monthly donation of $5 today? Your donation will help train hosts, coordinate safe protests, and mobilize the millions of Americans to end Trump’s tyranny and usher in a better future where everyone can thrive.
Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. (If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Without the resources to scale up our organizing, we risk losing momentum at the very moment when millions of Americans are ready to act. We can't let that happen.
Thanks for all you do.
–Adrienne and Saskia
Adrienne, Mobilization Director
Saskia, Volunteer Network Associate Director
Sources:
1. "Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule," Harvard Kennedy School Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights, April 2020
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr/publications/questions-answers-and-some-cautionary-updates-regarding-35-rule
2. Ibid.
Want to support MoveOn's work? Donald Trump’s authoritarian takeover intensifies every day. But we must remember that authoritarian governments worldwide have not withstood a challenge by 3.5% or more of its people. MoveOn can reach, train, organize, and support at a scale unparalleled in the progressive movement—which we need now more than ever. Will you make a monthly donation today to power this urgent and critical organizing?
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