Progressive Roundtable
Effective marketing and communications will be essential for advancing the progressive policy and values agenda at both national and local levels. In addition, improved infrastructure capacity and coordination will better enable implementation of long-term strategic plans as they are developed.
A robust progressive infrastructure will work synergistically with ongoing efforts to heighten
progressive media presence and to build for state-level and grassroots political action.
The Progressive Roundtable, a project of the Commonweal Institute, is designed to foster collaboration among progressive organizations and individuals.
The Progressive Roundtable website promotes communication with the wider progressive community.
The website features a detailed database of progressive marketing and communications organizations and an ever-growing library of important resources.
Please donate to support this ongoing work.
In March, 2006, the Commonweal Institute convened the 2006 Progressive Roundtable, a working group of over 50 leaders in communications, marketing, framing, media, and strategy to make decisions about how to market progressive ideas more effectively and how to coordinate progressive communications. Innovative, diverse viewpoints from across the country were represented during the Progressive Roundtable convening.
The Roundtable members identified top priority infrastructure needs and are working to see that these needs will be met. Organizations have developed seventeen Letters of Interest (LOI) in response to these priority needs. The Commonweal Institute is coordinating efforts to identify funding for these LOIs. If you are a funder interested in supporting the development of progressive infrastructure, or if you represent a progressive group that may want to submit an LOI, please contact us.
Summaries of fifteen of these LOIs are available on the Progressive Roundtable web site.
Building on the momentum of the first Progressive Roundtable, the Commonweal Institute proposes to establish the Progressive Roundtable as a permanent convening body to promote on-going coordination by progressive leaders on various components of infrastructure and long-term strategy, as well as around specific issues. The Roundtable will convene progressives, link them through on-line data-sharing, build collaborative networks, increase connectivity among leaders, build trust, and focus on outcomes. Please donate to support expansion of the Progressive Roundtable into an ongoing convening activity.
Here are some highlights of the Progressive Roundtable convening:
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga speech (Windows Media format video, 38.5MB)
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga is the founder of liberal blog DAILYKOS.COM.
At the March 2006 Progressive Roundtable event sponsored by the Commonweal Institute,
he discussed blogging and citizen journalism. He was introduced by Dave Johnson, who blogs at Seeing the Forest.
Transcript of Dave Johnson’s introduction of blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga in the video linked above.
Al Mite TeDollar, the Billionaire Magician, mystified attendees with his
Maximizing ROI (Return On Illusion) performance at the opening reception of
the Commonweal Institute's Progressive Roundtable on March 2, 2006. Weaving
magic, political satire, and economic allegories, Al demonstrated why
billionaire
investments in political infrastructure and legislation have yielded returns
beyond the dreams of avarice. Magic was afoot, reminding the audience of the
real-world misdirection and shell game operations going on all around us.
See the video (Note, this is a 33mb 'mp4" file which requires Apple's QuickTime. You can download QuickTime by clicking here.)
Return on Investments display (Small PDF document)
Return on Investments references (Small PDF document)
Joseph Sandler speaking on the limits of 501c3 non-profit organization activities.
