Piper Hendricks: 26 Lessons for 2026 - Part II
Newsletter 415 - January 12, 2026
Piper Hendricks is the CEO of Stories Change Power. In December, Piper posted a two-part article on her blog “26 Lessons for 2026,” drawing from what she learned from the National Conference on Citizenship ( NCoC), the ListenFirst Coalition’s Bridging Summit, and ComNet (the Communications Network’s annual gathering), among other meetings she attended last fall.
The themes she pulled out resonated with many of the themes we have been writing about so we wanted to share them. We shared the first half of her list in our last newsletter, and the second half here. Due to space limitations, we had to cut some of her commentary -- to see the details of these ideas, and sources for some of them, go to her original posts, Lessons: Part 1 and Lessons: Part 2.
Piper Hendricks’ Lessons:
Go to Newsletter 414 to see numbers 1-13.
14. Recognize – and Respect – the Role of Everyone in that Big Tent (The 3Ts: Time, Talent, Treasure)
A healthy, functioning, truly representative democratic system of government that supports thriving communities does not require everyone to become an activist or policy expert. The answer to “What can I do?” is to contribute what you can of your 3Ts: time, talent, or treasure.
“Time” is volunteering in all the ways that can mean, such as making phone calls to help coordinate logistics, showing up in person, driving people to a larger gathering… you get the idea.
“Talent” means contributing a particular skill set, like cooking for people who need meals, helping a nonprofit set up their website, supporting project management, being the group videographer or photographer… the list goes on, and includes delightful examples of craftivism, like MWEG’s Peace by Piece project.
“Treasure” means funding. Big or small, your donations matter. This is particularly important these days as cuts in funding have hamstrung many organizations.
Not everyone has all three Ts to give. ... But do what you can at the level of generosity and safety that feels right to you.
Heidi and Guy would add that contributing doesn’t have to mean doing something you aren’t doing already. It might just mean doing it differently. For instance, you can be more open to ideas and people that you earlier might have ignored or shut off. Is there validity in what they are saying? (We tend to shut off ideas and people that challenge our own beliefs, especially when we know, deep down, that they are or might be right.) Likewise, widen our reading, watching, and listening. Start paying attention to information coming from “the other side.” Most importantly perhaps, review and start following the “Golden Rule,” a version of which exists in every religion, calling on us to “do unto others as we would want others to do unto you.” If most of us would just do that, our social and political health would improve dramatically.
15. Stop Demanding Ideological Purity Already!
Across conferences and conversations this year, a critique came up often: how quickly people on a particular side “eat their own.” If that sounds revolting, good. It is.
The phrase referenced the bad habit of expecting everyone in a movement to hold exactly the same beliefs, use the same language, or agree with every position without question – i.e., ideological purity.
I see ideological purity as the “shadow side” of belonging. After all, it’s comfortable to be among people who are just like us, right? While our intent is to create spaces where everyone belongs, we can fall into practices that look a lot like “us v. them” in impact. ..
Valuing differences in our experiences, backgrounds, identities, and resulting perspectives doesn’t jive with operating as if there’s only one “correct” way to think, talk, or act politically. Folks join the pro-democracy movement at different stages of learning, come from different communities, and thus bring different perspectives – and that’s a good thing! The goal isn’t to create a club of perfectly like-minded individuals; our goal is a broad, resilient coalition capable of making meaningful change together.
16. Embrace the Ripple Effect of Small Actions
In our ComNet panel, Sandra Brownrigg shared the story of how Braver Angels’ CEO Maury Giles connected with thousands of people by starting with only seven. In the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk, Maury contacted seven people to inform a response. In mere days, those seven put together an online gathering that drew hundreds who, in turn, reached thousands. The response ultimately contributed to conversations on Capitol Hill that prompted a powerful statement from the Problem Solvers Caucus.
Individually, we may feel small. But just as the largest quilt is made from countless individual threads, so too is our social fabric woven by countless individual people.
Change often begins with small (and sometimes imperfect) steps. Each small step can build skills, confidence, and networks that prepare people to take on larger challenges. They also create visible signs of engagement that encourage others who may feel isolated or powerless. ... Never underestimate what one person – including you – can set into motion!
17. Research Matters, But Be Data-Informed, Not Data-Driven
... In recent years, a wider array of organizations have come to recognize the importance of data. Research ensures we don’t mistake our assumptions for reality, which is increasingly important in an era where our “multiple realities barely intersect,” as Mike Allen of Axios recently shared with AMPAC members. That’s true for all of us, including those working to bridge divides and seeking to understand those multiple realities.
At the same time, research is a tool, not a dictator of strategy. As we continue to collect helpful data – including data that shows we are less divided than we think we are! — it’s important to use that data as one part of a larger conversation about strategy. Being “data-informed” means letting research guide us without letting numbers overshadow nuance.
18. Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight. It Requires Long-Term Investment. (Philanthropy Part 1)
...Civic work requires upfront investment, followed by patience and ongoing courage to stick with a strategy long enough to see meaningful change. Supporting civic engagement is not “crawl-walk-run,” it is “commit-grow-sustain.”
Funders [tend to] “move in herds,” shifting priorities too quickly to allow long-term work to take root. Bobby Milstein of Rippel Foundation! [recommends] Pando Funding [instead], named after the Pando Aspen Grove in Utah. That connected grove of 47,000 aspens is one of the earth’s oldest and largest living organisms. (I encourage you to read more here.)
The Pando Funding approach recognizes key concerns about philanthropy that came up repeatedly in conversations this year, including:
We need to fund urgent work, not just the emergency work.
Funders should be partners, not just checkbooks.
We need infrastructure, not just projects.
That infrastructure can seem invisible, but it’s absolutely essential. ...
Think in decades, not election cycles… which brings me to #19...
19. Democracy Work is More Than Elections (Philanthropy Part 2)
...Voting selects leaders on election days. Democracy is every day - 24/7/365 (+ 1 on leap years).
Democracy is the ongoing strengthening of communities and institutions, which depends on how actively people stay engaged between elections. Democracy depends on an active and attentive public that cares about and is informed on issues, policies, laws, and systems that affect everyone. Democracy needs all four Bs – Block, Bridge, Build, and Belong – and the 12.5K+ organizations doing the extensive work associated with each of those four Bs and organizations and coalitions ensuring interconnectedness all need funding to operate.
Guy and Heidi agree that democracy work is much more than election work. We see it encompassing 50+ massively parallel roles we have been writing about for a long time. Different roles help to block bad-faith actors and actions, bridge divides, build new structures and norms, and foster belonging among all people and groups. But they do more than that as well, warning about threats, helping people understand the complexity of their problems (and respond in appropriate ways to that complexity), others looking forward to create a vision about the world or country or community we want to build, people who help us de-escalate our conflicts, and many, many more. See the Beyond Intractability Guide Section on MPP roles to see the full list with an explanation of what each one does. And while this list shows activities we hope philanthropists will support, it also show places where many people can get involved. This field is more than just bridging organizations which run dialogues. It has places for most of us!
20. Real Risk Requires Funding Safety & Protection (Philanthropy Part 3)
The work of civic engagement can be dangerous. People face doxing, online and in-person harassment, being targeted on dating sites, and sometimes weapons in the room. Even a civic town hall on the issue of helping people who don’t have a place to live isn’t immune from threats of violence.
Unfortunately, many organizations are still wrestling to fund basic operations. Sure, programming seems more exciting than salaries, but as much as we believe in our missions, we cannot pay bills with the moral clarity of living on the right side of history alone.
Which means it may seem like a stretch to say that in addition to an income that covers cost of living, organizations should also be able to protect those they employ and serve. But I agree with Sofi Hersher Andorsky that organizations in this space should offer safety, including digital safety, as an HR benefit, which means those funding this work need to support them in doing so. [See the original for suggestions as to how.]
21. People Live Local. So, Fund Local Connection & Capacity (Philanthropy Part 4)
I note in #18 the importance of investing in movement infrastructure. At the same time that we need overarching support, we must engage and support people locally.
A survey of many pro-democracy organizations revealed that their communications shops spend most of their time talking to “elites” – i.e., elected officials, subject matter experts, etc. - while failing to reach the general public. Yikes. BIG yikes.
Just yesterday, a fellow bridge builder remarked how she is the only person many of her friends know in the pro-democracy movement. We agreed that the work underway has buoyed our spirits this year, and how disheartening the world would seem if we didn’t know about the movement to fix what’s broken. Unfortunately, many people don’t.
That’s something Stories Change Power aims to remedy in our monthly webinar series, and we’ll specifically kick off 2026 with Cristin Brawner, Executive Director of the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), sharing a toolkit for people wanting to address a challenge or build on an opportunity in their neighborhoods, communities, classrooms, and beyond.
Register to join us tomorrow Friday, January 16, 2026
Beyond better communication, we collectively need local capacity. Yes, we live in one country, but much of our lives is decentralized; even as national politics takes up oxygen, we live at the local level, and need healthy local government, local news coverage, local conversations, and local civic engagement.
As Valerie Lemming of the Kettering Foundation summarized: The bottom line for philanthropy is to ensure the community has what it needs.
That starts with better communication, yes, and we also need local capacity. That means investing in work that encourages proximity, connection, collaboration, and supporting new leaders. As I’ve seen through our work with Braver Angels’ Citizen-Led Solutions, local communities are our “frontlines” and funders need to ensure funding is there.
And as you make that investment, keep in mind…
22. Communities Know What They Need. Trust the Messiness.
Solutions created with people, not for them, are the ones that last. Communities know what they need, which underscores the need to involve people from across a community in this work of civic engagement. Wide involvement requires building trust and, as Bryna Lipper of the Humbolt Area Foundation + Wild Rivers Community Foundation emphasized at NCoC, “trust takes time.” (If this sounds hard, revisit #4.)
Along the way, community involvement is often messy and inefficient – even as it’s vitally important. In the midst of urgency and desire to scale, involvement needs to be accessible and flexible (which many noted underscores the need for community foundations to be involved). ... Local leadership rarely looks “professional,” and that’s to be expected. As Valerie Lemming from Kettering reminded us at NCoC, any expectation that community members be as efficient and effective as professionals is “ridiculous.”
Heidi and Guy’s comment: community members might not be as efficient and effective as professionals by some measures, by other measures, they often are more efficient and effective. They do things that the community feels it needs, while professionals often do things that THEY think the community needs, that the community itself doesn’t feel it needs at all (and hence likely won’t use). Locals have credibility, and people are more likely to believe in, support, and engage in local initiatives, while they are less likely to do so with initiatives designed and run by outsiders. So we’d argue that locals are often MORE efficient and effective, not less.
23. Keep Experts on Tap, Not on Top
“Top down” doesn’t work and “bottom up” doesn’t scale. We need both, David Eisner reminded us at NCoC in explaining a key element of Braver Angels’ Citizen-Led Solutions initiative: “Experts on tap, not on top.”
This phrase captures a simple but powerful truth: expertise should serve communities, not dominate them. Too often, public processes are designed so that technical experts set the agenda, define the problems, and prescribe the solutions, leaving space for community members only at the margins, if at all.
When experts are instead “on tap,” their skills and insights are available as resources, helping communities understand trade-offs and navigate complexity, without overruling the voices of those most affected by the decisions. Experts provide data, explain consequences, and offer evidence-based options that people outside of their field wouldn’t otherwise know, but need in order to make informed decisions.
Having experts as partners, not dictators, builds trust and leads to better outcomes. ... What’s more, this approach has the potential to repair trust in experts at a time when higher education and professional knowledge are increasingly portrayed as elitist or disconnected from everyday life. When people encounter experts – Citizen Professionals - who listen, explain clearly, and respect community knowledge, expertise becomes less about status and more about service and expanding opportunity. This isn’t learning versus lived experience – it’s both. ...
As our social media feeds are awash in mis- and dis-information, and people turn to artificial intelligence for answers, “experts on tap” can simultaneously boost civic outcomes and repair trust in scientific and civic institutions.
24. Joy is a Civic Tool!
How many of you reading this in December 2025 feel exhausted? Civic engagement is hard work, as is the work of promoting civic engagement. As we reach the end of the year, everyone I’ve talked to is scrambling to finish proposals, racing to update reports, or sweating over end-of-year fundraising.
All this, even as we know that the best way to get people to join something is to make it:
Fun. Easy. Popular. Or to sum that up in one aspirational word fitting of this time of year: JOY.
Joy is an overlooked but powerful civic tool. Particularly when life can feel heavy, divisive, or exhausting, we need moments of joy to encourage people to show up and stay engaged. That can be a shared meal, like Longest Table, or meals with storytelling, like Community Plate, or music, like Braver Music.
Humor… celebration… don’t you feel lighter just reading those words??
Making things fun lowers barriers to participation, making civic spaces more welcoming and human, especially for those who have felt shut out or burned out by traditional processes.
Joy also reminds us civic life is not only about solving problems, but about building relationships and a sense of belonging. When people experience joy together, they are more likely to trust one another, imagine possibilities beyond the status quo, and sustain the long-term work of collective self-governance.
25. Recognize the Role of Art in Civic Connection
If you rolled your eyes at the mention of joy, you may be tempted to do the same at the mention of art. As a former lawyer, I also used to think logic ruled the world, but that was before a documentary film and local theater changed the course of my life, so hear me out:
Art helps people see one another, our shared challenges, and shared humanity with fresh eyes. Be it murals, performances, videos, or music, art creates entry points into public life that far transcend policy language and political labels.
As several artists proved at the ListenFirst gathering, art lowers the barrier to relationship. As Sage Snider from Braver Music explained, you don’t need to argue in music. As Steven Olikara of Bridge Entertainment Labs noted, there’s no point arguing in a dark theater. And as Jon Adam Ross of Inheritance Theater demonstrated, participatory theater is a dress rehearsal for participatory democracy; these are spaces where we create something new together. ...
Investing in art – like investing in access to information — is investing in connection, imagination, and opportunity. Do we want a small handful of companies to control content, distribution, and technology – i.e., what we watch, hear, and share? Or do we want space for creativity, for local context, and for us to see ourselves reflected?
26. Stories and Narrative Shape How We Understand the World - and Our Role in it.
This list isn’t short.
It may be fair to sum it up by saying embrace your power. Whether as a citizen, a funder, a communications professional, an expert or any other role, be real, talk to real people, collaborate for real solutions (not to feed your ego), embrace the fact that you don’t know exactly how every meeting, every project, and every campaign will go - democracy truly is an experiment.
As we move into 2026 and beyond, we’d love to hear your thoughts. What stands out to you? What did we miss? What would you add?
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Two or three times a week, Guy and Heidi Burgess, the BI Directors, share some of our thoughts on political hyper-polarization and related topics. We also share essays from our colleagues and other contributors, and every week or so, we devote one newsletter to annotated links to outside readings that we found particularly useful relating to U.S. hyper-polarization, threats to peace (and actual violence) in other countries, and related topics of interest. Each Newsletter is posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.
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