Accelerate Change is a left-of-center organizing group which mainly funds and provides organizational consultation services to likeminded left-of-center organizations. It was formerly a project of the Center for Public Interest Research within the Public Interest Network, a controversial group of left-of-center advocacy organizations, but is now an independent nonprofit organization unaffiliated with either group.

Strategy

Accelerate Change promotes the organizational strategy of “functional organization.” It emphasizes the building of a large membership base by providing benefits to those members (benefits listed as examples include discounts and collective bargaining). Once a large membership base is assembled, the organization in question can, according to the website, be used for “civic engagement and advocacy.” Successful examples of groups that use this model, according to Murray, are labor unions in general and Planned Parenthood in particular. ¹²

People

The following individuals constitute the leadership of Accelerate Change:³

• Peter Murray, President
• Lea Madry, Chief of Staff
• Mohammad Ahmad, Director of Operations
• Taura V. Livingston, Director of Network Operations
• Darrell Scott, Director, PushBlack
• Abeni Jones, Digital Content Manager, PushBlack
• Jay Andrew, Editor-in-Chief, PushBlack

1. “The Secret of Scale.” Accelerate Change. Accessed August 12, 2019. http://acceleratechange.org/secret-of-scale/
2. Murray, Peter. “The Secret of Scale.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. Fall 2013. Accessed August, 12 2019. https://ssir.org/pdf/Fall_2013_The_Secret_of_Scale.pdf
3. “Our Staff: Accelerate Change.” Public Interest Network. Accessed August 10, 2019. https://publicinterestnetwork.org/our-staff.html