Change Collective

The Change Collective is a project of Civic Nation and is advised by representatives from left-of-center foundations and organizations, including Civic (Re)Solve, the Wend Collective, the Omidyar Network, the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and the Democracy Fund. ¹

History and Activities

The Change Collective is an advocacy organization supported by former President Barack Obama that claims to create a non-partisan network for training and connecting local leaders. The Change Collective was started in 2023, is devoted to the left-of-center principle of inclusion, and offers leadership training programs for those it describes as “diverse.” President Obama praised the Change Collective for its work to “Bring emerging leaders from different identities together.” ¹

The Change Collective operates six-month, city-based fellowship programs based in Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; and San Antonio, Texas. In each round of applications, 20 to 25 individuals are admitted into each cohort for a city. Those who go through the Change Collective’s training program develop a “Civic Action Plan” to change their communities. Those who complete the training program join the Change Collective Membership Network to facilitate further collaboration. ^{1 3}

The Change Collective states that examples of local leaders admitted into its program include artists who address social justice issues, students who register fellow students to vote, and engineers interested in the digital divide. Applicants must be residents of the city where the fellowship operates, and the Change Collective has a preference for those who “reflect diversity in race, ethnicity, religion, and other forms of diversity.” ³

The Change Collective accepts donations through EveryAction, a nonprofit management software used by left-of-center groups and Democratic Party-affiliated organizations. ^{4 5}

Leadership

The executive director of Change Collective is Dexter Mason. Mason became the executive director of the Change Collective in May 2024. Previously, he was the managing director of the organization before it formally launched in November 2022. Mason is also a strategic advisor for Politics on the Go, a member of the board of directors for the Detroit Institute of Arts, and a member of the board of directors for the Detroit Opera. Before joining the Change Collective, he was an advisor for social impact and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies for Buzzer; a special assistant to the president of the Kresge Foundation; the director of events and marketing for the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, and a staff assistant in the Office of Management and Administration in the Obama administration. ^{1 2}

Members of the advisory council for the Change Collective include John Bridgeland, the CEO of More Perfect and executive chairman of the Office of American Possibilities; Alejandra Ceja, the vice president of the Office of Social Impact and Inclusion for Panasonic North America; Ben Davis, the founder of Civic (Re)Solve and former director of campaigns and sustainability for the Wend Collective;  Xavier de Souza Brigs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-founder of What Works Plus; Michele Jawando, the senior vice president of programs for the Omidyar Network; Holly Kuzmich, the managing director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation; and Sanjiv Rao, the managing director of movements and media at the Democracy Fund. ¹

Relationship to Civic Nation

The Change Collective is a project of Civic Nation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by the CEO of Blue Crab Strategies, Jason Waskey, and Jenn Brown. Civic Nation is the creative hub of its partner organization, left-leaning marketing group Creative Alliance, and has funded other nonprofits, including It’s on Us, Made to Save, When We All Vote, End Rape on Campus, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, We the Action, and United State of Women. ^{1 6 7}