diff --git a/_resources/getting-started-with-distributed-organizing-groups.md b/_resources/getting-started-with-distributed-organizing-groups.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72f6e4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_resources/getting-started-with-distributed-organizing-groups.md
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+---
+layout: resource
+title: "Getting Started with Distributed Organizing: Groups"
+tease_title: Learn to scale your organizing by empowering supporters to lead local groups
+description: >
+ Download this guide for examples, checklists, and tips to transform your
+ organizing program into a scaled, distributed, and member-led force for
+ change.
+image: img/uploads/vector-groups-leaders.svg
+resource_url: /img/pdfs/distributed-organising-groups.pdf
+---
+### Introduction
+
+People call it different things -- distributed organizing, member-led campaigning, wildfire activism. Regardless of the name, there is a central goal: to harness a community’s bottom-up energy to work for changes, large and small, that create leaderful movements more powerful than those directed by centralized or professionalized staff alone.
+
+Many organizations have proven that this way of organizing can work to generate both growth and impact, and there are many more groups who have the potential to benefit from this model. However, these successes don’t mean that you can just set up a platform, snap your fingers, and suddenly have hundreds of successful groups run by members. It takes careful planning and an investment across your organization to launch a successful program.
+
+Very few of your members are able to manage a group successfully without an organization's ongoing guidance and support. The key to a successful distributed organizing model is to prepare your members so that they’re ready to lead in their communities, and then support them along the way.
+
+Each organization is different, and you’ll want to spend time examining your specific goals and carefully designing a distributed organizing program and launch strategy to achieve them. \
+\
+
+### Groups
+
+#### Getting Off the Ground
+
+Supporting healthy and active member-led groups is one of the most complicated aspects of a distributed organizing program and requires a high level of staff time and investment. Before launching a member-led groups program, it’s important to think carefully about your goals for these groups, what will constitute a successful groups program, and how these groups will fit into your organization’s broader strategic goals.
+
+
+
+Organizations approach groups programs in different ways: some see groups as rapid response hubs that the organization can call on whenever an issue arises in the group’s area, some support groups that are solely focused on winning a specific campaign, and some organization view the groups as an outlet for supporters to build community amongst themselves and get to know one another. Organizations may find that groups fill each of these roles at different times, but organizations who support successful group programs will have a clear vision for their groups and regularly communicate that vision with group leaders.
+
+Two common pitfalls for organizations supporting local groups are to exert too much control over groups or to take a too hands-off approach. With too much organizational control, group leaders won’t feel empowered to make decisions for their group – instead of being member-led organizing, the group becomes another channel for broadcast messages from the organization to its supporters. At the other extreme is the too hands-off approach. When organizations set up groups infrastructure and but then leave group leaders entirely on their own, the groups will often fizzle out as they lack direction.
+
+Successful member-led group programs work to find a balance between these two extremes by supporting their group leaders, providing strategic priorities and opportunities for groups to contribute to the organization’s goals, while also empowering group leaders to make their own decisions about the actions the group takes. This balance can be difficult to find and may require recalibration as your groups program matures (or individual groups and their leaders become more comfortable with their roles).
+
+#### Types of Local Groups
+
+\
+*Local Hubs*\
+A common type of group is the locally-based group. These groups are organized by location (generally a political constituency or city/town) and members of the group are from that community. These groups are often focused on responding to local issues in their communities. They can act as the organization’s eyes and ears – responding to local issues that wouldn’t otherwise be noticed by the organization – and they can serve as rapid responders when the organization’s strategic plans intersect with their community. Generally, successful local groups have a high level of autonomy to decide the direction of the group, but leaders are still given support by the organization and brought into larger strategic priorities. The organization may also help to facilitate collaboration between different local groups when necessary.
+
+\
+*Issue Groups*\
+Issue groups are generally not based on location, but are organized around advocacy for a specific cause. Members of these groups are geographically diverse, but share a common passion for the specific issue.
+
+\
+*Campaign-related Groups*\
+Campaign-related groups may be location-based or issue-based, but they’re hyperfocused on a specific campaign’s success. Once the campaign has finished, the groups will either be dissolved or will be spun into a more traditional location-based or issue-based group.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift’s groups feature supports both location-based groups (tied to a city/town or to a geographic shape, like a county or parliamentary constituency) and non-location-based groups. All groups have access to the same tools: the forum, which serves as the heart of the group; events tools, allowing the group to meet online or in-person; and petitions tools, allowing the group to sponsor online petition campaigns on the issues that mean most to them.
+
+
+
+#### Supporting Group Leaders
+
+\
+*Onboarding Group Leaders*\
+Successfully supporting group leaders begins with a clear vision for your groups that’s communicated with groups from the beginning. Initial communications should include both written materials (which can be ongoing references for both established and newly-created groups), as well as one or a few kick off calls to explain your organization’s vision in more detail.
+
+The process for approving new group applications can vary based on the organization. Some organizations will approve most group leader requests as long as no red flags are raised in the initial application. Other organizations have a more intensive process that includes checking the prospective leader’s past actions in support of the organization, completion of required group leader training, and/or speaking to a member of staff.
+
+
+
+
Within ControlShift, all group leader applications are automatically added to the organization’s moderation queue, making it easy for staff to review new applications.
+
+
+
+\
+*Ongoing Support*\
+Similarly, ongoing support of groups can take many forms. At the most basic level, having written materials with expectations, frequently asked questions, and ways of getting in touch with the organization is essential.
+
+Some organizations also divide their groups into cohorts based on issue area or geographic region before assigning them to a member of staff. That staff member becomes the main point of contact for the leaders of their groups – building a relationship between leaders and the organization and answering any questions the leaders may have.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift’s mentors feature makes it easy to assign staff who will be in charge of supporting a member-led group.
+
+
+
+Organizations may also wish to have regularly scheduled calls or webinars to check in with group leaders, share the organization’s current priorities, and communicate opportunities for action. Separating leaders into cohorts can keep these calls smaller and allow leaders to establish relationships with other group leaders. Ideally, these leaders will then be able to share tips amongst themselves, answer each others’ questions, and provide each other with support.
+
+The organization may also wish to provide other spaces for leaders to communicate with one another, like a group specifically for group leaders. As your groups program scales, you may also find some group leaders who wish to mentor new group leaders.
+
+As with other types of distributed organizing, storytelling is important. When a group launches a campaign, holds an interesting event, reaches a milestone, or gets a win, tell people! Share the story with group leaders, group members, and other supporters. Having concrete examples of the work that your groups are doing will make them more appealing to potential group members, while also keeping the energy and passion up in your existing groups.
+
+\
+*Housekeeping*\
+Even with the best support program, not all groups are going to be successful. Some groups may fizzle out after initially burning bright, others may never really get off the ground at all. Organizations should feel empowered to hide or remove inactive groups. If a supporter is looking to get involved, not seeing any group in their area (while being asked to become a leader!) may be preferable to seeing a long-inactive group. The former will hopefully get them to step up as a leader, while the latter may just leave them discouraged.
+
+If a group is languishing, try to see if you can get it running again. Has the group’s leader(s) stopped taking action? Get in touch to see if there’s anything you can do to help. Maybe they’re overwhelmed or not sure what actions they should be planning next. Remind them of the important role they’re playing in your organization's strategy and see if you can get them to host an event or take some other action in their community. Is your organization running a campaign in the group’s area? Try to get them involved in the campaign. If the host is no longer able or interested in leading the group, put out a call to the existing members to see if they want to take over some or all of the leader duties. If needed, you can ease a group member into a leadership role by asking them to host a single event or be the contact person for a piece of the work that group is doing.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift’s groups features allow administrators to see an overview of the activity – forum posts, events, and petitions – that’s happening across all groups. This overview makes it easier to see which groups are actively engaged and which require intervention.
+
+
+
+If your efforts to revitalize a group have failed, it may be time to archive the group. Let the members know that they can create or join a new group if they’re interested in doing so in the future.
+
+### Supporting Digital Organizing Broadly
+
+Regardless of which model of digital organizing you adopt, supporting your members through each stage of their involvement is essential to your success. While learning from early tests and homing in on the program structure that best resonates with your members should allow you to scale and increase efficiency, distributed organizing will still need plenty of care and feeding. Depending on the size of your program, you will probably need at least a half-time person – and potentially several staff members -- to ensure ongoing results.
+
+\
+*Moderation*\
+At a minimum, you’ll need to keep a close eye on what comes in on the platform – at least on a daily basis and ideally closer to real-time. Quickly reviewing new campaigns, events, and group leader applications signals your support for your members’ work and will ensure that their campaigns and other actions can advance in a timely manner. You may consider staffing this on a rolling basis – with each team member being responsible a day or a week at a time.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift integrates with Slack and allows fast-moving teams to be notified of new campaigns that require moderation as soon as they are created.
+
+
+
+Some organizations also have a daily review of new campaigns. They sit down, walk through each new or updated campaign, and assign follow-ups for editing, coaching, PR or other support.
+
+Similarly, organizations supporting days of action or groups may find that regularly scheduled meetings are useful in making sure that everyone knows the current status of the work being done and the places where additional admin support is needed.
+
+\
+*Organizing Support, Coaching, and Mentorship*\
+While members are often passionate about the issues and able to spot raw opportunities for action, it is rare that they can channel that passion into a successful campaign or a stable group without some level of support from your organization.
+
+Many organizations develop a set of written content that can be shared with leaders. A scalable way to share this information is to include it in the series of emails that go out after a member starts a petition, creates a group, or signs up to host an event. Whenever possible, try to tailor your guides to the specific action that the user has just taken and include specific real-life examples of previous actions taken. Other effective channels include short video tutorials, conference calls and webinars, and an email list or online group for leaders where they can ask questions and learn from one another. 38 Degrees has set up a great [resource site](https://home.38degrees.org.uk/cby-tips/) for their member campaigners.
+
+After a petition or event has been created, most organizations will work with the leaders to edit and refine content if they plan to promote the event or petition to their broader organizational mailing list. This can be a good opportunity to build the relationship between your organization and the leader who created the content.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift’s mentors feature makes it easy to assign a staff member who will serve as a coach for a specific campaign or event. This mentor can contact the leader, offer advice, and be available to answer questions.
+
+
+
+Some organizations offer direct coaching for particularly compelling petition campaigns. By scheduling time on the phone with petition starters, they can discuss how to promote the campaign, schedule an event, work with the media, and stage a high-impact petition delivery. While you can probably communicate much of this information via training guides and online resources, there is no substitute for personal outreach.
+
+Similarly, some organizations will host live webinars for group leaders or hosts taking part in a day of action, which allows these leaders to learn more about the strategic plan and get their questions answered in real time.
+
+As your program grows, you may find that you need additional tools to manage the relationship between your staff and your leaders. Groups have successfully used Trello, NationBuilder, and Salesforce.com for relationship management.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift’s native integrations and flexible APIs make it easy to send platform data to the other tools that your organization is using.
+
+
+
+\
+*Rapid Response*\
+As you build capacity for distributed organizing, it can be an extremely valuable resource in key moments. You’ll want to make sure your full staff is aware of the possibilities and trained on the platform so that they can quickly tap into the capacity of your member leadership when it really counts.
+
+*Case Studies & Storytelling*\
+Success stories are vital for inspiring members and showing your leadership that the program is worth the time and money. You may want to assign someone who can keep track of successful actions and write compelling stories about what worked. These stories can be shared with staff, your board, and the media to paint a picture of your program’s impact.
+
+Equally importantly, these stories should also be shared back to your supporters. Nothing as effectively captures the power of your supporters as a concrete example of when a regular member, just like everyone else on your list, was able to effect change. These stories don’t just provide encouragement, but they can also spark new life into supporters and can turn passive recipients into newly recruited leaders.
+
+\
+*Ongoing testing and optimization*\
+You will also want to keep a close eye on the overall health of the platform. This means setting up analytics to monitor important paths and funnels, like how many people who land on the petition start page actually complete the process.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift is built to easily connect with analytics tools like Google Analytics, Matomo, and Segment.
+
+
+
+Beyond aggregated numbers, the most successful organizations will also perform targeted surveys of leaders and/or people who have taken particular actions. The action takers in your distributed organizing program are the best source for feedback about what’s working and what needs to be changed. Incorporating this feedback into the program is an ongoing process that’s integral to successful programs. The support you provide to your leaders will change over time and constantly refining your program to meet the ongoing needs of your supporters is key.
+
+If one of your organization’s primary goals is to grow your supporter list, also you’ll need to regularly monitor activity, promote the best campaigns and actions to your list, and track which type of content is recruiting the most new members.
+
+\
+*Broad Integration*\
+Once you’ve tested and established your ongoing program, you’ll want to make sure that distributed organizing is fully integrated into your organization. Many organizations link to their platform from their homepage, which makes it easy for organic action takers to get going. You might also consider adding a prompt to start a campaign, join a group, or find an event to your standard email templates.
+
+
+
+
ControlShift’s front-end JSONP APIs, and other integrations, make it easy to integrate our platform with the rest of your site. Color of Change has done this with their OrganizeFor.org homepage.
+
Our pre-built CRM integrations also ensure that member data flows seamlessly to your existing databases and mailing lists.
+
+
+
+## Final Thoughts
+
+Trusting our members to take the lead in organizing and giving over control might be a large shift from the way your organization has worked in the past, but it’s also a great opportunity to expand the work your organization is able to accomplish. This style of organizing is about making our movements big enough to win even if it means our campaigns can't be perfect as a result. The challenges progressives and our society face our too enormous not to open up and invite everyone to help.
+
+**If you’re interested in how distributed organizing can help improve your organization’s impact, [get in touch](mailto:talk@controlshiftlabs.com)!**
\ No newline at end of file