Let’s build the strongest possible movement!

As Third Act’s Lead National Organizer, I have the privilege of working with Third Actors on a daily basis. The new folks who are just joining our working groups and entering activism for the first time are among the most important and inspiring people I know.

One of the most crucial points in the journey is when new people join one of our working groups or sign up as a member on our mailing list. To use a fishing metaphor, that’s when they’re hooked—but not landed. At this point, they will stay and contribute to the movement, or they may languish and become disengaged.

That’s why building a strong organizing program based on the members’ connections with each other and with Third Act’s strategies is essential to our success.

Our Third Act model is based entirely on volunteers running their operations in their state-based or affinity working groups. It’s a huge responsibility. We’re darn lucky to have so many capable volunteer leaders running our working groups. Yet we have tens of thousands of people who want to be activated and connected to our groups, and we can’t help them all fast enough.

Our organizing staff team consists of myself and one other person. We can’t amply tend to our existing groups or start new ones with such limited capacity. We also know that if we are to have any chance of succeeding against the fossil fuel giants, or beating back the rising tide of authoritarianism, we are going to have to grow our numbers and power greatly. That’s why we’re asking you to help support the No Time To Waste Fund.

“This is the most important work of my lifetime.”
– B Fulkerson

We’re hard at work to raise $500,000 by the end of this year to supercharge our organizing work and bring on a few more staff to help hold it all together. Even though we know that solid organizing is critical to the success of our movement, it is by far the hardest thing to raise money for. People like to see immediate wins—and those can be important—but we know that to land truly transformative change we need to change the story of a moment, of a culture. That’s what this movement-building work does.

We’re excited about the No Time to Waste Fund because it will help us to hold in-person convenings in multiple regions in the U.S., providing a wonderful opportunity for training, networking and for Third Actors to share their challenges and victories. With these funds, we expect to be able to provide more resources to everyone, and more financial support to those groups giving their all to plan more extensive campaigns and actions.

I’m honored to know so many wonderful Third Actors and excited to see what more we can all do in 2024. Many people have already given and we thank you! After launching this fundraising campaign last week, folks like you have already helped us reach a big milestone toward our goal—we’re already a fifth of the way there!

If you haven’t yet, will you chip in to make next year as powerful and impactful as possible? Please give generously to the No Time To Waste Fund!

B Fulkerson

B Fulkerson is the Lead National Organizer for Third Act. A fifth-generation Nevadan, B is an Army Brat whose mother protested the Vietnam war, which left their father 100 percent disabled. At 85, she still helps to bail B out of jail when they get into good trouble. Their first act was serving as executive director of Citizen Alert, Nevada’s first statewide watchdog organization, raising a daughter, and coming out. Their second act was marrying their husband from rural Nevada, co-founding the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, and serving as Executive Director for a quarter century. Their third act is helping raise two grandkids and doing everything in their power to ensure the children have a shot at a livable planet.