Toward a Thriving Horizon: A Plan to Build Power and Win
In February 2020 at BISC’s Road Ahead conference, we launched a new strategic framework. At that time, BISC was being asked to step into a different type of leadership – to move from a technical leader to an organization focused on movement-wide change and impact.
We were asked to change the culture of ballot measure campaigns from transactional efforts to pass policy to vehicles to bring about transformational systemic change that builds durable state-based power. You asked us to ensure the most impacted communities, those who are too often marginalized and left out of decision-making rooms, were not only centered but driving that change. You asked us to invest in and to create tools to disrupt race, power, and privilege.
We answered your call.
A month later, we found ourselves in the middle of a pandemic, upending all of our lives. That summer, we found ourselves in the middle of a racial reckoning, galvanizing us to face our racist history and create systemic change we knew was necessary to advance our vision forward. During that time, many people and organizations were scrambling to adjust – to find grounding. BISC remained steady because we already had a North Star.
We were ready. We had a plan. We put it into action.
More than five years later, we find ourselves at another crossroads – responding to backlash because of our success. We face an assault on humanity and democratic values that reaches every branch of government. People are again scrambling to stop the rise of authoritarianism – to create new plans in a rapidly changing world. BISC has remained steady because we anticipated this moment and made adjustments guided by our North Star.
During this time of chaos, you have asked not to change what we are doing, but to assert our leadership. You have asked BISC to adopt a more declarative, forward-facing leadership stance. You have asked us to be clear about our point of view and put the thumb on the scale.
An ask like this doesn’t happen often for national organizations, especially from state leaders. You told us you trust us because you know we won’t leave you behind, we will make everyone stronger.
We have been proving our theory of change not only for the last five years. We’ve been working with you side-by-side in states like Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio for more than a decade to test our theory and deliver results. Through ballot initiatives, WE have secured abortion rights, raised wages, expanded voting access, and more while investing in people and power.
So in these turbulent times, BISC is doubling down on what we know works: winning ballot measures that improve the material conditions of people’s lives AND building power that outlasts an election.
We know it isn’t just IF WE WIN, IT IS HOW WE WIN that builds durable power. From our experience working in partnership with you, we know that HOW has to be rooted in values and long-term strategy.
At Road Ahead 2026, we shared our updated strategic framework with attendees, and I am excited to share the final version with you.
We remain guided by a North Star vision:
BISC is committed to building a world where communities can flourish – where dignity, safety, belonging, and joy are foundational to everyday life and people have agency over their lives. Through BISC’s leadership and the power of direct democracy, we will forge a new collective pact rooted in equity, justice, and liberation. Our legacy lives on in the leaders we’ve cultivated and in the vibrant communities shaping their own futures.
Because of our role in the ecosystem, we are asked to hold both the short and long-term vision. As we meet this moment, we don’t accept the conditions as they are, we will create new ones to move us forward. As we shape our strategy and deploy tactics, we ask ourselves to what end. Our 10-year long-term impact goals answer that question:
- Long-term state power is built through winning ballot measure campaigns.
- A unified ecosystem drives proactive strategies that tangibly improve lives.
- The ballot measure process is protected, expanded, and strengthened.
- Funding practices are sustainable, equitable, and lifecycle-driven.
This is not about isolated wins. It is about reshaping democratic infrastructure.
But we also know the challenges we face, and we have to sharpen our lens and be clear about our priorities so our team and our partners know where to invest their time, treasure, and talent.
Over the next five years, BISC will:
- Win proactive ballot measures that grow leadership and infrastructure.
- Defend and expand direct democracy against authoritarian threats.
- Align and strengthen the ballot measure ecosystem under a shared Gold Standard.
- Expand public understanding of ballot measures as a driver of a thriving democracy.
- Shift funding earlier and more sustainably across the lifecycle.
- Strengthen BISC’s own organizational sustainability and excellence.
We believe this plan moves from a reactive posture to a proactive one where we set the conditions that accelerate us towards our North Star vision. We create a holistic lifecycle strategy that advances a long-term, movement-driven vision – not one focused solely on electoral victories. It embeds equity as discipline, not rhetoric, and elevates state leaders as democracy builders who wield power.
Through ballot measures, we are already winning and are demonstrating that another path forward is possible, and this scares our opposition. They are attacking direct democracy because of its tremendous impact.
At this defining crossroads for democracy, BISC stands ready to be a powerful leader and to move with clarity and conviction. With you by our side, BISC is ready to lead the fight for a multiracial democracy where dignity, safety, and self-determination are not aspirations but realities.
We have the people, the partnerships, and the plan to turn crisis into collective power. We are developing and training the next generation of leaders and forging coalitions that span movements and states. We are defending direct democracy not only as a process, but as a promise: that the people can shape the future of this nation.
Together, we will be an unstoppable force that defines a new path forward toward a horizon where we all thrive.