Activate 2025: Beyond the Ballot

Re-inspire your work, and be challenged by new ideas. World-class leaders will share game-changing secrets from their winning campaigns and engage directly with fellow participants in One-on-One Advisor Sessions, Peer Coaching Circles, and Roundtable Conversations.

“Activate 2023 Hollyhock was like a week of masterclasses in life. The knowledge and skills I gained were invaluable. I’m taking home a refreshed mindset, a deeper understanding of the world, and a notebook full of ideas. This is education reimagined.” – 2023 participant

Grow your network and forge genuine connections with like-minded campaigners and advocates who are dedicated to sharing their knowledge, and lifting one another up.

Activate is for:

• Managers and leaders in advocacy organizations and nonprofits who want to build strong digital programs. They want to learn how to build buy-in for digital across their organization, set up their team for success, and select the right tools and platforms to engage their members and supporters. 
• Campaigners and organizers who want a structured training program that will help them engage their supporters and win campaigns. 
• Organizers, communicators and digital staff at labour unions who want to learn from some of the best progressive digital leaders in the world. They want to explore the most effective ways to leverage technology to help their union connect with members and supporters in the community, and drive them to take action on campaigns in the workplace and beyond.
• Business Development & Partnership Leads or Leaders at marketing or tech agencies who want to develop business and clients from non-profits, labour unions, and advocacy organizations

We particularly invite anyone who:

• has been feeling burnt out, disconnected, or uninspired
• is looking to collaborate and find new partners, allies, or coalitions
• feels alarmed by fracturing within the movement and wants to find solutions
• is interested in discovering the most cutting edge tools and strategies, and translating that knowledge into your own organizing
• wants to more effectively engage the communities you serve, across generations and demographics
• has big ideas about how we can do things differently

Find out why Activate has a Net Promoter Score of 94%

“I recommend Activate to anyone looking to recharge, find community, and reconnect with their values or their sense of purpose and agency. You will leave transformed.”
– Kate Catherall, Founder and Principal, Slow Clap & Co-founder and Board Chair, Arena

“Activate continues to be one of those spaces where I feel welcomed, supported, and connected. Sharing informal time with so many incredible participants and the keynote speakers allows for many important conversations and learnings. I always show up open and curious and leave inspired and re-energized.”
– Lydia Phillip, Impact Organizations of Nova Scotia

“Activate was a beautiful experience that was educational and rejuvenating in an industry that can be especially demanding and emotionally draining. I left feeling inspired and buzzing with new ideas.”
–Angela, Labour Union Staff Member

“Activate is a place to set aside our rapid life rhythm and create space to truly share wisdom with people from various backgrounds. I leave Activate renewed, full of ideas, and with meaningful connections.”
–Eymie Labbé, Youth Climate Corps