Braver Angels: A Grassroots Effort to Depolarize American Politics Custom Case Solution & Analysis

1. Evidence Brief

Financial Metrics

• Annual Revenue: Approximately 1.4 million dollars in 2019, primarily driven by individual contributions.
• Funding Mix: Individual donations represent 80 percent of total revenue; the remainder comes from small foundation grants.
• Cost Structure: Low overhead due to a volunteer-heavy model; expenses primarily cover a small core staff and digital infrastructure.
• Growth Rate: Membership grew from a few dozen in 2016 to over 10,000 dues-paying members by early 2020.

Operational Facts

• Organizational Structure: Hybrid model consisting of a national leadership team and over 100 local alliances managed by volunteers.
• Rule of Balance: Strict 50-50 rule requiring equal representation of Reds (conservatives) and Blues (liberals) in all leadership roles and workshops.
• Product Lines: Red-Blue workshops, Skills Training sessions, Braver Angels Debates, and One-on-One conversations.
• Moderator Pipeline: Volunteers undergo a multi-step certification process to facilitate workshops; currently over 200 certified moderators.
• Geography: Presence in nearly all 50 US states, with high concentrations in the Northeast and Midwest.

Stakeholder Positions

• David Blankenhorn (President): Focuses on organizational growth and maintaining the non-partisan brand.
• Bill Doherty (Process Designer): Prioritizes the therapeutic integrity of the workshop model and the 50-50 balance.
• David Knapp (VP of Alliances): Manages the tension between local volunteer autonomy and national brand standards.
• Conservative Members (Reds): Often express concern about being outnumbered or misunderstood by a predominately liberal-leaning non-profit sector.

Information Gaps

• Retention Data: The case lacks specific figures on member churn rates after the first year.
• Impact Measurement: Absence of long-term data showing if workshop participation leads to sustained changes in voting behavior or political engagement.
• Competitor Landscape: Limited data on other depolarization organizations and their relative market share for donor funding.

2. Strategic Analysis

Core Strategic Question

• How can Braver Angels scale its grassroots depolarization model to achieve national impact without compromising the 50-50 balance or the quality of its volunteer-led workshops?

Structural Analysis

Applying the Value Chain lens reveals that the primary value is created in the recruitment and training of moderators. The 50-50 rule acts as a structural constraint on the supply chain. If the organization cannot recruit enough Reds, it cannot legally (by its own bylaws) produce more workshops for Blues. This creates a bottleneck where liberal demand exceeds conservative supply, stalling growth.

Using the Jobs-to-be-Done framework, participants are not just looking for political debate; they are looking for a sense of agency in a fractured society. The workshops provide a psychological safety net that is currently missing from digital platforms.

Strategic Options

Preliminary Recommendation

Braver Angels should pursue Geographic Saturation. By concentrating resources in specific regions, the organization can move beyond individual empathy and begin to influence local political climates. This approach mitigates the risk of spreading volunteer resources too thin and allows for a more focused conservative recruitment strategy.

3. Implementation Roadmap

Critical Path

• Month 1-3: Identify five high-potential regions with balanced Red-Blue volunteer bases. Implement a centralized CRM to track moderator certification and workshop frequency.
• Month 4-6: Launch a targeted conservative recruitment campaign using rural radio and local community leaders to break the 50-50 bottleneck.
• Month 7-9: Establish regional hubs with part-time paid coordinators to support volunteer alliance leaders.

Key Constraints

• Conservative Recruitment: The most significant barrier to execution. Success depends on moving beyond traditional non-profit marketing which often alienates conservative audiences.
• Volunteer Burnout: The current model relies on high-touch facilitation. If the burden on local leaders is not reduced through better tech support, the alliance structure will collapse.

Risk-Adjusted Implementation Strategy

The plan assumes a 20 percent conversion rate from workshop attendee to dues-paying member. To account for economic volatility, the organization must diversify revenue by introducing a fee-for-service model for corporate diversity and inclusion training. This provides a financial buffer if individual donations decline. Execution will be measured by the ratio of active moderators to total members in each target region.

4. Executive Review and BLUF

BLUF

Braver Angels must pivot from a growth-at-all-costs membership model to a regional saturation strategy. The central challenge is the conservative recruitment bottleneck. Without solving the 50-50 participation deficit, the organization will remain a liberal echo chamber attempting to talk to itself. Success requires prioritizing institutional depth over national breadth. Stop chasing membership totals and start measuring local political density.

Dangerous Assumption

The analysis assumes that interpersonal empathy generated in a workshop setting translates into systemic political change. There is no evidence in the case that a Red and a Blue finding common ground stops the structural incentives for polarization in the media or primary elections.

Unaddressed Risks

• Brand Hijacking: As the organization gains prominence, extreme political actors may attempt to co-opt the brand, leading to a loss of neutral status. Probability: High. Consequence: Fatal to the mission.
• Funding Concentration: Relying on 80 percent individual donations makes the organization vulnerable to political fatigue or economic downturns. Probability: Medium. Consequence: Significant operational contraction.

Unconsidered Alternative

The team did not consider a licensing model. Braver Angels could exit direct workshop delivery and instead certify external consultants or HR departments to use their methodology. This would remove the operational burden of managing 100 plus alliances while still spreading the depolarization process.

VERDICT: APPROVED FOR LEADERSHIP REVIEW