Applications open for this career-advancing, campaign-winning opportunity
Voter engagement work is some of the most important in civic life — and some of the most challenging. Often it’s trying to reach people who’ve tuned out, burned out, or been terribly marginalized and disenfranchised. Plus, the typical methods and tools are old, stale, and broken, and budgets are often too tight to make a difference.
That’s where we come in. The Center for Artistic Activism built our award-winning Unstoppable Voters program to make voting irresistible. We’ve worked with thousands of voting champions across the U.S. to help them bring strategic creativity and standout success to their work. We’ve supported hundreds of organizations in building efficient and effective campaigns that truly connect, motivate, and mobilize communities. And we’re certainly not stopping now.
Announcing the Unstoppable Voters: Leaders Accelerator
In this election year (which is, yet again, the most important of our lives), we want to help even more leaders run campaigns that will truly make a difference. That’s why we’re launching the Unstoppable Voters: Leaders Accelerator.
The Unstoppable Voters: Leaders Accelerator is a unique professional development and campaign support program. It’s for leaders at U.S. advocacy organizations who are ready to supercharge their 2026 voter engagement work with the powers of creativity. Through a mix of in-person training, online mentorship, peer support, and seed funding, leaders will design and implement genuinely new and impactful campaigns for the 2026 general election.
The program builds on our past Unstoppable Voters Fellowship and Innovation for Impact Leadership Intensive. We’re taking the best of those initiatives and building a program that meets this moment.
Read all the program details below and apply by May 17th. PLUS learn more about the program at our Creative Leadership in Action event on May 7th!
What you’ll gain from the Accelerator
Expert Tools for Campaign Design
The program starts in July with a much-loved in-person retreat. From July 26th-29th, you’ll learn how to harness the creative process to solve strategic voter engagement challenges, motivate your audiences, prototype powerful ideas, and drive your team forward with clarity and momentum. You’ll leave the retreat with a strong outline for a campaign that will mobilize your communities.
Monthly Coaching and Cohort Support
After the retreat, we’ll work closely with you as you return home to test and run your creative campaign. Every month, we’ll meet in individual coaching and strategy sessions. You’ll also meet monthly with your tight-knit cohort of leaders navigating similar challenges, allowing you to share breakthroughs, lessons, and peer support all along the way.
Funding to Launch Your New Ideas
You’ll get a total of $2,000 in implementation funding to help you realize your bold ideas. Initially you’ll get $500 to go towards prototyping your campaign; then you’ll get the remaining $1,500 to realize it with the insights you gain from the testing phase. We know that risk-averse funders can often be a major barrier to trying new things. While the funding may not cover the full cost of a campaign, we hope it will help you overcome the highest hurdles.
Lasting Capacity for You & Your Organization
We’ll wrap up the program with a guided evaluation and planning process to ensure you and your organization leave with sustainable systems, momentum, and confidence to keep moving forward after the election cycle.
“I hold this program up on a level of one of the best things I have done for myself professionally ever.” – Jocelyn Foye, Executive Director of The Womxn Project
Who should apply
Senior leaders at U.S. advocacy organizations who are running voter engagement campaigns in 2026 — and who want to bring more creative, strategic thinking to that work. Executive Directors, CEOS, Campaign Directors, and similar titles are all a good fit. We encourage you to apply if you’re:
- Eager to try new strategies for your 2026 election work
- Needing fresh thinking to re-energize yourself and your team
- Ready to experiment, document, and share what you learn
- Seeking coaching and peer support to help you win
The Center for Artistic Activism is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. You do not need to work at a c3 to apply; however, the campaign you work on through the program does need to be c3-compliant. We can help you work through what that means for your specific situation.
Know a leader that should apply?
Nominate them! Send them this page and they can include you in their application.
Why this? Why now?
Voter engagement work is some of the most meaningful in civic life. Right now, it also presents a major way we can make a real difference. But only if the movement’s leaders have the right tools and support to win in this moment.
The Unstoppable Voters: Leaders Accelerator is designed to provide all of that. It’ll help you reach people your current tactics aren’t reaching, build campaigns with genuine cultural resonance, and do more with what you have. Plus it will help you fight burnout, unstick your team, and tap into a well of creative potential. You’ll leave with stronger leadership skills and practical tools to guide you in leading campaigns that actually move the needle.
“I learned a lot from this experience. Your trainings are unconventional in a good way. I felt supported along the way. I felt less lonely in my role and in this endeavor thanks to your team.” – Clarissa Laguardia, Executive Director of the California Center for Civic Participation
Timeline
Application Period
Applications open through midnight ET on May 17
Select applicants will advance to an interview round. Leaders will be chosen in June.
Program Period
July: In-Person Retreat. The retreat will be held in Croton-on-Hudson, NY, from the evening of Sunday, July 26 through the afternoon of Wednesday, July 29. Full attendance required.
By the end of the retreat, leaders will have a draft campaign plan, ready to share back with their teams.
“Being part of this experience with a cohort that was thoughtfully and intentionally shaped was so useful to me. So often, who else is at a training with me is just luck of the draw, which has often led to the frustration of feeling like I was receiving great information for someone else’s context, not for my own. In contrast, C4AA allowed me to work with leaders who had been chosen specifically because we complement each other. That intentionality in everything, from our selection through our ongoing support opportunities, really enhanced how I experienced the program.” – Tigress Osborn, Executive Director of NAAFA
August: Campaign Planning
You’ll return to your organization and begin preparing to implement your ideas. We’ll support with a coaching session and a cohort meeting.
September: Campaign Prototyping
You’ll test out your creative campaign idea in a smaller version to reveal invaluable insights. We’ll support with $500 plus the monthly coaching and cohort meeting sessions.
October: Campaign Implementation
You’ll be ready to realize your ideas at scale. We’ll provide the additional $1,500 in funding and help you as you put your big ideas into action.
November: Celebration and Analysis
Following the election, we’ll celebrate our wins, analyze our work, and find key takeaways for what lies ahead. We’ll end with final individual and cohort meetings to ensure continued strategic creativity in everyone’s future civic engagement campaigns.
“One of the most valuable things I gained through the intensive, beyond the incredible connections I made, was the power of direct mentorship around C4AA’s methodology. The tools and frameworks shared have already proven transformative. The methodology I learned has become a lasting tool in my toolbox that I can apply to all of my work moving forward, which is incredibly valuable and will continue to shape my approach for years to come.” – Patrick Fisher, CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
Costs and Funding
Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to offer the Unstoppable Voters: Leaders Accelerator at no cost to participants. The value of the program is over $12,000 per person, but we’re committed to making sure cost is not a barrier. Our only ask is that you pay your travel to get to the July retreat. All other expenses will be covered at the retreat (room and board — plus lots of fun!).
Application
Applications are due by midnight ET on May 17th. If you have any questions, reach out!
Applications are closed.
Photos: Cleveland VOTES brings creativity to its local election work. An election workshop in Greensboro, NC. Fem Assembly plans it 2025 civic engagement campaign. Past program participants with C4AA trainers. Facilitating a session at the 2025 Netroots Conference. Fem Assembly registers and mobilizes student voters.