Why a campaign needs an endgame
Launch library · evergreen read
An endgame is a campaign's honest picture of what winning, or ending, actually looks like, and without one a campaign can run indefinitely without ever producing a clear result anyone can point to. Defining an endgame early forces organisers to be specific about what success would concretely involve.
Some campaigns end in a clear win or loss, such as a vote or a funding decision, while others end when the underlying conditions change enough that the original ask no longer applies in the way it once did. Either way, naming the endgame in advance prevents drift into activity for its own sake.
A defined endgame also matters for supporters, who deserve to know what they are working toward and when they might reasonably expect to know whether the effort succeeded, rather than being asked for indefinite energy with no visible finish line ever in sight, year after year, with no clear signal that the work is done.