Founded in 2016, New Left Accelerator and The Capacity Shop help progressive and social justice organisations build capacity through an accelerator programme and technical assistance on multi-entity legal structures, compliance and strategy.
New Left Accelerator is an organisation founded in 2016 that works with progressive leaders and emerging progressive organisations, helping them turn ideas into impact. Its central speciality is capacity building for social justice groups using multi-entity legal structures - arrangements that allow an organisation to operate across 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4) and related entities in order to maximise its power and reach. The organisation is headquartered in San Francisco, California and operates across the United States, working with the nonprofit sector, social justice groups, progressive advocacy, grassroots organising, and racial and economic justice movements.
Its main programme, the NLA Accelerator, is a cohort-based partnership admitting six to eight organisations every two years. Each cohort receives up to 20 months of support, including organisational assessments designed for hybrid organisations, coaching, strategic planning, organisational development, and financial and legal compliance assistance - an estimated $50,000-$75,000 worth of expertise, resources and training per participating organisation. Alongside this, a resource clearinghouse and technical assistance offering advises progressive organisations on creating and managing multiple legal entities; it has served more than 120 such organisations.
The work draws on a set of technical domains including organisational development, multi-entity legal structures, legal and financial compliance, strategic planning, executive coaching, and assessments tailored to hybrid organisations. New Left Accelerator operates as a 501(c)(4), with The Capacity Shop, an affiliated 501(c)(3) nonprofit, alongside it. Its stated aim is to support organisations led by communities most affected by injustice, helping them advance policies that strengthen democracy and address systemic oppression.
