Written by Esther Foreman, Founder and CEO of The Social Change Nest. 

The rise of far right movements in the UK and globally has made one thing clear: real change happens from the ground up. Across communities, small and unincorporated groups are uniting to push back against hate, fear and division. 

At The Social Change Nest, we’re proud to fiscally host and empower many of these grassroots movements. By handling the admin, banking, and compliance, we free changemakers to focus on what matters – fighting extremism and far right movements, while building communities of solidarity and inclusion.

Growing networks of people who can call upon each other in a time of crisis, share resources, and more are crucial.  We attended the New Organising Conference a few weeks ago, where they spoke about fighting the far right from an organisers’ perspective. 

Their two key points about preparing to organise against the far right focused on the following; 

What we do know is that the demonisation of migrants, refugees, and racialised communities is top-down, not bottom-up. It’s designed to stop people questioning the real causes of poverty, underfunded services, and insecure work.  

We also can’t label members of far right movements as ‘stupid’ as it will mislead our strategic thinking and tactical approaches. If we see people as stupid and therefore unorganised, we are not meeting the level of threat with the necessary energy or respect that is required.

We know that authoritarian ideologies thrive when communities feel unheard. Grassroots democracy is one of the strongest defences against the far right. Here is a great round-up of some of our favourite fiscally hosted groups working to stop the far right and extremism.

8 Groups Challenging the Growing Far Right Movement 

Empowering Local Democracy and Civic Participation 

As ever, Hope not Hate (an advocacy group that campaigns against far right ideology)  hits the nail on the head when writing: “We can run all the community events in the world to bring people together, we can try to rationalise the immigration debate with facts, we can fight the media and online platforms to pull hateful content. But none of this will be enough unless we can also offer real hope.” 

This is why on the 18th-19th of October,  Hope Not Hate is organising a weekend of Hope. Please do remember to sign up!

Our House is building a people-powered movement for political systems change expressed through new People’s Charters for each of the four nations of the UK. They launched recently, and are an alliance of democracy practitioners, creatives, community organisers, storytellers, activists, and campaigners building the scaffolding for a citizen-led future. You can support them by offering to host a People’s Charter event or donating to the movement. 

Dalston Solidarity Café  builds inclusive local spaces where anyone can share food, ideas, and political education – directly countering fear and misinformation.  

And finally, here is an oldie but goodie –  never ones to turn down an opportunity to party! In 2018, Germans turned to techno to drown out the sounds of hate.

Building Power Against Far Right Movements — From the Ground Up

We thoroughly appreciate the role of organising at a local level to help build resistance and resilience. We love the AWETHU School of Organising, which is an educational initiative dedicated to empowering individuals and communities through political education and tools for grassroots organising. Their efforts centre Black and Global majority people who have been typically excluded from climate justice and social conversations in the UK and work to challenge this, so that they can lead the solutions and the efforts that shape our collective future.  

We also support the work of the Jewish Diaspora Alliance, who work internationally with Jews and other diasporic and minority communities towards a world rooted in solidarity instead of division, possibility instead of fear. They engage with Jews and their allies who seek a world of freedom, dignity and justice for all people, wherever they live. Using a combination of organising, policy and peace and reconciliation work, they reach deep into Jewish communities of colour to help build resilient networks. 

Other incredible networks that are organising in community spaces include the ROT Collective. They are a volunteer-led radical South Asian collective creating space for resistance, solidarity and transformation towards collective liberation. They are working to address and challenge the ongoing and enduring impact of unjust power hierarchies that perpetuate harm within the marginalised South Asian diaspora, while practising being in community together. 

Countering the Far Right in Hostile Environments

The rise in anti-immigration sentiment knows no bounds. We have been supporting Resist Deportation MCR since it started back in 2024, mainly as a response to the passing of the Rwanda Bill in April 2024 and the wave of detentions and threatened deportations which followed. They are fully self-organised and mostly unresourced – so please give generously. Their organisation focuses on challenging the hostile environment and providing support and solidarity to people in the immigration system. 

We also back Regularise, which is a migrant-founded and undocumented-led grassroots campaign group and collective made up of migrants and British citizens. Since being founded in late 2019, they have been campaigning to improve the quality of life of the up to 1.2 million undocumented migrants living in the UK by attaining basic rights and a safe and more equitable path to settlement and citizenship.

Visit the Regularise website or follow them on X or Instagram to get regular updates about their work.

Why The Social Change Nest?

We know that you can’t fight hate on an empty budget. Our work at the Social Change Nest enables small and unregistered groups to access funds, stay compliant, and grow sustainably — all while maintaining independence and being right where they need to be – in the heart of their communities. 

Through our Open Collective page, funders and donors can transparently support anti-racist and anti-extremist work. Every hosted group benefits from:

• Simple and transparent accounting
• Quick grant distribution and due diligence
  
• Access to learning, network support, and shared visibility

If you are part of a grassroots group fighting hate, racism or extremism, or if you want to help through donations or collaborations, we would love to hear from you. 

In solidarity
Esther and the SCN team.