How Asset Framing Is Mobilizing 39 Million Americans
- Apr 5
- 3 min read
What if the biggest obstacle to your movement isn't funding, awareness, or political opposition - but the story you're telling? Most social impact organizations lead with the crisis. The injustice. The urgency. It feels necessary, but communications strategist Doug Hattaway, President of Hattaway Communications, it may be the very thing slowing your movement down.
"People are well aware of the problems," Hattaway says. "One of the biggest obstacles movements face today is a lack of belief that change is possible."
His advice: start with the solution.
The Science Behind Aspirational Communication
Hattaway's firm has spent years applying motivational psychology and social science to movement building, what they call aspirational communication. The core insight is simple: in their heart of hearts, people's behaviors are driven by their aspirations, the kind of person they want to be, the community they want to live in, the world they want to leave behind.
"When you can start there," Hattaway explains, "connect your cause to people's aspirations for their lives, you are by definition talking to things that really matter to them and motivate them, moving them to take action."
This aligns directly with the principles of Asset-Framing, an award-winning cognitive framework developed by Trabian Shorters, CEO of BMe Community, which focuses on defining people by their aspirations and contributions rather than their challenges and deficits. Together, these frameworks point to the same north star: lead with vision, not victimhood.
Meet the 39 Million Builders
Hattaway's firm conducted a national study for BMe Community to identify Americans ready to support Black leaders and their aspirations of the Love Agenda: Live, Own, Vote, Excel. They found a segment they call the Builders, 39 million people defined by three traits:
Optimistic: They believe tomorrow can be better
Efficacious:They believe the system can change
Solutions-oriented: They believe they can help make it happen
Politically, they're not who you'd expect: roughly half identify as Democrats, with 20–25% independents and another 20% Republicans. Racially, they mirror the general U.S. population. They're already motivated, they don't need to be convinced the problem exists, they just need to know where to show up.
"Don't write people off because you think you know how they're thinking," Hattaway cautions. The builders are already on board. They don't need to be convinced the problem exists. They need to be shown where to show up.
Bridging the Political Divide (Without Ignoring It)
For executives working in polarized environments, the natural concern is: how do you mobilize a politically diverse group without alienating half of them?
Hattaway's answer draws from decades of social science research on reducing "social distance" between groups: get people working together on a shared, concrete goal, especially at the local level.
Much of today's polarization, he argues, is manufactured and amplified by national media narratives and a small number of extremely partisan voices commanding outsized attention. Most Americans, research shows, are part of an exhausted majority that wants nothing more than something constructive to do.
"Be the breath of fresh air," Hattaway says. "People will respond."
The practical implication for your organization: drop the political framing and focus on concrete, shared goals. When BMe communicates its LOVE Agenda, building businesses, creating healthy communities, coaching young people, it's describing aspirations that resonate across ideological lines. No partisan trigger words. No culture-war framing. Just leaders doing work that people want to support.
Two Things You Can Do Today
Sharpen your one-minute pitch
Can you paint a vivid picture of your goal and the people pursuing it in under 60 seconds? Not a mission statement — a human, concrete vision. That's what moves donors, partners, and the public.
Find your builders
Stop trying to convert the opposition. Who's already aligned with your aspirations and just waiting for an on-ramp? Research them. Meet them where they are. Give them something meaningful to do.
Start small. Even 1% of 39 million is 390,000 people. Every movement begins with three.
Doug Hattaway is President of Hattaway Communications, a firm specializing in audience research and aspirational communication for social movements. This post is based on his conversation with Benjamin Carlton on the podcast From the Source.
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