You’ve uncovered ties between your university and fossil fuel companies, but how do you use that information to start a campaign? What should your demands be and who should you be demanding them from? How do you answer tricky questions about finances of FFR from professors and admin in 1:1 meetings? Over the years, many student groups in CCN have run campaigns demanding that their colleges and universities refuse research funding from the fossil fuel industry. This guide is meant to share the learnings, successes, and challenges of those campaigns so that the knowledge we’ve accumulated together as a movement can help you come to the answers to the aforementioned questions that are right for your group and campus context.
Note: Doesn’t CCN already have a resource called the FFR Guide? Yes! You may have already seen CCN’s FFR Guide (or you can check it out here if you haven’t already). The FFR Guide and the FFR Campaign Guide are meant to be companion guides. That guide is about research methods for learning about ties between your school and the fossil fuel industry, and this guide is focused on how to run a campaign to cut those ties.
How to Run a Successful FFR Campaign
Relevant Policy Models and Precedents for FFR Campaigns
If you are looking for additional support with running your FFR campaign or you have questions about the guide, please reach out to CCN’s FFR Coordinator Emma Blankstein ([email protected]).
If you are interested in doing research to discover ties between your school and the fossil fuel industry you can contact our Research Coordinator Trey McCallister ([email protected]).
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This guide was written by the FFR Working Group in Spring 2025. Special thanks to Jake Lowe and Isabella Garo for your support throughout the research, writing, and editing process.
Thank you to Coalition for a True School of Sustainability, Sunrise Brown, Climate Justice Olin, Sunrise Columbia, Sunrise Princeton, MIT Divest, and Climate Justice University of Toronto for the brilliant FFR campaigns you’ve run/are running and for sharing your knowledge and resources with us.
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