SMK Annual Campaigner and Changemaker Survey
Survey 2025 results are out!
Campaigners warn of toughest year yet with rising threats but also a surge in hope-fuelled collaboration.
The results from our Annual Campaigner and Changemaker Survey 2025 are now published in our report Hope in Collaboration: How campaigners are responding in the toughest year yet.
The report draws on testimony from 166 campaigners across the UK. It paints a stark picture of a sector grappling with political polarisation, rising extremism, hostile legislation, and chronic under‑resourcing.
Data reveals that the UK’s campaigning environment has deteriorated to its worst point in a decade with 69% of campaigners saying things have got worse in the past year. Yet despite unprecedented pressure, the report also uncovers a powerful counter trend: campaigners are deliberately cultivating hope, collaboration and community resilience as tools for social change.
Key findings include:
- 69% say the environment for campaigning has worsened, the highest level recorded since the survey began in 2016.
- 43% of campaigners feel personally threatened or exposed by their work, with risks increasingly “stacked” across online harassment, identity-based targeting, and far‑right intimidation.
- 21% cite a lack of belief that social change is possible as a major threat, a striking new trend.
- 100% believe campaigning by civil society is legitimate, and 98% say more campaigning will be needed in 2026.
- Over half experienced a breakthrough or success in 2025, often empowered by grassroots voices, collaboration, and long‑term relationship‑building.
- 93% want to collaborate more, but lack of time and money remain the biggest barriers.
Hope in Collaboration: How campaigners are responding in the toughest year yet.
Insights from SMK’s Annual Campaigner and Changemaker survey 2025
“Campaigners are facing pressures that would have been unimaginable a decade ago, from rising extremism to shrinking civic space and a deepening sense of public fatigue. Yet what stands out in this year’s findings is not despair, but determination. Campaigners are choosing to hope as a deliberate strategy, and they are building it together through collaboration, community and courage.”
Katie Roberts
Chief Executive, Sheila McKechnie Foundation
What is the survey and who is it for?
Now in its tenth year, the SMK Annual Campaigner and Changemaker Survey takes the temperature of campaigning in the UK.
This survey is aimed at campaigners, changemakers, advocates and activists across the UK. Legendary campaigner, Sheila McKechnie, believed in the importance of people being able to shape their world. This is the founding principle of SMK today.
Why do we run the survey?
SMK’s mission is to unleash the potential of changemakers by providing them with support, connecting them, and championing their interests. We run this survey to:
- provide insights and evidence to improve your practice and support your work.
- provide insights to support you and other organisations who speak out for the right to campaign as a key part of a healthy democracy.
- raise the voices of campaigners and changemakers by providing a platform to share your collective views and build connection with one another.
Previous surveys
2024 - 2025
- Optimism remains, but many campaigners taking ‘wait and see’ approach to new Government
- Campaigners report better access to decision-makers (51%),
- A greater openness to policy influence (53%), and more meaningful consultation (59%).
- These are positive steps forward, yet expectations have softened since last year. Before the election, 66% believed a Labour government would be more open to campaigners shaping policy – now, with six months of experience, that number has fallen to 53%.
- The biggest shift comes in expectations around public political debate. Last year, 46% of campaigners believed the new government would be more willing to engage in open public discussion. That has now dropped to 26%.
2023 - 2024
- Campaigners increasingly feel the pressure of their work in the face of challenges
from government, the media, donors, and their own organisations – a diverse set of
stakeholders with complex and competing needs. - This has led three-quarters of campaigners to question whether they have the energy
levels to keep going – despite a similar number reporting they have achieved wins or
reached milestones over the same period. - The three words most used by campaigners to describe campaigning are:
challenging, tiring, and rewarding. - Campaigners highlight the need for infrastructure bodies and employers to provide
support for mental health and wellbeing, building links and communities of practice
with other campaigners, as well as more conventional offerings. - 65% of campaigners say the overall landscape in the UK has made it harder to
campaign in the past year. - While there is some optimism that a new government would lead to better
relationships between decision-makers and civil society, there is little belief it would
result in the more punitive measures that affect campaigning being repealed.
Read full survey results here >
Read the report Under Pressure here >
2022 - 2023
- 94% of respondents felt there are threats to the freedom to organise, contribute to public debate, influence political decisions, or protest (otherwise called ‘civic space’)
- 72% of campaigners felt politicians’ attitudes towards campaigners had become more negative
- High profile attacks on the National Trust and RNLI by the media and politicians seemingly backfired as 27% of campaigners said it led to them being more willing to speak out.
Read full survey results here >
2021
- 96% of respondents felt there are threats, formal or informal, to the freedom to organise, speak out, or protest
- The Police Bill dominated concerns with 46% saying it will affect the way they campaign.
- 62% of campaigners said external attitudes to campaigning over the past three years had reduced the amount of campaigning they do.
Read full survey results here >
2020
- 90% of respondents felt there are threats to the freedom to organise, contribute to public debate, influence political decisions, or protest (otherwise called ‘civic space’)
- 98% of respondents felt there would be a greater need for campaigning in the next 12 months.
- The COVID-19 pandemic led to 54% saying their organisation now put a greater priority on campaigning work.
Read full survey results here >
2019
- 87% of respondents felt there were threats to the legitimacy of campaigning
- 45% of campaigners felt government attitudes had become more negative towards campaigning.
- 57% felt civil society wasn’t as confident and proud about its right to campaign as it should be.
Read full survey results here >
2018
- 66% said negative media coverage of civil society was threatening the legitimacy of campaigning
- 49% felt things had gotten worse for campaigners over the previous year.
- Closing civic space, Brexit, and negative public perceptions were amongst the top reasons cited for things getting harder for campaigners.
Read full survey results here >
2017
- 90% felt there were threats to the legitimacy of campaigning.
- 49% felt things had become worse for campaigning in the previous year, with 19% saying they had not.
- 87% of respondents were concerned that the Lobbying Act would restrict the right to campaign.
Read full survey results here >
2016
- Negative media coverage of the work of the VCSE sector - 65%
- Conditions of funding discouraging campaigning - 63%
- Senior managers and trustees being more cautious about campaigning - 53%
- Guidance from the Charity Commission of England and Wales - 52%
- Campaigning has become seen as too risky or something that VCSE organisations should not be involved in - 52%