Catalyst Campaigns

Let's Change The World

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Turning Modern Media Into Movement Building

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Turning Modern Media Into Movement Building

BACKGROUND

When DEFIANCE.org launched in October 2025, Americans opposed to the Trump administration faced a growing problem. There was no shortage of political news, commentary, outrage, or organizations asking people to donate and sign petitions. What was often missing was a clear answer to a much simpler question:

What can I actually do?

DEFIANCE.org was founded by former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff and whistleblower Miles Taylor and social entrepreneur and impact investor Xander Schultz to help answer that question.

Their vision was to build something different from either a traditional advocacy organization or media organization: a news platform, membership community, and action-oriented organization capable of responding quickly to threats to democracy.

As DEFIANCE.org began to take shape, Miles Taylor and Xander Schultz asked Scott Goodstein and Catalyst Campaigns to collaborate with their growing team and help evolve the effort. Catalyst brought experience in modern organizing, strategic communications, digital strategy, data architecture, branding, advertising, fundraising, and campaign development to help turn ambitious ideas into action.

CATALYST

DEFIANCE.org built its model around reaching people where they increasingly get their information and then giving them meaningful ways to take action.

DEFIANCE.News and its Substack infrastructure created a daily publishing platform for news, analysis, campaign updates, and calls to action. DEFIANCE Daily, a weekday podcast, created another regular connection with the growing community and has ranked among the top news podcasts in America.

The DEFIANCE.org Club deepened that relationship. Members can participate at any contribution level and receive weekly briefings, daily news, private conversations with leadership, and opportunities to become involved in the organization’s work. Most importantly, 100% of membership funds support actions and organizations fighting corruption and defending democracy.

As DEFIANCE.org grew, Goodstein and Catalyst worked across projects to help identify what was missing, pressure-test ideas, strengthen execution, and turn ambitious concepts into campaigns that could launch quickly and effectively.

Catalyst also supported initiatives including Obey Only Lawful Orders, GTFO ICE, State of the Swamp, FAFO, and the Trump-Epstein Bookmobile, providing varying combinations of branding, creative, digital, advertising, press, fundraising, and strategic support based on each effort’s needs.

TURNING MEDIA INTO ACTION

DEFIANCE.org’s growing audience gave Taylor, Schultz, and their team the ability to support existing organizations, build partnerships, and rapidly launch new campaigns.

GTFO ICE — Get the Facilities Out, ICE!
Developed with Project Saltbox and Save America Movement, GTFO ICE created a nationwide rapid-response network to alert communities when proposed ICE detention facilities emerge. Catalyst supported the effort with campaign branding, creative, advertising, and digital infrastructure.

Obey Only Lawful Orders
Working with Whistleblower Aid, DEFIANCE.org launched a national campaign reminding servicemembers of their obligation to obey lawful orders and refuse manifestly illegal ones. Catalyst developed branding, design, messaging, and an advertising strategy that included geographically targeted digital media and billboards near major military installations.

Defending Independent Reporters
DEFIANCE.org created a rapid-response fund for independent journalists facing government retaliation, with Don Lemon and Georgia Fort among its first announced beneficiaries—demonstrating how its audience and fundraising infrastructure could quickly direct resources toward people and organizations facing immediate threats.

State of the Swamp
For Trump’s 2026 State of the Union, DEFIANCE.org joined the Portland Frog Brigade and COURIER to produce a four-hour national counter-program from the National Press Club featuring elected officials, journalists, organizers, veterans, and cultural figures. Catalyst supported the program with branding, visual identity, creative materials, advertising strategy, and programming recommendations.

Fight Against Federal Overreach (FAFO)
DEFIANCE.org helped launch a coalition connecting local prosecutors prepared to respond when federal officials violate state laws or constitutional rights. Catalyst supported press around the launch, helped evolve its list-building and supporter growth strategy, and rapidly built an alternative website when technical delays threatened the launch.

The Trump-Epstein Bookmobile
Working with the Institute for Primary Facts, DEFIANCE.org committed $100,000 to transform an installation containing approximately 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related records into a traveling national campaign. Branding, design, advertising, communications, and media strategy helped turn the records into a highly visible campaign built around public events, earned media, digital content, and grassroots engagement.

OUTCOME

In a matter of months, Miles Taylor and Xander Schultz turned their vision for DEFIANCE.org into something larger than a newsletter, podcast, membership program, or traditional advocacy organization.

They built a modern media and organizing platform capable of reaching a national audience, building community, raising money, supporting existing organizations, and quickly launching new campaigns.

Goodstein and Catalyst Campaigns supported that growth as an experienced, flexible resource able to move between strategy and execution as needs emerged—strengthening campaigns, communications, digital infrastructure, audience growth, and rapid response.

DEFIANCE.org demonstrates a different approach to modern organizing: use media to build a community, and give that community meaningful ways to take action.

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 125,000+
    Active subscribers & members
  • 100+
    Actions launched to defend democracy
  • $500,000+
    Raised & granted to support action
  • 25+
    Pro-democracy organizations supported
  • Top 20
    U.S. news podcast ranking for DEFIANCE Daily
  • $100,000
    Committed to the Trump-Epstein Bookmobile
  • 3.5 Million
    Pages of Epstein-related records taken on the road
  • 100%
    Of membership funds support actions and organizations

SERVICES PROVIDED

Advertising Strategy • Audience Growth • Branding & Messaging • Campaign Development • Campaign Strategy • Coalition Building • Data Hygiene • Digital Strategy • Earned Media • Federal, State & Local Issue Advocacy • Grassroots Mobilization • Live Events & Programming • Membership & Fundraising Strategy • Merchandise Development • Organizational Support • Partnership Development • Rapid Response • Strategic Communications

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Saving Public Broadcasting

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Protecting Rural Communities by Reframing the Debate

BACKGROUND

When Congress introduced a $9 billion rescission package that threatened federal funding for public broadcasting, advocacy organizations nationwide mobilized to stop it. With the legislation moving under a rarely used 45-day rescission process, there was only a narrow window to influence the outcome.

Working with the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA), Scott Goodstein and Catalyst Campaigns analyzed the broader advocacy landscape before recommending a strategy. While most organizations focused on energizing existing supporters, encouraging Democrats to oppose the bill, and promoting familiar “Save Big Bird” messaging, Catalyst identified a critical gap. Progressive audiences were already highly engaged, but almost no one was speaking directly to the small group of Republican senators whose votes would ultimately determine the bill’s fate.

CATALYST

Rather than duplicating existing efforts, Catalyst Campaigns developed a complementary persuasion campaign focused on conservative voters in Alaska, Maine, and West Virginia, represented by Senators Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Shelley Moore Capito.

Instead of framing public broadcasting around traditional advocacy themes such as union jobs or educational programming, Catalyst repositioned the issue as essential rural infrastructure. In many remote communities, public broadcasting is the most reliable source of emergency alerts and lifesaving information when severe weather, wildfires, or communications failures leave residents without internet or cellular service.

Recognizing that NABET-CWA had limited membership in many of these communities, Catalyst built the campaign around authentic local voices and issues. Creative assets featured everything from local photographs of downed power lines after recent storms in West Virginia to video testimonials from Indigenous leaders in rural Alaska describing how public broadcasting serves as a critical lifeline during emergencies. Because NABET-CWA had little existing organizing infrastructure in these targeted states, Catalyst conducted extensive outreach to trusted local leaders and worked to identify unique community voices whose stories became the centerpiece of the campaign.

Within days, Catalyst Campaigns developed and launched:

  • Strategic audience analysis and persuasion planning
  • Message development, talking points, and content creation
  • Strategic outreach to trusted local leaders and community voices
  • Three state-specific advocacy websites featuring localized facts, trusted community voices, and integrated congressional calling tools:
  • Professionally produced video, audio, and display advertising
  • Sponsored content in influential state political publications
  • Earned media strategy and local media outreach

The campaign reached hundreds of thousands of voters in states where the union had little existing organizing infrastructure, dramatically expanding NABET-CWA’s ability to communicate directly with constituents who could influence pivotal Senate votes.

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OUTCOME

The campaign sought to persuade Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to oppose advancing the rescission package.

Catalyst Campaigns’ targeted persuasion campaign helped generate constituent pressure that contributed to Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski publicly opposing the legislation. As a result, Senate leadership relied on a discharge petition to bypass the committee process and bring the rescission package to the Senate floor. It marked the first use of this rarely invoked procedure in more than 50 years. Vice President J.D. Vance ultimately cast the tie-breaking vote to pass President Trump’s rescission package after it advanced without receiving committee approval.

The campaign demonstrated the value of identifying strategic whitespace rather than repeating conventional advocacy tactics. By reaching audiences that other organizations had largely overlooked, Catalyst expanded NABET-CWA’s influence far beyond its existing membership and showed how precision targeting, authentic local storytelling, and rapid digital execution can shape high-stakes legislative battles under extraordinary time constraints. During the final days of the debate, several U.S. senators echoed the campaign’s messaging, local stories, and framing on the Senate floor, reinforcing its influence on the broader public conversation.

For NABET-CWA, the project demonstrated that investing in strategic audience analysis, localized communications, and professional advocacy infrastructure can dramatically extend an organization’s reach beyond its traditional base. Rather than following the conventional advocacy playbook, Catalyst Campaigns identified the missing strategy, reached the audience others had overlooked, and delivered a campaign that amplified the union’s voice where it mattered most.

BY THE NUMBERS

Campaign Performance

  • 3 battleground states targeted
  • 9.49 million digital impressions delivered
  • 1.46 million completed video and audio views
  • 1.31 million unique people reached across targeted states
  • 6,113 website clicks generated

Geographic Reach

  • Maine: 624,962 people reached | 3.96 million impressions
  • West Virginia: 354,059 people reached | 1.97 million impressions
  • Alaska: 327,435 people reached | 2.11 million impressions

Campaign Infrastructure

  • 3 state-specific advocacy websites built to influence constituents of three key U.S. senators
  • Dozens of customized digital ads, videos, audio spots, sponsored articles, and creative assets developed and deployed
  • Strategic partnerships with trusted local media outlets, including West Virginia MetroNews, Bangor Daily News, Maine Trust for Local News, Alaska Landmine, and POLITICO 

SERVICES PROVIDED

Strategic Communications • Campaign Strategy • Audience Research & Segmentation • Messaging & Narrative Development • Brand Positioning • Persuasion Campaigns • Digital Advertising • Website Development • Creative Direction • Video Production • Earned Media • Local Media Outreach • Community Engagement • Coalition Building • Rapid Response Campaigns • Public Affairs • Grassroots Mobilization

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United Brothel Workers

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Winning the Narrative for America’s First Brothel Workers’ Union

BACKGROUND

In early 2026, courtesans at Sheri’s Ranch, one of Nevada’s oldest and best-known legal brothels, launched a historic effort to become America’s first unionized brothel workers.

The organizing drive began after management introduced a new independent contractor agreement that workers said dramatically expanded the brothel’s control over their professional lives. Among other provisions, the contract granted the company broad authority over workers’ names, images, likenesses, and intellectual property, along with sweeping power-of-attorney provisions. Workers also raised concerns about workplace safety, inconsistent rule enforcement, opaque fees, retaliation, and the lack of a meaningful grievance process.

The workers had no public identity, no communications strategy, and no organizing infrastructure. They were being told to sign the agreement immediately or leave their jobs. Every day mattered.

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CATALYST:

On a Friday afternoon, the courtesans contacted Catalyst Campaigns founder Scott Goodstein for assistance.

Within hours, Goodstein had developed the framework for the campaign and connected the workers with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). By the end of the weekend, the organizing strategy, communications plan, and campaign architecture were underway. Within days, Catalyst Campaigns had built a complete campaign infrastructure—including the United Brothel Workers name, logo, visual identity, website, messaging framework, talking points, and earned media strategy. As union authorization cards were being signed and workers began facing retaliation and termination for organizing, the campaign was already equipped with a professional communications operation capable of responding in real time.

Rather than allowing the campaign to be defined solely as a story about the adult industry, Catalyst reframed it as a broader labor rights campaign centered on workplace safety, worker autonomy, fair contracts, protection from retaliation, and control over one’s own name, image, and likeness.

UnitedBrothelWorkers.org became the campaign’s digital headquarters, serving as both the campaign’s public face and organizing hub. The website gave workers a platform to tell their stories while providing supporters with opportunities to sign petitions, follow campaign developments, purchase solidarity merchandise, and take action.

Catalyst Campaigns also developed a carefully sequenced earned media strategy designed to build credibility and momentum across multiple audiences. The campaign launched with an exclusive in Nevada’s paper of record before expanding nationally through the Associated Press and Bloomberg Law. Coverage quickly spread to dozens of local, state, and national news outlets, labor and legal journals, and leading adult industry publications, transforming a workplace dispute into a national conversation about labor rights in one of America’s most stigmatized industries.

Following the launch, Catalyst Campaigns remained the campaign’s strategic communications partner, conducting ongoing research, fact-checking, message development, and media outreach while securing additional exclusive stories and interviews as the organizing effort evolved. Scott also provided media training and interview preparation for more than half a dozen worker spokespeople, preparing them to confidently engage with local, state, and national reporters while maintaining disciplined, values-based messaging.

As the campaign evolved, Catalyst used rapid-response communications to turn breaking developments into organizing opportunities. When workers were fired for union activity, supporters mobilized around reinstatement efforts. Following a violent workplace safety incident, United Brothel Workers released a five-point workplace safety plan that generated additional media coverage while reinforcing the campaign’s central message: every worker deserves a safe workplace.

CAMPAIGN INFRASTRUCTURE

Catalyst Campaigns designed UnitedBrothelWorkers.org as the campaign’s organizing hub, providing workers and supporters with multiple ways to engage and take action, including:

  • Messaging, branding, and visual identity
  • Campaign website and online store
  • Online petition and supporter acquisition
  • Comprehensive media center featuring press releases and earned media coverage

Catalyst Campaigns also provided:

  • Press training and interview preparation for worker spokespeople
  • Strategic research, fact-checking, and message development
  • Campaign merchandise and fundraising support
  • Social media and email engagement strategies
  • Community outreach and coalition-building support

OUTCOME

Catalyst Campaigns helped transform an emergency workplace organizing effort into one of the most visible labor organizing campaigns in the legal sex industry.

Within a week, workers had a professional brand, organizing website, coalition support, and a national communications strategy. The campaign went on to generate dozens of stories across mainstream, legal, labor, and industry media, transforming a local organizing drive into a national conversation about worker rights and workplace safety.

While negotiations continue, the campaign has fundamentally changed the conversation around labor organizing in Nevada’s legal brothel industry. By turning a highly stigmatized issue into a mainstream labor rights story, Catalyst Campaigns helped ensure workers’ concerns remain part of the public debate while building sustained support for a fair contract and safer workplace.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Campaign conceived, branded, and publicly launched in less than one week.
  • Connected workers with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and helped establish the communications framework for America’s first brothel workers’ union.
  • Created the United Brothel Workers name, logo, visual identity, messaging framework, website, and earned media strategy.
  • Executed a four-part exclusive launch with The Nevada Independent before expanding nationally through the Associated Press , Bloomberg Law, and AVN, the adult industry’s leading publication..
  • Generated dozens of earned media placements across local, state, and national news outlets, labor and legal journals, and leading adult industry publications.
  • Managed ongoing strategic communications, research, fact-checking, and media relations, securing additional exclusive coverage throughout the organizing campaign with outlets including Mashable, Playboy, and Las Vegas Weekly
  • Media-trained more than half a dozen worker spokespeople for interviews with local, state, and national news organizations.
  • Built a comprehensive digital organizing platform integrating petitions, earned media, supporter engagement, merchandise, coalition building, and rapid-response communications.
  • Elevated workplace safety, retaliation, power-of-attorney provisions, and worker control over name, image, and likeness into the national labor conversation.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Branding & Messaging • Campaign Strategy • Coalition Building • Digital Mobilization • Earned Media • Media Training • Merchandise & Supporter Engagement • Organizational Development • Rapid Response • Research & Fact-Checking • Strategic Communications • Website Development

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Rugby Union Now

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How Strategic Communications Helped Win Voluntary Recognition

BACKGROUND

As Major League Rugby (MLR) expanded across North America, the professional players responsible for growing the sport faced increasing concerns about healthcare, player safety, contract security, and their ability to have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their careers.

The United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA), already the recognized bargaining representative for players on the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams, began organizing Major League Rugby players around a simple belief: a stronger voice for the entire sector would help develop the sport throughout the US.

The need became increasingly urgent as the professional league’s instability exposed the lack of basic protections. Teams folded, contracts were disrupted, and players and their families were left without clear answers about employment, healthcare, housing, or where they would play next. Despite building professional rugby in America, players had no formal role in decisions affecting their livelihoods.

Catalyst Campaigns was retained to develop the campaign strategy, branding, messaging, digital organizing infrastructure, and public narrative needed to help players secure voluntary union recognition.

CATALYST

Rather than frame the effort as labor versus management, Catalyst developed a collaborative communications strategy centered on the idea that players and league leadership shared the same goal: building the strongest possible professional rugby league in North America.

Catalyst created the #RugbyUnionNow campaign identity and built RugbyUnionNow.com as the campaign’s digital headquarters. The platform served as the organizing hub connecting players, supporters, journalists, and the broader rugby community.

The website featured player and supporter sign-ups, email acquisition, donation tools, educational resources explaining voluntary recognition and collective bargaining, detailed issue pages built around the campaign’s three pillars—Safety, Security, and Strength—player testimonials, campaign news, media resources, integrated social media, and stakeholder engagement tools.

  • Safety focused on healthcare, concussion protocols, rehabilitation, and consistent field standards.
  • Security emphasized fair contracts, employment stability, transparent league policies, and protections governing player movement and termination.
  • Strength positioned player representation as an investment in the league’s long-term success by improving professionalism, attracting talent, and strengthening the future of the sport.

When Rugby Union Now launched publicly, USRPA announced that a supermajority of Major League Rugby players had already signed authorization cards supporting voluntary recognition, demonstrating that the organizing work had already been done.

Catalyst translated complex labor issues into compelling stories that resonated with players, fans, and the media by highlighting the real-world impact of inadequate healthcare, career-ending injuries, unstable contracts, and uncertainty for players and their families.

Goodstein understood that winning voluntary recognition required more than organizing players—it required earning the support of the broader rugby community. Catalyst engaged major rugby publications, influential rugby blogs, local rugby unions, former players, and respected voices throughout the sport to reinforce that stronger player protections would strengthen the league itself.

To expand the campaign beyond traditional labor audiences, Goodstein also secured the support of the pro-union punk band Dropkick Murphys. While serving as the headline entertainment during Major League Rugby’s nationally televised championship match, the band wore Rugby Union Now T-shirts, introducing the campaign to a national television audience and creating one of its most memorable earned media moments.

Beyond the public campaign, Catalyst assisted the leadership on the long-term growth of the organization itself. Goodstein helped develop the MLR  Players Council, advised on the organizing structure and governance of the Major League Rugby Players Association (MLRPA) as a dedicated professional division within USRPA, and helped establish their distinct brand that could evolve alongside the league. The strategy recognized that as professional rugby expanded, the MLRPA would become the association’s largest bargaining unit while remaining connected to the broader national players association.

Catalyst also worked with player leadership to expand the value of membership beyond collective bargaining by helping the leadership develop partnerships focused on mental health resources, higher education opportunities, coaching certifications, career development, and other long-term member benefits.

Throughout the campaign, Catalyst managed strategic communications, media relations, digital content, rapid response, stakeholder engagement, and organizational development, positioning USRPA/MLRPA as a constructive partner committed to strengthening professional rugby.

OUTCOME

In January 2024, Major League Rugby and the United States Rugby Players Association (USRPA/MLRPA) signed a Voluntary Recognition Agreement, formally recognizing USRPA as the representative body for Major League Rugby players.

The agreement achieved the campaign’s central objective without a prolonged labor dispute and established a formal framework for ongoing dialogue between league leadership and players.

The campaign also laid the foundation for the continued growth of the MLRPA as the professional rugby division of USRPA. With its governance structure, communications platform, player leadership, and member programs in place, the organization has continued expanding services and partnerships that support players throughout their careers.

Rugby Union Now demonstrated how strategic communications, digital strategy, coalition building, and thoughtful organizational development can transform a complex labor campaign into a lasting institution that strengthens both players and the sport they help build.

SERVICES PROVIDED:

Strategic Communications • Campaign Strategy • Organizational Development • Governance Strategy • Branding & Messaging • Website Strategy & Development • Digital Organizing • Labor Communications • Grassroots Mobilization • Player Leadership Development • Earned Media • Press Strategy • Rapid Response • Stakeholder Engagement • Coalition Building • Influencer & Cultural Organizing • Fan Engagement • Partnership Development • Member Benefits Strategy • Public Affairs • Digital Content Strategy

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