This reminds me of Marc Emery, who funded his cannabis revolution by selling hemp seeds and other stuff. Good documentary about his life and how his views changed over time is
Principle of Pot.
At first he tried to change the society with default procedure, working at a political party and trying to get people to support him. That didn't work, of course. He realized that it was more effective just to choose one thing and focus on that. He chose cannabis and was very succesful – now the new prime minister is going to legalize it.
It's been a while since I've watched the doc but I think he made clear that it's really important to have independent funding. If activists don't have money, they are not going to succeed.