As global health agencies and donors shift their focus away from single-disease responses and towards the broader umbrella of universal health coverage, the advocacy movement that has achieved so much in the HIV response is now beginning to wrestle with finding new ways to reach out to and partner with broader and more diverse constituencies. Where to begin this renewal? The author suggests drawing on the example of the CVC study to expand forms of community mobilization that incorporate data-gathering through participatory action research, bringing together diverse grassroots constituencies to document and understand local needs, and to establish trust with marginalized and hidden communities. Richer data can reveal hidden realities which international organizations need for programming. At the same time, individuals can also use that same data to make institutions visible: their strengths and gaps, their rationales, assumptions and pressures, what the institution thinks counts, and what they may sometimes miss.