Southern CA Convening Recap
Southern CA Convening Recap: Funders and Grantees Gather to Support New Standards for Organizer Jobs
At this moment, our communities are facing mounting threats—from attacks on basic human rights and essential services, to efforts that undermine the civic institutions and organizations that stand in defense of justice. Day in and day out, organizers are the ones on the front lines supporting and defending those most at risk. Organizers are the ones who knock doors, plan events, build relationships to bring in new members, and plan and execute campaigns. And yet, organizers are treated as unskilled workers, and are often stretched beyond capacity, working under conditions that make it difficult to sustain their critical efforts and themselves.
To address these challenges, over the past year, a set of 20 Southern California power-building organizations came together to create a new set of labor standards for organizer jobs. Focused on raising the wage floor, transparent pay scales and budgets, benefits, and time off and workloads, these standards offer both a sustaining baseline and aspirational goals that organizations collectively agreed to work toward.
As part of that effort, last month, these leaders and several of their funders came together to discuss their progress and what it will take to shift the ecosystem to support widespread adoption of the standards. As Joanna Jackson, President & CEO of the Weingart Foundation, and Alicia Jay, Executive Director of All Due Respect, both highlighted in their opening remarks, supporting organizers to remain in this work is directly relevant to how we win, now and in the long-term. We lost many skilled organizers to burnout during the first Trump administration and the early years of the pandemic and need to learn from that experience if we want to truly build successful movements.
Here are three key takeaways that stood out from the day:
Organizations are working to implement these standards—and the risk of burnout they face is real.
During the convening, participants heard from two cohort leaders about their own efforts to implement the standards in their organizations. For Dr. Nosakhere Thomas at the Inland Empire Black Worker Center, they knew they did not have additional resources to apply to the standards, so they began by focusing on areas that would not add additional costs to their budget. As a result, they focused on time off and workloads, adding a week-long pause every quarter when they closed the office for all staff to rest and renew after busy periods of work.
Meanwhile, for Gaby Hernandez at ÓRALE, receiving a wellness grant allowed them to create a process by which staff could collectively decide how to apply those funds. At the same time, Gaby shared that other standards are in progress on paper, such as their sabbatical policy, but need additional resources and capacity to put into practice. For both Gaby, Dr. Thomas, and the other nonprofit leaders in the room, the current pace of work in this political climate and the challenges their organizers face are creating rising risks of burnout. Many organizers are personally affected by the same issues they organize around, adding to the pressure and urgency they experience in their day to day work.
2. Funders and grantees broadly agree on the shifts that are needed now.
During the convening, grantees and funders had the opportunity to brainstorm what would need to shift in the ecosystem to support adoption of these standards, which they could collectively work towards. There was broad agreement in the room on the results, which included increasing the amount of funding going to organizing, for grantmaking practices to recognize and respond to current grantee challenges, a culture change in how grantees and funders talk transparently about their needs, and ongoing space for grantees to work together and learn collectively.
3. The renewed momentum of this moment offers an opportunity to build on the lessons and experiences that partners collectively bring. As conversation turned to next steps, funders and grantees focused on specific ideas that could turn into action. From case studies of organizations working to implement the standards, to the possibility of bringing back and adapting previous training content on full cost budgeting, to lessons learned by funders already committing to increase their payout rates, these conversations pointed to where this project can draw on the depth of knowledge and resources in the room. At the same time, the renewed energy and the shared focus that the standards provide offer critical momentum and new opportunities to carry this work forward.
In the coming weeks, All Due Respect will continue to work with partners to further explore and implement the ideas shared. If you’d like to be involved in next steps, please contact Kara Park at kara@allduerespectproject.org. And if you’d like to learn more about the standards, please check out our website, our organizational assessment tool, and a video series that offers a starting place and advice from current organizations involved in implementation.