In partnership with East Bay Community Foundation, All Due Respect is leading a research-to-action project to explore current labor conditions for organizers in the Bay Area and implications for the local powerbuilding ecosystem. Since beginning this project, All Due Respect has been engaging organizers, directors, and funders in the Bay Area to identify specific challenges and barriers faced by organizers with a goal to identify and test potential interventions in response. 

In partnership with the RYSE Center, the initial research phase of this project involved youth organizers and organizing directors and took place from April to September 2023 with the goal of gaining insight to multiple perspectives within this field. Through interviews, focus groups, and surveys, we sought to understand how working conditions for organizers in the Bay Area affect both organizations and movements in the region, while thinking critically about actionable solutions aimed at creating a more sustainable work environment.

The findings of this research yielded the following three recurring themes:

• Compensation and financial stability;

• Training and movement building; 

• Sustaining organizations in the Bay Area organizing ecosystem. 

These conversations showed that compensation–as it relates to the rising cost of living in the Bay Area–stood out as the foremost concern. As of 2024, the median income for surveyed organizers is $60,270, which is far below what is needed for organizers to live comfortably in the regions where they are organizing. We also found that education, training, and support for organizers was one of the most desired resources that would contribute to overall job satisfaction. Both organizers and directors recognized the importance of political education and foundational skill-building as a core tool for impactful organizing work. Additionally, directors and organizers noted systemic funding challenges in the nonprofit landscape such as competition for resources, laborious grant reporting, and aligning with funders’ shifting interests. Conversations with these groups emphasized the importance of long-term sustainability from a funding perspective through authentic partnerships between funders and organizations, as well as multi-year funding commitments.

In October 2023, over 75 Bay Area directors, funders, and organizers gathered in the RYSE space to discuss research findings, as well as provide collaborative feedback on which possible interventions would have the greatest impact on their particular sector.These conversations catalyzed a partnership with local leadership within the youth organizing ecosystem to co-design and test interventions with the aim of having a significant impression on organizations and working conditions for youth organizers.

In 2024, ADR gathered a Steering Committee of powerful Bay Area leaders who worked together to create an updated set of labor standards, focused on improving compensation, recruitment, and retention of community organizers. These collectively designed guidelines linked above are a strong first step towards improving the recruitment and retention of community organizers. And, we also know that those standards are only theoretical until they have been implemented by groups throughout the ecosystem.

Looking ahead, the next phase of this project will include a dedicated group of organizations and funders committed to testing out these guidelines as we collect data, best practices, and learnings for how to apply them as an ecosystem to improve the recruitment and retention of Bay Area organizers. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting work.

To learn more, please reach out to Rebecca Gorena at rebecca@allduerespectproject.org.

This ongoing project is rooted in deep partnership with–and appreciation for–the RYSE Center, East Bay Community Foundation, and the Bay Area Power Building Funders Table.