At the time of this report, there is no publicly available information on the number of organizers who have access to:

• 100% employer-paid health insurance
• 50-99% employer-paid health insurance
• Employer-paid health insurance that includes spousal, domestic partner, and/or dependent coverage (or at what percentage they are covered)
• Retirement plans that include employer contributions or matches
• Retirement plans that include vesting periods (the amount of time an employee must work for the organization before they can fully own those benefits)

A lack of standardization across nonprofits and social justice organizations persists as to what a baseline or entry-level benefits package would include, even for core benefits such as health insurance and retirement funds.

In addition to salary and core benefits, many additional supports help make staffers feel like they are being invested in. For example, organizers cited professional development, flexible scheduling and compensatory (comp) time off, and wellness support as core to feeling “seen” for the hard work they put in and the unique challenges of organizing they navigate.

Organizers said one of the top considerations for feeling valued by organizational leadership is professional development, such as attending conferences, trainings, and other skills-building and networking opportunities. For example, NYC-based organizers who focus on tenant organizing must understand a significant amount of technical and policy-based knowledge in order to do their jobs effectively. Organizations that invest deeply in the type of legal education or language skills needed to do this type of organizing see lower turnover rates on their teams when coupled with providing a living wage.

Additional examples of professional development for organizers include:

• Sending organizers to conferences and trainings abroad to understand the global context in which they’re doing their work (organizations we spoke to had these opportunities sponsored by funding partners)
• Support for continuing education opportunities, including one-off workshops as well as longer-term programs
• Tuition reimbursement programs
• Career coaching 
• Communications and facilitation training for organizers to engage in public speaking and when representing the organization

Several factors can make an organizing job quite taxing, such as frequent local and statewide travel; odd hours, including evenings and weekends; and being in constant communication, especially during busy campaign peaks. While some aspects are unavoidable parts of the job, organizations can offer staff support to help them manage these realities.

We found that most organizations in NYC do not include transportation (public transit or cabs) or communication (cell phone or internet) stipends or reimbursements, despite these being required for an organizer’s job. In addition to contributing to financial hardship, many organizers see this oversight as a fundamental lack of understanding or respect for what organizing truly entails.

“It’s so hard to organize in New York because everything in New York is hard. It already takes so much of my personal time to commute to meetings and on top of that, I’m having to pay for where I’m required to be too. Imagine having to pay your own money to go to a zoom meeting.”

—Organizer

Given the often unpredictable nature of organizing work, many organizers state that having flexible time off, being able to work from home on days they’re not in the field, and receiving comp time after busy campaign pushes can all make huge differences in their ability to stay in their organizing roles. Interviewees voiced the need to create boundaries for themselves with the support of their managers.

When asked about elements of workplace culture that contribute to job satisfaction, organizers said that a sense of understanding and trust from their supervisors plays a significant role. While managers might not always have the ability to provide monetary incentives, trusting direct reports to manage their own work hours or allowing for extra time off positively increased organizers’ rapport with leadership. Similarly, organizing managers agreed that, given the demands of organizing work, especially on evenings and weekends, providing organizers with flexible schedules was something they said has a high impact on their managerial relationships as well as the overall capacity of their teams. 

“I see my manager doing his best and the fact that he sees the same in me makes all the difference. He knows how hard I’m working; if he didn’t trust me to do my job and give me flex time to create boundaries for myself, I would have burnt out and quit a long time ago.”

—Organizer

Unlike other regions of the country where a culture around wellness may be more broadly embraced, we found that organizations in New York City do not typically include wellness benefits in their employment packages. These benefits might include support for staffers’ mental and emotional health, community building, physical fitness, or healing justice practices. While these types of benefits would be encouraged for all staffers, frontline organizers consistently reference wellness support as something that would help to prevent or alleviate burnout.

For example, one organizer shared that their entire organizational staff are queer people, and mostly women. They shared that having a flexible benefits package inclusive of queer parenting needs and non-traditional lifestyle structures is highly valued and helps make up for lower salaries.

Wellness benefits also help organizers deal with the intensity and secondary trauma of the work. Neighborhood accountability and deeply personal organizing efforts are distinctive aspects of organizing work in this city, and organizers often say they have to navigate the impact on their health alone. Assisting members with trauma resulting from state-sanctioned and institutional violence is frequently a central part of organizing work. This responsibility, typically undertaken by organizers who lack formal mental health training, is an ongoing consideration for organizing directors in the management of their teams. 

In some cases, wellness benefits help organizers deal with their own trauma caused by similar situations experienced by the people they’re building relationships with. Particularly when it comes to tenant advocacy, organizers and directors alike have cited the highly emotional nature of working in New York City. Organizers in NYC are deeply embedded in the communities they serve, frequently forming professional relationships with their own neighbors, who sometimes serve as the core constituents of their campaigns. 

While the emotionally demanding nature of organizing work may be inevitable, providing certain mental wellness benefits to organizers can assist them in coping with the trauma that often accompanies their efforts. 

Other examples of wellness benefits can be found on Providing more resources.