A practical guide to transforming work culture for nonprofits and social-justice organizations, using principles of collective governance and participatory democracy

Those working in the social-justice nonprofit sector work tirelessly for liberation out in the world, yet often find themselves stressed, burnt out, and exploited within their own organizations. This book is a powerful call for nonprofits and movement organizations to rethink their internal systems and processes, and to bring workplace culture and management in line with their liberatory missions and political values.

Drawing on two decades of experience in community organizing and nonprofit work, Niloufar Khonsari guides us in transforming our workplaces by decentralizing power and implementing collective governance structures, centering principles of transparency, equity, and mutual care.

Khonsari demystifies collective management for fellow activists, nonprofit workers, and community leaders, providing real-world examples of successful organizational shifts. Khonsari shares practical tools for transitioning to a shared leadership model; implementing equity-based pay scales; co-creating work expectations; nurturing both individual autonomy and collective responsibility; setting and respecting boundaries; and fostering a culture of learning, trust, accountability, and humility.

They also address how to communicate these workplace changes to funding bodies—and why being clear with funders about how and why you are transforming your organization is an essential part of the larger movement work you’re doing. Crucially, Khonsari also looks at how to handle toxic workplace dynamics, everyday conflicts, and job terminations, using a transformative-justice approach. They call for nonprofit and movement leaders to embrace conflict resolution as a generative practice that builds and strengthens us, and show how healthy feedback models within collective organizations can prevent larger issues from building up.

This book is not a one-size-fits-all plan; instead, listeners are encouraged to draw from its rich collection of case studies, sample workplace policies, tools developed by activist collectives, and personal reflections of movement leaders to explore what works best for their organization at its current stage of growth and evolution. Inspiring and hopeful, this book will help nonprofit workers, activists, and community leaders work toward a workplace that truly models the kind of relational systems we want to see in the world.