December 11, 2023

We’re pleased to announce that Staffing the Mission has merged into Fund the People. Together, we’ll build a stronger movement for investing in America’s nonprofit workforce, in order to advance equity, effectiveness, and endurance in the social sector.

Founded in 2016, Staffing the Mission works to give both nonprofits and funders concrete ways to make life better for diverse nonprofit employees. Launched in 2014, Fund the People works to maximize investment in America’s nonprofit workforce.

As of November 20, 2023, Staffing the Mission is officially part of Fund the People. By joining forces, our unified team will be better equipped to deliver innovative ideas, timely messages, and practical resources to help organized philanthropy and the social sector support and develop the 12.5 million people of America’s nonprofit workforce.

The nonprofit workforce delivers highly valuable services and social capital, and is an essential part of our democracy, economy, and the social fabric of our communities. Our public sector, private sector, and social sector could not function properly without the nonprofit workforce. Yet there’s a chronic deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce that goes back at least a century. This chronic lack of support has combined with recent challenges to create an existential crisis in recruitment, burnout, and retention. While many organizations support the nonprofit sector, Fund the People and Staffing the Mission are among the few that focus specifically on the needs and interests of nonprofit workers and leaders.

“I’m thrilled that Staffing the Mission’s team is bringing their significant skills, smarts, and energy to Fund the People,” said Rusty Stahl, Founder, President and CEO of Fund the People. “It just makes sense to join forces. Our efforts are aligned in mission and values. We both believe that investing in decent pay, benefits, and workplace conditions for nonprofit people can and should drive equity, effectiveness, and endurance for organizations and their funders. This is a great opportunity to bolster our work and amplify our message heading into the new year.”

“We have always looked to Fund the People - its toolkit, its podcast, and other excellent resources - for inspiration in our efforts to turn burn-out jobs into sustainable jobs,” said Betsy Leondar-Wright, Coordinator of Staffing the Mission. “We think the synergy of this merger will facilitate many more funders to become more worker-friendly, and many more nonprofits to improve working-conditions for their staff.”

Staffing the Mission brings numerous assets to Fund the People, including their Beyond Nonprofit Burnout Workshops, the Sustainable Jobs Toolkit they produced in partnership with All Due Respect, and a talented team that includes Betsy Leondar-Wright (Program Coordinator), Mariah Casias (Philanthropic Partnership Consultant), and Jaeidah Reed (Digital Media Intern), as well as skilled workshop facilitators Ayushi Vig, Gabriel Cabán Cubero, and Laurie Goldman.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS

Fund the People (FTP) was founded in 2014 as a project of fiscal sponsor Community Partners. Today, FTP offers content, concrete tools, curriculum, consulting, convenings, and community to help funders and nonprofits advance equity, effectiveness, and endurance in the nonprofit workforce through the practice of talent-investing. Led by founder Rusty Stahl, Fund the People is supported by the James Irvine Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and others. In 2024, Fund the People will launch its California Convenings Initiative, which will feature a series of regional listening meetings across the state followed by a statewide gathering on investing in the Golden State’s nonprofit workforce.

Staffing the Mission (StM) was founded in 2016 by Class Action, an organization that worked since 2004 to build awareness about class identity, classism and race/class intersections, and to reduce unjust inequalities. Many organizations have egalitarian ideals that they don’t live up to in practice; Class Action’s popular education workshops (including StM workshops) help people reduce organizational classism in order to align better with their own values. As the work of Class Action winds down at the end of this year, we are grateful for their 19 years of addressing how class and race impact American society, including in the nonprofit sector. And we are pleased that Staffing the Mission, one of Class Action’s signature programs, will carry on at Fund the People.