Many worker self-directed nonprofits draw inspiration from the quote, which I first heard from Gopal Dayaneni formerly with Movement Generation, that "If we are not prepared to govern, we are not prepared to win."  However, simply preparing ourselves to govern in our 501c3 nonprofit organizations won't necessarily produce "wins" on a movement scale.  Why does practicing worker self-direction matter in this political moment?  

Join representatives from seven worker self-directed nonprofits to explore this question and others, as we consider the liberatory potential, challenges, and limitations of worker self-direction in this movement moment.  What does worker self-direction teach us about ourselves and our movement organizations?  What does it teach us about what is needed to build the more beautiful world we know is possible?

This is part two of a discussion series co-hosted with Nonprofit Quarterly, based on the recently released article "Want Democratic Leadership at Your Nonprofit? Here Are Some Do’s and Don’ts" and the accompany case studies created by Faye Christoforo, researcher with the Nonprofit Democracy Network.  Register for Part One, hosted by NPQ, here.  

Bring your own questions for a lively, engaged discussion!

Presenter

Nicole Wires

Nicole Wires (she/her) was born on Arapahoe, Cheyenne and Ute land in the beautiful Rocky Mountains and is a mountain creature through and through. The majority of her political awakening happened on Ohlone land, through prison abolition, anti-mass incarceration, and racial justice movement organizing with the movement for Black lives, the Anti-Police Terror Project, DefundOPD, and the Bay Area Solidarity Action Team.

After spending ten years supporting folks returning from San Quentin Prison at Planting Justice, Nicole comes to SELC to facilitate collective self-governance to dismantle the Nonprofit Industrial Complex with the Nonprofit Democracy Network. To this role she brings a passion and curiosity for individual and collective transformation through trauma healing, spiritual fortification, a deep read and grassroots scholarship of our movement histories, and the ongoing exercise of our radical imaginations.

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