Org Work

We want to help build institutions that are participatory, inclusive, anti-oppressive, and which promote connection with the natural world. The organising principles of our movements and wider civil society are a vital part of this. We have so much to learn from each other in how to best do social change work: and at PIRC, we want to be a part of that conversation.

Why?

In our experience, the work of social change is often misaligned with its own values and vision. We definitely felt as though this was the case for our own organisation.

We’re committed—personally and organisationally—to helping to build a more equitable, liberatory, sustainable and connected world. Our work is all about the ways our culture shapes us: how the stories we hear and tell affect how we understand ourselves and the world around us; how the values promoted by our society can make us more fulfilled or more depressed, more or less connected with the natural world. And yet neither our vision nor our theory of change have always been reflected in our own working practice.

Looking around, we can see that this is a common problem. We become divided: our moral and emotional selves left at the door when we go to work. The harmful, oppressive and unsustainable systems that we are seeking to dismantle in the wider world are reproduced in our own organisations. There’s a dissonance between what we practise and what we preach. And ultimately, this is damaging both to ourselves and to the work we’re trying to do.

What do we mean by this?

We reward values that aren’t aligned with our causes

The Common Cause work has powerfully shown how the values that we engage affect how we behave towards each other, how we feel, and how we approach problems. More individualistic, money-oriented values tend us towards caring about each other less, behaving in more domineering and prejudiced ways, and looking for short-term results. More compassionate, human-centred values encourage our more caring sides, in which we are more likely to look after each others’ wellbeing, behave with concern for the environment, and approach problems holistically and with an eye to the longer-term.

While our organisations are filled with passionate and caring people, the values that are rewarded (i.e. those that are given validity or legitimised) often tend us towards individualism, and tangible and quantified results over wellbeing.

We demand too much of ourselves

We know that our neoliberal economic system requires that we overserve (listen to Desiree Adaway talking about this about ten minutes into this podcast). Social justice movements are not immune to this: in fact, a ‘culture of martyrdom’ and the precarity of the funding environment may exacerbate this, and lead to an unsustainable culture of burnout.

A summary of the impacts of burnout caused by emotional labour, which may sound familiar:

“Burnout is related to serious negative consequences such as deterioration in the quality of service, job turnover, absenteeism and low morale…[It] seems to be correlated with various self report indices of personal distress, including physical exhaustion, insomnia, increased use of alcohol and drugs and marital and family problems”.

Doesn’t sound like the a manual for how to create a happy and productive workforce or a sustainable movement, does it?

We reproduce oppressive structures in our organisations

The diversity of the charity sector is a (questionable) starting point, but more importantly, we need to talk about the power structures in our organisations. We know that oppression is structural, and at an individual level humans are biased, and therefore our experiences of life are different. We also know that if we can acknowledge that there is an imbalance of emotional labour in our personal lives, we can probably extend that into our working lives.

We can change the way we organise

Having spent some time interrogating and redesigning our internal structures here at PIRC, we know that this can feel difficult.

But we know that our movements are filled with passionate, caring, thoughtful people. The wealth of knowledge in our various experiences is vast.

So as we continue to develop these systems internally, we’d love to build a community of practice around the work of organisational cultures. We’d like to share, and learn from others, and so this has also become a core part of our strategy.

Some of our goals:

  1. Build a community of practice. We’d like to build partnerships with others who are already working to organise better, and to support each other in continuing to do this work.
  2. Review the current organisational challenges of the movement. We’ve worked with a really large range of organisations and groups, but a lot of what we know is anecdotal. We’d like to get a clearer picture of what we’re all up against!
  3. Create and share resources and tools for healthy and effective organisations. Sharing the learning and tools we develop through carrying out this work.

If you’d like to talk to us about any of this, get in touch!

Some more resources & inspiration:

Latest Org Work posts:


Freelance Opportunity Work with us Fundraiser

PIRC are looking for a freelance fundraiser to lead six months of trust fundraising to support a programme of work to diversify, democratise and deepen civil society’s work on narrative change.

We’re looking for someone who can develop our existing fundraising plan; draft and complete funding applications; research trusts/foundations; meet with funders to build relationships; and work with team members to complete general fundraising activities.

Days: Estimate of 50 days over 6 months initially.
Rate: £300 London / £250 Rest of UK per day (negotiable).
Contract: Fixed-term, 6 months, with 3-month review and the possibility of extension and/or a permanent position, dependent on funding.
Location: Remote
Deadline: 12pm, Monday 2nd August

For more info, visit publicinterest.org.uk/fundraiser

Charity Governance Awards We won an award! 2020 Board Diversity and Inclusion Award

PIRC is delighted to have won the Board Diversity and Inclusion 2020 Charity Governance Award.

We were honoured to have been considered alongside two such amazing organisations as Happy Baby Community and Irise International.

PIRC works alongside civil society organisations for social justice. We have recognised for some years that in order to live our values, we must also look squarely at our own working practices, and particularly at power, diversity and liberation. Since 2015, we have built a non-hierarchical management structure to start to address power imbalances in the organisation. We have prioritised anti-oppression, not just in the recruitment, but also the subsequent training and induction, of new staff and Trustees. This means both seeking diverse voices and stretching the organisational understanding of accessibility beyond inclusion and into liberation and justice. Diversity and inclusion are not just check-boxes, and we recognise that to truly embed the value of equality is the work of a lifetime. Read more

Guest post by Kat Wall Class & NGOs 3 7 practical ideas to shift power & centre social justice

NGOs—non-governmental organisations—are often used as shorthand for the institutions of the movement. These are the places where there is money, jobs, influence especially with policymakers, and people with paid time to campaign, organise and act for a better world.

Many of the people who work in—and lead—these organisations are middle class (and white, and able-bodied, and men). And overtime, this has created cultures that work for these people (and that don’t work for others).

I want to explore why this is problematic for social movements—and for the possibility of social change—and some practical things that might be done about it. Read more

Part 1 of the "Work In Progress" Series by Tanya Hawkes So, you’re about to recruit? Designing recruitment with equality, fairness and values in mind.

How your organisation employs people is at the heart of its commitment to equality. The advert, application form, interview, the practical test (if you have one) and how you manage probation periods is an opportunity to address internal inequality and help shift the values and culture of your organisation.

I’ve worked in charities, NGOs and cooperatives for over twenty years, in areas of mental health, learning disabilities, environment, human rights and housing. Over the years I’ve designed many recruitment processes, shortlisted hundreds of candidates and interviewed dozens of people for jobs, including volunteers, permanent and short term staff, maternity cover and consultants.

What follows are real life examples that you can use to shape recruitment in your organisation. The examples I’ve used are just that – examples. Once you’ve got the basic legal requirements and good practice in place, you can tailor your recruitment process so it best reflects your organisation’s needs and values.

This is an important exercise. It’s so much more than just a series of processes. Read more

Organisational Restructuring PIRC goes flat 3 Twelve steps to organisational structural change

“It has been a bit of rollercoaster, albeit it one with no height restrictions and an office-based theme. During the process I have fluctuated between hopeful, frustrated, excited, bored, interested, determined, happy, grumpy, thankful and something that could only really be captured in a facial expression.”—Ralph

Two years ago, PIRC transitioned from a slightly dysfunctional, hierarchical organisation with a lone director to something more systematised, functional, and non-hierarchical. It’s been a proper rollercoaster. And it’s an ongoing process of experimenting and iterating.

Let me outline our experience of the twelve steps (sorry) to organisational structural change: Read more