The Kinship Coalition Pledge

Preamble

We are the people who make up Minnesota’s non-profit sector; the case managers, organizers, directors, administrative staff members, youth workers, coordinators, outreach workers, teachers, clinicians, cooks, and housekeepers. We carry our the missions that communities in this state depend on.

We believe wholeheartedly in the work we do. We do not believe that the care and intention we provide should come at the cost of fair pay, safe workplaces, or a real voice at the table of our organizations.

For too long, non-profit status has been used as an excuse to dismiss unlivable wages, workloads that don’t allow for healthy lives outside of work, and leadership that isn’t accountable to staff. We are organizing for better conditions to be the new standard.

The Pledge:

1. Worker Protections
   Every worker deserves a workplace with clear grievance processes that are through and fair, real protection from retaliation, and workloads that do not compromise physical or mental health to meet. We pledge to organize for enforceable protections, including the right to unionize without fear, across the state of Minnesota.

2. Fair & Transparent Salaries
   Passion for a mission is not a substitute for a living wage. We pledge to push for transparent, equitable pay scales at every organization; salaries that reflect real cost of living across Minnesota; and an end to compensation gaps between executive leadership and frontline staff that go unexamined and unjustified.

3. Accountability at All Levels
   Boards and executives hold real power, and real power requires real oversight. We pledge to demand whistleblower protections, independent channels for reporting concerns that include investigation supports, and governance structures where leadership is accountable to the workers that carry the mission and not just the funders.

4. True Equity
   Equity that lives only as a word in a value paragraph is not equity. We pledge to push nonprofits towards structural change: equitable hiring and advancement processes with consistent logic, regular pay equity audits, and decision-making power shared by workers and leadership.

5. Anti-Racism in Our Own Spaces
   We pledge to hold all spaces, including our own, accountable for tokenism, unequal burdens on BIPOC staff, internalized colorism, and resistance to being questioned. Naming harm within our own movement is not disloyalty to it, but how we create genuine belonging.

Our Commitment to Each Other

We pledge to support every worker across organizations and titles because a coalition is only as strong as the trust between members. We pledge to share information honestly, to show up consistently and supportively for each other as we would want others to show up for us, and to build power collectively rather than waiting for any single organization the change on its own.

This work can be slow and not everyone has the same capacity for risk at the same time. We pledge to organize with patience, realistic support, and urgency for the change itself.

Sign the Pledge

Every name added makes this coalition harder to ignore! Your information is always kept private, any public affiliation is made of your own accord.