Creating systems of community care within our organizations when government safety nets are dismantled.
While many nonprofits have struggled with collaboration, decision-making, and burnout during this extended period of crisis, mutual aid networks have been operating differently—often with fewer resources, no formal hierarchy, and deeper community accountability.
Mutual aid organizing is rooted in principles that challenge how traditional nonprofits function: shared decision-making instead of top-down authority, collective care instead of individualized burnout, and conflict as something to work through rather than avoid. These aren't just ideals—they're practiced methods that have sustained grassroots movements through some of the hardest moments in recent history.
