On the NOA pension plan

Today, Campus Progress published my article about the unique pension plan program created by the National Organizers Alliance. NOA is an association for community organizers and non-profit workers, and the pension is its flagship project -- probably the only plan of its kind.

By pooling together the resources of its thousand-plus members, and scores of member organizations, NOA was able to secure a deal that's as desirable a pension benefit as any employee could hope to see. All members, regardless of their place on the staff ladder, have access to a employer-matched 5% contribution towards a secure and accessible savings fund.

When I spoke with Patrick Masterson, acting director of NOA, I mentioned that this seems to be a smart way to fix one of the market failures in the activist industry. Patrick laughed to hear the phrase "activist industry"--saying that he'd never quite thought of it like that--but it would seem that this is exactly the insight that prompted NOA to take up the plan. In the world of cash-strapped community work, employees' main benefit is "psychic income"--but while no one does it to get rich, those who do want to stay committed for the long-term often find themselves approaching a future that's actually financially insecure.

NOA's plan was not just about a sweet benny--it was a deliberate and measured reaction to a widespread problem among community organizers and activists: no matter how committed they were to the cause, most progressive organizations have been failing to invest in their future. Is yours?

You can read more about it in "Private Pensions, Public Good":

The notion that non-profit employment benefits should have an “ideological frame” is, in itself, somewhat unusual. "So often in social change work, we don’t practice what we preach,” [Cathy] Howell says. “We say right off the bat that we don’t have enough money, and what ends up happening is that we don’t cover people’s basic needs. [NOA] wanted to set a standard to show that it is the responsibility of social justice organizations to invest in their employees."

At the end of the article, Cathy shares a particularly interesting insight into the way that the mindset of social justice work has changed from the 70s (when it was first widely professionalized) to now (when the "industry" is led by people from that first generation, who might not be in tune with the realities of today's youth).