Dear friend,

Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG) is thrilled to celebrate this upcoming Labor Day holiday by announcing the unanimous ratification of our first union contract with the Neighborhood Funders Group Union (Communication Workers of America, Local 9415) as of June 2025.

NFG’s staff union requested voluntary recognition in December 2021 and management voluntarily recognized the union in July 2022. Collective bargaining took place between September 2022 and May 2025. The resulting three-year contract, which was unanimously ratified by both union members and NFG’s board of directors, codified and expanded NFG’s benefits. We are especially proud that this contract means we will introduce a sabbatical policy, an annual distributed cost-of-living adjustment (whereby cost of living increases will be distributed in equal amounts across all staff regardless of their salary), and a guarantee of up to 5 days of climate-related emergency leave.

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Outgoing Interim NFG President Amy T. Morris highlighted that the contract was negotiated with deep attention to the organization’s values and mission articulated in NFG’s Theory of Change. “NFG’s staff union is deeply committed to the overall mission of the organization, and the bargaining team moved through negotiations in that spirit. It was an incredible learning experience for all of us, and I am confident that the resulting relationships and contract will make NFG a stronger organization that is set up to better support our work and our staff in this political moment.”

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Key highlights of this first collective bargaining agreement include:

  • Codifying our four-day (32-hour) work week (introduced in 2020)
  • Increased annual professional development funds
  • Increased salary floor of $75,000
  • Introduction of sabbatical eligibility of 2 months after 5 consecutive years of full-time employment
  • Sick time is now prorated at 80 hours per year
  • Increased paid parental leave to 12 weeks
  • 12 paid organizational holidays
  • Introduction of a 6:1 cap on the ratio of highest to lowest paid staff in the organization
  • A labor management committee (LMC) consisting of both union members and management which will serve as an ongoing space to discuss implementation and other workplace matters

“I’m thankful for the collective commitment to rigor and thoughtful engagement shown throughout this process by bargaining team members,” said Chi-Ante Jones, NFG Board Co-Chair. Kaberi Banerjee Murthy, NFG Board Co-Chair, said “We are so grateful to Amy Smoucha and the rest of the team at Beyond Neutrality for their exceptional support of NFG’s leadership during the bargaining process.”

About Neighborhood Funders Group

Founded in 1980, Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG) is a network of grantmaking organizations that co-conspire to accelerate racial, gender, economic, disability, and climate justice. It is a political home for funders to connect, strategize, and organize philanthropy to invest in grassroots organizing and power building led by BIPOC and low-income communities as the key to effective social change.

About Neighborhood Funders Group Staff Union

The NFG Staff Union currently consists of 14 employees, including staff at The Labor Innovations for the 21st Century (LIFT) Fund, which is fiscally sponsored by NFG.

Learn more about how to organize a union here.

Posted 08/28/2025 in

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