You don't pay us enough, philanthropy
How direct service providers are fighting for collective liberation while dramatically underpaid
Service providers are being fucked by the government and by philanthropy. Grant applications are lengthy and reporting requirements feel like shackles for people doing the work required for collective liberation.
An overage service provider in the direct services world makes anywhere from $12 per hour to 60,000 per year in larger cities. That is not enough money to live on or thrive on.
So, why aren’t service workers paid more?
Contrary to popular thought, market economics do not actually dictate how much a person will be paid for a given job in social services; there is no automated market balance that evens out the scales between supply and demand in this ecosystem. The government, corporations, and philanthropic institutions decide how much (nonprofit) service workers get paid.
Grants and contracts for service providers administered by municipal or federal government agencies, foundations, and other granting entities are a nonprofit’s race to the bottom. We undercut what we know our employees should be paid, the amount of labor it takes to run a program, and overinflate our capacities to deliver on deliverables— in hopes that we get even the smallest slice of funding.
We are the ones caring for society’s castaways
We know how to solve homelessness
We know how to alleviate poverty
We know how to heal wounds
We know how to help the world
But capitalism doesn’t allow us to do this for free
Not many people have connected the dots between funding nonprofits and preventing poverty, but I will make the case for it here. Every time you fund a community-based organization, no matter the mission of that organization, you are funding anti-poverty and collective liberation.
Every time you donate to a sex worker-led or survivor-led organization, you are directly funding anti-trafficking work. Your money in my hands means I can fight for the liberation we all need.
Please pay us more.
Donate to my sex worker-led organization here,