What is ReWork the Bay?
Vision
We envision a future where all workers have security, agency, a sense of belonging, and access to the tools, resources, and opportunities needed to actualize their full potential for their own well-being and that of the greater community.
Mission
ReWork the Bay creates a liberated and equitable economic future by transforming the roles workers, employers and the philanthropic sector play in economic and workforce development.
ReWork the Bay grew out of a powerful collaboration of Bay Area funders first launched in 2004 as the Bay Area Workforce Funders Collaborative. Since 2021, we have been reimagining how philanthropy works—shifting from funder-driven, pass-through grants to bold, community-led investments.
Together with leading Bay Area organizers, practitioners, and funders, we’ve built and refined a new approach we call Proximate Philanthropy. This model puts decision-making power directly in the hands of people with lived and earned experience. Rather than asking for input and leaving foundations to interpret it, we created clear structures for shared decision-making and accountability—so the wisdom of those closest to the challenges truly drives where resources go.
We demonstrate the impact of Proximate Philanthropy by designing, piloting, and scaling system-level solutions that improve conditions for working people across the Bay Area. Our Equity at Work Council—leaders from worker organizing, education and training, and business—sets our funding strategy, approves all pooled-fund grants, and partners with us on budget accountability to ensure transparency and impact.
At our core, we are united by a deep commitment to racial equity and collective solutions that meet the real needs of working people in our region.
ReWork the Bay deploys our Proximate Philanthropy model to design, pilot and scale multi-sector systemic solutions that address the needs of working people in the Bay Area. Our Equity at Work Council, made up of leaders representing worker organizing, education and training, and business, sets our funding strategy, approves all of the grants we make from our pooled fund to support that strategy, and serves as our budget accountability partners, ensuring transparency in how we use our funds.
Together, we are driven by a deep commitment to advancing racial equity and developing collective solutions needed to tackle the challenges faced by working people in our region.