Social impact workers who also care for family members are doing double shifts. They need far more support.

The majority-women social impact sector has always been full of workers who clock out and then work another — unpaid — shift caring for family members at home, whether they’re children, elders, family members with disabilities, or others. 

Many have done so invisibly, both to society and to the social sector organizations they worked for. Until 2020. 

Some began working from home, where their teams could peer into their home life through video conferencing screens. Others who could not work from home had the impossible task of trying to show up for work when the childcare, elder care or other supports they depended on were shut down indefinitely. 

Suddenly, the balancing act these workers do became much more visible to the social impact world — and in many cases, reached its upper limit. 

For a more resilient social impact world coming out o