Who We Are
We’re a nonprofit built around a simple idea: meeting needs and building civic capacity shouldn’t be separate jobs.
How It’s Supposed to Work Foundation connects immediate relief with clear, nonpartisan civic learning. We support people facing urgent disruptions—hunger, childcare gaps, and short-term financial shocks—while helping them understand how the public systems shaping housing, healthcare, work, education, and democracy actually function.
Relief stabilizes the moment. Learning builds the capacity to navigate what comes next.
How It’s Supposed to Work Foundation is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation and a federally recognized 501(c)(3) public charity, based in San Francisco.
Mission
Connect direct relief with civic learning and participation—so people can meet immediate needs and understand how the systems affecting their lives really work.
Vision
A society where everyone’s basic needs are met and everyone can influence the systems that affect their lives.
Purpose
Link today’s crises with tomorrow’s decisions—turning short-term stability into long-term civic capacity.
What Guides Our Work
These principles shape how we deliver relief and how we design learning—especially in moments where instability, safety, or survival limit people’s ability to participate in civic life.
Dignity in Relief
Every act of help affirms human worth—especially when people are navigating crisis, instability, or harm.
Education as Empowerment
Clear information equips people to navigate systems, protect themselves, and change their conditions.
Connection over Division
Lasting change depends on shared responsibility, not blame or partisanship.
Participation as Power
Everyone deserves a voice in the systems that shape their access, safety, and opportunity.
Change from the Ground Up
Communities closest to the problem are best positioned to lead durable solutions.
How Relief Connects to Reform
Urgent gaps—whether food insecurity, childcare breakdowns, domestic violence, or sudden financial shocks—create stress, limit safety, and shut people out of participation.
Stabilizing those gaps makes learning possible.
Clear learning makes participation possible.
Participation is how systems change.
Our work draws a direct line between immediate support and long-term civic influence.
Where We Are in the Journey
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Building operations, governance, and partnerships to support early relief pilots, civic learning tools, and safe referral pathways for crisis-related needs.
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Testing programs in Starting Points, How Systems Work, and Voices in Practice.
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Assessing what worked, publishing findings, and expanding successful models with multi-year funding.
Governance and Accountability
How It’s Supposed to Work Foundation is organized as a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation and is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) public charity. The foundation is governed by a board of directors responsible for fiduciary oversight, legal compliance, and strategic direction.
The foundation is led by Cassie McClintock, Founder and Executive Director, who oversees day-to-day operations, program strategy, and organizational leadership under board oversight.
We are a strictly nonpartisan organization. We do not support or oppose candidates or political parties. Our work focuses on access, public systems, and community capacity—not on telling people what to think or how to vote.
We do not replace emergency or crisis services. When safety is at risk, we prioritize referrals to specialized, confidential support providers.