Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

What Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) does

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national 501(c)(4) advocacy organization founded in 2009 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that organizes white communities for racial and economic justice. SURJ operates a distributed model of 175+ chapters and affiliate groups across the US and Canada, mobilizing members through phonebanks, door-to-door canvassing, virtual Action Hours, the Gear Up 10-week organizing training, mass meetings, and electoral programs. Core offerings include the chapter network, phonebanking campaigns (2.5 million dials in 2024), the SURJ Action Hour virtual onboarding program, the Gear Up training series, organizing toolkits (Stop Cop City, Scarcity to Solidarity, Defund the Police), and sub-brands such as SURJ Faith and SURJ Disability.

The technology stack is entirely off-the-shelf and non-proprietary: Mobilize.us for event registration and coordination, Zoom for webinars and virtual meetings, ActBlue for donation processing, and standard phone-banking dialer systems for voter outreach. No AI/ML capabilities, proprietary models, or software products are evidenced in the source data. SURJ is supported operationally by a research partnership with Movement Labs, which conducted a randomized control trial measuring a 20% persuasion rate of undecided white voters after SURJ member conversations—the only data-analytics asset surfaced in the dataset.

Revenue is generated primarily through individual donations: monthly recurring gifts, one-time contributions via ActBlue, mailed checks to the Atlanta mailing address, electronic transfers, and stock gifts. The affiliated 501(c)(3) Showing Up for Racial Justice Education Fund accepts tax-deductible donations for educational programming. The organization is governed as an independent nonprofit with no parent company, no disclosed institutional investors, and no public listing. Key leadership includes Executive Director Erin Heaney and Co-Founder Carla Wallace, with senior program directors covering Appalachia, communications, national strategic campaigns, Kentucky organizing, and chapter sub-brands.

Name

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

Legal name

Showing Up for Racial Justice, Inc.

Website

https://surj.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national 501(c)(4) advocacy network, founded in 2009, that organizes white communities for racial and economic justice through 175+ chapters across the US and Canada, running phonebanking, training programs, and electoral campaigns funded by individual donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advocacy and Community Organizing

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Racial & Ethnic Justice Organizations (BPAGAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations (BPAGAFAB)

Keywords

• Racial justice organizing
• Grassroots voter outreach
• Community organizing training
• Advocacy network
• Electoral mobilization

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Member Contributions: SURJ operates as a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization and generates revenue primarily through individual donations. The organization accepts monthly recurring gifts, one-time donations via ActBlue platform, checks mailed to their Atlanta address, and electronic transfers. Stock gifts are also accepted. Donations to the 501(c)(4) are not tax-deductible; tax-deductible donations can be made to the affiliated 501(c)(3) Showing Up for Racial Justice Education Fund.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

SURJ mobilizes white people for racial and economic justice through a national network of 175+ local chapters, voter outreach campaigns (phonebanks and canvassing), organizing training programs (Gear Up, Action Hour, mass meetings), educational webinars, and a library of organizing toolkits. Programming is delivered free to participants and combines grassroots community organizing, electoral mobilization, and coalition work with Black-led, immigrant rights, and labor partners.

Product overview

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national political organizing network that mobilizes white people for racial and economic justice. The organization operates through a distributed chapter network (175+ chapters), combining grassroots organizing, voter outreach campaigns, training programs, and educational resources. Core offerings include phonebanking campaigns for electoral work, the Gear Up training series for organizing skill development, mass meetings for community building, Action Hour virtual sessions, and specialized programs like SURJ Disability and SURJ Faith. The organization also provides organizing toolkits and hosts regular webinars featuring movement leaders. SURJ functions as a platform combining community organizing infrastructure with educational programming rather than a traditional software product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SURJ Education Fund: Showing Up for Racial Justice Education Fund - the 501(c)(3) arm of the organization for tax-deductible donations

Products and services

• SURJ Chapter Network
• Phonebanking Campaigns

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 in 5 undecided white voters persuaded to support Harris after SURJ member conversations (randomized control trial)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

22 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• IndivisiblecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 April 2026Coalition partner in Workers Over Billionaires national day of action (May 1, 2026) with 600+ planned actions. SURJ organizing white people into solidarity with Black and Brown neighbors away from rich white elite. Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, described May Day as 'a tactical escalation- an economic show of force.'
• Chicago Teacher's UnioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 April 2026Labor union partner in May Day 2026 Workers Over Billionaires coalition. SURJ organizers heard from Jackson Potter of CTU about their recent contract win and strategies for solidarity organizing around May Day.
• Movement LabscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 October 2024Research partnership conducting randomized control trial to measure SURJ member conversations' effectiveness at persuading conflicted white voters. Results showed 1 in 5 undecided voters persuaded to support Harris after conversations, providing empirical validation of SURJ's organizing approach.
• Movement for Black LivescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 March 2024National partner co-sponsoring National Day of Action Against Police Terror (March 9th) and campaign to Stop Cop City. SURJ has been part of the Stop Cop City campaign, building support in majority-white communities for divestment from police and prison expansion.
• Protect Kentucky AccesscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2022SURJ joined this multiracial coalition to defeat Kentucky's anti-abortion Amendment 2. The partnership involved extensive voter outreach including 110,000+ calls and 20,000+ conversations with voters. SURJ's members used a 'shared stake' model of persuasion, moving 25% of initially supportive voters to reject the amendment.
• Seed the VoterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDoor knocking partnership for voter outreach in Arizona and Michigan during 2024 election cycle.
• Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC partner with 'historic mobilizations over the last two years' contributing to Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary victory. SURJ endorsed Mamdani and is running phonebanks to support his general election campaign.
• CAAAVcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC partner with 'base building in working class immigrant communities' contributing to Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary victory.
• DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC partner with 'base building in working class immigrant communities' contributing to Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary victory.
• DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNYC partner contributing 'sharp strategy' to Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign where he served as political home for DSA members.
• Right to the City AllianceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of Pledge to Resist and Protect campaign and training program for organizing resistance to Trump administration.
• Rising MajorityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of Pledge to Resist and Protect campaign and training program for organizing resistance to Trump administration.
• Highlander CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of Pledge to Resist and Protect campaign and training program for organizing resistance to Trump administration.
• Solidarity Organizing InitiativeminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartner for 'Solidarity & Rapid Response' two-week training on directly supporting immigrant justice organizing and strategic noncooperation with ICE.
• RuralOrganizing.orgminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRural defense partnership for sharing strategies on rural immigration defense, queer small town organizing, and running progressive rural candidates.
• West Virginia Can't WaitminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRural defense partnership for sharing strategies on rural organizing.
• Make the Road NVminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRural defense partnership for sharing strategies on rural organizing.
• United We Dream ActioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured Bruna Sollod on mass call about organizing against authoritarian playbook; SURJ organizing white people in solidarity with immigrant communities resisting ICE.
• Louisville SURJcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLocal Louisville chapter driving cash bail reform campaign and judicial endorsement program. Over 100 volunteers contacted 2,500+ residents and distributed 2,500+ endorsement slates, resulting in 7 of 12 endorsed judges winning including defeating the judge who signed Breonna Taylor no-knock warrant.
• Punch UpminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSURJ supporting Punch Up's launch to organize poor and working class white men around shared interest in fighting for change, even those who voted for Trump or lean MAGA.
• Heather McGheeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured in webinar 'Beyond White Privilege' discussing her book 'The Sum of Us' and framework for fighting zero-sum thinking in white communities.
• Kentucky People's Union (KPU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured on NBC News as part of National Day of Racial Healing; working class-led project profiled for multiracial organizing.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• People's Action: People's Action is a national network of grassroots community organizations using door-knocking, phonebanking, and electoral organizing to advance progressive and racial-justice outcomes. SURJ has comparable distributed chapter structure and overlapping constituency on white working-class progressive organizing.
• Indivisible: Indivisible is a grassroots progressive advocacy network with a distributed local-chapter structure and electoral organizing focus, directly comparable to SURJ's model—both mobilize individual members to influence elections and run issue campaigns through decentralized chapters. SURJ and Indivisible are also active coalition partners (May Day 2026).
• Faith in Action: Faith in Action is a national faith-based community organizing network running large-scale door-knocking and phonebank operations for progressive issue and electoral campaigns, structurally similar to SURJ's distributed mobilizing model and direct organizing approach.
• Swing Left: Swing Left is a volunteer-driven electoral organization focused on phonebanking and door-knocking in swing states to elect progressive candidates, comparable to SURJ's 2024 and 2026 swing-state voter outreach model (e.g., target of 1M dials in 2024 cycle).
• Working Families Party: Working Families Party is a progressive political organization focused on electing working-class champions and running multi-state electoral and issue campaigns, comparable to SURJ's electoral and racial-justice organizing among white working-class voters.
• MoveOn: MoveOn is a large membership-driven progressive advocacy organization that runs digital mobilization, phonebanking, and electoral campaigns, closely paralleling SURJ's community-led, action-driven operating model. Both rely on member donations and operate distributed digital organizing infrastructure.
• United We Dream Action: United We Dream Action is a youth-led immigrant rights advocacy organization running mass mobilization calls, training, and electoral campaigns; comparable to SURJ in operating peer-led mobilization infrastructure and in being an active coalition partner on resistance and electoral programs.

Others

• AFL-CIO: The AFL-CIO is a national labor federation whose affiliates (including Chicago Teachers Union, a SURJ coalition partner) organize working-class voters through field operations and electoral programs. SURJ complements labor organizing by mobilizing white workers into multi-racial coalitions, making AFL-CIO an ecosystem-level peer rather than a direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Color of Change: Color of Change is a large established racial-justice advocacy organization running digital organizing and campaigns on racial equity issues; it operates more broadly across policy and corporate accountability, but is a comparable stakeholder in the modern racial-justice movement and a natural coalition counterpart to SURJ.
• NAACP: The NAACP is the largest and longest-running U.S. civil rights organization, with a national membership and legislative/advocacy focus on racial justice. While larger and broader in scope than SURJ, it is structurally comparable as a national advocacy/membership organization whose work SURJ explicitly supports as part of multi-racial coalitions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xbsky.app/profile/surj.org
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@showingupforracialjustice1665
• Facebookfacebook.com/showingupforracialjustice
• Instagraminstagram.com/showingupforracialjustice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/showing-up-for-racial-justice-surj

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)