From Resource Generation Board Member, Mac Liman:
As I write this, my heart is full picturing the faces and remembering the stories of the many hundreds of RGers I have met since my first MMMC conference in 2005 at age 23. I write to you now, at age 40, as a proud RG alum and a member of the national RG Board of Directors. I have an ask: Join me and the rest of the RG board on November 19, 7-8:30 p.m. ET (5-6:30 p.m. MT) for a discussion about moving power to social justice movements, shifting the culture of philanthropy in the US, and the importance of funding RG.
As part of this invitation to join, engage, or re-engage with RG on November 17th, I am sharing three ways I have personally felt extra grateful for RG this year:
1. At our most recent national board meeting, members reflected on the widespread funding shortages in leftist organizing. I watched fellow board members respond with consistent, passionate commitment to deep collaboration and solidarity even and especially in the face of deficits and scarcity. We come from all corners of the movement ecosystem: representatives from across social justice philanthropy, solidarity economy organizers, economic and racial justice movement leaders, current and alumni members, and RG staff past and present. Each of us know and embody the practice of “no one is free until all of us are free.” We carry an astonishing commitment to rise to meet the need of the moment. It takes my breath away every time.
2. My rich dad is aging. I began noticing changes in his memory and behavior a year and half ago while we worked with a facilitator to create a giving plan for his Donor Advised Fund. He was changing his mind, back-tracking on gift commitments and expressing more than “usual” amounts of fear and irrational scarcity. It’s scary and sad to move closer to this particular way that our culture and economy tie money to mortality. The RG network has given me access to emotional support, values-aligned wisdom, and camaraderie from dozens of people who have had the extraordinarily niche experience of navigating a relationship with an aging millionaire parent. As my ability to impact how my conservative dad gives and invests his money deteriorates, I am affirmed that collective action for large-scale impact will lead to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power; we cannot rely solely on individual successes within wealthy families. RG creates clear opportunities for people with class privilege like me to build collective power for systemic change.
3. In this excruciating moment of renewed violence and war in Palestine/Israel, the RG community (in listservs, communications, meetups, and as a network) has felt grounded, loving, and clear to me. I am an Ashkenazi Jew born in the US with class privilege. While I see (and understand) many other networks and leaders being stuck in this moment, I see RGers from across our base taking courageous, grounded, and swift action for ceasefire and collective liberation. I believe this action and leadership is possible because Jewish leaders are visible and supported, Shabbat happens at every RG conference, there is an active and loving RG Jews listserv, and RG interrogates the intersections of racism, imperialism, Christian hegemony, and antisemitism.
So many more people know about RG now than when RG first helped me find the courage to talk about my class privilege in the early 2000s. Back then, I was accustomed to being the first one to introduce the organization. In the past month alone, I walked into my local coffee shop and overheard two strangers who were already talking about RG. At a virtual gathering for Radical Financial Planners, RG’s Transformative Investment Principles were shared as a unifying document. A dear colleague and therapist told me they referred three clients with class privilege to RG. Our momentum has been building for decades and we must not slow down.
The will, need, and momentum for RGs work exists! RG has 1055 dues-paying members right now. 6,000 members would mean RG is actively organizing 3.5% of the potential base of young people with class privilege in the US and tipping the scales towards an unstoppable mass movement for redistribution. Let’s build the infrastructure to meet it! Please join on November 19th and please give big to RG!
—Mac Liman
How Young People Are Moving 1B to Movements & Building Political Power:
An Evening with the RG Board
November 19 | 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m EST
