My first involvement with RG as a constituent with class privilege was June 2004 when I participated in my first RG workshop “Social Change Financial Planning.” Since then, I not only participated in RG programming as a constituent (e.g. MMMC, Donor Organizing Institute, CCTFP, Dinners) but also as a researcher with both personal and academic…
Special thanks to Mac Liman, who really pushed my thinking on this and also was a superb and frequent editor. One of the first questions we always get asked on the tax team is: why should we fight for higher taxes to go into government funding when the US government is so terrible? After being…
I had no idea what institutional philanthropy was when I transitioned from working for nonprofits to landing a job at a grantmaker. Once I arrived, I was often asked by grantseeking colleagues what it was like on the “other side.” I understood this question came in response to the shrouds of mystery that obscures many…
Re-post from The Lucious Satyagraha blog written by Adrienne Maree Brown. in my work as an organizational healer, facilitator, and coach, i regularly support, both formally and informally, lots of movement leaders. one of the major trends i’ve seen over and over is folks struggling because they can’t get consistent long-term funding. if you work for…
Re-post from Interaction Institute for Social Change blog written by Cynthia Silva Parker, reflecting on workshop by Mijo Lee of Social Justice Fund Northwest and Nitika Raj of Resource Generation titled “Race and Class: Why an Intersectional Approach is Critical to Undoing Structural Racism”.“Justice is when… Mijo Lee of Social justice Fund Northwest and Nitika Raj of Resource…
For a long time, I thought that as a white, wealthy woman, there was no role for me in working to end racism and economic injustice. I tried doing service provision in low-income communities of color, and the “white savior” dynamics of that work felt disheartening. I was involved in anti-violence and queer organizing on…
Reposted from the GIFT Blog.I attended my first workshop on disability justice facilitated by Mia Mingus and Stacey Milbern, two Korean queer women with disabilities, at the United States Social Forum in 2010. Sitting in a room with others wanting to talk about disability and ableism within a social justice framework was like coming home for me….
Have you checked out the Creating Change Through Family Philanthropy retreat report yet?The CCTFP Retreat is for young people who are engaged in their families’ philanthropy and are committed to social change.This year’s retreat took place in Petaluma, CA at the end of April. It was the 5th retreat of its kind. Full of vibrant…
Looking back at 2010, I’ve been thinking a lot about the recent tax cut battle and our role in it as people with wealth. I was inspired by groups like Wealth for the Common Good, organizing the wealthy to speak out against the cuts they would benefit from. I’ve been wondering, too, about the underlying cultural currents that made it possible for policy like this to pass.
We hold the liberation of Black and Indigenous people as central to the liberation of all people. We know that attempted genocide and chattel slavery created the initial foundation for massive wealth disparity in the U.S. and that the continued exploitation and criminalization of those communities upholds the racial wealth divide. We believe that well-resourced Black and Native Left organizing is a critical part of how we all get more free.
We believe social justice movements need to be led by communities most directly impacted by injustice. As young people with access to wealth, we choose to undermine the pattern of funders dictating the work and instead choose to follow the leadership of transformative social justice movements and communities, led by people who are: poor, working-class, Black, Indigenous, of color, women, disabled, queer and trans.
We work towards eradicating classism and towards wholeness. We believe that all classes and communities are interconnected and interdependent and that classism has been used to wedge and divide us. We know that much is lost communally in the name of wealth accumulation and that people with wealth have a lot to gain from returning wealth to the collective and transforming our economy. We know that the current economic system is untenable, and we work to build a solidarity economy.
We believe that people ages 18–35, with wealth and class privilege, are at a pivotal stage in life to make a lifelong commitment to social movements. Youth movements and organizing are, and have been bold and visionary. We are building on the legacy of those who came before us, and we are working for a better world for those who will come after. Young people with access to wealth and class privilege need to be organized as protagonists—actively engaging in and seeking out ways that leverage and redistribute our access to power and resources within our control, and redirect resources and power within the networks and institutions we are connected to. We are committed to resisting ageist norms of people acquiring power and holding on to it and constantly doing leadership development to bring about new leadership.
We believe personal and structural change are deeply connected, and every person has the ability to heal and grow. We are committed to working towards transforming ourselves, our organizations, our communities, and society as a whole through our work. We bring our full selves, our experiences, our stake, and our strategic thinking to build cross-class relationships in working for a just and livable world.
We believe in collective and individual growth, groundedness and interdependence. We know that tensions will arise, and we will approach these with curiosity on behalf of our personal and collective wants. We will work to see tensions as generative rather than destructive and finite. We welcome principled disagreement and will strive to keep conflict generative in service of our broader goals and mission.
We believe in the power of collaboration across class, race, and movements. We know that our vision depends on our relationships with communities, organizations and people across our movement ecosystem, with whom we share similarities and differences. Through our organizing work we also seek ways to invite our families, communities, and other people with access to wealth to this work.
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