With the Occupy Wall Street protests ongoing, the movement for re-aligning investments with social change values is more relevant than ever. While corporations essentially own the US government, it is the stockholders—i.e. foundations and the “1%”— who own the corporations.There is a lot of power in this ownership, but not enough people owning up it….
Have you seen RG’s new tumblr account, We are the 1 percent, We stand with the 99 percent? Or maybe this picture of RG’s co-director, Elspeth, that’s been making the rounds on the internet? Lets rewind for a minute. Resource Generation’s Tax Organizing Team came together six months ago to figure out how we could…
In the last 18 days since the occupation of Wall Street, the Occupy movement has spread across the country. Boston, DC, San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, Atlanta, and many other cities are now coming together to stand up as, for, and with the 99%. This includes many of the members of the Resource Generation community. We…
Last year was my first time attending RG’s annual retreat, Making Money Make Change. I went into the conference feeling both nervous and excited and ultimately did not know what to expect. Upon arriving though, I felt my entire body and heart relax. What an amazing group of people who put MMMC together. I felt so appreciative for the opportunity to meet…
This letter to the editor was submitted to the NY Times at the end of last week. Sign on to a longer version of this letter at lettertothefuture.us. The Letter to the Future site will be updated soon with additional sponsors and information. Warren Buffett’s op-ed, “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” struck a chord. As young philanthropists and…
My time interning at RG has been fulfilling both personally and professionally. Unlike other internships, my work at RG allowed me to be creative and take initiative of my own projects.One project I found particularly engaging was working to put RG’s book Classified on the web for download. Mike Gast gave me a copy my…
Me (Mike Gast, Co-Director of RG) asking myself a few of the questions I’ve been wanting to answer about my work and vision. Why wait! So why do you do the work that you do? What’s in it for you? I want a better life. I want a life that is full of close, loving…
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…
After spending some time at the CCTFP conference, I was blown away by the young people I met. I got to know many participants and RG staff and was so impressed by their energy and commitment to social justice. I thought to myself: this is a serious group with a real commitment to gaining skills and getting involved in…
In June we are trying something a little different! In an effort to pare down the number of emails you receive from Resource Generation we have turned June’s monthly update into a blog post. It’s full of timely information on RG’s events, events from our partner organizations, and chapter details. In May, the MMMC Organizing…
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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