Post written by RG staff and board members. Special thank you to board member Nakisha Lewis for kicking this into action. We also released a press release titled “Young People with Wealth Stand in Solidarity with Ferguson, Mo.” inspired by this post. At Resource Generation, we are deeply saddened and outraged over the death of…
“Reducing American poverty and ending white supremacy are not the same.” Ta-Nehisi Coates’s recent article in The Atlantic not only draws attention to the national debate on reparations for slavery, but invokes the centrality of white supremacy as the backbone of wealth inequality in the US. As Caribbean nations prepare to sue European nations for…
By Alok Vaid-Menon of @DarkMatterRage This past month I had the privilege to help fundraise for some movement organizations that I love (including Audre Lorde Project, Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, Streetwise and Safe, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and FIERCE!) as part of GIVE OUT DAY an annual day of supporting LGBTQ organizations. All of these…
July 2nd, 2014- today marks fifty years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted. In honor of this history, I’d like to tip my hat towards those foundations who funded the civil rights movement that helped make this legislation possible, as part of RG’s Rich Role Models series and RG’s larger vision of…
Reposted from The Huffington Post The American middle class is shrinking. The financial divide between the ultra-moneyed and the rest of society is widening. As that gap grows, it becomes harder and harder for people on each side of that divide to break through to connect with people on the other side. It becomes easier to demonize people from…
By Tracey Webb, Founder, The Black Benefactors and BlackGivesBack.com “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African proverbWhen I first learned about giving circles in 2002, I had no idea that at the time it was a growing philanthropic movement across the country. My introduction…
By Jay Saper, Margot Seigle & Andrew Meeker We are involved in a new Resource Generation member-led project called ReGenerative Finance, which formed last fall out of the Making Money Make Change conference. We are a commitment to fundamentally changing the very shape of the economy by intervening at the scale of finance: by shifting…
On a panel at the 2010 Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy pre-Council on Foundations Conference, I presented four suggestions for social justice funders to consider. Below are each of these four. Of the many approaches to social change, I turn most towards movement-building strategies. As a funder, then, I’m constantly searching for the ways that my…
My name is Anna Goren, and I am involved in an RG praxis group in Seattle, WA. I have always been interested in philanthropy —growing up in a practicing Jewish household, we were always encouraged to give by the principle of tzedakah. My community is very generous, and also very wealthy. I witnessed from a young…
Reposted from the blog, The Jew and The 5 Carats, written by RG member and leader Margot Seigle. Transcript from speech at Hazon’s If Not Now Benefit April 1st, 2014 at the Brooklyn Green Building. Before I begin, I want to express some gratitude to my community. To James for being such a crucial part of my growth over…
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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