Growing and Changing to Meet the Moment

A note from RG’s board co-chairs:

We are writing to inform you that, following an exceptional tenure, Iimay Ho will be leaving the role of Executive Director of Resource Generation in summer of 2021. We are grateful for Iimay’s thoughtfulness in giving the organization plenty of time to plan and implement the hiring process for RG’s next executive director, one of the many examples of the considerate energy they have brought to RG through their leadership.

We, like many of you, have a lot of feelings about Iimay’s departure. We are deeply grateful for their steady guidance and attention to internal infrastructure that has led to RG’s growth as an organization. We are in awe of the vast amount of work they’ve accomplished in their nearly seven years on staff and four as executive director. We’re also very sad to see them go, because Iimay is a big piece of the heart, soul and vibe of RG, but we’re so excited for what’s next for them beyond this role.

As the first young person of color with wealth to be Executive Director of RG, Iimay led us to our current position as a multiracial membership organization of young people with wealth and class privilege that is unparalleled in its vision and impact. Under Iimay’s tenure, RG grew from a newly formed 501c3 organization with 10 staff and a $1 million budget to a team of 20 with a $2.7M budget, primarily funded by RG membership. They led big and important shifts in the organization’s culture and practice that aligned RG with its values and the needs of our movements, many of which you’ll read about in Iimay’s letter that follows. Because of Iimay, RG is living up to its commitments in bold, public, and powerful ways.

Due to Iimay’s outstanding work and the collective efforts of our members and staff, RG is in a solid financial position with strong internal leadership at all levels. The board is committed to a thoughtful leadership transition, and work is already underway on the search for RG’s next executive director. The board has hired Strategies for Social Change to manage this process, and we’ve formed a Leadership Transition Committee to guide our next steps. We are confident that this skilled and dedicated team, led by board members Crystal Middlestadt and Charles Long, will identify RG’s next leader with input from staff, board, RG members and movement leaders.

There will be many ways in the coming months for the RG community to reflect on, celebrate, and appreciate Iimay for all they are and all they’ve done. On behalf of the board of directors, we want to express our profound gratitude to Iimay for their leadership, labor, and love for this organization.

In solidarity,

Allison Johnson Heist and Emily Duma, Resource Generation Board Co-Chairs


 

A note from Iimay Ho, RG’s Executive Director:

Hi everyone — I’m writing to share some big news: I will be stepping down from my role as Executive Director of Resource Generation in summer 2021. By that time I will have been Executive Director for four years and on staff for seven years. Being part of RG staff has been a transformative experience and serving in this role has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I am confident in our strength, collective power, and clarity of vision moving forward, and I’m ready to make room for the next generation of leadership.

I’ve been in discussion with the board and staff about my transition since February of this year and am fully committed to ensuring there is a smooth process during these tumultuous times. I am proud to be leaving Resource Generation in a strong financial position with a multi-racial, cross-class, leaderful team of amazing board and staff, and a powerful community of 970 dues-paying members, 18 chapters, and over 100 chapter leaders.

My RG journey started when I joined the DC chapter’s first praxis group in 2012. I had been organizing in QTBIPOC and Asian American spaces while hiding my class privilege for years, and I remember being so relieved that I finally had a space to practice accountability, transparency, and action around my class privilege. For the first time I connected with other young people of color with wealth about our money stories. I made my first giving plan. I then became a chapter leader, joined RG as a dues-paying member in 2013, and then joined staff as the Associate Director in 2014. RG spoke to a deeply held need I had around personal transformation as a young person with access to class privilege and wealth, and once I got involved I never looked back!

When I joined staff we had just launched our new mission of organizing young people with wealth and class privilege towards the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power and created a 2020 strategic plan to align ourselves with this new radical mission. We’re nearing the end of that strategic plan, and I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished together. We have reached many of our goals, and the team and organization has grown so much in that time: tripling our membership, doubling our staff from 10 to 20, and growing our budget from just over $1M to $2.7M.

I became the Executive Director at the start of 45’s term. I am inspired by the way the RG community has shown up and organized through the multiple intersecting crises over the last four years, including the acceleration of wealth inequality, anti-Black racism, climate disaster, and now the pandemic. Members have shared their stories with the media to shift the narrative around wealth accumulation. We’ve built multi-year campaign partnerships with poor and working-class led organizations, launched our Giving Pledge, reached thousands of people with our political education, and moved millions in funding to movements. In fact, through our Giving Pledge we are on track to move $50 million to social justice movements this year. 

We’re modeling what transformative, cross-class organizing and solidarity looks like, and I’m confident this vital work will continue with the next leader. I’m excited that our board of directors is committed to a transparent search process that reflects our organizational culture and values – including integrating substantive input from both staff and members. Our leadership transition committee, composed of both board and staff representatives, has been hard at work with the support from the talented team at Strategies for Social Change, a leading organizational capacity-building firm with expertise in leadership transition.  We look forward to including the new National Member Council members in the transition process after they launch their new structure in early 2021.

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned during my time in this role, it is to trust in interdependence and the power of the collective. Everyone I have had the honor of working with in this role has taught me something, supported me to be my best self, and contributed to where we are now. We all share a commitment to RG’s vision of a world that is racially and economically just where wealth, land, and power are shared. Regardless of the uncertainty of the election and these next few months, I have faith in our transformative vision and the strength of our relationships. Together we’ve built an incredible organization, and the work will continue to grow and change to meet the moment. 

Meanwhile, it’s not goodbye yet, and you can look forward to many reflective blog posts before I go. And RG will always be my political home so you’ll likely run into me at a future MMMC dance party! Thank you for your support as we find a new leader to take RG into its next chapter.

Warmly,

Iimay Ho
Executive Director