I believe that our collective movements for racial, economic, and social justice will win.
It’s with that long-term commitment to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power as our guiding star that we recently launched our Giving Guidelines and Giving Pledge. With them, Resource Generation asks people in the wealthiest 10% to develop plans to redistribute all or almost all inherited wealth and/or excess income to social justice movements in alignment with our social justice giving principles. These guidelines came from RG’s cross-class leadership, and were collaboratively developed by our National Member Council, staff, and board.
100+ people have signed the Giving Pledge already (we have 600+ dues-paying members!)
We’re asking people with access to wealth now or in the future to become one of 175 people with access to wealth to sign RG’s Giving Pledge, and to become a member or renew your membership with RG at 10% of your overall giving
I work at Resource Generation as the Resource Mobilization Director.
I got involved with RG since 2009 as a senior in college. My family has several million dollars in wealth from my dad’s manufacturing business in the glass industry along with generational inheritance. I graduated from college without debt and I’ve received financial support from my parents and grandparents through gifts of about $80K over the past decade. I have a big family safety net that I’m grateful for, and I organize with RG because I want a much bigger safety net for everybody, not just for me and my family.
What we hope to do with our Giving Guidelines is to tell the real, honest truth about wealth and where it comes from, to take leadership from people who aren’t wealthy, and to take action as though we believe we will win.
RG asks people in the wealthiest 10% to develop plans to redistribute all or almost all inherited wealth and/or excess income to social justice movements in alignment with our social justice giving principles.
When I consider this, I feel a lot of things. I feel excited, empowered, and a sense of collective possibility. I also feel fear and a desire to be secretive.
The fear thoughts say: What if I give money away and then don’t have all this ‘community and interdependence’ that RG talks about to fall back on? These are very scary times politically — what if I’m facing climate disaster or war and I don’t have enough? I know — I’ll figure this out in a corner alone! I won’t tell people my real plan! I don’t feel proud of those feelings, and I also feel a lot of compassion for them and where they come from.
If we’re going to stay in this for the long haul, we’re going to need to continually extend a lot of compassion to ourselves and to each other. And, if we’re going to take actions that can help turn the tide on climate disaster, poverty, racism, and rising authoritarianism, we’re going to need to continually choose to take action outside of our comfort zones.
I hope that you will read the Giving Guidelines and take the time to notice what you feel in response. That’s exactly what they’re supposed to do — bring up feelings and give us a guiding star to move toward. The point is not to have all this figured out on our own. I’ve been organizing with RG for 9 years and I’ve never met anyone who has this all figured out. (Yep, even that really cool person at Making Money Make Change or a recent chapter event you’re sure has it all figured out — they definitely don’t.)
The last thing I’ll share is that these guidelines are about taking seriously our leadership as young people to do something that the generations of wealthy people before us have rarely done — take wealth redistribution seriously and put it into action. We’re challenging ourselves to do something that is outside of what is culturally believed is “safe,” “reasonable,” or even possible — together, we’re creating another path, and the more of us who walk it, the more possible it becomes.
I’ve been gifted $80K over the past decade and have given about $45K of it to social justice movements and individuals. This year I’m going to honor my ongoing commitment to giving 10% of my salary and to give an additional $5,000 from wealth I have been gifted. I’ll also be fundraising friends and family to give alongside me. I feel proud of that giving, I feel conflicted, and I feel curious, and I’m going to keep going.
Will you take a step further on the path with me by signing our Giving Pledge and joining RG as a new member or recommitting your membership?
^^webinar alert^^
Intrigued and want to know more? Register for the free webinar we’re hosting in a few days on RG’s Giving Guidelines — open to all (The recording is now available at the link)!
