Redistribution Story Bank

The Redistribution Story Bank is a compilation of stories that show what we mean by transformative redistribution of wealth, land and power. We hope that these short videos, audio interviews, and written blurbs will serve as seeds that spread, turning individual moments into collective action.

We need stories to expand our imagination of what is possible, explain the complexities (messy and beautiful!) of acting on our Redistribution Pledges, and learn from each other and our communities.

We hope that these short videos, audio interviews, and written blurbs will serve as seeds that spread, turning individual moments into collective action.

Julia, RG National Member Council

Learn more about Julia’s story below:

1. From organizer to funder (2:09)

2. Redefining risk and investment (4:19)

3. Showing up for mutual aid (4:03)

4. Learning from our ancestors (4:54)

• Why do you support the Redistribution Pledge and how are you doing with yours so far?
  • I support the Redistribution Pledge because it pushes me to set tangible goals and hold myself accountable to them, in community with others. So far, I have used my Redistribution Pledge to develop a plan to transfer my stock and brokerage accounts out of Wall Street and into community and values-aligned investments.
• How would you describe your class background?
  • Top __  percentage?:  1%
  • What is your class identity?: owning class
  • Name a couple of “class privilege clues”: I have no student debt (or really debt of any kind), and I was able to travel internationally from an early age
  • Current Access to net wealth: around $1 mil. (mostly in real estate)
• Where did the money come from? Briefly describe the source/history of wealth you have access to (family/individually):
  • My access to wealth is almost entirely from my parents, who immigrated to the US from Taiwan in the 80s and are both medical doctors. The bulk of my family’s current wealth was generated during my lifetime by my mother through 30+ years of real estate, business, and a variety of other investments.
• How did you get involved in social justice movements, and how did you get connected with RG? What types of work are you inspired by and/or supporting and why?
  • I didn’t start getting involved in social justice movements until college, but I learned about community organizing and social justice from my mom at a young age from being involved in community farming and gardening projects that she started. I first learned about RG while I was an organizer in Ferguson (St. Louis), MO during the Ferguson Uprising and the It Starts Today campaign, where RG members were sending donations to local organizers in the St. Louis area. I had already been active in community organizing and the solidarity economy but didn’t identify myself as a possible RG member until 2016, when I started having more access to my family’s foundation. I’m deeply committed to and involved in organizations that are building a solidarity economy. Some of my movement homes include Solidarity Economy St. Louis, STL Mutual Aid, and the New Economy Coalition.

Nora, RG Staff Member

• Why do you support the Redistribution Pledge and how are you doing with yours so far?
  • The Redistribution Pledge is a powerful tool to collectivize our efforts- my contribution is one small part of our community moving 100M to movements this year. It feels good to be part of a whole! I have pledged to redistribute at least 10% of my assets each year- in 2021 I’ll be at 12%.
• How would you describe your class background?
  • Top __  percentage?: My family is in the top 10% of the US
  • What is your class identity?: Professional Class
  • Name a couple of “class privilege clues”: Travel to Europe as a teen, no college debt
  • Current Access to net wealth: $60,000
• Where did the money come from? Briefly describe the source/history of wealth you have access to (family/individually):
  • My family is in the professional class for three generations on my Mom’s side– my Great Grandmother invested her government pension in the stock market.
• How did you get involved in social justice movements, and how did you get connected with RG? What types of work are you inspired by and/or supporting and why?
  • I was politicized in the environmental justice movement and was drawn in by respect for land and rage at the destruction I witnessed as a result of fracking. The student climate movement taught me about disruption, working in faith-based advocacy showed me the possibility of transforming institutions, and organizing white people to flank the Movement for Black Lives taught me about solidarity, risk, and rigor. As a young person with class privilege, Resource Generation showed me how to be honest with my community and invest in movements like I believe we’ll win.

Andrea, RG National Member Council

• Why do you support the Redistribution Pledge and how are you doing with yours so far?
  • I don’t want to hoard resources while the world literally burns. I have met my redistribution goals.
• How would you describe your class background?
  • Top __  percentage?: 1%
  • What is your class identity?: owning class
  • Name a couple of “class privilege clues”: I am very into maximizing my credit card points.  I have an expensive dog.
  • Current Access to net wealth: About 3M in liquid assets
• Where did the money come from? Briefly describe the source/history of wealth you have access to (family/individually):
  • My dad worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
• How did you get involved in social justice movements, and how did you get connected with RG? What types of work are you inspired by and/or supporting and why?
  • I found RG when they wrote an article in the Huffington Post. I am inspired by organizations such as Viet Lead and Bread and Roses in Philadelphia, which redistributes wealth and decision-making power.

Learn more about Andrea’s redistribution stories below:

1. Finding true security beyond savings (3:48)

2. Being transparent and unrestricted (3:20)

3. Who am I investing in? (1:38)

Marnie Thompson, co-Managing Director of the Fund for Democratic Communities

• Captions coming soon

Learn more about Marnie’s redistribution stories below:

1. Marnie starting and sunsetting (4:28)

2. Marnie solidarity economy investing, enoughness, and separating earnings (4:46)

Dan S, Bay Area RG Member, Caption Coming Soon

If you’re interested in sharing your story in our emergent story bank, please fill out this form to tell us a bit about your redistribution journey and background. We will follow up with you to set up some narrative workshopping and support to do a short recorded (video or audio) interview. We love a thorough consent and co-creation process, so we will continue to incorporate your feedback as we edit a piece to publish on the Story Library and social media.

Part of the intention of the story library is to show a wide range of possibilities so that more people can see themselves and their power in this work. Together we can add critical nuance to the dominant narratives that center whiteness and inherited wealth, so we intend to feature stories across all the spectrums (racial identity, class background, ancestral relationship to money, gender, organizing experience, and beyond!) If you want to join feedback circles for the next round of stories we release, please email [email protected]

This is an emerging and experimental story-telling project and archive — stay tuned for updates!

We are actively working on transcriptions for all our video and audio files. Apologies for the gap in accessibility in the meantime.