RG’s spring membership and redistribution pledge drive (April 17-May 31) is here! This year, we’re asking members to sign the Redistribution Pledge and to move or renew their membership dues by the end of the Spring drive at 5-10% of their overall giving.

During drives, members are asked to show up for a mutualistic, two-fold political accountability: redistribute more money to movements AND move membership dues to RG to powerfully fund the work of organizing even more young people with wealth to do the same. 

This is all about people power! Membership dues go straight to people organizing people. RG’s budget allows us to be a sustainable employer staffed by an intergenerational, cross-class, and multiracial team of full-time staff, contractors, and stipended partners and presenters from partner organizations. This means that membership dues are a unique part of investing in the cross-class dimension of how RG does its work.

This is all about transformation! As a membership organization that is 95% funded by our members, we closely track the impact of our collective resource mobilization. We know that members increase their giving by 16x on average after joining RG; this means that investing in RG means investing in more resources flowing into movements! 

And this is all about you: will you sign the Redistribution Pledge and move membership dues by the end of the Spring drive at  5-10% of your overall giving? 

Here’s how members in the base understand their accountability to renewing dues each year:

“Being a member of RG has meant finding a home for my activism… I've had questions about why I should pay membership dues to an organization that is in large part made up of wealthy people, especially: shouldn't that money be redistributed straight back to the communities from which it was once stolen? (Yes, most of it should!) Also, there's this: Membership dues mean paying our cross-class staff a livable wage and making it possible for the organizing of young wealthy people to continue. Being a dues-paying member is what enables RG to exist in a more values-aligned way. I'm grateful to all those who were dues-paying members when I discovered RG because without the programming these last few years, I'm certain I would be redistributing far less of my inherited wealth.” - Adaline H, RG Vermont Member: 

“When I first encountered RG, I wasn’t giving away any inherited wealth, and I balked at the idea of paying $250 in membership dues. That number felt steep to me because it was more than I had ever given to a single organization (despite the $20,000 of inherited wealth I held in a savings account). Now, 8 years later, being involved in RG has completely transformed my relationship with wealth and organizing as a part of this membership organization. Praxis helped me reflect on the values I was raised with, and I realized that saving money to accumulate wealth was one of my family’s primary lessons—it's no wonder I had no practice parting with money. Through RG, I’ve committed to taking action aligned with the values I hold now. Thanks to the direct asks of other RGers and staff, I’ve been moving 10% of my income and 10% of my assets, or $20,000, to social justice movements for the last several years. Each year I send $1500 of that, or 7.5%, to RG, because I truly believe that if we can organize more young people with wealth in support of movements for systemic change, we can win.” - Nicole F, staff 

The Fund Abortion Now! campaign is looking to grow its team. We’re looking to recruit RG members who either have these skills (or want to develop these skills):

• Research
• Visual artists/design work

Please reach out to [email protected] if you are interested in joining our team, or feel free to share with other RG members who may be interested.

RG Ann Arbor and RG Detroit merged just over a year ago to become RG Michigan in an effort to put our people power together to organize folks across the state and make our baby chapters into a thriving community! In the first few months of this year, we have solidified a redistribution partnership with Transforming Power Fund in Detroit and have set a goal to move $50k in 2023 to this POC run social justice fund! We also solidified a campaign partnership with Fund MI Future, a rad coalition leading a state-wide tax the rich effort. We also voted on our first ever strategic plan for 2023-2024 that lifts up these partnerships and emphasizes base building, quarterly retreats, and ongoing praxis. And we're off! Looking forward to keeping ya'll updated on the implementation of all these visions!

Looking back…

Seven of us gathered for our first mini-retreat in late March, three of which were totally new to RG. Lathram showed us how to share money stories – with real numbers and honest reflections on generational wealth. We got to know each other better when Eli took us through a little speed dating. River invited us to think about how a functional chapter might be organized and what we can do to get from here to there. We explored some realistic goals we could set for ourselves from these flash card prompts! We were hanging on to the advice of our amazing Regional Organizer, Amira - connection over content.

Looking ahead…

Our first RG Nashville Chapter Potluck is this Sunday, one outcome from the retreat that we’re putting into action monthly. We’ll share a meal and spend some time discussing chapter business. We will have a time for participants to name a specific issue they are currently working through around class or wealth, and get support or feedback from peers if desired, before getting into some brief political education.

We’re keeping the momentum going down here. 🔥🔥🔥

Austin RG is moving forward with our new operating model, with a leadership meeting and a very sweet open goals meeting this month. We're feeling into this new structure and looking ahead to recruitment for praxes this fall.

This summer, RG is hosting a Transforming Philanthropy Virtual Series open to members, social justice funders, movement organizations, and the broader public. The series will include four sessions focused on the topics below, featuring speakers across movement and philanthropy.

• Session 1: Young People with Wealth Building Relationships & Power in Philanthropy (May 22, 7-8:30PM ET)
• Session 2: Mainstream Influences on Social Justice Philanthropy (June 6, 7-9PM ET)
• Session 3: “Don’t Just Park It:” DAFs as an Imperfect Tool in the Redistribution Movement (June 14, 7-9PM ET)
• Session 4: Moving towards Reparations and Regenerative Philanthropy (June 20, 7-9PM ET)

Email our HNW Organizer, Sahana with any questions or concerns.

As we face the magnitude of the work ahead of us in fighting the climate crisis, we know that we cannot do so alone, but must embrace our existence within a complex ecology of interdependence. How do our movements working tirelessly for climate justice carry out the important work of building and nurturing ecosystems of power? As young people with wealth and class privilege who understand that the solutions to the climate crisis lie in rejecting class patterns of individualism and isolation, how do we tend to our political homes while also ensuring we remain accountable to poor and working class-led movements? 

Join us for a panel conversation with three of Resource Generation's partners and allies in the work of creating a more just and equitable planet, as we discuss critical strategies for building collective power, the importance of political home, and where we find hope. 

The Zoom link will be sent out the day before the panel.

Join RG member-leaders across the country for a training designed to support you as a leader in RG! 

We will gather via Zoom on Tuesday, May 2nd, 7:30pm - 9pm EST / 4:30pm - 6pm PT. There will also be an optional Q&A and continued group reflection/mingling time from 9pm - 9:30pm EST / 6pm - 6:30pm PT. 

We will:

• Ground in a shared purpose & strategy (special guest: Crystal Middlestadt, Chinook Fund / RG Board).
• Offer the logistical resources you need to lead in RG.
• Engage in shared reflection on leadership, both broadly & individually, within an RG context. 
• Identify lingering & unanswered questions.

Look forward to seeing you there!

You are invited to the first quarterly All Member Call with Resource Generation! These calls will be an opportunity for chapters to share their wins and lessons learned, for members to tap into coordinated strategy and political education, and for all of us to make moves to build our base of young people working for wealth redistribution across the country. Co Hosted by the National Member Council and RG Staff, this space is open to all dues paying members of Resource Generation. There will be captioning provided.

Put your Crocs in sport mode because we’re gathering in the mountains to build leadership, train and share skills at Resource Generations 2023 Organizing Summit! Over the course of this weekend, we’ll explore campaigns to win structural wealth redistribution and narrow the focus of RG’s new National Campaign. We invite current RG Members (at-large or chapter members) who are interested in issue-based grassroots campaigns and ready to grow their leadership in cross-class movement building. We ask that at least 2 members from the same chapter attend together. This summit will be most useful to members who have attended MMMC and/or completed Praxis, and there will be thoughtful protocol to prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

Fill out this survey to let us know what you’re most excited to learn—we will take your answers into consideration when developing content! More details and official registration coming soon.

Join our Climate Action Giving Circle with RG and Center For Popular Democracy Action to gain skills and community to take action on climate. In this 5 week small group giving circle, learn with other RG members how to combat climate grief and apathy through people power. Our partners with the Center for Popular Democracy Action will share vision, political analysis and skills for how young people (and specifically us with access to wealth and class privilege) can build power and support frontline communities to win life saving policies in the next few years. In 5 weeks, you’ll get trained in transformative fundraising and get to practice, get connected to a cohort of people who want to take action, and build with CPD Action to win a majority in Congress that will do more than the bare minimum to keep our planet habitable, but work for a just and resilient economy. 

Who: RG members and people who could become members 

What: a 5 week giving circle focused on climate action and learning from Center for Popular Democracy Action how to build power to challenge politicians' allegiance to people over the planet. Members learn organizing skills, to discern false solutions from the People’s solutions, and raise money together to support CPDA’s climate justice work. 

When: 7:30-9 ET/4:30-6 PT Every Thursday starting Thursday May 18th-Thursday June 15th  

Where: Zoom! And in the streets and your politicians offices;)

The Internationalism Summer School is an opportunity for a multiracial, cross-class space at Resource Generation to explore the connections of local and national struggle with international solidarity. In this six week program, we will collaborate with frontline organizations, foundations, and funders to expand our understanding and position towards redistribution and solidarity work that is more deeply connected to the international struggle against global capitalism.

More information to come!

Please join the RG Midwest community for the Spring 2023 Midwest Mingle: a gathering for RGers in the Midwest to connect as a community, share challenges & successes, build our collective political knowledge, and grow organizing power for wealth/land/power redistribution in the Midwest. 

Got a hot take you'd like to share with the world? Is your chapter working on a campaign/giving circle/etc., and want to share about it on the RG website? Feeling nostalgic of that 2011 Tumblr/HuffPo where op-eds were everywhere? Well, put all that wishing and wanting to rest with your very own blog post on Resource Generation's website! 

Want to write something but need some inspiration?  

• How to Give Boldly from Earned Income: A Guide for Techies and Others Who Don't Come from Wealthy Backgrounds - Ellie Poley
• How I Learned to Embrace Family Philanthropy's Contradictions - Hanna Mohon
• Unquantifiable Data: 10 Reflections on Class, Economics and Possibility - Jes Kelley, Program Director
• My Story of Race and Class and Why I Organize Rich Kids - Braeden Lentz
• Protect Our Communities; Our Planet, Not Private Wealth - Adam Roberts

You can find more articles on our blog. If you have an idea for a piece you want to write, contact Jeannie, our Communications Manager. 

P.s. Feeling inspired by all these live action reboots and want to turn your blog into a live action video (a.k.a. a TikTok on RG's account), then let Jeannie know! 

We encourage you to consider joining RG as a dues paying member, and if you would like to get involved in your local chapter, please fill out this intake form!

Resource Generation
1216 Broadway
New York, NY 10001
United States

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe.