[link removed] [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]]
Happy new year all,
It’s Valeriya and Julia, RG’s membership-focused staff, here with an update on our 2023 budget-raising efforts, a reminder of what we do at RG and what you can expect from us, and an invite to upcoming RG goings ons:
How did it go raising the 2023 RG budget?
RG continues to be over 95% funded by its members!
The expenses/income are still being cross-checked, but we know that we successfully raised our budget and then some!
With nearly $1 million still to be raised on December 1, 2024, this was a major feat. Thank you to all of you who rallied to increase your dues, fundraise your family, or something else.
Raising this money in December reminded us once again that this is not good for us or the organization. RG’s cash flow was often not in alignment with our expenses, and multiple staff worked over the holidays.
In this January email to all of you–our members, friends, allies, and comrades–we would like to collectively set a goal to raise our 2024 budget of ~$4.4 million as early as possible and more evenly distributed from month to month.
Will you join us in this goal?! This year, will you consider moving your RG membership dues by the end of May? We invite you to respond to this email to let us know if you’re joining us!
Or click here [[link removed]] to move your dues to RG today!
Who are we??
We are queer cat parents living in different Rust Belt cities who spend most of the day thinking about what’s for dinner and listening to sad indie music.
What do Julia and Valeriya do??
We coordinate two redistribution pledge/membership drives a year, each Spring and Autumn (the month of May, we’re lookin’ at ya, we’re comin’ for ya!)
We facilitate high net wealth praxis or family philanthropy praxis cohorts once or twice a year (applications open soon for our upcoming 2024 cohorts!)
We create the strategy for raising RG’s ~$4.4 million operating budget, and support the rest of our organizing staff to have transformative fundraising conversations to raise that money, >95% of which comes from our members! We also do A LOT of transformative fundraising ourselves.
Ask us anything about membership! We’re here to talk about it. If you reply to this email, it’ll go straight to Valeriya’s inbox
What have Julia and Valeriya been thinking about lately related to RG membership dues?
Because RG staff are orienting towards a year of sustainable growth in our base, and because RG staff and members will be launching a national campaign this year, we’ve been thinking a lot about how an RG member dues ask is also a basebuilding tool. What does this look like in practice?
Making both asks simultaneously! Integrating membership asks at the end of organizing 1:1s, and likewise integrating leadership development/organizing asks at the end of redistribution-related 1:1s
Making lists and checking them twice! As a chapter, it’s really helpful to look at a list of dues-paying members in certain zip codes or even in your whole state and compare that list with a list of who you perceive as an active member leader. Where are there discrepancies? Who needs a relational 1:1 or personal check-in of another kind? Why aren’t some dues-paying members active in local partnerships or coming to retreats? Why are some active leaders not current on RG dues? 👀 Doing this during Spring & Fall drives is great!
Making the membership culture what you want it to be! RG is over 95% funded by its members, so we as a collective get to shape the vibes and the goals and the tactics that we use to redistribute wealth, grow each other’s leadership, and win shit! Every act of culture-building (social gatherings like potlucks, going to rallies together, sharing money stories, etc!) not only benefits our shared organizing work, but it also makes our membership model more resilient, because if we feel belonging in something, we’re more likely to re$ource that thing!
What are Julia and Valeriya thinking about RIGHT NOW?
“Did I remember to marinate the chicken thighs before work this morning?”
“When am I gonna have time to run to the store for linocut supplies?”
“When is my next visit to the local cat cafe?”
How can I plug in with RG soon??
You can find the high net wealth praxis interest form here [[link removed]] .
Funding Freedom: Palestinian Reality Before October 7th [[link removed]]
January 16th, January 23rd, January 30th; 1-2:30pm ET
Funding Freedom is holding a three part political education series starting January 16th focused on conditions Palestinians lived under before October 7th. It is especially designed for individuals and organizations who are relatively new to work with Palestinians and interested to learn more. Register now to receive prep materials in advance! RG is cosponsoring this series along with Solidaire Action, Grassroots International, and more
[[link removed]]
Until Everyone Has Enough! Campaign Training and Resourcing Program [[link removed]]
March-April 2024
In 2024, RG is launching a multi-week cohort-style campaign training program to learn and practice key campaign skills. This training will cover campaign essentials and map over to our soon-to-be-launched National Campaign. Check out this interest form [[link removed]] to find more information about who this training is for and what it will cover. The official registration form will be launched in December 2023. All those who fill out the Interest Form will be contacted to complete the Registration form once live. Registration costs TBD.
Jan. 24 Transformative Fundraising Training
Wednesday, January 24 from 7-9:30pm ET, 4-6:30pm PT
RSVP here [[link removed]]
RG's next Transformative Fundraising for dues-paying members will be on zoom. There will be time for live fundraising of each other in pairs. No prior experience is necessary. In this training, you'll learn:
How to clearly identify someone's self-interest in moving $ and how to connect that self-interest to a collective vision
How to make integrated asks that include: divestment from Wall St, overall redistribution, RG membership, and local partner orgs
How to organize your RG peers to sign the Redistribution Pledge
Valeriya will be facilitating alongside Jerrod MacFarlane of the RG board.
Join the Donor Revolt for Charity Reform [[link removed]]
Do you have a foundation (trustee, staff?) or a donor-advised fund (DAF)? We need your organized voice!
Do you know that the Big Philanthropy Lobby (Council on Foundations, Fidelity Charitable, Community Foundation Awareness Network) has spent millions to lobby against common sense charity reform, like requiring DAFs to have a minimal payout? Many of the organizations we care about are struggling to raise money in an environment where 41 percent of all individual donations now go to either a DAF or a private foundation (see more in our new report: “ The True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy,” [[link removed]] ). Wealthy donors are getting tax breaks for donations not to working charities, but to charity vehicles they control. In some cases, it will take years or decades for funds to reach community-based nonprofits.
It’s time to change the rules and challenge this system! Join us by signing on now at www.donorrevolt.com [[link removed]]
We are in the quiet phase, enlisting initial signers and additional allies before going public later in December. Please feel free to forward this to others that have foundations and donor-advised funds. For the wider public, they can sign on to the People’s Revolt for Charity Reform here [[link removed]] and ask Congress to act.
Organized by Patriotic Millionaires, Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute and the Charity Reform Initiative of Institute for Policy Studies (with more organizations joining on).
Embodied Divestment Workshop Series
RSVP here [[link removed]]
Are you curious about divestment as a tactic to resist war? Are you sick of the dissonance of sensing your money is funding genocide? Do you want to move your money into deeper alignment with movements for liberation? Do you want support feeling into your next steps?
[[link removed]]
This two-part workshop series pairs divestment tools with somatic and creative practices. We will focus on the D part of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction [[link removed]] movement - removing investments from the corporations that are funding genocide in Palestine. We will also look at divestment from militarism affecting other sites of colonial violence, drawing inspiration from efforts like Divest From the War Machine [[link removed]] . The wealth defense industry will tell you to ensure your corpus - the principal of your investments - keeps growing no matter what, but our literal corpus - our body - tells us otherwise as we witness unrelenting death and suffering on our newsfeeds. We aim to ground in the wisdom of the body with Art.coop [[link removed]] as we address the technical processes with advisors from Rad Planners and Redistribution Law [[link removed]] and collectivize our efforts as a movement strategy with Resource Generation [[link removed]] .
Session 1: Overcoming our Blocks - Feb 5th at 7 - 8:30 ET // 4 - 5:30 PT
Session 2: Collectivizing our Action - Feb 19th at 7 - 8:30 ET // 4 - 5:30 PT
Together we hope to address common blocks like, “ I don't think divestment will have any effect ,” “ I don't want to look at where my money is sitting and what it is funding - out of sight out of mind ,” “ only elected officials have the power to change anything right now ” and any other stories you might sense are disempowering you from taking action in alignment with your values. We will create a somatic point of reference that you can return to - a felt sense of how good alignment can feel - sustaining your actions as you move towards divestment personally and collectively. Together we will create an archive of artifacts of our actions that invite others in.
Who is this for?
You have access to investments that you want to move
You want to ground your actions in your whole body - you've received political education from movement leaders and you're ready to digest beyond the intellect into action.
You want language and tools to invite others (family, institutional connections, etc) to divest with you as a collective strategy
RSVP here [[link removed]]
We encourage you to consider joining RG as a dues paying member [[link removed]] , and if you would like to get involved in your local chapter, please fill out this intake form [[link removed]] !
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]

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: [link removed] .