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“People with access to wealth have much more to offer than just moving money” [[link removed]]
Yahya is as big of a nerd about organizing the rich as I am. That’s saying something, and it’s one of the things I dearly love about them.
I met Yahya the year I was stepping out of my role as associate director at Resource Generation [[link removed]] (RG). They had just joined the staff as an organizer, and I both liked them and was curious if they’d stick around. RG isn’t for everyone, and it’s never certain that new staff will turn into RG staff elders (which, for me, means anyone who stayed on staff for five years or more).
Yahya has more than stuck around; they’ve grown in their leadership and are currently the executive director, leading a staff team of 20, with a member base of over 1,100. This is a far cry from the Resource Generation I encountered in 2003 (with 4 staff and ~200 constituents) and the RG I helped lead from 2008 to 2013 (with ~8 staff and ~400 members).
I’ve really enjoyed getting to know and talk shop with Yahya over the past years. They embody rigorous, curious and committed leadership. I love hearing their thoughts about vision, strategy, what’s needed and where we go next.
As I’ve done with all my interviews, this conversation is loosely based on these questions [[link removed]] , modified from ones developed by Linda Burnham, and has been edited for content and clarity. Yahya and I talked over Zoom during the winter and spring of 2023.
MG: RG remains a unique organization, the largest and most explicit project organizing the rich towards redistribution, collective liberation and movement building. Many groups talk about ‘donor organizing’ (which we know is mostly code for relational fundraising of wealthy people). RG is one of the few groups with a robust organizing model. Can you share more about RG’s approach?
YA: Sure. RG was started in the late 90s with a belief in the power of storytelling, caucus spaces, and political education as important ways to help young people with wealth develop giving plans, become peer-to-peer organizers, and ‘leverage their privilege for social change’.¹ Some of what I’ve learned about our organizing in the first decade of RG is represented in the RG House [[link removed]] , a visual developed in the second half of the 2000s by [then] Executive Director (ED) Taij Moteelall [[link removed]] and the rest of the staff and board at the time.
From a few regular local dinners around the country in the initial years to 19 chapters with local leadership teams, praxis groups² and local campaign partners, moving hundreds of millions to movements, RG’s model has developed a lot in the last 25 years. Base building³, leadership development, and political education were the first parts of the organizing model that got really solidified. In the last decade we’ve started to figure out what campaigns look like in the context of our work. Many of our chapters now have local campaign partners and have meaningfully contributed to victories like the fund for excluded workers in New York [[link removed]] or the Millionaire’s Tax in Massachusetts [[link removed]] . In 2017, we also took on national campaign partners for the first time [ Movement for Black Lives [[link removed]] and Center for Popular Democracy [[link removed]] ] and, alongside our Redistribution Pledge [[link removed]] , are looking to launch a national campaign soon.
In 2022, board, staff and members spent time updating our organizing model [[link removed]] as a part of our “strategic framework” building upon work in 2017-18 to articulate our leadership trajectory [[link removed]] . I’m really proud of the collaborative effort it was and am excited to now be sharing these more broadly.
—An interview with Michael Gast from Organize the Rich
Subscribe to the Organize the Rich Substack Here [[link removed]?]
Embodied Divestment Series
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?
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]] . The organizers will ask for contributions on a sliding scale of 10-200, offsetting compensation for guest artists and facilitators. There also will be an ask to donate to immediate relief funds to end the genocide.
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Session 1: Overcoming our Blocks - Feb 5th at 7 - 8:30 ET // 4 - 5:30 PT
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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?
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You have access to investments that you want to move 
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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. 
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You want language and tools to invite others (family, institutional connections, etc) to divest with you as a collective strategy

RSVP here! [[link removed]]
tinyurl.com/hnwhang1 [[link removed]]
RG is launching its new High Net Wealth Hang Series! The series offers informal discussion spaces for HNW members to delve into specific topics, share their experiences and learn from others, and build deeper community. Our first HNW Hang on Wednesday, February 7th from 6-7PM ET / 3-4PM PT will center on the topic of grief & inheritance, which we know is an experience that many RG members past and present have grappled with. Join us if you find yourself at any stage of your journey with grief and inheritance. This space will include storytelling and discussion, and will connect folks with resources for further support. See you there! tinyurl.com/hnwhang1 [[link removed]]
RSVP here! [tinyurl.com/hnwhang1]
CHAPTER / GROUP UPDATES
Boston
RG Boston is about to kick off an in-person Praxis! We're so excited to be welcoming new folks into the chapter. We're also hosting our first chapter social of 2024 at a local restaurant to build community with our Praxis participants and chapter members. If you're in the area, it's on Wednesday, Feb 7th - here's more info and how to RSVP [[link removed]] !
St Louis (Emerging)
The STL (emerging) chapter met up for our first gathering of 2024 and are very excited about potential campaigns, current capacity, and are gathering again in Feb. More to come from us!
Nashville (Emerging)
Nashville's emerging chapter wrapped up our second praxis with everyone ready to sign the 2024 Redistribution Pledge and with 3 new members!!! Maybe next time we'll report back with official chapter news. ;)
National Member Council
This month the NMC gave feedback on a draft chapter charter outlining expectations of member leaders and structure for member bodies, to support local member leaders in organizing their groups without reinventing the wheel. We also discussed the goals of the NMC for the rest of its current term.
[[link removed]] Fund Abortion Now!
Reproductive justice is not just under attack in the US--the ongoing occupation and apartheid in Palestine and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war has led to increased maternal mortality and miscarriages in Palestine, increased police exchange programs, the loss of Palestinian children’s lives, an increase in mental illness in Palestine, and more devastation across the region. ARC-Southeast has penned this open letter [[link removed]] , which is an excellent overview of the topic. It can be politically and economically fraught for non-profits to address this topic, so we wanted to highlight the bravery of this fund as well as all the funds who have signed onto it.
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]] !
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Resource Generation
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