Spring is in full swing in my life right now. The loneliness and isolation of another COVID winter have made way into frantic busyness. In addition to travel plans and gatherings with loved ones, I’m also noticing the dust around my house more than before and I’m taking stock of all that needs mending, or sorting, or to be gotten rid of.
Preparing to write this blog post, I met with Jeannie, our fabulous new-ish Communications Organizer, and asked her what’s been on people’s minds. Because she manages our social media, she has unique insights into what our widest community is talking and thinking about. “Guilt seems to be a topic that keeps coming up,” she told me. To which I said, “Oh really? I think I could write a thing or two about guilt.” Organizing people around their privilege for the last seven years, guilt has been one of the ever-recurring feelings I’ve thought about. I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned.
Guilt is an important emotion, because it can tell us that we’ve fallen out of alignment with something we value, or that we’ve caused harm to someone or something we care about. Like the browning of a leaf, or the wilting of a stem, guilt can let us know tending is needed. At its most helpful, it can prompt questions like “What is it I value? What does repair look like? What do I want from this situation?” From there, we can build our personal values framework, and the practices and actions that will allow us to be integrity with those values. But it’s worth noting that guilt is also a feeling that can quickly overstay its usefulness. When we stay with guilt, we can get stuck in inaction, distraction, or even self-destruction.
So in the spirit of spring, I invite you to notice where there might be guilt, whether it’s living at the bottom of a stack of papers, in that reminder you keep snoozing, the wilting of a plant, dead center in your sternum and heavy, or hot on your cheeks masquerading as its alter-ego shame. And if you’re up for it, I’ll invite you to thank it. Yes, thank your feeling of guilt. |
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And as part of RG’s Spring Redistribution Pledge & Membership Drive, remember to sign the Redistribution Pledge, join or renew your RG membership, move at least 10% of your overall giving to RG’s national campaign partners, M4BL and CPD, and continue to commit to redistribution, to belonging, to building power, and to fighting for the equitable distribution of land, wealth, and power together!
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This month, BARG members shared their stories in the media to help spread the word about RG and bring more young people with wealth into the movement. BARG members and alumni were featured in a newspaper profile alongside local orgs POOR Magazine and Sogorea Te’ land trust, and another BARG member made an appearance on the local news to talk about wealth redistribution!
This month we also hosted some great events. We had two day-long organizer trainings where 18 BARG members learned core organizing skills like 1:1s and transformative fundraising. We also hosted a picnic with our partner organization Mujeres Unidas y Activas to deepen relationships and support their fundraising. |
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We are excited to continue doula-ing RG Maine into its glorious full-fledged chapter form! This month we (re)built our base by reaching out to both new folks and folks who’ve stopped coming around. We also continued research and conversations around who is doing movement work locally, how we can show up for it, and what those partnerships could look like. We are excited to continue doula-ing RG Maine into its glorious full-fledged chapter form! This month we (re)built our base by reaching out to both new folks and folks who’ve stopped coming around. We also continued research and conversations around who is doing movement work locally, how we can show up for it, and what those partnerships could look like. |
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The NC Triangle chapter nominated a new group of leaders last month! We have a great mix of experienced organizers and new chapter members leading our monthly meeting, basebuilding and project teams. We also spent some time together outside celebrating the springtime and new friendships. |
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| Member-Led Fund Abortion NOW Campaign
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Funding abortion is more important that ever! RG members are leading a campaign to support abortion funds where we aim to collectively move $1 Million to the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) & local abortion funds over the next 3 years. Please check out our campaign resources:
Zine: fundabortionnow.us
We launched a zine microsite on the history of abortion funds created by RG members + artists with additional input from NNAF! Contains links to donate to NNAF/local funds + a pledge form to track individual campaign contributions + a social media toolkit
Campaign kick-off event: tinyurl.com/RGReproJusticeNNAFPanelRec Watch our campaign kick-off event to hear about all aspects of funding abortion from our panelists from NNAF and their affiliates! |
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| Intergenerational Storytelling with RG College! **TONIGHT! Updated time** Thursday, April 28 - 7:30-9PM ET/4:30-6PM PT
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RG College is inviting storytellers across different points on the journey to redistribution to share and reflect on their changing relationships to wealth and class privilege; we will hear both from college students who are just starting out on their redistribution work, and older members of RG who are living RG values. Whether you are a student interested in what redistribution looks like in practice, or are out of college and want to hear about how class shows up on college campuses these days, we would love to have you join us! This is a great event for both seasoned members and newcomers to RG, so bring your family and friends! We can’t wait to see you there and learn together about how we can bring RG values into our lives.
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| Electoral/c4 giving Ask-Me-Anything & money-moving party! Monday, May 2nd - 6-7:30PM ET/3-4:30PM PT
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Concerned about the midterm elections? Want to connect and take action with a community of young people with wealth and class privilege to seize this political opportunity? Come through for this coworking session! We'll get to know each other, learn about electoral giving in this crucial election year, have a chance to ask questions, and move big money, early! |
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| Transformative Investment Principles 1 Year Celebration! Monday, May 9th - 7-8:30PM ET/4-5:30PM PT
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RG’s community gathered a year ago to celebrate and uplift the release of the Transformative Investment Principles, a tool that guides our work to divest our resources from extraction and Wall Street and to invest our wealth, time and energy into building a solidarity economy. Join us to celebrate 1 year of putting our Transformative Investment Principles (TIPS) into action! You’ll hear stories from people who’ve put the TIPS into practice, learn more about how members have organized and developed political education together for the RG community, and help us envision the future of the Transformative Investment Principles. We want you to leave feeling inspired and supported by the RG community to take the next steps towards transformative investing and being part of the solidarity economy movement.
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| Transformative Fundraising Training Wednesday, May 18 - 7-9pm ET/4-6PM PT |
Come learn the basics of transformative fundraising! This training will also incorporate RG's Transformative Investment Principles and will entail live fundraising of each other in pairs and time to sign the Redistribution Pledge and become a member/renew your membership dues. No prior experience necessary!
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| Building Power Through Difficult Midterms Tuesday, May 31 7-8:35PM ET/4-5:35PM PT |
From Georgia to California, movement organizations face a difficult midterm season filled with possibility to solidify progressive wins and risks from reactionary forces. Join organizers from Center For Popular Democracy Action and Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project to reject the midterm blues and re-focus on how elections can build and fortify the power of social movements. Get fired up about RG Campaign partners plans for 2022 and commit to back them year round with hard-to-raise c4 dollars! You will be fundraised;) RSVP forthcoming!
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| Social Justice Investing Webinar Series
Starting Tuesday, May 10th- 1PM ET/10AM PT Hosted by Just Futures + Justice Funders, Co-Sponsored by RG |
As the problems of extractive capitalism have become increasingly evident, the field of responsible investing has grown exponentially over the last several decades. Yet the financial system remains fundamentally extractive and continues to reproduce massive inequality and environmental harm. Wall Street and the 1% have built an investing infrastructure that allows the rich to get richer through extraction and theft.
Fortunately, a growing community of organizers, researchers, investors, and community members are working to change this. Together, they are growing the field of social justice investing, an investment strategy that is deeply aligned with social justice values; led by social movements and movement actors; builds economic power in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color; supports community controlled enterprise; offers non-extractive terms; and is accessible to ordinary people. This approach to investing is part of a Just Transition to build a financial system that divests from Wall Street and public markets and invests in solidarity economies, rooted in cooperation, redistribution, and repair.
This series is hosted by Just Futures & Justice Funders and co-sponsored by Center for Economic Democracy, Common Future, Full Spectrum Capital Partners, Funders for Justice, Neighborhood Funders Group, Resource Generation, Solidaire Network, and Transform Finance. The webinars will be recorded. Auto-generated closed captioning in English will be available. Session 1: An Introduction to Social Justice Investing | Tuesday, May 10, 1pm ET - 2:30pm ET Session 2: Social Justice Investing in Practice: Examples from the Field | Thursday, May 26, 1pm ET - 2:30pm ET
Session 3: Investing for a Just Future | Wednesday, June 22, 1pm ET - 2:30pm ET |
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Radical Journey, Powerful Futures |
Join the Third Wave Fund in your most marvelous retro or futuristic looks as we learn from incredible grantees on the frontlines of struggles for racial justice, LGBTQI+ liberation, reproductive justice, and more. |
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Redistribution has become a nightly news topic!! Thank you to RG-member Morgan Curtis for speaking on live TV with the Bay Area's KTVU! April 4, 2022 |
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The Unmasking Fidelity Campaign has been making the rounds. Thank you to New England Organizer, Nadav David for interviewing with Next City. Oscar Perry Abello Next City April 5, 2022
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Curious about what “spending down” looks like? Craving a way to honor ancestral connection in your redistribution? Want to hear brave, honest stories about the difficulties and joys of moving money? 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.
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Interview Request for Researchers at Indiana University |
Would you like to talk about your involvement with RG and experiences in social justice giving? Researchers with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy invite you to participate in a one-hour interview as they learn about young donors giving to social change efforts. Please email Elizabeth Dale at [email protected] to schedule your interview or with any questions. We hope to conduct all interviews by June 30, 2022.
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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!
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