We’ve come to the end of our Spring Redistribution Pledge and Membership Drive. All across the different corners of RG, members, staff, and chapters have been rallying to secure commitments to our movements and to RG. For those of you who've had some hustle in your step this season, I see you and thank you.

 

As of this week we have: 

 

$87.7M pledged to movements through the redistribution pledge towards our goal this year of $100M

 

& have so far pledged to fundraise $13.9M, to reinvest $9.2M and to move $4.2M to our campaign partners (the Movement for Black Lives & Center for Popular Democracy)

 

and

 

1122 members towards our goal this year of 1155

If May flew by for you, you don’t have to wait until our Fall Drive to sign the redistribution pledge, join or renew with RG, or move money to movements (especially our partners M4BL and CPD).

 

With so much heartbreaking awfulness in the world, the urgency for our work is clear, but more than urgency, I know I’ve been looking around for hope. I’ve been looking for the wins to ground our work. 

 

Soon we will be celebrating our updated strategic framework, and the culmination of a new way of working together as staff, board, and members. This framework will provide the clarity of purpose we need to answer the big questions about our work, and set us in our most powerful direction. 

 

As a part of that process, staff, board, and the National Member Council will be convening for a hybrid meeting in LA later this month; to move us towards the final stages of ratifying and consenting to this framework. 

 

In that spirit, we asked an RG member, a board member, and a staff member to respond to the following question: What's a win you really cherish from your time at RG? Or, what’s a time you’ve witnessed RG really level up our work? 

 

“Every time we introduce a new member to our chapter, I consider it a win. I cherish the one-on-one conversations I have with other young people who are excited to get involved—sharing our money stories with each other, learning about their interests and passions, and feeling energized about all the possibilities for our collective liberation. I've [also] seen RG really level up with the establishment of the Transformative Investing Principles. There is so much power in educating our base on the tenets of solidarity economy, and I've been so excited to see this work amp up over the past year!” - Molly S. (RG Member)

 

“Something I value about RG is the various ways that we live into a feminist both/and approach....we know that it's important to do the personal work and that we have to fight for policy changes. We know it's about more than just moving money and we're committed to moving money. There are a lot of contradictions in the organizing but we keep growing by learning through them rather than trying to do the impossible and solve them all.” - Jes K. (RG Staff)

 

“My early years in RG involved a lot of backing away from power; fearing and resenting the disproportionate power my class privileged communities had over others and imagining I needed to become smaller to even the score. In the past 10 years, RG has shifted to seeing power as a tool (especially in the context of externally-facing campaigns with partner organizations!) that we can understand, embrace and use WITH our friends—get BIG together—to end wealth inequality.

 

I love us for supporting the power of cross-class donor organizing in the Giving Project Network within social justice philanthropy, exploring the power of our visibility during Occupy Wall Street, finding our role (not just as funders!) in public-facing power-building campaigns for racial and economic justice, building partnerships with M4BL and CPD, and planting (and sprouting) many more powerful seeds all the time.” - Mac L. (RG Alumnus and Board Co-Chair)

 

And remember to sign the Redistribution Pledge, join or renew your RG membership, and commit to redistribution, to belonging, to building power, and to fighting for the equitable distribution of land, wealth, and power together.

Funding abortion is more important that ever! RG members are leading a campaign to collectively move $1 Million to the National Network of Abortion Funds & local abortion funds over the next 3 years. Please check out our campaign resources:

• Zine microsite: fundabortionnow.us
  
  • Contains history of abortion funds created by RG members + artists with additional input from NNAF + links to donate to NNAF/local funds + a pledge form to track individual campaign contributions + social media toolkit 
• Campaign kick-off event video: tinyurl.com/RGReproJusticeNNAFPanelRec 
  • Hear about all aspects of funding abortion from our panelists from NNAF and their affiliates! 

 

Please reach out to [email protected] for campaign questions or to get plugged in!

The Internationalism Circle has been at it for a year now, meeting monthly to discuss the role of an internationalist lens in our work as RG constituents. We're currently working on an Internationalism 101 space for RG members nationally—coming soon, keep an eye out! And, as the inaugural Progressive International Giving Circle moves into fundraising, these overlapping spaces are lending critical political education to Internationalism Circle members on the ongoing election in Colombia. 

In May, BARG chapter leaders gathered for a full day leadership retreat to strengthen relationships and improve collaboration between our various working groups. We also kicked off a fundraising campaign in support of our partner organization Community Ready Corps (CRC), who have identified a building in Oakland that they are working to purchase and transform into an Oakland-based Black Organizing Hub to house their many programs in the Black community under one roof. BARG is aiming to move at least 1% of our collective access to wealth – $1.2 million – to help make this vision happen. Last but not least, a little teaser: next month we will be launching a new partnership, so stay tuned!

RG ATL hosted a virtual Open House event on Tuesday, May 24 to introduce some new folks to RG and reconnect with old members. We were reminded of how powerful & affirming (and sometimes scary!) it can feel to share and hear money stories, and we’re so excited to keep building connections here in Atlanta! If you know anyone who might be interested in plugging in, please have them reach out to [email protected] to set up a 1-1! 

Austin is continuing to hold monthly meetings - general, themed, and open goals/workshop. This month we role-played some conversations we'd like to have with family about wealth. Next month is our open goals/workshop. Hoping to see some new faces there!

As our new Maine chapter continues it's journey into the world, we are organizing a retreat for this summer where we will finally meet in person! We became an official chapter in the midst of the pandemic and have been diligently meeting on Zoom but we cannot wait to meet in-person. Our goals are to get to know each other, understand our priorities, and figure out how we make decisions. We hope to be intentional about setting up our chapter and create healthy structures and practices. As we begin to create partnerships with local organizations who can help us redistribute our wealth, land, and power, we intend to solidify who we are and what we can offer. 

The Triangle–NC Chapter has been making moves towards our two 2022 chapter goals of base-building and having every member create a giving plan. We were excited to finally be back together with our first in-person meeting in a year—a Bring-Your-Own-Topping Pizza Party. Our Praxis Group continues to rock out—working with their Praxis Pair (co-accountability buddies) on Giving Plans and participating in an awesome Theater of the Oppressed workshop with Cypress Fund. We also experimented with a new monthly *virtual* Giving Plan Coworking Sesh to support each other as we dig into the weeds of our collective redistribution work and are working on creating a group lending mechanism to help our local Community Land Trust buy homes. Lots of good energy down here as we roll into the summer!

RG OH got together in-person for the first time (!!) this month for a sweet potluck in Cleveland, and we had so much fun that we forgot to take a picture! Now we’re ramping up a fundraising campaign for our partner organization, Dayton Unified Power, an economic and housing justice project in southern Ohio. 

Part 1: Solidarity Economy 101: Wednesday, June 8th 7-830PM ET / 4-5:30PM PT
Part 2: SE Principles Deep Dive: Wednesday, June 22nd 7-830PM ET / 4-5:30PM PT

 

Join RG's TIPs/SE Member Team for a collaborative workshop series co-hosted with organizers of the recently formed Solidarity Economy Principles. We will learn together about the ecosystem of solidarity economy organizations and movements, we will dig into examples of Solidarity Economy Principles in RG's organizing, and deepen our collective commitment to building a solidarity economy.

 

We highly encourage participants to join us for both sessions. If you're unable to attend both, we'll be providing recordings and resources to review. The content will be relevant for RGers who are brand new to SE concepts as well as those who are more experienced and/or have attended a previous RG SE/TIPs 101 workshop. Contact [email protected] with any questions. 

Did you recently hear about RG through a friend, a media story, or another social justice organization? Do you know people in your network who have class privilege and/or access to wealth? Join us and invite other prospective RGers to our monthly RG 101 orientation! 

 

You will learn about RG's vision and organizing model, share why you're excited about being part of the community and start building relationships with RG members and staff. The RG 101 orientation is open for all, both for people in chapter areas and those that are not. This space is geared towards young people (18-35) with access to wealth and/or class privilege, but anyone is welcome to attend. We look forward to connecting with you! 

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 (recording / slides)
Session 2: Social Justice Investing in Practice: Examples from the Field (recording / slides)
Session 3: Investing for a Just Future | Wednesday, June 22, 1pm ET - 2:30pm ET

Thousand Currents believes that when grassroots groups and social movements have the relationships and financial and intellectual resources they desire, they are strengthened to transform the world by changing cultures, systems, and institutions towards self-determination, justice and equity around the world. Climate change, the most pressing existential crisis confronting humanity, receives only 2% of all philanthropic giving worldwide. Global South movements receive just a fraction of this, yet are implementing innovative and just solutions that will build sustainable futures for all of us.

 

Thousand Currents heard Resource Generation (RG) members who identify as high financial net wealth (HNW) ask for a space specifically geared toward the experience of giving and fundraising for six-figure+ gifts. The Giving Circle will start in September 2022 and will be 6-8 months. Learn more at https://thousandcurrents.org/resource-generation-giving-circle/.que.

Chordata Capital, one of the organizations listed on RG’s Financial Professionals Database and was co-founded by RG member, Kate Poole, is launching their third Solidarity Economy Investing Cohort. The Chordata Cohort is a nine-month long program, with two 4-day in-person retreats. They primarily work with individuals who have access to over $3 million and are excited about shifting at least $1 million to solidarity economy investments (more information about flexibility on website). Cohort members are interested in understanding the history of the wealth they have access to now, and working towards repair. Participants crave rituals, personal practices, and concrete tools to shift their giving and investing into deeper alignment with their values, and are seeking community as they co-create strategies for wealth redistribution and transitioning their investments. Learn more at https://chordatacapital.com/cohort/. 

Morgan Curtis, one of the money coaches listed on RG’s Financial Professionals Database, and Justine Epstein (both BARG members), are launching the third round of the Ancestors & Money cohort. They are offering an 8-month cohort journey for 12-15 people (starting in October 2022) interested in taking a deep dive into their relationship with ancestors and money. This is particularly for inheritors who are descended from colonizers and/or enslavers, those who are motivated to tell the truth about these histories and take reparative action. This offering will be shaped by several methodologies: money and giving coaching, anti-racist genealogy, the Work That Reconnects, and rites-of-passage work. Interest forms are due June 15th. Learn more at https://www.morganhcurtis.com/ancestors-money.

This event is geared toward upper-income/wealthy members of Responsible Wealth, Voices for Progress, Patriotic Millionaires, Resource Generation and other wealthy individuals. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity (in the next couple months) to enact a Billionaires Income Tax (BIT). The BIT will help us fund important unmet needs in education, health care, human services, etc. We need YOUR voice to be part of the effort to move Congress to action this legislative session. Sign up at here.

"For a small number of wealthy young Americans coming into inheritances, it isn’t enough to donate to a few charitable causes — one of the loudest critiques of big philanthropy is that it lacks transparency and is undemocratic. They’ve recognized a need to move beyond feeling guilty about their own privilege and the profound inequality that exists in the world. They’re attempting to alter the power imbalance in the relationship they have with others, and feel as though they’re part of a community that’s not just connected by wealth. 

 

Pien recalls her late father’s advice on how to manage money. “He said, ‘Listen, Andrea, I know you like to redistribute money, but know that you need to have at least $13 million to be absolutely secure,’ which I thought was absurd,” she said. “Part of why I want to participate in this movement of redistribution is that my dad worked really, really hard — and was really isolated. He didn’t have a lot of close friends.”

 

“I want the future to look like everyone having a little bit more than enough,” Pien continued. “Everyone being able to feel affirmed in their identities and feel connected to their communities around them — not isolated.””

HUGE thank you to RG members, Andrea Pien and Kelly Cahill for sharing their stories, RG member and cofounder of Chordata Capital, Kate Poole, and RG member/staff, Nadav David who helped create a values-aligned Financial Professionals Database! 

 

And a massive thank you to Whizy Kim at Vox! 

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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