As of July 1st, I am the longest serving staff person at RG at just over seven years. June 30th was my beloved Adam Roberts’ last day on staff at RG after we started on the same day in the summer of 2015. 

His transition, alongside our strategic planning process, has me reflecting on all the ways we’ve grown as an organization and how I’ve grown as a person. I’m also reflecting on Adam’s impact on RG, and knowing that he’d hate more credit than he’s due, I share all these stories with the deep knowing that nothing is the result of one person, but that we are always moving as a part of teams, ecosystems, and lineages. 

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In 2017, I had my most magical fundraising learning experience (that is a ridiculous but true statement). Iris (former RG staff), Adam, and I were all wealthy organizers on staff. We were all becoming strong fundraisers in our own right but hungry and eager to learn more about how it works, and thought there was no better way to learn than by doing. 

One late night after a retreat, we decided we would take turns pair-fundraising each other for real around our overall giving, with the third person out getting to observe. It was almost like an activity in a well-designed training except no one asked us to do this; we were just being total weirdos committed to supporting others to redistribute. 

Over a couple hours we went through a deep process, inquiring and pushing on where each other’s growth edges were, but always with love and non-judgement. At the end of it, we were all closer to each other and we had committed more money to movements. 

It was experiences like this that would become the core of the Transformative Fundraising training a couple years later when Sarah (former RG staff) and I wrote the curriculum. At its core there was a knowing that fundraising at its best transforms everyone involved and deepens relationships.

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In December of 2017, the Senate was about to pass a tax bill that would heavily favor the owning class. Under the guidance and support of Kaitlin, our Campaign Director at the time, some of us went to DC to join our partners at the Center for Popular Democracy in protesting this bill. 

The first day of protests, Adam and I, with other RG members, were arrested alongside 50 other people for staging a “die-in” in a Senate building. My heart was racing, and I had no idea what would happen after we got arrested. Adam showed me that leadership meant being brave in the ways I asked others to be brave. I felt so much grounding and comfort knowing I was not alone, and that Adam especially was with me. We were released within a couple hours after paying a $50 fine for “incommoding.”

The next day, the Senate was due to vote, so we waited around the Capitol all day and into the evening. Adam and I had volunteered to be a part of a smaller crew who were going to disrupt the Senate proceedings when the vote was called. We waited until after midnight for the vote to start, and when Mike Pence entered the room four groups of four started chanting “Kill the bill, don’t kill us” (To be honest, with all the adrenaline I don’t remember 100% what we chanted). We all knew the vote was going to go through, but I was so glad to be the voice of the people that day and to be an inconvenience to the bill's passage. 

We were charged with “Disrupting Senate Proceedings,” and spent the night in a Capitol Police building awaiting processing. I was so proud of RG in that moment, for being a part of the resistance, and for taking risks alongside our campaign partners. I was really proud of myself, and really proud of Adam and of our members. And again, I couldn’t have done that alone. Adam was my rock. I don’t think he would’ve done it alone either but that’s the beautiful thing about leadership, we can lean on each other and do more than we ever could by ourselves.

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And all of this leads me back to my and Adam’s first staff retreat in September of 2015 at a Methodist hostel in the West Village, NYC. We were both somewhat shy, figuring out how we fit on this new team, but we were both brimming with ideas and passion for RG’s work. I specifically remember us having many side conversations at that retreat about how we really wanted RG to dedicate more support to college organizing and solidarity economy work. 

Over the next few years, I saw Adam act as a consistent but not overbearing advocate for these areas of work. I saw him build relationships, have conversations,  and invite collective learning to grow our whole staff’s knowledge about these areas. And each, in their own way, started coming into fruition. Adam supported the development of our Transformative Investing Principles and carved out some time in his workload to grow our college program to a place a full-time organizer could take it over. 

Adam was not alone in either of these efforts, but he played his part, was consistent, and never let the things he was passionate about override his commitment to the team and our collective goals. And almost as soon as those areas sprouted, he passed them off to others to grow (shoutout to Nadav stewarding our TIPS work and keithlee stewarding our college program).

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I’m going to miss Adam. I’m going to miss all of our scheming after retreats, our late nights prepping for conferences, and all of the levity, rigor, thoughtfulness, creativity, and joy he brought every day to RG. He’s left a big impact on RG starting from his time as a member all the to today as the outgoing Resource Mobilization Director. Thank you, Adam. 

Yahya Alazrak
Exective Director

RG’s member-led Fund Abortion Now campaign is holding a Reproductive Justice 201 event on August 3 at 7 PM EST. We will hear from panelists on Reproductive Justice 201 topics as well as how abortion funds are responding to the current moment. We will also have exciting campaign updates to share

RSVP here: https://tinyurl.com/FANAugustEvent

Please RSVP prior to August 2 in order to ensure you are able to attend the event. We are vetting event attendees due to the sensitive nature of this event and will need time to complete that.

RG Labor Circle just launched a survey for membership! The primary goal of the survey is to gain a better understanding of the work/professional life of RG members and their current knowledge of unions and labor organizing. We also hope that the survey will activate RG members around their relationship to work and help us plan this new circle's future direction.

New tool: support worker actions during #HotLaborSummer

An RGLA member recently co-launched hotlaborsummer.com, a new tool that collects and shares concrete actions people can take in support of worker organizing across the country. Based on input from workers and organizers at Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, CWA, SEIU and more, hotlaborsummer.com is a digital ‘billboard’ for sharing calls to action. Head to the website to easily look up actions you can support in your area or nationwide (e.g. strike funds, rallies, petitions). Follow @hotlaborsummer for round-ups and late breaking updates, sign up for email updates, and tell your networks.

It’s official!! RG Ohio has moved from emerging to full chapter status, and our small but mighty leadership team couldn’t be more excited. We’ve also officially launched our campaign for Dayton Unified Power and held a great fundraising training for our members in July. Catch us at the skillshare on campaign partnerships hosted by the Small & Emerging chapter subscope of the National Member Council in August (8/15 from 2-3:30pm PT // 5-6:30pm ET) where we’ll be sharing more about our partnership with DUP and their incredible work fighting for housing justice in southern Ohio.

The Austin RG Chapter is thrilled to announce that we have graduated from “emerging” to “official” chapter status! This follows years of planning meetings, fundraising, and praxis groups - we’re so grateful for the work of our original members in getting this chapter off the ground. We’re settling into our new structure of quarterly general meetings and monthly focused workshops, and have seen our local community grow here. We feel excited to connect more deeply to other organizers in the South, build a stronger network, and continue to redistribute wealth and fund our movements locally in Austin and beyond.

This month our chapter had a general circle meeting where we checked in about local partnerships, connection to national strategic goals, and got hype to Fund Abortion Now! We also had an outdoors in-person meeting to plan a raffle & dance party to support the launch of an Emergency Fund for the Trans Asylum Seeker Support Network. If you're in the area, come dance the night away with us on Aug 6th at Just Roots Community Farm in Greenfield, MA!

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 about 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!

Register for (any or all) of our ongoing workshops here.

Starting in mid-July, we will be holding bi-monthly sessions on everything from Family Conversations, to Transformative Investing to Campus Organizing strategy! These sessions are virtual one-off workshops, aimed at honing different redistribution-oriented organizing skills. If you have some extra time this summer and are looking to make a redistribution plan, finally have that money conversation with your friends or family, or prepare for expanding RG's presence on your campus next fall, join us!

These workshops are catered towards college students, but open to all! 

The line-up:

• Transformative Investing Principles: Thursday, August 4th, 6-8pm ET/3-5 PT
• College Organizing 101: Wednesday, August 24th, 7-8:30pm ET/4-5:30 PT
• Land Reparations and Indigenous Solidarity: Monday, September 12th, 7-8:30pm ET/4-5:30 PT

The RG Jews Planning Team is excited to be hosting quarterly calls in 2022, with our next one in August / Av (month of the Hebrew calendar). We're hoping for these gatherings to be:

• an accessible environment that's welcoming to new and experienced RGers with a variety of connections to Jewish identity
• nourishing time for community and relationship building outside of local or national RG organizing
• a place to learn/share about organizing / projects within RG and beyond and to seed new ideas

We look forward to seeing you there.

There is still time to win pieces of the Green New Deal! From CPD: In only a few months, the same politicians we helped get elected in 2020 are going to ask us to help them keep their jobs - we need them to deliver on the massive investments we need to move away from fossil fuels to create millions of good jobs to replace lead pipes, protect homes from extreme weather, expand railways, and manufacture and install solar panels and wind turbines and much more. Bird dogging is a powerful tactic used by activists and organizers to get politicians on record on issues that matter to working class led movements. Learn how! August 4 - Birddog Training, August 18 - Birddog Training, September 1 - Birddog Training

Do the constant crises and horrors in the news have you feeling overwhelmed or frozen? Are you a newer donor looking for a road map and tools to get started with confidence, grounded in your values? This program can help. 

DIGG (Donor Intro to Grounded Giving) is a program for wealthy people who want to figure out how to give during a time of great economic inequality, and need support getting started. It's a 6 month cohort that combines an educational curriculum designed and facilitated by social justice philanthropy experts, skill-building, peer support, individual advising, and hands-on practice. 

This is for people who...

• hold progressive values;
• are new to, and feeling stuck or overwhelmed in their giving practice, and
• meet one of these guidelines:
  • $20 million+ in personal (or joint) assets; OR
  • $100 million+ in family assets you'll eventually access; OR
  • A goal to give away $200,000+ this year in new giving

Giving well within your values is difficult to figure out alone. But it's also too important to ignore. With a well-facilitated, welcoming and accessible space, structure, information, inspiration, and community, participants in the first two cohorts are now giving more than ever before and in different ways, with more confidence, focus, and clarity. 

Our 2022 cohort launches September 14 and we're recruiting for new participants now.

Please check out www.groundedgiving.org for more info. If you're interested, sign up here to attend our next info session on August 10 or to talk with a DIGG facilitator. 

Join Solidaire for part two of three Beloved Fridays dedicated to the Defund the Police for Funders primer produced by our Decarceration Working Group. In this session, we will practice scenario exercises putting the tools and concepts raised in the Defund Primer to use with foundations and families. We will partner with FORM (Families Organizing to Resource Movements) to workshop organizing colleagues, friends, and families. Guest speakers will include organizers from:

Yes 4 Minneapolis / Reclaim the Block

Durham Beyond Policing

Join us via this Zoom link. Passcode: 933230

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

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