Our Vision

Supporting resourceful movements in building communities of solidarity and abundance.

 

Our Manifesto

 

We envision a world in which philanthropic institutions and individual donors transfer power as well as money to their grantees through collaborative funding mechanisms rooted in creating an economic democracy.

By doing so, we could be able to turn the power dynamics totally on its head and to step instead into collaborative solidarity we support one another beyond using philanthropy as charity. 

It is not easy, but we've seen it work in fractals. How do we spread our impact in large scale ways? Here are the types of changes that are possible when we work together. 

  • Recognize that the structures of inequality in income and returns on capital that make private fortunes and philanthropy possible are by nature extractive and unjust. Philanthropy is not charity, it is restitution. It is reparation. 
     

  • See radical redistribution of land, wealth, and power as not simply a moral calling, but an opportunity for our personal transformation by undoing the legacy of exploitation and bloodshed that is inextricably bound up in our stories of American money, making us unable to live in integrity with our values of equality, freedom, and justice.

  • Radically redistribute wealth through endowments and mission-driven investments so that local communities impacted by structural racism and inequity have access to and control over equitable resources and assets in their communities that allow them to thrive.

  • Prioritize funding for efforts to organize for systemic change rather than limit their grant-making to organizations that fund only service provision and simple charity, which does not address the root causes of poverty and lack of access to community wealth.  

  • Balance the desire to promote record-keeping, analytics, and predictive models with the recognition that such “best practices” should never come at the expense of community control over their own destiny. 

 
 
Funders and activists can make funding decisions collaboratively together, sharing wisdom and resources to bring about social change.

Funders and activists can make funding decisions collaboratively together, sharing wisdom and resources to bring about social change.