An Interview with Resource Generation and Crossroads Fund Upstart Board member Ashley HoranWhat is Resource Generation?Resource Generation is a national organization, and their mission is to organize young people with financial wealth to leverage resources and privilege for social change. It’s a membership organization with chapters and members across the US and Canada.What kind of work do you do with young people with wealth?Resource Generation operates on a number of different levels. When you talk about racial justice work, you talk about internal, institutional, interpersonal and systemic racism. Resource Generation understands that economic injustice works in a similar fashion.On the internal level, we invite people to talk about their relationship with money, about their lives and their family history and culture around wealth, and ways that race, gender and sexual orientation factor into that.On the institutional level we work with progressive foundations like Crossroads Fund, the Social Justice Fund Northwest or the Headwaters Fund. We’re also working to change the culture and politics of mainstream philanthropic institutions, including our own family foundations. There are also folks around the country who are moving a lot of money in other ways, whether through inherited wealth, family foundations or money they’ve earned through their jobs.On the systemic level, we organize and support national campaigns. We’re currently supporting campaigns for economic justice like the campaign for the “Robin Hood Tax,” a tax on financial transactions. Local chapters also create campaigns, for instance our Philadelphia chapter is pushing back against increasing philanthropic funding of public schools, insisting that education needs to be publically funded through taxes, not the generosity of the wealthy.Over the last 5-10 years Resource Generation has also developed a deeper intersectional analysis around intersecting oppressions, and Resource Generation sees itself as a partner and ally to a lot of grassroots movements around the country.What’s Resource Generation up to in Chicago? In Chicago, we’re in this nascent phase of our chapter, with a handful of people. We want to be working on all of the levels I mentioned earlier. We’re talking about ways to move money, reconciling our personal histories and issues, and looking at the landscape of giving and philanthropy in Chicago. We’re also thinking about maybe starting a giving circle or partnering with a foundation like Crossroads Fund to support social change funding without reinventing the wheel.Right now we’re looking for more members. We’re reaching out to young people with wealth, aged 18-35. We understand that “wealth” is a tricky definition. Some of our members are people who have long-term generational and inherited wealth with trust funds. There are also folks who expect to inherit a house or other assets but don’t have a lot of access to wealth right now, and folks who have access to legal settlements or have gotten high paying jobs but come from poor or working class backgrounds. We really believe that people should self identify. Crossroads Fund and Resource Generation Chicago are hosting a discussion about the state of social justice philanthropy in Chicago on February 18th at 7pm. If you’re interested in attending or learning more about Resource Generation in Chicago you can Contact Ashley at ashlyndala@gmail.com
