Transforming Ourselves as Part of Transforming the World (Personal Development)

Class - The Other Taboo

What is class privilege really and how do we talk about it? Why is class such a taboo subject anyway? How are class differences created and enforced and what do our own experiences have to do with that? What messages have we received? How can understanding class privilege deepen our participation in movements for social change? This Resource Generation workshop will cover all the things your mother told you never to talk about (well, maybe not all of them…)

 
Presenters: Sarah Abbott & Adam Machson-Carter
Workshop II: Friday, Nov 4th at 1:30pm

From listening to liberation: An introduction to Re-evaluation Counseling

When it comes to thinking about money, does it ever feel like your brain has been slightly scrambled? For many young people with wealth, it’s hard to think freshly about money when we’ve received so many conflicting and confusing messages in the past. In this workshop, you will learn the basic tools of Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) which we can use to assist each other to reclaim our best thinking, take charge of our resources, and act more effectively against injustice.

Re-Evaluation Counseling is an international grassroots organization based on the practice of listening. It involves people of all ages and backgrounds taking turns listening to each other to free themselves from past hurtful experiences in order to reclaim our full intelligence. RC is also a tool for liberation. The theory and practice provides a framework around systemic oppressions such as classism and racism, in order to eliminate oppression and create a lasting unity between all people. Participants will leave the workshop with a grasp of the basic tools and theory of Re-Evaluation Counseling and how it applies to young people with wealth in particular.

Presnters: Molly Hein & Mike Markovits 

Workshop I: Friday, November 4th, 10am

Connecting with Social Justice Movements (Political Education)

Leveraging Privilege for Tax Justice: Tax Organizing 

 
Hearing a lot about taxes and budget cuts on the news lately? Did you get strong messages about taxes growing up? Are you interested in exploring the connection between taxes and the wealth gap? Taxes are at the center of the current economic debate and budget cuts are rampant across the country.  It’s critical to know what’s happening and it’s a perfect opportunity for young people with wealth to do our part.
 
Join us to learn or refresh your tax basics, then engage in rousing conversation about taxes, privilege, wealth, and fairness.  You don't need to know anything about taxes or tax policy to participate! This workshop will be lead by young people with wealth working to support the larger project of fair taxation, so you’ll hear about what they’ve been up to and ways to get involved!

Presenters: Alison Goldberg, Elspeth Gilmore & members of the RG Tax Organizing Team 
Workshop III: Saturday, Nov. 5th, 10am

Pa’lante! Building the Movement for Racial Justice Now 
 

As the current economic crisis deepens and its effects multiply in communities across the US, we can see the symptoms of structural racism and economic inequality all around. From the present wave of legalized discrimination unleashed on immigrants from Arizona to Alabama, to the budget cuts currently devastating essential public health, education, and transportation programs in every state, poor people and people of color are the first impacted and hardest hit. But working-class communities of color are also waging historic fights right now, on the front lines of some of the most promising struggles for justice and equality in the current era. This workshop examines race & class in the US context. Participants are invited to draw from their own experiences, as well as from current conditions and historical case studies, to trace the development of intersecting systems of oppression and the social movements that have emerged to challenge them. We will explore the roles of young people with wealth in racial and economic justice struggles, and the possibilities for building a movement today that wins.

Presenters: Tina Bartolome & Angelique Gonzales

Workshop I: Friday, Nov 4th, 10am

Transforming Domestic Work in America: Building a Cross-Class Movement 

 
This workshop will introduce the growing movement for Domestic Workers Rights throughout the United States and the important role that employers of domestic workers play in this struggle. Employers have been key to the recent legislative win in New York State and the growing movement in California. Every employer in this movement has a story to tell about domestic workers in their life. This workshop will open up the space for participants to talk about their early relationships with domestic workers and to start to explore how these relationships informed their early understandings of class, race, and gender. Through large and small group discussions, one-on-one story-telling, and facilitated circles, we will help articipants to take their stories and transform them into powerful actions. Together, we will trace the history of domestic work, the intersections of oppressions that have denied domestic workers basic labor rotections, and the strong coalitions being organized today that are changing that history. We will hear stories of young people with wealth taking bold actions as organizers, allies, and funders. This workshop will invite participants to join in movement visioning and to identify the role that they can each play in that vision.

Presenters: Xiomara Corpeño, Danielle Feris & Marjorie Dove Kent

Workshop III: Saturday, Nov 5th, 10am

New Donor Organizing for New Electoral Politics - How to Incorporate Electoral Organizing into Your Giving Plan

Resource Generation has historically educated young people with wealth about moving resources, and developing giving plans for charitable 501(c)3 organizations.  Yet, there is an entire ecosystem of giving vehicles that enable funders to impact electoral politics including 501(c)4s, 527s, and independent expenditures.  Since the political sector determines many of the parameters of economic, social, educational policies that we care so passionately about, understanding how money influences politics is part of understanding another facet of the social justice movement.
 
Vibrant social movements and effective grassroots organizing require a robust complement in political action.  Movement building cannot succeed without concrete legislative victories that require electing progressive allies at as many levels of government as possible.  Over the past decade, the development of new tools and technology, the emergence of civic engagement coalitions and tables, and increased philanthropic investment, has enabled movement building community-based organizations to integrate electoral strategies at a new level.  This session will provide young donors with the tools they need to participate in these new electoral strategies.
 
Session participants will share the obstacles to political giving that young people encounter and strategies for overcoming those obstacles.  Participants will gain a basic understanding of the political giving vehicles that exist and on-going political donor networks, information about current electoral hot spots in the country, and resources for where to find out more and get involved.  Participants will walk away with concrete tools and resources for how to incorporate political giving into their giving plan.

Presenters: George Cheung & Maggie Williams
Workshop II: Friday, Nov 4th, 1:30pm

Managing and Moving Money (Tools and Technical Assistance)

Financial Literacy 101 

 
Come gain a sense of personal empowerment and agency over your finances. At this workshop, we will engage the financial world including its cryptic language through storytelling and personal mapping exercises. Come learn the one concrete principle that ALL people should know to live sustainably and make a plan how to begin or continue your journey to align your assets with your values. Participants will leave with a map of the resources around them and an action plan for what’s next. All levels of experience are welcome!

Presenters: Julie Johnson & Lori Choi
Workshop I: Friday Nov. 4th, 10am 

A Movement, A Paradigm Shift And A Chance To Bring Values To What We Own: Mission Related Investing 101 

Where one invests their money (i.e. stocks), holds their cash (i.e. banks) and spends their dollars (i.e. food) have profound implications that either uphold the current system or can serve to recreate a new one. If 20 cents on every dollar spent on food went to local/organic produce, that would be enough to turn the tide on the industrial food system. The same theory could be applied to where people invest their money and what banks they use.
 
Mission (or impact) investing is for anyone who has their money in a bank or invested in the stock market and wants to see positive change in the world! This session will offer a space to learn and discuss how to re-align our personal assets with our values. It will also offer insight into the broader system implications of mission investing, especially within the institution of philanthropy. The scale and systems change implications of getting foundations to invest in accordance with their missions are immense!
 
Equally important are each of our personal actions to move our cash - into a community bank, credit union or community development finance institution (CDFI) -  to invest in micro credit, sustainable agriculture loan funds, or renewable energy.
 
Come and hear from your peers about how they are working to align their personal assets as well as family foundation endowments with the values of social, environmental and economic justice. Leave with new ideas, tools and inspiration.

Presenters: Richard Graves, Naomi Sobel & Will Tickle, Moderated by Sonja Swift
Workshop II: Friday, Nov 4th, 1:30pm 

Create Your Own Social Change Giving Plan 101 

What does it mean to be a donor/giver? Thought about giving, but don’t know where to start? Been giving for a while and want to be more effective? Wondering about things like shared decision-making, addressing root causes, and being more accountable in your giving? Then come talk about all these questions and create your own giving plan! This workshop is a great chance to learn more about social change philanthropy and pick up tons of tools and resources to help you jump start your giving. Resource Generation has partnered with Bolder Giving to update and strengthen this seminal workshop you won't want to miss!

Presenters: Sam Seidel and Jason Franklin
Workshop III: Saturday, Nov 5th, 10am 

Donor Organizing and Beyond (Organizing and Leadership Development) 

Funding our Collective Liberation: Fundraising 101 

 
Do you feel like running the other way when someone mentions the word “fundraising”? Do you shrink lower in your seat when recruitment for the fundraising committee begins? Do you feel more comfortable giving than asking? In this workshop we will strengthen our understanding of why it’s important to be good fundraisers for social justice work, as well as tools to help us increase our comfort with asking for money. We will then look at resource mobilization for social justice movements more broadly, asking hard questions like, how much does social change cost? What are all the resources needed, in addition to money we can give directly, to create the change we seek? What are creative ways to engage these resources? We'll also provide some concrete tips for how to go about asking for money, and make some time for participants to practice.

Presenters: Sha Grogan-Brown & Ryan Li Dahlstrom
Workshop III: Saturday, Nov 5th, 10am

Bottom Up Funding: Story-telling from the people behind three exciting donor organizing and cross-class funding projects 

Have you heard phrases like “cross-class donor circle, ” or “Hummingbird Collective”...but aren’t quite sure exactly what they mean?  Curious to learn more about concrete ways Resource Generation members are organizing for collective, coordinated change through transformative philanthropy and community building? Learn from those who are putting theory into practice -- trying out new and old models of leveraging privilege and learning, growing, and making mistakes along the way.

 This workshop will be an interactive combination of story-telling and discussion, touching on topics like cross-class relationships, decision-making structures, roles of funders within an organization, and the anecdotal pains and joys of making the leap from potential donor to an active organizer.

This workshop will include three examples of donor organizing projects. For each project, an RG member, alongside an activist from the community directly impacted by the project’s work, will share their stories of involvement.

• The Humming Bird Collective, started out at last year’s MMMC as a cross-class funding project working to support organizing for immigrant justice in Arizona and beyond.

• The Wayside Center for Popular Education, a once-shoestring immigrant justice organizers’ network in Virginia that transitioned to an all-out popular education center after collaboration and funding from one of the group’s organizers.

• The Diverse City Fund, a new and needed cross-class, community-advised funding source for groups fighting gentrification in Washington, DC, a city facing drastic changes to residents of color.

This is the moment to ask questions, take in knowledge, and think about how it could inform your own donor organizing and involvement...hearing from those who have been learning as they go!

Presenters: Virginia Leavell, Jeff Winder, Sarah Lazarewicz, Cathy Meals, Teresa Mabry, & Sylvia Robinson
Workshop II: Friday, Nov 4th, 1:30pm 

Lessons for Organizing Philanthropic Change: Achieving Greater Impact for Underserved Communities