Are we seeing an unprecedented movement of the rich towards justice?

My short answer is…yes! 

At least, that’s my current conclusion. I’m going to lay out my thinking below. I want to show you my math and know what you think. 

I’m finding it hard to notice or even sometimes believe good news these days, and I want your help thinking about these hopeful developments.

I’m not writing to you about the glories (or horrors) of philanthropy or Wall Street, effective altruism, or the benevolence and generosity of the righteous rich. I’m not talking about individual heroes or villains. I’m not talking about the charade of do-gooderism so well documented by Anand Girardidhas in his book, Winner Takes All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World (though, let’s be real, every one of the dynamics he names shows up in any organizing of the rich).

While the rich, as a whole, steadfastly defend their wealth and power, no matter the deadly repercussions, I am writing to you about the emergence of a small, yet significant, counter force.

As I’ve learned over the last decades, from Moses to Maud Younger, there have always been individual wealthy people participating in and supporting liberation movements.¹ In the last 100 years or so, we’ve started to see a shift. Really since the 70’s, there has been an upsurge in organized efforts to move wealthy² people collectively, not just individually, towards a more fair and equitable society. From the Mink Brigade to the Funding Exchange, these groups have made a difference.

They’ve laid the groundwork for the recent, dramatic rise in popularity and power of a whole new set of organizations involving wealthy people in progressive and left movements for the collective good.

What am I even talking about? 

Over the last 6 months, I’ve begun to consider that what we’re seeing is the largest movement of wealthy people in the history of class societies, attempting to work alongside poor, working, and middle class people for equity and justice.

Billionaires have begun to adopt decades-old social justice philanthropy principles and practices, pledging to give their wealth “back to the society that helped generate it.” Through groups like Movement Voter Project and Way to Win, hundreds of millions of dollars are moving from the bank accounts of wealthy individuals to grassroots organizations in key states throughout the US, holding back the forces of authoritarianism, defending voting rights, and enabling a historic federal climate bill. 

Wealthy families are making 10-year financial commitments to the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL). Because of groups like M4BL and the Decolonizing Wealth Project, reparations are on the agenda at family meetings and being integrated into the giving strategies of their family foundations. The #LandBack movement, supporting Indigenous liberation and Indigenous sovereignty, is growing in power, working with numerous wealthy individuals, as well as state, local, and federal governments to give back land and begin to repair the damage of attempted genocide. 

Wealthy investors are taking their money off Wall Street and moving it to worker-owned co-ops and the solidarity economy³. Shareholders are forcing oil companies to speed up their transition away from fossil fuels. Groups of millionaires are advocating for higher taxes on the rich. Numerous inheritors are breaking the cycle of wealth hoarding, spending down their trust funds to resource frontline movements. Thousands of wealthy people are becoming peer organizers through participation in groups like Resource Generation and Solidaire. Financial industry professionals are finding numerous wealthy clients interested in redistribution and reparations, deaccumulation and divestment. 

These are just a few notable examples highlighting how tens of thousands of wealthy people have been taking consistent, concerted, coordinated action for justice, attempting to transform the system that gave them their wealth in the first place.

Who is part of this nascent movement? 

I see this movement as living within three main areas: social justice philanthropy, electoral organizing, and investing/new economy⁴. Practices such as fundraising, and frameworks such as reparations, are used in all parts of this work.

Here’s an ecosystem map listing some of the groups involved in each area. My goal is not to be comprehensive. My goal is to give you an initial picture of the nascent movement I’m referring to.

Here’s a more detailed list: 

This is the imperfect and real groundswell of energy and potential that I’m considering.

I like the exercise of drawing a circle around this whole set of organizations and individuals, noticing its size and scale. It’s quite a potential team, led by a multiracial, cross-class (I’d guess mostly middle class) crew of leaders, educators, organizers, fundraisers, and consultants who are disproportionately female, and LGBTQ.

Here is a list of key organizations sorted chronologically by when they were founded, along with a short narrative description, and the info I have on the number of members or donors, and the amount of money they are moving.

Many of these groups didn’t exist a decade ago and have grown in leaps and bounds over the past 5-10 years. As far as I can tell, this recent growth is due to the increasingly visible destructiveness of concentrated wealth, the mounting ecological crisis, the success of the social movements of the last decade (Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Occupy, Standing Rock, Green New Deal …), and the successful and diligent efforts of the groups highlighted above.

I want to be able to accurately estimate the number of wealthy people involved and the land, $$$, and power they represent. Right now, my best guess is at least 100,000 wealthy people, representing tens to hundreds of billions, in collective assets. 

Whatever the financial numbers are (and I hope we can get some more detailed estimates in the future), it is a significant contribution — outmatched only by the massive web of relationships, influence, and social capital this set of people hold.

Why do I think it’s important that we talk about this as a potential movement of the rich?

So many reasons! Here are a few:

1. It’s vital that we end the power of the owning class over our economy, democracy, and society. This ecosystem of groups represents a significant opportunity to do just that, by organizing a set of wealthy people into alignment with feminist, multiracial, working class movements.

2. Because recognizing our power is inspiring and exciting! If we want wealthy people, and our class system, to change, it’s imperative to tell hopeful, honest stories of cross-class solidarity and the real work it entails. But even more than that, recognizing our power is key to effective organizing. If we want to engage a larger set of people, it’s important to notice what we’ve accomplished so far and the power we already hold.

3. The more we notice our many successes in this work, the easier it will be to address our many challenges, limitations and mistakes.

4. In my experience, this ecosystem of groups struggles to work together, and has little sense of themselves as part of a broader movement to organize the rich. What could this set of folks pull off if they got to know each other and strategized together? What might be possible if these groups understood themselves as part of the same team?

5. I am a firm believer that we can ask wealthy people to do more in service of progressive movements. From philanthropy to investments, reparations to advocacy, family organizing to electoral power building, this list represents an incredible menu of bold asks (and demands) to make of the professional middle and owning class (the global 1%). 

6. These images and lists give all of us a place to start. Who belongs on these lists? Who doesn’t? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these efforts? What have we figured out and where have we struggled? These are the questions I want to wrestle with. Together. 

This idea, of a movement in formation, is central to what this Substack and book project is all about.⁵ 

I am writing you now because I want to know what you think. 

How does this idea land with you, given what you know and have experienced?

Please share any feedback and comments below. If you find this idea compelling or graphics helpful, please like the post and share it with others.

Thanks for your attention and your help!

1. Want to find out about these rich-people role models? Check out this blog post and this article.

2. What do I mean by “wealthy”? Not a simple question, and one I’ll be writing more about in future posts. As a placeholder for now, I am generally talking about the owning class. We are the ones who own the vast majority of the land and large businesses, stocks and bonds, debt and hedges. Unlike most people in capitalist economies, we generate significant income from our ownership and investment activities, rather than relying on income from our labor. There is no simple way to measure who is part of the owning class. Everyone in the top 1% of the world’s wealth holders has a solid, personal connection to the owning class, whether they are the boss themselves or own enough property or investment assets to actively profit off the financial success of the owning class. In 2022, being part of the global 1% meant net assets of $1,000,000 or more. There are around 65 million of us in this crew, and we hold around half the world’s wealth. The vast majority of that $$$ is held by the much much smaller number of people who have $30 million or more in net assets. Within the groups named above, there are many different definitions for who they engage.

3. The solidarity economy is a global movement to build a just and sustainable economy where we prioritize people and the planet over endless profit and growth. You can find out more here on the New Economy Coalition website.

4. So many buzzwords! I know. It’s a lot. “New Economy”, as far as I can tell, is one of the several terms used to describe an economy based on collective well-being for people and planet, rather than our current economy based on extraction and exploitation. Other terms I’ve seen are “regenerative economy”, “just economy” and “living economy”. Some of these ideas are, at least in part, based on the “Just Transition” framework, as documented by Movement Generation.

5. For those of you who don’t know, I’m writing a book, also called “Organize the Rich”, based on the ideas and stories shared in this substack.