The Revolution will Not be Funded

Much credit for this mind blowing goes to INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence who have been leading the discussion in this arena for years.

So I've certainly heard that "the revolution will not be funded" before - when you think about it, of course, why would the class of people with exorbitant want to fund projects that will successfully end such gross inequities of wealth? When an organization is dependent on winning the favor of foundations or government grants, they actually tailor their work to meet the requirements of the foundation - and accountability to the people they intend to serve/empower (depending on the organization) is lost. The organization is less focused on what is actually working for their members/clients, but what looks good to funders.

The Taming of Social Uprising
An even deeper analysis (given by Andrea Smith in the anthology of essays "The Revolution will not be funded") looks to how radical, grassroots movements have been tamed and controlled by "incorporating" into 501(c)3 non-profits. A clear model is the gay liberation movement, which we all know erupted as a working class, multi-racial rebellion against police oppression.

"In the wake of the riots, intense discussions took place in the city's gay community. During the first week of July, a small group of lesbians and gay men started talking about establishing a new organization called the Gay Liberation Front. The name was consciously chosen for its association with the anti-imperialist struggles in Vietnam and Algeria. Sections of the GLF would go on to organize solidarity for arrested Black Panthers, collect money for striking workers, and link the battle for gay rights to the banner of socialism."

Yes, gays sharing struggle with Black panthers and Third World Revolutionaries in the name of radical socialism! Today? The mainstream gay struggle is that, mainstream, and focuses on things like gay marriage and HIV funding, and has lost most of its connections with other oppressed groups. I think that transformation is a direct result of incorporating as non-profits.

Or for a more documented affect, Andrea Smith points to the work of Robert L. Allen in tracking how the "Ford Foundation began supporting Black civil rights and Black Power organizations such as CORE - and started shifting their focus from Black liberation to Black capitalism. Similarly, Madonna Thunder Hawk describes how the offer of well-paying jobs in the non-profit sector seduced many native activists into diverting their energy from organizing to social service delivery and program development."

If you think, it doesn't have to be like that, there are lots of really awesome philanthropists out there that sincerely support social change - well, I don't know enough to discredit that, but what I have learned is the origins of Foundations. Starting in the early 1900s, foundations were created as a direct tax shield for wealthy people and corporations. Think of how many billions of dollars which would have been public money (though I of course don't trust our government to put public money to good use) that very theoretically could be controlled by the public, instead a wealthy individual gets direct control over where that many goes - and thus chooses projects which are in his/her interest - not the public interest. I know for me, I would love to believe that wealthy philanthropists or boards of foundations truly have public interest at heart, but, even in the most altruistic scenarios, it is virtually impossible for people with that amount of wealth (or who run in those circles enough to be named to the board of a foundation) can actually EVEN KNOW what oppressed groups of people need to liberate themselves.

The Non-Profit Industrial Complex (ya know I had to go there!)
Another effect is the professionalization of the movement. With non-profits, certain people are chosen and then get paid to lead the work, and the effects are many:

1. People with more education, credentials, class privilege get chosen to lead work instead of the people most affected by the situation
2. Those activists then get attached more to the careerism and funding than in the effectiveness of the work
3. "The NPIC (non-profit industrial complex) encourages us to think of social justice organizing as a career; that is, you do the work if you can get paid for it. However a mass movement requires the involvement of millions of people, most of whom cannot get paid. By trying to do grassroots organizing through this careerist model, we are essentially asking a few people to work more than full-time to make up for the work that needs to be done by millions."
4. This funding scheme makes organizations compete with each other instead of collaborating, as they struggle to define to funders how their work is unique and more important than others' work.
   

Honestly, this article by Andrea Smith goes on and on with more and more brilliant points, and I could just keep quoting and quoting. Really, you should read the book!

We Need a Movement that Can Incorporate Everyone
Another article from this book, by Paula X. Rojas, really gets into how professionalized, incorporated models of organizing will never reach the scale or be accountable (and thus effective) to the majority of people who I believe should be the one rewriting the script of the world order. I think this not only applies to non-profits, but also to other movements with cultures that promote the idea that you must be a full-time activist in order to be committed, and that don't allow place for the majority of people - whose lives involve a healthy mix of childrearing, supporting other family, working for money, taking leisure time, caring for mental health and otherwise dealing with the real effects of centuries of oppression as poor, female, and/or people of color.

I know this makes me want to study Latin American social movements more, as they are able to involve millions of people in protest on a regular basis, or lead to things as the Zapatista uprising. And really do some thinking about how I can make sure that I'm putting my energy into projects that have a chance at succeeding on a mass scale, and not just finding a place for myself as an "activist."

Damn, y'all!