The philanthropic world does a lot of good; some problems get solved by throwing a lot of money at them. In 2015, foundations gave away $62.8 billion to charities and nonprofits that do everything from fighting hunger and housing the homeless to retraining coal miners to curing cancer. But with a culture rooted in capitalism and endowments invested in Wall Street, bighearted foundations too often fail their missions. They are limited by the narrow mindset of the financial industry status quo. So says Edgar Villanueva, author of Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018).
Villanueva was born into a poor family in North Carolina, where his single mother worked three jobs. As a self-described “Southern Christian Native American,” he began his career in philanthropy as a junior programming officer at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust with the goal of reaching more rural communities of color. He is now vice president of programs and advocacy of the Schott Foundation for Public Education and board chair of Native Americans in Philanthropy, a nonprofit that promotes equitable philanthropy in Indigenous communities. His book describes a personal journey reconciling his values with those of a profession steeped in old-money colonialism.
He describes “decolonizing wealth” as a way to put philanthropy on a more sacred path and ensure the important work of redistributing the nation’s private wealth is done in a manner that doesn’t add to problems in marginalized communities.
[For more on this story by Chris Winters, go to https://www.yesmagazine.org/ne...t-charities-20181127]
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