Social Justice and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex: What we can learn from The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
All serious organizers are talking about the groundbreaking book The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, which is edited by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence. This 16-essay book covers a wide range of arguments against the non-profit industrial complex, which we will attempt to summarize and describe its practical application.
The non profit industrial complex involves funneling of progressive and radical organizations into a government supervised sector by getting non profit status and being sucked into a competitive, capitalistic, and corporate bureaucracy (and mentality). The problems grow out of two institutions: foundations and the government.
The government creates the following problems for social justice groups who choose to become a tax exempt non-profit:
1. It forces you to become a corporation that has a board of directors and bylaws. This corporate structure looks repulsive to most social justice groups who try and build democratic structures within their group. However, though these rules do have to be ‘followed’ on paper, organizations can in effect be democratic if they want to and try to.
2. Since the government is the one granting you benefits for being a non-profit (cheaper postage, tax exemption, and legitimacy), it that means it can take them away by stripping your organization of non-profit status.
3. The government historically gives grants to organizations that fulfill limited charity work and avoids funding social change organizations. For example, antiviolence groups who focus on criminal justice solutions or work within police departments get grants from the Department of Justice. Government funding of non profits extends to the CIA funneling money through foundations in order to get into foreign countries and obtain information that would “facilitate resource extraction and destabilize leftist regimes” (p.14). The bigger problem non-profits face is the funding they get from foundations.
4. Foundations were established as a way for the rich to bypass paying taxes, allowing them to direct their funds where they saw fit. By creating foundations, the rich can avoid paying estate taxes (taxes that, according to the IRS, only apply to the wealthiest 2%).
5. Therefore, foundations are a way of redirecting large sums of money from the government, which is more accountable to the public, and placing it in the hands of unaccountable elite board members.
6. Currently, foundations are required to give a minimum of 5% of their money, but this does not mean that 5% of their wealth must be given as grants. In fact, that 5 % includes administrative costs and trustee fees, most of whom are white, upper class men. In this way, foundation money actually increases the wealth of the rich.
7. The grants foundations do give out tend to go to elite art institutions (operas, museums, etc…), elite universities, and conservative think tanks. The money not only goes to activities only the rich can enjoy but also funds conservative ideology.
8. When foundations do give money to help the poor and oppressed, it is given through charities instead of social justice organizations, which will temporarily relieve their problems but keep the oppressive social relations in tact. In the end, the foundations perpetuate the oppressive social order and political structure that exists today.
9. 1.7% of foundation grants actually do go towards “civil rights and social action” (p. 68), but it has been historically shown that the foundations overwhelmingly support more reformist factions of the left. In the civil rights movement, ‘Black capitalism’ was supported by foundations, helping to criminalize Black radicals.
10. How do foundations have so much money to begin with? Foundations are built by rich individuals who invest their money and give a small amount to charities as grants. Most of the money was obtained by that rich individual unethically and most of it is invested in other unethical endeavors (companies that exploit workers, are environmental polluters, and are not accountable). So we can see that foundations do not generally fund social change or radical groups. But suppose you are invited to apply for a grant or happen to get one. What effect does receiving grant money have on the group?
11. Groups that don’t follow the foundation’s rules lose funding. INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence lost their funding for supporting Palestinian liberation. This in effect pushes leftist groups to the right unless you are willing to lose your funding.
12. The structure in which grants are obtained forces groups to focus more on selling themselves to founda- tions, writing reports and applying for grants instead of organizing their community or providing services. This minimizes your ability to organize and increases undesirable tasks.
13. The non-profit structure also develops a business culture in your organization where you become focused towards getting more grants instead of ending oppression, creating community, etc… The internalization of the business culture increases due to the difficulty, unpredictability, and inconsistency that comes with being funded by grants. Similarly, the structure forces you to compete with organizations that share your goals.
14. With grants comes the ability to pay organizers. However, the notion of being paid for organizing creates a contradiction in the individual who begins to expect to be paid for social justice work and, through the process known in social psychology as the overjustification effect, sees the goal for social change as less valuable. Through this psychological process, organizers may see their goals as less desirable since payment is needed to make working toward them worthwhile (the end goal is not payment enough itself). This undermines your motivation for social justice.
The problems that are summarized above leave us with two important questions: What are good ways of funding your group and can you dupe the non- profit system?
Good Ways to Fundraise:
Several groups discussed in the book have found ways to get money while avoiding pressure to conform to foundation and government expectations and maintain their interest in social change. Let’s take a look at how a few groups fundraise:
Sisters in Action For Power: “We have created a grassroots fundraising program to generate support from a wide variety of activities and opportunities. These include an annual event, program advertisement sales, community benefits, a monthly sustainer program, trainings, house parties, selling T-shirts, and more. Everyone raises money, from senior ….. to our 11-year-old members. Our goal is to generate 50 percent of our money from grassroots sources to reduce dependency on foundations.” (pg. 97-8)… 6 7 …Women of All Read Nations (WARN): “[W]e did not focus on fundraising. (Nor did we see activism as something we would get paid to do.) We organized first, and then figured out how to make it happen…Generally, we in… WARN operated on donations. We organized speaking tours and used the honoraria to support our movement. Churches, universities, and non-Indian organizations (e.g. peace organizations, organizations based in other communities of color, women’s organizations) supported us. Many lawyers, law students, and others with technical expertise volunteered their time… We relied on in-kind donations and were creative with our resources. We also did not travel with the… expectation of comfort[;]… back in the day, we might camp out or stay in people’s homes.”
The book also implies ways to get state and foundation grants while still remaining an organization whose goal is social change:
One idea is to try the system out. Go ahead and apply for non-profit status and grants, but remember that grants can be pulled away if the foundation finds something about you they don’t like. If you find that they undermine your mission, simply stop going after grants or maintaining your non-profit status.
Another idea is to avoid relying on grants. If you apply for grants, try getting them for projects that are not crucial to the organization. If the money gets taken away or it becomes too much of a hassle to obtain, it wont ruin your organization. One author in the book writes that groups such as progressive think tanks and other organizations who provide solely intellectual outputs should take foundation grants. Though this was not elaborated on in the book, it may be worth looking into if you are interested in doing that work.
