From Generosity to Justice, a New Gospel of Wealth
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FROM GENEROSITY TO JUSTICE TO GENEROSITY FROM Pr a ise for From Generosity to Justice ndrew Carnegie wrote “The Gospel of “This will become a defining manifesto of our era.” A Wealth” in 1889, during the height of the —Walter Isaacson Gilded Age, when 4,000 American families controlled almost as much wealth as the rest of “Walker bravely tackles the subject of inequality with one pressing FROM the country combined. His essay laid the foun- Darren Walker is president of the Ford question in mind: What can philanthropy do about it?” dation for modern philanthropy. Foundation, a $13 billion international social justice —Ken Chenault Today, we find ourselves in a new Gilded philanthropy. He is co-founder and chair of the U.S. Age—defined by levels of inequality that sur- Impact Investing Alliance and the Presidents’ Council “A recalibration and reimagination of the philanthropic model crafted pass those of Carnegie’s time. The widening on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. by the Carnegie and Rockefeller families over a century ago. This new GENEROSITY chasm between the advantaged and the disad- Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at the gospel must be heard all over the world!” vantaged demands our immediate attention. Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic —David Rockefeller, Jr. Now is the time for a new Gospel of Wealth. programs. In the 1990s, he was COO of the Abyssinian In From Generosity to Justice: A New Gos- Development Corporation, Harlem’s largest community “Orchestrating a dynamic chorus of vital voices and vibrant vision, pel of Wealth, Darren Walker, president of the development organization. Walker harnesses singular storytelling to catalyze ideas and Darren co-chairs New York City’s Mayoral Advisory TO Ford Foundation, articulates a bold vision for instigate inspiration for a more just future.” Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, philanthropy in the twenty-first century. With and serves on The Independent Commission on New —Ava DuVernay contributions from an array of thinkers, activ- York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform ists, and leaders including Ai-jen Poo, Laurene “A clarion call for a new kind of philanthropy to transform our society.” and the UN International Labour Organization Global Powell Jobs, Kenneth Frazier, Carly Hare, and —Joel Fleishman Commission on the Future of Work. He serves on many Elizabeth Alexander, Walker challenges and boards, including Carnegie Hall, the High Line, and JUSTICE emboldens readers to consider philanthropy as the Committee to Protect Journalists. He is a mem- “Walker illustrates how philanthropy is about more than giving money away; a tool for achieving economic, social, and polit- ber of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American it’s about giving energy, and providing ‘righteous optimism’ Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of 16 for the sake of justice.” ical justice. honorary degrees and university awards, including Har- —Agnes Gund That task requires humility, moral courage, vard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. and an unwavering commitment to democratic DARREN WALKER DARREN Educated exclusively in public schools, Darren was a “From Generosity to Justice is a rare, eye-opening, and values and institutions. It demands that all member of the first Head Start class in 1965 and grad- exciting read that opens both the heart and mind.” A NEW GOSPEL members of society recognize their own priv- uated from The University of Texas at Austin. He has —Shonda Rhimes ilege and position, address the root causes of been included on TIME ’s annual 100 Most Influential social ills, and seek out and listen to those who People in the World, Rolling Stone’s 25 People Shaping “His bold call for business leaders to demonstrate moral courage is just one OF WEALTH live amid and experience injustice. the Future, Fast Company’s Most Creative People in part of a new model for justice-minded philanthropy, one that offers both the Business, and OUT Magazine’s Power 50. What began in Carnegie’s day as a manual advantaged and disadvantaged tangible ways to disrupt inequality.” for generosity is now reimagined as a guide that Ebook and audio editions of this book are available at —Indra Nooyi moves us closer to justice—a guide that helps www.fordfoundation.org each of us find a way to contribute. www.disruptionbooks.com “From Generosity to Justice shows why Darren Walker is one of philanthropy’s Justice is calling. It’s time we answer. @FordFoundation most forward-thinking and important leaders.” DARREN WALKER —Michael Bloomberg FROM GENEROSITY TO JUSTICE DARREN WALKER FROM GENEROSITY TO JUSTICE A NEW GOSPEL OF WEALTH DARREN WALKER Published by The Ford Foundation / Disruption Books New York, NY www.fordfoundation.org www.disruptionbooks.com Copyright ©2019 by The Ford Foundation All rights reserved. FORD FOUNDATION and colophon are registered trademarks of the Ford Foundation. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission from the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be directed to [email protected]. “Motto” from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES by Langston Hughes, edited by Arnold Rampersad with David Roessel, Associate Editor, copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Disruption Books at [email protected]. Cover and text design by Sheila Parr First Edition For David, who taught me the meaning of generosity, justice, and love. Contents Introduction: A New Gospel of Wealth 1 1. From Generosity to Justice: A Continuum of Philanthropy 13 2. The Privilege of Perspective: Seeing and Sharing Access and Opportunity 23 New Paradigms for Legacy Institutions: A Conversation with Elizabeth Alexander 33 3. The Awareness of Ignorance: Learning What We Don’t Know 49 Joyful Justice: A Conversation with Laurene Powell Jobs 61 4. The Ownership of Selflessness: Giving with Humility 69 5. The Raising of Roots: Addressing Causes, Not Consequences 81 viii Contents Nurturing Communities: A Conversation with Carly Hare 95 6. The Power of Proximity: Valuing Both Expertise and Experience 107 Bringing Hidden Labor to Light: A Conversation with Ai-jen Poo 117 7. The Courage of Conviction: Standing Up and Speaking Out 127 A CEO Speaks for Justice: A Conversation with Ken Frazier 137 8. The Democracy of Justice: Our Liberation Is Bound Together 149 Conclusion: The Tenets of a New Gospel 159 Contributors 171 Acknowledgments 187 Notes 193 FROM GENEROSITY TO JUSTICE Introduction A New Gospel of Wealth Never before has the world experienced so much inequality. Thanks to major advances in technology, new entrepreneurs fundamentally transform the way people live and work. But these titans of industry also accumulate wealth on an astounding scale, while the vast majority remain in poverty.1 And it’s not just economic inequality run rampant: Around the world, there are grand disparities in how people are treated in culture and in politics, who can access education and economic opportunity, and which groups are free to express themselves and participate in a democracy. Even in the most progressive, demo- cratic countries, institutions and systems continue to marginalize and exclude low-income people, women, the disabled, ethnic and religious minorities, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and others. I am not describing our current moment, though it may sound like it. Rather, this was the state of the world in 1889, when the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie published the first essay 2 From Generosity to Justice of what we would later refer to as “The Gospel of Wealth.” Aptly known as the Gilded Age, this was a time when industrialist tycoons enjoyed lives of unprecedented, unimaginable opulence, while ordinary people endured low wages, dangerous working conditions, and overcrowded, unhealthy living quarters. Back then, the United States’ 4,000 richest families possessed nearly as much wealth as the other 11.6 million American fami- lies combined.2 That level of stark inequality is similar to our own most sobering figures. Today, just the top three richest Ameri- cans—not even close to the top 4,000—own about as much wealth collectively as all of the bottom half of the United States combined.3 Globally, 130 years after Carnegie’s gospel, Oxfam reports that the 26 richest individuals control as much wealth as the poorest 3.8 billion—half of the current world population.4 There’s a reason many have called ours the “New Gilded Age.”5 Indeed, today the problem of inequality is even greater. Economic inequality is one major form of this current cri- sis—and the form we hear most about—but once again it is not the only one. We also see rampant, pervasive inequality in poli- tics and government; in culture and creative expression; in edu- cation and upward mobility; and—especially—in the prejudicial way that our institutions and systems treat women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ community, Indigenous communities, people of color, and poor people. These different inequalities both cause one another and are the effects of one another. They are deeply interdependent and intertwined. These inequalities are not abstract, either. They are experienced every day, by nearly every one of us. A distorted form of capital- ism has produced extreme wealth for owners and daily insecu- rity for workers. Authoritarian leaders have suppressed rights and Introduction 3 fomented division, discord, and dysfunction. Fast-moving techno- logical innovations, full of rich potential, are instead used by both groups—the owners and the rulers—to suppress and supplant.