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About this book
EAN/UPC
152309141X
Date of publication
17 August 2021
Format
Paperback
Edition
2
Publisher
Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance

With Decolonizing Wealth, a provocative analysis of the dysfunctional colonial dynamics at play in philanthropy and finance, the award-winning funder Edgar Villanueva draws on his Native American heritage to offer a prescription for restoring balance and healing our divides.

Blaming bankers and capitalism for the awful mess that is 21st century America has become a popular pastime among academics, activists and economists, whose bestsellers propose their signature solutions. Yet one place where solutions are never sought is Native America.

The philanthropic industry was built on a history of extraction, exclusion, and racial hierarchy, and it still reflects those origins today. In this landmark and deeply personal book, Edgar Villanueva draws on fourteen years inside US philanthropy and the traditions of his Native American heritage to diagnose the problem and prescribe the medicine. A book that has changed conversations about power and giving across the sector.

The $1 trillion philanthropic industry carries a name that means “the love of humankind” — yet its structures, practices, and distribution of power tell a different story. After fourteen years working at the heart of the sector, first at the Marguerite Casey Foundation and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, then as Vice President of Programs and Advocacy at the Schott Foundation for Public Education, Edgar Villanueva had seen past philanthropy’s glamorous, altruistic façade. Behind it he found old boy networks, saviour complexes, internalised oppression among the rare people of colour who gained access, and a systematic reproduction of the colonial dynamics that had structured American life since the fifteenth century.

This second edition expands the provocative analysis of the racist colonial dynamics at play in philanthropy and finance into other sectors and offers practical advice on how anyone can be a healer.

Though it seems counterintuitive, the $1 trillion philanthropic industry has evolved to mirror colonial structures ultimately doing more harm than good. Edgar Villanueva has seen past the field’s glamorous, altruistic façade, and into its shadows: white supremacy, saviour complexes, and internalised oppression.

He shows how to make money “a tool of love, to help us thrive rather than to hurt and divide us”. 

The second edition has two new chapters:

Across history and to the present day, the accumulation of wealth is steeped in trauma. Drawing from Native traditions, Villanueva empowers individuals and institutions to acknowledge and begin to repair the damage done through his Seven Steps to Healing:

As Villanueva writes: “Everyone has a role in the process of healing. All our suffering is mutual. All our healing is mutual”.

About Edgar Villanueva

Edgar Villanueva is an award-winning author, activist, and nationally recognised expert on social justice philanthropy. He is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe and the founder and principal of the Decolonizing Wealth Project and Liberated Capital, which use education, radical reparative giving, and narrative change to disrupt existing systems of moving and controlling capital. He has consulted with numerous philanthropic organisations on advancing racial equity and has written for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and many other publications.


Reviews

“Only a truthful reckoning of our history of colonization can inform the transformation of our extractive economic systems. Recognition, repair, and transformation are not only moral imperatives — but they will also finally and truly benefit us all. Edgar Villanueva knows this deeply and is leading the way.”
Kat Taylor, philanthropist and co-founder, Beneficial State Bank

“If we are to escape the insidious hold racism has on our society, we must be intentional about truth and reconciliation. In Decolonizing Wealth, Edgar lays a foundation that not only explains the history of wealth and racism but also provides a pathway to healing that we all need.”
Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning

“Decolonizing Wealth is a call to action for all who seek real, meaningful progress. We need healing, we need hope, we need solidarity, and in this book, Edgar has provided the blueprint.”
Asha Curran, CEO, GivingTuesday

“Edgar Villanueva offers a new vision and an Indigenous perspective that can put us on a better path. Everyone should read Decolonizing Wealth, especially those who control the flow of resources in government, philanthropy, and finance.”
LaDonna Harris (Comanche), politician, activist and founder, Americans for Indian Opportunity

“Edgar’s voice will help shape the future of a philanthropy that systemically reverses the toxic inequalities that threaten the very fabric of our human existence.”
Pia Infante, Co-Executive Director, The Whitman Institute

“An important and provocative book that challenges all of us who work in philanthropy — and all of us who benefit from it — to examine our assumptions and change our practices.”
Alliance Magazine

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