The Revolution Will Not Be Funded

Dylan Rodriguez defines the non-profit industrial complex as "a set of symbiotic relationships that link political and financial technologies of state and owning class control with surveillance over public political ideology, including and especially emergent progressive and leftist social movements."

A trillion-dollar industry, the US non-profit sector is one of the world's largest economies. Social justice organizations have joined this world, often blunting political goals to satisfy government and foundation mandates. The tech industry has long been a part of the nonprofit industrial complex, with organizations (Mozilla Foundation, Girls Who Code, Tech Solidarity, Khan Academy), established philanthropic foundations (the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, the Bezos Family Foundation), and a new wave of young philanthropists (Larry Page and Maciej Cegłowski).

This is a learning club for tech workers, non-profit workers, volunteers, activists, organizers, and anyone in between. Together we will discuss and turn a critical eye toward the nonprofit industrial complex, and other institutions that play a role in both helping and perhaps harming the community. This Learning Club session will focus on readings and talks from The Revolution Will Not Be Funded (INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence).

Readings

• The introduction to The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
• Citations Needed podcast, "The Not-So-Benevolent Billionaire - Bill Gates in Africa" (55 minutes)
• A Way Out: Why Do Nonprofits Exist?

Additional Resources

• Talk by Ruth Wilson Gilmore in 2004 (15 minutes)
• The 'Black Hole' That Sucks Up Silicon Valley's Money

Discussion Questions

1. What strengths or limitations do you see nonprofits having in their work to serve communities?
2. How do the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) compare? What do you think of the comparison being made?
3. From within a model that, much like capitalism, creates a sense of scarcity and precarity, how can radical activists and educators imagine power and movement building outside the non-profit model?
4. As tech continues to make its entry into the world of of NGOs, non-profits, and philanthropy, how can we imagine the role of tech and tech workers outside that model?
5. Imagine your group or organization has come into $10,000. Without discussing how it would be used, discuss the changes that would take place within your group or organization in order to accommodate the funding and the funder. How might this change social dynamics, administrative duties, change, or relationships with people you serve?