Transforming philanthropic giving and practice while shifting narratives and promoting racial healing.
Edgar Villanueva is a globally-recognized author, activist, and expert on social justice philanthropy. Edgar has worked in philanthropy for over a decade and shared his observations in a 2018 best-selling book Decolonizing Wealth. As opposed to being transactional in nature and reinforcing uneven power dynamics, Edgar proposed a new vision for philanthropic giving where money could be used as medicine to heal divides and restore balance. Edgar launched the Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) to disrupt existing systems of moving and controlling capital.
In 2020, Edgar organized a number of COVID relief funds and UP made contributions to the Native American Community Response Fund and a general fund to support racial justice and organizing efforts. In 2021, Edgar stepped down from his role as Senior Vice President of the Schott Foundation for Public Education to build out DWP full-time.
Edgar is building DWP into a platform to raise and redistribute funding through its grantmaking initiative, Liberated Capital. Over the past year, Liberated Capital moved $5M to 54 BIPOC-led organizations around the country through its three funds: #Case4Reparations, Indigenous Earth Fund, and Food & Land Justice Fund. In addition to moving capital through these thematic funds, Edgar and his growing team at DWP seek to influence the broader field by providing resources and workshops for donors, convening healing summits, and partnering on efforts such as the California Truth and Healing Council.
UP is supporting Edgar’s full-time shift to DWP and his vision to transform philanthropic giving and practice while also shifting narratives and promoting racial healing.
Learn more about Edgar Villanueva and the Decolonizing Wealth Project here.