About

Context

 

We are in the midst of a meta-crisis. Ecological collapse, climate change, species extinction, increasing pandemics, spiking inequality, inhumane poverty, racialized hierarchies and spiritual ennui are the outcomes of systems of domination, exploitation and separation. This has culminated into our current operating system: neoliberal capitalism.

For every dollar of new economic growth, about 93 cents ends up in the hands of the top 1%. And only about 5 cents up in the hands of the world’s majority - 60% of humanity. Therefore, by definition, wealth creation actively creates inequality and poverty. Every dollar of wealth created also heats up our planet as we have an extractives-based, fossil fuel economy. Therefore, by definition, capitalism also creates climate change. Also, because capitalism started in Europe, descendents of Europeans had at least a two century head start on acquiring capital, largely through what historian and geographer David Harvey calls “accumulation by dispossession” - imperialism, slavery, genocide, land theft, etc. Therefore, white supremacy is embedded within the capitalist system. Within the context of the existing operating system, no amount of reform, whether it be green investment or otherwise, can change the structure and trajectory of this self-terminating, exponential function.

This meta-crisis is not something outside of us. We are all complicit, to various degrees, in perpetuating and benefitting from the dominant culture.

TRC focuses on philanthropy as it has the potential to play a critical role in rebalancing wealth, power and historical injustices. Yet all too often philanthropy perpetuates and exacerbates the current system through undemocratic and unaccountable systems, by increasing endowments through existing market mechanisms, and its lack of imagination to support a necessary paradigm shift.

We believe that the philanthropic sector requires a deeper structural analysis of power, privilege and capital; a more experienced understanding of how to build transition infrastructure; a stronger relational web of partners, communities and organizations; a circle of allies to support the necessary inner work of contemplation and accountability, decolonization and spiritual/political praxis; and more people initiated in non-dualistic thought/being seeking to go beyond extractive capitalism and make kin with the living world once again.

 
 
 

Rethinking Philanthropy

In recent years, two key levers for societal change and response to the meta-crisis have grown in size and visibility – civil society and the philanthropic sector. Most NGOs cannot, by design, affect deep systems change beyond ushering in incremental reforms as they are dependent upon and largely part of the neoliberal machinery through their sources of funding, job dependence, and often their ideology.

While the ever growing philanthropic sector has huge independence, considerable influence, and the possibility to fund new ecosystems of change, it too is not yet providing a timely, commensurate response to the meta-crisis.

Much of philanthropy is still deeply woven in the fabric of the old paradigm of growth-based capitalism. Rather than fundamentally changing the rules of the operating system, too often the aim is more “inclusion” into an unsustainable, exponential growth system. Many foundations are mired in beliefs, behaviors, and an institutional culture that hinders them and their partners to truly catalyze systemic change.

For example, philanthropy often promulgates (and fixates on) overly linear, two-dimensional metrics that belie the complex, non-linear reality of change. Too often the individuals and the organizations they work within cannot adequately deal with visible and invisible power structures and inherent biases, further exacerbating and perpetuating the inequities and crises the sector seeks to influence. In short, philanthropy and NGOs are caught in and reinforce a profound contradiction. They continue to hold promise and the potential to create new systems, yet they cannot do so while they benefit and perpetuate existing structures.

 

At the same time, we see a growing number in philanthropy who acknowledge the contradictions, complexity and messiness of it all. Together we ask how to build and strengthen embodied political, cultural and spiritual practices. This includes creating gifting/reciprocity cultures that prioritize the quality of relationships; deepening into the ethics of our interconnectedness; and acknowledging the limitations of anthropocentric, siloed thinking. This also includes examining how to change the nature of finance capital, which keeps philanthropy afloat through the perpetual growth of endowment funds. These inquiries unearth difficult inner and outer explorations of what sacrifices and paradigm shifts are needed to instigate and create necessary transformations.


For all of the shadow within this sector, we envision the potential for deep change to ripple through philanthropy and for ‘contextually sensitive’ practitioners to build adjacent possible futures.

 
 
 

Vision / Prayer

Rather than a traditional mission or vision statement, we hold a shared prayer to enhance and assist the transition to life-centric economic models for the liberation of all beings by shifting the philanthropic sector in the ways it behaves/sees/relates to the world and its role within it.

Our longer-term vision is to create deep connective, relational tissue to support a decentralized network of funder activists who are initiated into other ways of knowing and being, embody the values of emerging cultures, and work in allyship to actively dismantle the neoliberal system and build post-capitalist infrastructure.

We invite those who are inspired by the shared inquiry of what adjacent futures are possible, and what they demand of us now, both internally and externally.

 
 
 
 

History

The TRC was first conceptualized through The Rules (TR), a global network of activists, writers, researchers and others focused on addressing the root causes of inequality, poverty and climate change. TR was a time-bound project that existed for eight years, from 2012 to 2019. TR pioneered applied narrative intervention work by bringing together various disciplines including cognitive linguistics, memetics, evolutionary biology, ecological economics, neuroscience, animism, traditional Indigenous knowledge systems and post-anthropocentric / colonialist / patriarchal / hierarchical / capitalist approaches to systems change. In addition to bringing such perspectives to activists, The Rules was asked to work with funder activists to engage in similar inquiries and activities to begin transitioning away from exploitative systems often inherent in philanthropy.

The first TRC gathering was held in November 2017 at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Sebastopol, California. The second gathering took place in November 2019 at Tierra Valiente in the northwest jungle of Costa Rica. Those who attended wanted to continue beyond gatherings to deepen relations, evolve the inquiry, and see what lines of action and mutual support could emerge. Thus, the TRC was formed as a “temporary organizational zone” in 2020. Since then, it is a fiscally sponsored project of the New World Foundation in New York.

 
 
 
 

Team

Lynn Murphy and Alnoor Ladha are
co-directors of the TRC.

Lynn Murphy has worked in the field of philanthropy for almost 20 years. She works as an independent consultant and strategic advisor for several foundations and international organizations working across a range of issues - equitable education reform, global development, women’s empowerment, conservation and decolonizing philanthropy.  

Previously, Lynn worked at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as a Senior Fellow and Program Officer where she founded an initiative to improve the quality of education for the poorest children in the world. This initiative directed more than $120 million across seven countries and globally, catalyzing a movement to improve learning across the Global South.

Lynn has lived and/or worked in Central America, across Sub-Saharan Africa, and in India. Lynn holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in International and Comparative Education from Stanford University.

 
 

Alnoor Ladha’s work focuses on the intersection of political organizing, systems thinking, structural change, and narrative work. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules (TR), a global network of activists, organizers, designers, coders, researchers, writers, and others focused on changing the rules that create inequality, poverty, and climate change. TR started in 2012 as a time-bound project and an experiment in temporary organizational design, exploring new ways of how to work, play, and make trouble together. 

Alnoor comes from a Sufi lineage and writes about the crossroads of politics and spirituality in troubled times. He is a board member of Culture Hack Labs, The Emergence Network and Education for Racial Equity. Previously, he served as a board member for Greenpeace USA and the P2P Foundation. He was also the head of strategy and partner at Purpose, a New York based political consultancy and incubator for new types of social movements. Alnoor holds an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics.

 

The primary role of the co-directors is to continue, nurture, and grow the circle in a relational field with each other; to connect and fortify the shared work; and to accelerate response(s) that create and foster adjacent possible futures.