SPEND OUT & REDISTRIBUTION (SOAR) CONVENING & COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

If the purpose of the extractive economy is the privatization and control of land, resources, and decision-making, then the purpose of status quo philanthropy is to maintain current systems that concentrate wealth and power. Moving towards regenerative world-building begins by redefining the purpose of the economy to center ecological and social well-being, compelling philanthropy to assume the purpose of redistribution, rematriation, and reparations so that philanthropic institutions can become powerful agents of change that center BIPOC-led democratic structures grounded in consent, cooperation, and care; and be part of building governing structures that can smoothly support the regenerative futures that movements are building.

This new program offering from Justice Funders will support foundations who want to explore creating a legacy of turning extracted resources into resources for the regenerative economy through spending out, spending down, spending up to communities, sunsetting the current practices of how wealth is stewarded and governed.

To support foundation leaders, trustees, and staff through navigating the process of Spend Out and Redistribution, Justice Funders is excited to launch a new three-part offering:

PHASE I: Spend Out & Redistribution Convening

🗓️ May 2025

📍 Santa Fe, New Mexico

  • This will be an in-person convening of 10-12 foundations (two leaders per institution) at diverse junctures of their spend out journey. This unique, closed-doors gathering will be a space for deep relationship building, peer learning, capacity building, and pathway development.
  • The convening sessions will be a mix of participant and facilitator-led spaces for conversation, reflection, assessment, and inspiration.
  • The culmination of this convening will result in an articulation of key areas that foundation leaders and teams would benefit from additional support in Phase II.

PHASE II: Spend Out & Redistribution Community of Practice

🗓️ Summer 2025 – Early 2026

  • Justice Funders will use the learnings from the convening to co-create a curriculum to support the foundation cohort with a breadth of areas related to spending down.
  • The facilitator team will curate the curriculum, recruit a team of field experts, and tools.
  • Pending the expressed needs of the cohort, the offering may include a customized coaching component.
  • The virtual learning community of practice is anticipated to launch late Summer 2025 – and meet monthly for a period of 6 months.

PHASE III: Co-Creation and Dissemination of Spend Out & Redistribution Framework and Tools

🗓️ Fall 2025 – Winter 2026

  • The Spend Out & Redistribution Cohort journey will culminate in the co-creation of a framework and portfolio of tools to support other foundations to navigate the spend down process.