Tell me about Resource Generation’s founding.

Moteelall: It started in 1998 as a conference. In the beginning, several groups were involved—More Than Money, the Black and Brown Fund, the Peace Development Fund—organizations in the New England area that looked at how to use wealth and privilege for social change and organizing leadership. It was a culmination of these groups coming together that led to the creation of the conference.

RG started off as a space where young people with wealth came together and had dinners on a monthly basis. It was a way for them to break out of their isolation, to be able to say, "I’m a young person with wealth," and to feel comfortable and to explore the issues that come up with that.

Just saying that was hard?

Moteelall: Yes. We’ve found that there’s a lot of silencing, because, growing up, their families tell them, "Don’t talk about money. If you let other young people know you have money, they might want it or it might be dangerous." Just to come out and say, "I have money," is helpful.

Gilmore: I come from inherited wealth and I became involved with RG during the past two and a half years as a constituent. When you bring in people already involved with progressive causes, there’s a lot of judgment in those circles about what money is, and, to some extent, capitalism and the way money negatively affects communities—stereotypes about rich people. A lot of that’s internalized from families. You’re trying to create a different world, but if you identify yourself as part of the problem, it gets difficult. How do you find other people you can talk to about some of the emotional things that come up?

How do you define progressive causes?

Moteelall: The issue that gets a lot of people involved is environmental justice. So does economic justice. Reforming the criminal justice system is another cause. Recently, we’ve seen a lot of action around post-Katrina organizing. Electoral politics is another big area. It really runs the gamut. The organization doesn’t push an agenda and it doesn’t push issues. We help people develop their own giving plan and clarify what issues they’re connected to, based on their experiences and passion for social change.

How many members do you have?

Moteelall: The database has more than 1,000 members. Our active constituency is roughly 300. Constituents can be 15 to 35 years old; the largest group is in the mid-20s.

Membership rose 25 percent last year. Why?

Moteelall: We use an organizing model, so we encourage anyone who comes in to organize within his or her community. Word of mouth drives a large part of our growth. The release of our first book also brought in new people.

We’ve seen social-change philanthropy pick up speed. I think people look at RG as the preeminent social-change youth organization. We’re at the Council of Foundations, the Family Philanthropy Conference. We’re pretty much at all the conferences, so people know us and they contact us.

There’s also been a tremendous amount of wealth created
in recent years.

Gilmore: The transfer of money among the baby boomers receives a lot of attention. It makes sense that there would be acknowledgement of more money moving to a new generation, and that people need to start thinking about that. Whether they choose to engage on a social-change model is another question, but at least the question gets raised. And one of the organizations that comes up is RG—there just aren’t that many groups of young people of wealth.

What is the reaction of families to this sort of work?

Moteelall: They vary. Some members bring their families in and they can have a conversation. Then there are others who struggle with how to reconcile the differences in values and vision with their families.

All kids have those struggles, it’s just writ large when money’s involved.

Gilmore: The exciting thing about RG is that members see their work as organizing, so they’re thinking strategically. They’re thinking, "I know my family really well. What are the things we can connect on, what are the things I can start pushing them on, what do I have to learn from them?"

It’s really a combination of this very personal family dynamic and then political organizing, which is a different animal.

Moteelall: And then there are the technical skills. The areas we focus on are personal growth and development—and, within that, building community and working collectively. The second part is the political education; some people come in already politicized, others are ambiguous. And then there’s the technical piece, which is our giving plan where we bring in people who do socially responsible investing. We teach members about investing, about shareholder advocacy and how to leverage that power in the boardroom.

How are you funded? Do you have membership dues?

Moteelall: We don’t, although it’s a conversation that’s on the table. Right now we receive a large amount of our donations from our constituents. We also have foundation funding from places like the Ford Foundation and the Kellogg Foundation. We have earned income from our publication sales and through our workshop registrations. We also receive support from our more than 35 allies—parents or progressive constituents who did this in, say, the 1970s and want to pass it on to the next generation.

Do young people of wealth talk about Paris Hilton? I’ve certainly heard parents discuss her lifestyle as a cautionary tale.

Gilmore: Members talk about Paris, but it’s not from a fear perspective. The people in RG joke about it or feel really separate from that kind of orientation.

Moteelall: Paris, as the one who gets the most exposure, creates an image of what a young person with wealth is like. I think a lot of people in RG—not through the media, but through the way they live their lives—work to debunk that myth. The more we can do to lift up another kind of youth—one that lives according to values and is responsible with wealth and accountable to a larger world—that helps counter some of the Paris stereotypes.

Are there any high-profile people you consider good role models?

Moteelall: Former staff member Karen Pittelman, author of Classified, has received a lot of media coverage. She was in People and on 20/20 and she is the person whom most people come to talk to. Karen dissolved her trust fund in her early 20s and set up a foundation for, and run by, low-income women in the Boston area. Her story has become an inspiration and mobilizing force.

What is the value of talking to your peers about these issues?

Moteelall: There are a lot of organizations out there that were set up 20 to 25 years ago that work with the boomers, but they don’t necessarily understand young people. Those organizations lean on us as their youth-donor education and organization arm. Just as there’s an intergenerational transfer of wealth occurring, there’s also a leadership transition within the nonprofit sector. We’re focusing on a niche group, but being a youth-led and youth-focused organization lets us be a little more on the edge, to push a little, to shape the agenda and then create the programs for that.

Gilmore: If you see RG as part of the larger movement for social justice—which is how I look at it—then you see that youth organizing leads a lot of change. Young people have always had the vision and done the cutting-edge work.

Do you have advice for parents about their kids?

Moteelall: Have honest dialogue. Don’t be dogmatic. Open up the conversation. Let young people bring their full selves into the family, into the money, into the position.

Gilmore: One of the powerful things about having a youth-focused group is figuring out how to have those conversations, especially in, for example, the family foundation context, where there’s usually a powerful family structure set up. To figure out with your peers how to navigate that and then go into intergenerational conversation is important. My advice is: There is so much thought and intention to learn from young people—create the spaces to do that.

Photograph by Erik Rank.