There are about 1.5 million NGOs just in the United States. No wonder their calls to action, their ads with forlorn-looking children, and their mission statements can start blending together. Over the last 30 years, NGOs have increasingly taken on the role of government. As privatization has rapidly defunded the State, NGOs have rapidly expanded to take on the role of providing social services to those relegated to unlivable wages and polluted communities by the private sector.[1] Thus, the funding streams for those services are fickle, as they follow the wishes and whims of the ruling class, as they direct the lion’s share of philanthropic funding to NGOs.

Understanding how you want to give precious time and resources towards the causes you care about, including those that are upending this whole dynamic to put power back in the hands of those marginalized by this system, is increasingly intimidating. And, as Trump even more rapidly defund the public sector, how you choose to support those building alternatives to a privately orchestrated ‘safety net’ is increasingly vital.

Movement-building organizations or those that use strategies supporting a social view of power are chronically under-supported. To nurture a healthy ecosystem of organizations providing help to those in need while also experimenting with alternatives to our existing social and economic systems (the very ones that are perpetuating poverty, environmental destruction, and racism), is an imperative. You can be part of creating those alternatives. And then you can spread the word!

Read the full article by Lindley Mease about social change on Medium