Last month, Deepak Bhargava became president of the JPB Foundation, which has over $2.8 billion in assets. In this interview, Bhargava, longtime activist and coauthor with Stephanie Luce of Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World (The New Press, 2023), talks about how social justice philanthropy can work with movement groups to advance the foundation’s mission to help “people who have been denied power to build it, so they can change unjust systems and create a more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society.”

Steve Dubb: You spent 24 years at Community Change, including 16 as executive director, but left five years ago and moved into academia, where you could advise movements, teach, and write, but weren’t involved in day-to-day organizational work. What made you want to come to JPB?  

Deepak Bhargava: My motivation for taking the job is believing that we are at a pivotal point in the country’s history and that many of the gains that social movements have won over many decades are in jeopardy. The attacks that we are seeing on multiracial democracy pose an existential threat to vulnerable and marginalized communities. Given the stakes, I just couldn’t say no.

SD: I saw in your bio that you were born outside the United States. When did you arrive and how does being an immigrant impact your work? 

“No matter what issue you care about…the fundamental issue at the root of all of them is who has power in society and who doesn’t.”

DB: I came when I was very little—under a year old. I am a first-generation immigrant. I grew up in the United States. I am an American in almost every way, but I grew up in an immigrant household and in the context of a larger immigrant community. I grew up in a multiracial, mostly of color neighborhood in the Bronx, which is where I spent most of my childhood. I had the experience to see America through the lens of my parents and a larger immigrant community where there are lot of things that need explanation and are not so obvious. It made me attuned as to what it was to feel like you don’t belong and how important it is to create social structures and a culture that is deeply welcoming and inclusive for everybody.

SD: In Practical Radicals, you offer typologies of movement strategy and forms of power. Could you outline what some of those strategies and forms of power are, and talk about how philanthropy can support movement strategies and help build movement power?

DB: A big premise of my work at JPB Foundation is that no matter what issue you care about—whether that be housing, healthcare, poverty, or climate justice, and they are all important—the fundamental issue at the root of all of them is who has power in society and who doesn’t. From my perspective, philanthropy has a pivotal role in supporting efforts to build the power of people who have been denied it. That is actually the mission statement of the foundation now. Power is at the heart of our concern as an institution.  

Read the full article about social justice movements by Steve Dubb and Deepak Bhargava at Nonprofit Quarterly .