Edgar Villanueva

Edgar Villanueva is a Native American philanthropist (despite his working class upbringing). This book is written primarily for other philanthropists.

Villanueva asks a lot of great questions about wealth, power, and racism. Why do we give people with money power in philanthropy (as opposed to ceding this power to those most intimate with the problems)? White supremacy is a big part of the way that philanthropy works.

Villanuava calls out the foundations that ignore the externalities caused by their return-chasing endowments. He also speaks to the importance of grieving—something we generally don't hear a lot about in the workplace.

This book feels to me like a bit of a companion text to Anand Giridharadas' "Winners Take All."

The title oversells the book for me. Although Villanueva covers a lot of ground in the book, I don't think he accomplishes the task of describing what it might look like to decolonize wealth.

I also take serious issue with his claim that money is neutral. Evolution in this arena requires a nuanced language and understanding surrounding the numerous role money play, and the many flavors in which it comes. For example, using gold as money has significant social implications, as opposed to the US dollar or time banking.… (more)