Resource Generation is led by a cross-class board and staff.

Staff

Michael Gast, Creating Change Through Family Philanthropy Program Coordinator mike(at)resourcegeneration.org
Michael Gast has been involved with Resource Generation since 2002 as a constituent, RG Fellow, Trainer and member of the National Organizing Advisory Committee. With the support and training of RG, he has become an experienced donor organizer and social justice fundraiser. Michael was the lead constituent organizer for the recent RG delegation to the US Social Forum and served for the last two years as the co-coordinator of the Movement Generation Support Committee, a donor circle in support of left movement building in the Bay Area. Born and raised in San Francisco, Mike also has extensive experience as an educator and activist. Michael helped start Y-Step (Youth Step Towards Addressing Racism), a racial justice education program for white youth in the Bay Area, and was part of the organizing team for Art in Action, an arts activism program for young leaders in Northern California. Prior to working for Resource Generation, Mike was the After School and Service Learning Coordinator at Children's Day School in San Francisco. Currently living in Seattle, Mike has become an active member in the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and is learning to appreciate indie rock. He is committed to and continually inspired by working with other young people with wealth to build powerful movements for social and economic justice. He holds a BA in Urban Studies from Vassar College.

Elspeth Gilmore, Program Coordinator
elspeth(at)resourcegeneration.org
Elspeth Gilmore, Program Coordinator, got involved with Resource Generation over two years ago and has since been committed to using her class privilege for social change. She is dedicated to working with people with class privilege as a strategic part of the larger movement for social justice and self-determination. Elspeth is a founding member of the Gulf South Allied Funders, a group of progressive donors who have partnered with the Twenty-First Century Foundation to support the equitable rebuilding in the Gulf South. She is also a member of the Movement Generation Support Committee, a donor circle supporting Movement Generation, a movement building project in the Bay Area focused on young progressive leaders. Prior to joining Resource Generation, Elspeth volunteered with Just Cause Oakland, a mass-based economic justice organization, and worked as a potter and a landscaper. She holds a BA from Earlham College.

Rodney McKenzie, Jr., Executive Director
rodney(at)resourcegeneration.org
Rodney McKenzie, Jr. is an organizer, trainer, fundraiser and community builder. His work focuses on creating social change through a model of strategic planning, followed by consistent action which leads to thoughtful evaluation and reflection. For a total of four years, Rodney was a Project Director in the Organizing & Training Department at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Rodney's work focused on building grassroots political power in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities across the country. During his tenure at the Task Force, he played a key role in defeating historic anti-gay ballot measures in a range of locations including Miami, Florida, Tacoma, Washington, and Ypsilanti, Michigan. From 2005-2006, he served as Program Director at Freedom to Marry, the gay and non-gay coalition to win the right to marry for all people. He was charged with the overall programmatic direction of the organization and was responsible for a $300,000 regranting program, providing grassroots organizing technical assistance to key state and national partners. Most recently, Rodney was the Director for The Pushback Network. The Pushback Network is a collaborative of independent, grassroots organizations committed to building and increasing electoral power for communities of color, low-income, young people, and working communities. During his time at Pushback, Rodney was able to raise over $2 million dollars, allocate $1 million dollars in Pushback’s regranting program that provides funds directly to community based organizations, and work with leading grassroots groups across the country to increase the levels of civic participations in marginalized communities. Rodney has taught thousands of people the skills needed to build grassroots political power. His trainings have focused on building a multi-racial organization, recruiting and motivating a large volunteer base, creating a clear and honest message, grassroots fundraising, coalition building, direct voter to voter contact and using a variety of organizing tools to ensure a progressive victory.

Nicole Lewis, Catalyzing Our Resources for Equity (CORE) Coordinator
nicole (at) resourcegeneration.org
Nicole Lewis is RG’s CORE Coordinator. She has been involved in social justice activism since high school where she attended and facilitated student retreats, which challenged students to have tough conversations about identity, privilege, and oppression. A strong believer in the power of transformative dialogue, Nicole attended University of Michigan and quickly became involved in the University’s Intergroup Dialogue Program—the first collegiate level peer led dialogue progam. As an Intergroup dialogue facilitator, she has challenged herself and her peers to address issues of privilege and power as they relate to social identities and community. She co-facilitated a semester long dialogue about socio-economic status, which solidified her interest in and understanding of organizing within communities with wealth. After attending MMMC in October 2008, she was inspired by the incredible work RG and their constituents have done and continue to do. She knows that people with wealth play a vital role in the movement for social justice, and is excited to join RG’s staff. She looks forward to expanding and strengthening the opportunities RG’s constituents of color have in the movement for social change. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan in English and Women’s Studies.

Jessie Spector, Intern
Jessie (at) resourcegeneration.org
Jessie Spector was raised in Northampton, MA and is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University in CT, majoring in Psychology and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. She has been involved in queer community organizing for many years, and at Wesleyan was deeply involved in anti-prison activism, doing both campus education and working to support community movements in the area. Jessie came across Resource Generation's work about a year ago after engaging in a series of online discussions on how wealth redistribution fit into a broader vision of social change. Jessie’s father gets credit, though, for introducing her to Sam Stegeman, who really encouraged her to get involved with RG. Jessie is thrilled to be working with such an inspiring organization, and is dedicated to figuring out how folks with class privilege can maximize their potential in building a larger movement towards social justice.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to former Executive Director Taij Kumarie Moteelall for her many contributions to RG during her tenure. She can be reached at taij23(at)gmail.com

National Board of Advisors

Dev Aujla, DreamNow
Chad U. Jones (chair), Association of Black Foundation Executives Fellow
Nigel Daryl Greaves, Straight, No Chaser Films
Kaberi Banerjee Murthy, Picower Foundation
Andrew Pearson, Net Impact at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
Camilo A. Romero, Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos de Colombia
Kenrick Ross, Diaspora Community Services
Katrina Schaffer, Independent Filmmaker and Videographer
Dara Silverman, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
Burke Stansbury, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Maggie Williams, Women in Prison Project at the Correctional Association of New York
Jen Willsea, Interaction Institute for Social Change
Rebecca Winsor, Inspired Philanthropy Group

© 2009 Resource Generation   info@resourcegeneration.org