The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex

by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence

A trillion-dollar industry, the US non-profit sector is one of the world's largest economies. From art museums and university hospitals to think tanks and church charities, over 1.5 million organizations of staggering diversity share the tax-exempt 501(c)(3) designation, if little else. Many social justice organizations have joined this world, often blunting political goals to satisfy government and foundation mandates. But even as funding shrinks, many activists often find it difficult to imagine movement-building outside the non-profit model. The Revolution Will Not Be Funded gathers essays by radical activists, educators, and non-profit staff from around the globe who critically rethink the long-term consequences of what they call the "non-profit industrial complex." Drawing on their own experiences, the contributors track the history of non-profits and provide strategies to transform and work outside them. Urgent and visionary, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded presents a biting critique of the quietly devastating role the non-profit industrial complex plays in managing dissent.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Activism, History, Social Work, Sociology, Social Justice

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 3, 2017

About the author

Mission Statement:
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence is a national activist organization of radical feminists of color advancing a movement to end violence against women of color and their communities through direct action, critical dialogue and grassroots organizing.

Vision Statement:
INCITE! is a national, activist organization of radical feminists of color that is mobilizing to end all forms of violence against women of color and our communities. By supporting grassroots organizing, we intend to advance a national movement to nurture the health and well-being of communities of color. Through the efforts of Incite!, women of color and our communities will move closer towards global peace, justice and liberation.

Reviews

[Demone Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you work in Non-Profit?

Are you seeking to create a better more just world?

Do you want to be jarred awake and contemplate an existential crisis in your work?

Then this book is for YOU!

The Revolution With Not Be Funded asks piercing questions about the role of Non Profits/NGOs play in stifling the change they purport to create.

I will never look at grants, foundations, and corporatized work environments the same way again. My only critique of this book is some of the essays read unnecessarily academic. Overall its an enlightening and somewhat unsettling read.

[fabliha · Rating 5 out of 5]

"As we build these alternative and autonomous movements we will
crack the whole thing. We know capitalism will crack!" YES!!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was dense but I learned so much I wish there was something more recent with updated articles and this was written in the 2000's

[Andy]

DNF. Not my cup of tea.

[bubu]

“Within the ‘grassroots fundraising’ model, valuable time is spent securing cozy relationships with major donors instead of organizing to dismantle the very systems of oppression that allow this owning class to accumulate unearned wealth” (85).

[Julia Gagosian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the single most important book I’ve read in my short life.

[Nicole Dobrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was supposed to have finished this so long ago when I wrote my book review for nonprofit management but just now finished the entire thing. While it’s definitely dense, the content is invaluable. The book stresses caution against the nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC) or the corporatization of nonprofits and the co optation of social justice movements by foundations. The chapters point to various revolutionary social movements in Latin America and the Global South who successfully collaborate w NGOs while maintaining their grassroots structure and keeping their revolutionary goals in sight. I plan to use this book as a guide when going forward into my career journey, never losing sight of my values and beliefs while operating within these structures. ❤️

[giovi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As we build these alternative and autonomous movements we will crack the whole thing. We know capitalism will crack!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Validating and grounding AF for someone working and jaded with the nonprofit structure. Let us focus on the real work of movement building, of liberation, rather than the administrative distractions and pulls of foundation funding and 501(c)(3) status. As much as we romanticize the movements of the 60’s, esp the civil rights movement, we must remember that the onslaught of nonprofits brought on by Reagan-era austerity has blunted our edge in the US.

Not all is bad, but this collection of essays outlines ways we can truly center grassroots movements, not just with lip service for foundation proposals, and how to sustain organizing outside of the only route being professionalization, that limits it so. There’s so much room for us to be using our time prioritizing the true missions we seek to fulfill. - 11.7 hr

Are you milking the system? Or are you being milked? 🤪 a distorted version of a quote from the fourth to last essay

[Sawyer Trim · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was very good information and also very boring 🥴

[Emma Holtzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave everything and more, highlighting how the nonprofit industrial complex came to be and how it manipulates grassroots movements worldwide, its employees, and the abandonment of public services. I have been working in nonprofits for years and after reading from scholars invested in changing it, I can see the alternatives that are meaningful and empowering. This book offers a political agenda that organization’s need to take seriously in their role engaging with communities, particularly those that have been harmed through the state violence perpetuated by the nonprofit industrial complex.

[Jolson Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays organized around critique of the non-profit industrial complex (NPIC), which the essayists define as the relationship between non-profit corporations (chiefly 501c3's), the state, and capitalist elites, in which the foremost directly and indirectly serves the interests of the latters by a variety of mechanisms.

If you're not going to read the whole collection, I recommend: "The Political Logic of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex;" "In the Shadow of the Shadow State;" "Democratizing American Philanthropy;" "Social Service or Social Change"; and "The NGOization of the Palestine Liberation Movement."

One of the chief culprits identified by most or all essayists are foundations -- your Fords, Rockefellers, MacArthurs, and their noblesse oblige. Once a non-profit has received foundation funding, it becomes difficult or impossible to pursue an agenda that would contradict the interests of that foundation. Since foundations are operated and financed by capitalist elites, who benefit from the status quo, this financial model for non-profits serves as a kind of ideological capture. It would be irrational for the Ford Foundation to pay your non-profit to challenge the capitalist system that gave the Fords generational wealth.

In fact, as argued directly by some writers, the foundations serve as much as a tax dodge as a mechanism by which capitalist elites influence society. It's common knowledge on the left that billionaires shelter their taxable income in foundations, but some essayists explored the downstream ramifications of this. Instead of taxing billionaires to fund social programs, it is argued, non-profits fight for scraps of foundation money to provide a patchwork of privatized versions of those same services. One essay offers an apocryphal account of one junior staff member at the Open Society boldly challenging Soros that 'half of the money we're spending would already be in the Treasury coffers if this foundation didn't exist.'

Once a non-profit is reliant enough on foundation funding or government grants, some writers argue, the daily work pivots away from serving the mission and towards managing the business relationships with grantors, in the form of writing frequent reports, providing direct services outside of the original mission scope (most foundation funding is contingent on some kind of highly-visible social service), gladhanding, etc. As someone who has both worked in non-profits and incorporated a non-profit as its Director of Development, some of what they described certainly rhymes with my personal experience.

The final section of the book contains essays dedicated to examining alternative methods of organizing, and of effecting change both in and out of organizations. As case studies, one writer refers to anarchist collectives, peasant uprisings, and other horizontally-organized efforts. I'm not entirely convinced. If the issue with the NPIC is that capitalist elites at the top of the hierarchy stifle positive social change, it's a bit hasty to say that the answer is "no hierarchy." More than one case study cited children not only participating in the decision-making process, but having as much power as adults. At what point does "bedtime is tyranny" stop being a strawman of anarchists and start being a good-faith representation of their views?

Still, a theory of change I'm not entirely on board with is still an inspiring vision of one possible future. The perspectives offered in the book were valuable, and I would recommend at least checking out the chapters I listed above.

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this series of essays to anyone who donates to; is employed by; or intends to one day work for a nonprofit. Just about every chapter provides a case study of how many effective nonprofits, within the U.S. and abroad, have worked to tackle the root causes of many of society’s problems without handcuffing themselves to the demands of wealthy funders or corporate foundations. At the end of the day, rich people will never fully support social justice movements that intend to redistribute stolen and hoarded wealth to the working class in this country. Thus, we have to work for this change without their funds, even if it takes longer to gather the necessary resources through grassroots organizing. Instead, we should recruit volunteers from the surrounding community rather than paid professionals with fancy degrees, who don’t really have much skin in the game anyway.

Since this information is still incredibly relevant to us today in 2025, I wish that the editors would publish an updated edition that references the impact of more recent US presidencies on nonprofit funding, like Obama, Trump, and Biden, as well as, court decisions like Citizens United.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The irony of starting this book while traveling for my job as a Major Gifts Officer is not lost on me. This book highlighted and gave clarity to many conflicts I have felt in my 12-year career in the nonprofit sector, especially when working for national voluntary health nonprofits.

Would highly recommend it to anyone working in the nonprofit sector.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since finishing this book, I can't stop talking about it. I'm recommending it to people left and right. Such a prophetic text for this season of my life. Gives me so much to be angry about and also points to hard, challenging, real alternatives. Grateful for this amazing assemblage of essays right now.

[Em Adamo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accidentally reviewed the older version from 2009— a must read if you think you are a leftist - if you think you are an activist- if you want to change the world!! Turned me up a notch and a half. Graced by these essays!

[Rachel Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for any activist. Understanding the history and impact that non profits, NGOs and the foundation money that funds them have had on movements within the US and abroad is imperative for how we continue to build movements for change today.

[Landen]

Tbh only read the prefix and intro, but was still really interested and took some notes. Wish I read it in class too. Maybe one day I’ll pick back up again.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this ages ago (before I used Goodreads) and it changed my life. Can't recommend enough.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts went over my head, but overall a very important book that has influenced me greatly.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone in America needs to read this book!

[Samantha Jump · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was informative for sure but also kinda funny bcs I went into foundation work halfway through reading

[Aurelio Arias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hell yeah. SUPER insightful on the whole Non-Profit model with a varied array of opinions about it. I personally didn't really know much about it and I felt it was a great eye-opener.

[Greg Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and important + devastating