Weaving a New Tapestry of Wealth
To inherit significant wealth is to inherit a profound solitude, a paradox where immense privilege coexists with a sense of paralysis. The desire to enact good is often stifled by a system engineered to preserve capital, not pursue justice. The default programming for the upper echelons of the 1% is clear: become a steward of growth, a dragon guarding its hoard, passing it down the lineage with a sprinkling of conventional philanthropy to soften the edges. This entire structure is buoyed by tax privileges and lifelong perks that perpetuate dynastic concentration.
What, then, brings a Radical Philanthropy Volunteer to our door? Each story is unique, yet all share a common thread: a deep-seated conviction that the system is profoundly broken, and a resolve to use their disproportionate agency to help dismantle the very architecture that stacked the deck in their favour. The Guerrilla Foundation’s ‘Rad Phil’ programme is a deliberate intervention into this reality, an apprenticeship in wealth abolitionism. It is not a traditional internship but a voluntary, six-to-twelve-month immersion: a deep dive into the visceral, human work of dismantling the fortress of legacy wealth to build something new upon its ruins.
For a young person of wealth, this apprenticeship is a portal into a living experiment in philanthroabolitionism. They are not observers on the periphery but are woven into the very fabric of the team. They learn our operational rhythm not from a manual but from the inside, experiencing how decisions are forged not by executive fiat, but through the collaborative, consent-based practice of sociocracy. They witness the challenging work of redistributing power not as an abstract theory, but in the daily practice of meetings and retreats where hierarchy is actively dismantled.
Here, the apprentice sees the engine of redistribution in motion. They sit alongside our Activist Council, a body of grassroots organisers, not distant trustees, as they debate and direct grant-making, ensuring resources flow to the frontlines of social change. They gain a front-row seat to communications work that seeks to rearticulate a distorted narrative, reframing philanthropy not as virtuous charity but as a mandatory act of reparative justice: a direct challenge to the hollow veneer of philanthrocapitalism.
This journey is as much about personal and collective transformation as it is about strategic acumen. It is a supreme exercise in trust-building. The apprentice sees the organization in its full spectrum: its visionary potential and its very human frailties, its breakthroughs and its struggles. This radical transparency is our bedrock. In a field often dominated by cold, alienating bureaucracy and sterile impact reports, we offer an alternative: the messy, essential work of building authentic relationships with the communities we serve. Through this, the volunteer learns to see themselves not as the apex of a chain, but as one part of a wider, interdependent ecosystem of change.
Upon completion, the apprenticeship culminates in a uniquely powerful act of peer-to-peer succession. Having lived the experience, the apprentice is tasked with “finding the others.” They are uniquely positioned within their own class to identify a successor, leveraging an intuitive feel for the team’s chemistry to foster a self-perpetuating chain of trust and transformation. This builds a vital community among wealth holders united by a shared goal of radical, disruptive giving.
Finally, they graduate not to a passive alumni network, but to new possibilities of engagement. They have the option to join the Funders Circle, accelerating the redistribution of their own wealth. They become fundraisers, leveraging their networks, and ambassadors for the movement, evangelists not for the foundation, but for the necessary creed of resource redistribution. In essence, they are tasked with growing the “cult”: a community bound not by dogma, but by a shared commitment to alchemizing inherited privilege into collective liberation.
We’re not looking for benefactors; we’re recruiting accomplices in the great redistribution. If you know the game is rigged, it’s time to break the table.
You know where to find us 😉
To further contextualize the work of the apprenticeship, one could draw upon these lines of thought:
Benjamin, R. (2022). Viral justice: How we grow the world we want. Princeton University Press.
Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books.
Giridharadas, A. (2018). Winners take all: The elite charade of changing the world. Knopf.
Villanueva, E. (2021). Decolonizing wealth: Indigenous wisdom to heal divides and restore balance (2nd ed.). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
