Organized Money: How Progressives Can Leverage the Financial System to Work for Them, Not Against Them - Hardcover

A. Pinsky, Mark; Mestrich, Keith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1620975041 ISBN 13: 9781620975046

Publisher: The New Press, 2019

Synopsis

Two leading figures from the world of finance show how progressives can take their money away from conservative financial institutions and put it to good, lasting social use. The U.S. financial system is a source of enormous conservative power. Yet most progressive people and organisations trust it with their money and so, in essence, help fund their conservative opposition. This has to end. Until progressives achieve a financial system that works for them, not against them, they will never sustain their gains let alone achieve their goals of racial equity and social justice, reversing climate change, economic inclusion, labour rights, voting rights, and more. Written for the general reader as well as those with a deeper knowledge of finance, Organized Money is a manual that shows progressives how to build a new people-focused financial system. Rejecting conservative 'market fundamentalism' as a greedy distortion of the financial system that our nation's founders, led by Alexander Hamilton, created, the authors call for a 'financial systems literacy' campaign and detail a ten-year organising effort to raise capital from impact investors, socially responsible investors, philanthropists, and other progressive investors to disrupt classical conservative finance. Organized Money warns that the next progressive era will fall short and allow conservatives to win again, unless progressives organise money. Its call to action is a ten-year, $1 trillion campaign in support of socially conscious financial power. And it delivers a strategy to win.

About this title

Review:

Praise for Organized Money
"The authors provide many concrete examples of specific progressive enterprises that organize money [and] do good service in laying out the foundational principles of a nascent but growing movement. . . . A thought-provoking primer."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Money is leverage and power. In this striking book, both wide-ranging and fast-paced, Mestrich and Pinsky show that if progressives organize our money as well as our people and our ideas, we can build the muscle to make profound and lasting change."
--Felicia Wong, president and CEO, Roosevelt Institute

"Required reading for activists who are interested in crafting practical tools as powerful as their passion."
--Marc Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League

"Building on both extensive research and their own hard-won expertise, Mestrich and Pinsky, both pioneers in developing progressive financial system innovations, outline a strategy that cannot be ignored, even by those entrenched in the status quo."
--Janet Murguía, president and CEO, UnidosUS

"Mestrich and Pinsky offer us a vision of restorative capitalism, a call to action to work together, and a compelling strategy to get it done."
--Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder, B Lab and the B Corp movement

"In this provocative and must-read book, Mestrich and Pinsky argue that the financial system is ultimately a public good, created by and for the public. . . . Organized Money provides a vision for a democratized financial system that serves, rather than exploits, we the people."
--K. Sabeel Rahman, president, Demos, and author of Democracy Against Domination

"Mestrich and Pinsky show us the solutions that progressives are exploring to use their capital to express their values, and how you can join them and fight back too."
--Morris Pearl, chairperson, Patriotic Millionaires

"The world today requires entirely new approaches, and Organized Money is unlike any effort before it to align money and value."
--Jeremy Heimans, CEO, Purpose, and co-author of New Power

About the Author:

Keith Mestrich is the president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, the nation's leading socially responsible bank. With twenty-five years of experience working in the labor movement and nonprofit organizations, Keith is a leader in the effort to build wealth for a purpose, not just for a profit. He is the co-author, with Mark Pinsky, of Organized Money: How Progressives Can Leverage the Financial System to Work for Them, Not Against Them (The New Press). Mark A. Pinsky led the $150 billion community development financial institution (CDFI) industry from 1995 to 2016. With a track record of aligning capital with social, economic, environmental, and political justice, he was the strategic leader for the industry's growth from $2 billion to $140 billion. He is the author and editor of several books and speaks regularly on finance and society. He lives in Philadelphia, where he runs Five/Four Advisors, a strategic advisory firm.

About this edition

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1620975041
• ISBN 13: 9781620975046
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272