Summary of the project:

We encourage those with more than enough money to redistribute it via this project for the benefit of others, while breaking the philanthropic frame and promoting it as a political practice of cross-class solidarity. Control of where the money goes is to be in the hands of capital light (i.e. working class, those who possess least capital) organisers, activists and community members (currently this lies with the founders but we are seeking to build a trusted circle of decision makers as the project continues). Criteria for receiving money prioritise anti-capitalist praxis (broadly interpreted), capital light leadership, and class analysis. The ultimate desire of this project is liberation through anti-capitalist revolution, and the actions of this project should aim to bring that closer in some way.

A Note on Language

Some of the language we use might be a bit complicated and obscure. Sorry, we can’t help ourselves sometimes. The main things that might be confusing are hopefully clarified here (this list might grow as people ask us what we’re on about in particular places - please do let us know if we’re making no sense in anything we put out cos you won’t be the only one that doesn’t get it)

Capital = money or wealth. Also sometimes comes up as social capital and cultural capital which are can be seen as forms of power, like the power people hold in groups because of their social status, or their knowledge of how things work (like funding bids, for example)

Capital Light = working class, poor people, those with less capital

Capital Heavy = middle class, upper class, rich, wealthy people, those with lots of capital

Capitalism = the current system that structures the world

Anti-Capitalism = getting shot of capitalism and having something better!

Social Movements = groups, networks, campaigns, projects that are trying to make huge and lasting change to the way the world is organised. Can be a specific campaign eg. against benefit cuts, or could be community projects that make space for political work eg. a community food project that helps people survive and is a space where people meet each other and talk about their situation

Structure of the project:

Currently Sheffield Redistribution consists of the two founders, Bevan and Dom. The aim is to develop the organisation with task-based roles taken by supportive volunteers of any class background, and a group of power-holders drawn from working class / capital light communities. The exact structure of this is yet to be determined.

Raising money:

We will reach out to existing networks of capital heavy people who are talking to each other about redistribution and aim to raise substantial sums from them. We will also crowdfund money for each funding round. No money donated to Sheffield Redistribution should ever come with any strings attached or any expectation of power or influence in the project. Money that meets that criteria and isn’t obviously compromised (corporate villains, complicit philanthropic foundations, individuals opposed to liberation etc) can be accepted. Where the validity of the source is contested, trusted people within and around the project should be consulted on whether to accept it.

Redistribution criteria:

We will seek to redistribute money to groups and projects that are facing inequality and injustice and working to create a just, equal and sustainable world. We acknowledge that anti-capitalism and political language is often a luxury and commit that groups and projects will be judged on their actions and intentions, not on their ability to write a pitch that pushes the right political buttons. We will consider a group’s current and past activity, future plans if expressed, and political alignment if explicitly stated. In interpreting whether groups or actions are anti-capitalist we will recall the phrase used by the Black Panther Party when describing their free food programs, “survival pending revolution”, and acknowledge that supporting the material needs of people can be and often is a radical act in itself. These criteria are expressed more fully in the ‘Decision making’ section below.

Categories of Funding:

Decision making:

Decisions will be made according to published criteria, but with a lot of flexibility. If a project meets our criteria and there is money available to support it then we will redistribute money to it. The main criteria are:

Working class leadership; the purpose of this project is to shift resources to capital light organisers and communities through redistribution rather than charity, so money given should be directly in the hands of capital light people, or held in organisations where capital light folks hold power over where it is spent.
Anti-capitalist praxis; this money should support social change that seeks to move beyond the capitalist system, in how it operates itself (eg. mutual aid groups) and/or in what it works towards (eg. political organising towards liberation). We will always define this broadly and generously to include work without an explicit anti-capitalist label or doctrine that fulfills an identifiable anti-capitalist purpose.
We will prioritise work being done locally - projects within Sheffield that meet our criteria taking precedence over funding work done further afield, but not excluding the possibility. We will make decisions with an intention to support the growth of work aligned with the goals of Sheffield Redistribution in South Yorkshire and beyond.
We may also consider the track record of groups and individuals in organising, activism, and work, as well as the immediacy and importance of the work being proposed.
We will favour groups that are difficult to fund, at least from traditional philanthropic sources
In considering applications we will not consider the “quality” of the application itself, but judge things on their impact in the real world, as best as we can imagine that, against these criteria.
We will only make decisions once we’ve read all applications and decide how the pot gets split at that point. There’ll be no advantage to an application being read first, and no danger that there’ll be no money left by the time we get to the bottom of the pile