User:TrishLev/sandbox

Edgar Villanueva
Edgar Villanueva is an author, activist, and expert on issues of race, wealth, and philanthropy. An enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, he is the Founder and CEO of Decolonizing Wealth Project and its fund and donor community, Liberated Capital. His bestselling book, Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance (2018, 2021), was  called a “compassionate call for change and healing” in the New York Times. Villanueva is a recognized disruptor in the philanthropy field,, known for leading efforts to expand what he has coined as “reparative philanthropy” and "reparative giving" in the sector. Villanueva advises Fortune 500 companies, national and global philanthropies, and entertainment companies on social impact strategies that advance racial equity both from within and through their investment strategies.

Early Life and Education
Villanueva was born and grew up in Raleigh, NC. He was raised by his mother, whose dedication to serving her community while working two to three jobs he credits for his interest in a career serving others. Villanueva graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelors in Public Health and earned a Masters in Health Administration from UNC’s Gillings Global School of Public Health.

Overview
Villanueva is a veteran philanthropic strategist. Before founding the Decolonizing Wealth Project and Liberated Capital, he held leadership positions at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in Winston-Salem, NC, the Marguerite Casey Foundation in Seattle, WA and the Schott Foundation for Public Education in New York City. Villanueva has also served on the boards of Native Americans in Philanthropy, Andrus Family Fund, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NDN Collective and Mother Jones.

Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance (2018) (2021)
Villanueva published Decolonizing Wealth in 2018, an analysis of the dysfunctional colonial dynamics at play in the fields of philanthropy and finance. Villanueva explains how the field of philanthropy is directly connected to violent accumulation of wealth through enslavement and genocide in the United States, and that the dominant frameworks from that period, of  “extracting, dividing, controlling, [and] exploiting,” are central to the functioning of the field–– largely controlled by white, wealthy donors. Villanueva outlines “Seven Steps of Healing” for individuals and institutions to heal this imbalance, focused on giving back resources and decision-making power to Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. Decolonizing Wealth encourages readers to reflect on how they can use “money as medicine”–– transforming money into a force that has been used to harm into one that can be used to support healing and restore balance. The second edition of Decolonizing Wealth was published in 2021 with a foreword from Bishop William J. Barber II and a Spanish-language edition was published in 2022. Villanueva has also published a journal, Money As Medicine, to help people use money as a tool of love and restoration.

Decolonizing Wealth Project
Villanueva is the Founder and CEO of Decolonizing Wealth Project. Established in late 2018, Decolonizing Wealth Project's mission is “to bring forth truth, reconciliation, and the healing of our global family from the ails of colonization through education, radical reparative giving, and storytelling. Decolonizing Wealth Project engages in what it calls 'sector transformation' and offers education experiences such as a 'reparative philanthropy community of practice'. It has also published a research report that offers 'data-driven insights' on how to garner support for reparations.

Liberated Capital
Villanueva also directs Decolonizing Wealth Project’s Liberated Capital, a donor community and funding vehicle, designed to support Black, Indigenous and other people-of-color-led initiatives working for transformative social change. Liberated Capital has several funding programs, granting more than $15 million since 2020. Liberated Capital's #Case4Reparations initiative seeks “to fuel and amplify conversations and campaigns around reparations where wealth (money or land) can be redistributed by institutions and/or governments to Black communities in the United States.” In 2023, Villanueva announced Decolonizing Wealth Project's $20 million dollar campaign to support the reparations movement for Black people in America. By the end of 2023, the #Case4Repartions fund had granted over $6.7 million. Other funds of Decolonizing Wealth Project's Liberated Capital Fund include the Indigenous Earth Fund, which is an annual grant opportunity for Indigenous-led organizations targeting climate and conservation issues and the California Truth and Healing Fund, which supports the engagement of California Native American families, communities, tribes, and organizations to engage in the work of truth and healing.

Other Writing
Villanueva’s writing has been published by The Washington Post , the Advocate, Stanford Social Innovation Review , USA Today , and ''Yes! Magazine''.

Recognition and Awards
Villanueva was named a 2020 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity, a 2020 OZY Media Angelic Troublemaker ,and was among the 2021 Nonprofit Times Power & Influence Top 50 and 2021 Inside Philanthropy Power List. Villanueva and his work have been featured in the New York Times, NPR , Teen Vogue , Vox , and Forbes.

Personal Life
Villanueva resides in New York City.