Decolonizing Wealth is a provocative analysis of the dysfunctional colonial dynamics at play in
philanthropy and finance. Award-winning philanthropy executive Edgar Villanueva draws from the
traditions from the Native way to prescribe the medicine for restoring balance and healing our
divides. Though it seems counterintuitive the philanthropic industry has evolved to mirror
colonial structures and reproduces hierarchy ultimately doing more harm than good. After 14
years in philanthropy Edgar Villanueva has seen past the field's glamorous altruistic façade
and into its shadows: the old boy networks the savior complexes and the internalized
oppression among the house slaves and those select few people of color who gain access. All
these funders reflect and perpetuate the same underlying dynamics that divide Us from Them and
the haves from have-nots. In equal measure he denounces the reproduction of systems of
oppression while also advocating for an orientation towards justice to open the floodgates for
a rising tide that lifts all boats. In the third and final section Villanueva offers radical
provocations to funders and outlines his Seven Steps for Healing. With great
compassion--because the Native way is to bring the oppressor into the circle of
healing--Villanueva is able to both diagnose the fatal flaws in philanthropy and provide
thoughtful solutions to these systemic imbalances. Decolonizing Wealth is a timely and critical
book that preaches for mutually assured liberation in which we are all inter-connected.
