The entire article is an interesting read, but the author really gets to the point only in the last few paragraphs. " The social sector originated as a way to encourage wealthy white people to give alms to the desperate and ignored. It was not built to transfer power—just the opposite," writes Laura Deaton. "We should shed that history and build an engine for making the social sector a primary power center in its own right. It is the only sector that can accept and combine government, corporate, and philanthropic funding, and use that money for public good." The problem comes when you try to form "an advocacy network that connects currently disparate movements and aligns agendas in pursuit of common goals." Now there's a lot to be said for networks in social movements. But when you start 'aligning agendas', the goals of grassroots causes are swept away by the broader priorities of corporations and foundations, and you're back to a structure that entrenches power, and does not transfer it.
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