Ancestors & Money: A 6 month coaching cohort
to our fellow people with inherited wealth,
We need to talk about our ancestors. As the veil continues to be pulled back on the American story, we need to take intergenerational responsibility for the intergenerational trauma and theft perpetrated and perpetuated by our people. Reparations for the founding sins of the United States are long overdue, and we need to return what has been stolen.
This work isn't about disowning our ancestors, but becoming closer to them by telling the truth of their times, committing to transform and transmute the trauma they caused, and not letting wealth inequality, racial violence and climate chaos be the final chapter of their legacy. We also need to be (re)building practices of care for one another and ourselves, so that we can sustain this work for the lifetime (and beyond) that it requires. Our ancestors have a role to play in that too.
Together with my collaborator and friend, Justine Epstein, we offer a 6-month cohort journey for 15 people interested in taking a deep dive into ancestors and money. This is for people who are called to take transformative, reparative actions that build the more just world we know is needed. This offering will be shaped by several methodologies: money and giving coaching, anti-racist genealogy, the Work That Reconnects, deep nature connection and rites-of-passage work.
This is an invitation for you, if, like US:
You know (or have a clue) that your ancestors took part in the colonization of Indigenous land and/or the enslavement of African people, and benefitted from this theft of land and labor.
You continue to benefit from those irreparable harms by way of inherited wealth, whether it has carried through over many generations, or gone and come again, facilitated by whiteness along the way.
You are called to play your part in telling the truth about this history, surrendering the resources you have access to, standing with movements for Black and Indigenous liberation, and organizing others to do the same.
Why we are offering this
This is what is being asked of us, as people who have benefitted from centuries of racialized capitalism: to look with open eyes at the harms caused by our ancestors, listen to the impacts still being lived today, speak the truth about our responsibility and complicity, and to begin to enact repair and atonement, in both material and spiritual ways. A world of justice, belonging, liberation and community awaits on the other side.
Perhaps you also grew up with oil paintings of ancestors in your family... This one is of Morgan’s ancestor Alexander Ramsay Thompson, who led a regiment in the Second Seminole War, a brutal, lengthy and bloody effort to displace and destroy the Seminole and Mvskoke people. One action Morgan has taken in response to this history is to support Ekvn Yefolecv, a group of Mvskoke people returning to their homelands.
What you’ll take away
Participating in this cohort will accelerate your journey with wealth redistribution, ancestral connection and dismantling white supremacy, equipping you with:
Redistribution & divestment plans that arise from a clarified commitment to wealth redistribution, and your particular ancestral story
A vision for your relationship with wealth, family, and social justice movements, and short, medium and long-term goals to get you there
A family tree and/or collection of stories that clearly tells of your family’s role in perpetrating and/or benefiting from genocide, slavery, the racial wealth divide
A strengthened relationship with your ancestors and practices for connection that move us from guilt, shame and hiding, towards truth-telling, collaboration and healing
A community of peers that have shared experiences and a stake in your onwards journey
Money & Giving coaching
Reckoning with inherited wealth and the harm caused by our ancestors requires action. As a money and giving coach, Morgan will support you to get clear on your vision, values and goals with your wealth so that you can make a plan to redistribute wealth and take consistent action towards it. This means 1:1 and group support to move through doubts, worries, fears and self-limiting beliefs that may have held you back until now. It also includes providing the tools, spreadsheets, resources, referrals and financial education (see this resource library for a taste) that you need to move forward with clarity, focus, ease and grace.
the work that reconnects, deep nature connection & rites-of-passage WORK
In contrast to our Puritan ancestors (who may or may not be yours) who forbade grief as a sign of lack of faith, The Work That Reconnects is a body of work that supports us to practice grief as a gateway to taking action rooted in reconnection to ancestors, future generations, one another and the living Earth. This portion of our work will also be informed by practices drawn from deep nature connection and rites-of-passage work. All of this will be accessible to those who understand this as literal, spiritual work, as well as those who welcome the use of imagination and metaphor.
Anti-Racist Genealogy
We will work together as a group, and we will support you 1:1, as you do intensive research on your own people (through family records and/or online resources) with the goal of speaking the truth of the harm caused in your lineage, locating any allies for healing and resistance, and discerning what reparative action can look like for you. We will also explore how not to replicate the frequent patterns of harms enacted by white and/or wealthy people engaging with genealogy.
Structure
The cohort meets on Zoom, with one in-person weekend-long retreat at Canticle Farm in Oakland, CA, Ohlone territory. Private cohorts for groups of 4 - 6 family members are also available on request. For Cohort Four (June to November 2024) Zoom sessions will be on Sundays, 1-4pm PT, on June 2, Jun 9, June 30, July 21, Aug 11, Sept 8, Sept 29, and Oct 20, 2024. On Nov 2-3, 2024 you will be invited into place-based ritual where you are. Our closing in-person retreat will be Nov 14-17, 2024.
Our online sessions consist of facilitated large group practices, coaching and discussion, teaching and storytelling, small group practices and peer support, and individual journal and reflection time. We welcome a number of guest speakers who bring wisdom on ancestors and money from Black and Indigenous perspectives. You attend all sessions live, though if you need to miss one, we will record for you on request.
In addition to the eight group sessions, you will have:
Two one-hour coaching sessions with Morgan, and two one-hour mentoring sessions with Justine. We are also on your team by text and email throughout the cohort, available for your questions, stories, celebrations, needs.
You can also add additional 1:1 sessions if you are ready to take some big action steps in this dimension of your life, and want more intensive support.
A weekend-long retreat at Canticle Farm, a multi-racial, cross-class intentional community in Oakland, CA, Lisjan Ohlone territory.
A peer support call with a different member of the cohort between every session, and co-working sessions with a small accountability pod of 3-5 people.
Between 1-3 personalized next steps for you to work on out of every group session and coaching session, that you will dedicate your own time to.
Overall, we would consider this a 3+ hours/week commitment during the duration of the cohort. We welcome your requests/questions with regards to how this format and commitment may be made most accessible for you.
Testimonials
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Before this cohort, I was having trouble moving forward aggressively in my redistribution goals, a difficulty that was linked to internalized shame about my whiteness and the violent circumstances that have enabled my wealth. This cohort helped me face my ancestry and the most painful parts of my heritage in a way that has shifted some of the shame and given me new energy to take action. The experience also helped move me in more unexpected ways--in my case, helping me realize that I needed a more holistic approach towards my life and my community (beyond just giving more) if I wanted to truly imagine and enact a new possible world. This cohort also gave me a community that helps me remember that it's not just me that this is hard for, which is an invaluable gift.
— Anonymous
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I came into this cohort with a vague but immobilizing sense of guilt around my inherited wealth. Within the first few weeks of the cohort, I got to feel that I wasn't alone in searching for answers about my family's money's history. I got to seek out and actually sit with the numbers and the names in my ancestral tree and our bank accounts. And best of all, I got to share these findings and feelings with my cohort-mates, and hear them share theirs. In nine months, I grew so much in my connection with my ancestors, in my connection with other folks doing this work, and in my ability to actually take action towards repairing ancestral harms.
— Tyler, Cohort 3
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This cohort creates openings into the unknown. It is an invaluable container that provides context, resources, stories, inspirational examples, and deep connections. Through this cohort, I found a community of other folks committed to anti-racist genealogy and wealth redistribution where we hold each other accountable in this challenging and fulfilling work. I also found what ancestral healing looks like for me and how to do reparative action while rooted in my dignity. This cohort gave me the belonging, bravery, and inspiration I needed to feel supported on my path for this liberating, lifelong work.
— Edin Cook, 28, climate justice organizer and art educator
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The Ancestors & Money program helped me better understand my self and my place in the world in ways I didn't know I was lacking. I gained new frames for thinking about my life and actions. With everything I learned I feel better able to locate myself within time, space, history, culture, and spirit. The community that was created during the program served as a wonderful container to go through this transformation in and continues to bring me great joy, growth, comfort, and camaraderie.
— Ryan, 30, organizer
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I so appreciated the container that was created for grief, reckoning, research, learning, connection, and action. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet people from across the country grappling with similar questions, desires, and responsibilities. The collective experience and mentoring + coaching sessions helped me stay accountable to do this work in a deeper and more consistent way than I have before. The encouragement also helped me feel brave enough to have hard conversations, learn details of my family's wealth, and stories of my ancestors so I can show up with more transparency and authenticity.
— Brooke Larsen, 30, climate justice organizer
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My experience in the cohort was life-changing, inspiring, and allowed me to access a deeper level of myself than I ever imagined. This cohort stretched way beyond my expectations in its power to give the work/ick/effort/clicking-buttons of moving money more meaning. I found meaning in my identity, and I didn't think that was possible.
— G Ammondson
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The time with the cohort fundamentally reoriented the way I interact with my world. It supported me so that I could begin the shift from clenched fear and fragmentation to having at least entry point to living in the reality of my wealth and in the possibility of living with integrity. The cohort is a starting point, a place of enormous, loving resource.
— Marion Knox, Cohort 3
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This cohort has brought me together with a group of people who are all also yearning for a deeper connection with our ancestry, wrestling with seeing our ancestors as humans alongside recognizing the harm they have caused, and searching for a grounded sense of who we are and who we come from. I joined as an individual but feel that we are all coming out of this as a collective that is in this work together. For me personally this cohort was both a first step and a shift in orientation towards respecting and understanding where I come from (and where everyone and everything comes from) and that I exist as the present incarnation of everything that came before me. In practice this is a call to learn about my ancestors (including living family), get to know them in both historical and spiritual ways, understand my legacy and what I carry on from them, and to heal in ways that they could not or did not.
— Emily B
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Over the course of these last 6 months, I have felt accompanied in this cohort through continual cycles of decomposition, shedding, transformation and renewal. I have felt supported to grow by being able to bring my whole self to this work, without the need to filter or compartmentalize my identity. This cohort has pushed me to decolonize so many of my inherited notions about wealth and grounded me in the understanding that this sacred work of reparations must be done in community.
— Sofia Smith Hale
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Throughout the course I kept getting one message: "The healing is for everyone." The pain and confusion of financial privilege is very quiet in this society. But it's real, and in this cohort we not only get to talk about it, but do it in a community of other totally inspiring people. We get to go slow. We take real actions. We connect. And we heal ourselves and our world.
— Aaron, 31, musician and software engineer
Pricing
Your financial contribution to the cohort supports both your facilitators and a group of Black and Indigenous guest teachers, grassroots organizations and land projects. The cohort is its own redistribution mechanism: 50% of the net income is redistributed, you can get a sense of where to from Morgan’s redistribution plan.
The financial commitment is on a sliding scale determined by the amount of wealth you have access to:
If you have $10M+ assets or $300k+ income: $10,000
If you have $2M+ assets or $150k+ income: $8000
If you have $500k+ assets or $75k+ income: $4000
If you have <$500k assets or $35k+ income: $2000
We practice full financial transparency with you, with a report back at cohort close about where resources moved. You can pay upfront or in monthly installments (with 5% surcharge to cover fees).
Ready to sign up or have some questions?
Applications closed on February 1st for Cohort Four, which will run from June - November 2024. If you are reading this now and feel very called to join us, you’re welcome to email us to see if it might be possible to still apply.
The first step is this application form, then a phone or Zoom call to begin to get to know each other, share about the cohort, and answer your questions. These hour-long discovery calls are happening in February and March, by invitation.