It’s been called “California Forever,” and described as a chance to rejuvenate a struggling rural community in Solano County, California. The slick website promises 53,000 jobs, affordable homes, good schools, and thriving local businesses.
California Forever is pitched as a “gift” from some of the state’s wealthiest to the good people of East Solano County. Among its funders are a handful of billionaires including Michael Moritz, the tech investor behind Google and YouTube, and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who made early — and lucrative — bets on Facebook and Airbnb.
If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is.
New for-profit charter cities like California Forever are being furthered using the language of philanthropy and “community wellness.” However, they are simply another vehicle for enriching their funders, made possible by keeping their intentions in the dark. Now more than ever, resourcing aligned, community leaders – like Solano Together – is how we can support our movements like we want them to thrive and last.
Combatting Self-Interest Cloaked in Philanthropy
The most effective way to combat self-interest cloaked in philanthropy is to shine a light on the individuals involved and their true intentions. At the Phoenix Project, we report on astroturf groups – billionaire-backed political pressure organizations in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area and their attempts to use wealth to unduly influence the political process and increase their wealth at the expense of working and vulnerable people.
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) has a similar goal with a project that explains the ways that grantmaking has been used both wittingly and unwittingly to attack representative government. NCRP’s regressive philanthropy research found that from 2020-2023 over $1.5 billion dollars were granted to attack representative democracy and to attempt to reverse progress on racial, gender, and economic justice in the United States. Today, philanthropy designed to maintain inequities and push anti-democratic ends is enjoying more support from foundations and giving vehicles like donor advised funds than giving intended to further justice and equality. In the case of California Forever, would-be residents of this so-called utopia will be forced to trade away rights, while the current agrarian and blue-collar population will be displaced, with long-standing environmental and social impacts. As a for-profit charter city, California Forever will not be subject to the rules of traditional governance. The billionaires, who have been secretly scooping up Solano