Frequently Asked Questions

About the Wealth Defence Industry

  • Wealth Defence refers to the structures and strategies that support the accumulation of wealth and prevent its democratic redistribution. The Wealth Defence Industry (WDI) is the ecosystem of professional services paid to prioritize the accumulation and protection of wealth for the few.

    Examples include legal professionals specializing in trusts, estates, private wealth, and tax law; financial services practitioners such as accountants, private bankers, family office managers, investment advisors, and wealth managers; and philanthropic entities such as donor-advised funds and foundations.

  • The WDI operates across multiple dimensions:

    • Legal/Governance: Entrenching pro-rich tax policy and weakening the state’s capacity to collect fair taxes

    • Financial: Focusing on financial products that maximize returns at the expense of people and planet, consolidating wealth rather than building community wealth

    • Digital: Using technology platforms for investment decisions that focus on a narrow definition of wealth (growth and accumulation) without a holistic perspective

    • Accounting: Enabling accounting practices that focus on off-shoring and evading taxes

    • Behavioral: Promoting narratives and worldviews that reinforce wealth accumulation as a societal benefit rather than recognizing its harm

  • The Wealth Defence Industry represents a vast network of organizations that control the global majority of private wealth held by high net worth individuals. What might be possible if industry insiders (Wealth Hackers) used their knowledge and expertise to influence this industry toward beneficial outcomes during this era of global challenges?

    “Hacking” is shorthand for subverting existing systems to reveal design flaws and develop new pathways. As self-described Wealth Hackers, we see that the Wealth Defence Industry is ripe for transformation and believe we can use our deep domain expertise to engineer solutions that channel wealth and resources for the benefit of people and the planet.

About the Wealth Hackers Initiative

  • The WHI emerged from a gathering in New York City in October 2023, hosted by the Emerging Futures team from the UK’s Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A group of systems change practitioners and wealth justice advocates came together to share innovative approaches, tools, and technologies for shifting wealth into a more thriveable economy.

    We envision an economy that is:

    • Reparative rather than harmful

    • Regenerative rather than extractive

    • Distributive of power, wealth, and opportunities rather than concentrating them, and

    • Centered on human and planetary flourishing rather than wealth accumulation for its own sake

    Through exploring our work’s connecting points and systemic obstacles, we realized we were each “hacking” the Wealth Defense Industry from different angles. This led us to ask: What if we collaborated on our hacks? What if we organized coordinated interventions across multiple dimensions?

  • The initiative was founded by: Astrid Scholz, Cassie Robinson, Dana Bezerra, Emma Shaw, Evan Steiner, Kate Barron-Alicante, and leo freeman. Several of these founding members continue to make up the core team, and the others remain as advisors, partners, and community members.

  • The WHI operates as an unincorporated initiative with a fluid, distributed structure that reflects our values. Rather than following a hierarchical model, we organize through interconnected cells focused on specific functions — operations, programs, and community. This cell-based structure enables distributed power and decision-making.

    Currently, the initiative operates without full-time staff, with core functions sustained by dedicated consultants.

  • The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and their Reimagining Wealth Initiative provide institutional support, anchor funding, and accountability oversight. We are also working to diversify our funding sources to drive more resources to the ecosystem of practitioners.

    Our current budget can be found here. 

  • We are actively seeking deep collaboration and partnership with folks who are interested in:

    • Helping shape the community design & governance of the WHI

    • Contributing core funding to shared infrastructure & programming, e.g. the development of a shared lexicon of “acupuncture points” for transforming how wealth is managed and deployed

    • Serving on our  “Allies and Advisory Council” 

    • (Co-)Hosting future Liberating Wealth Gatherings, regional events and / or online events   

    • (Co-)Sponsoring one or more Wealth Hacker Challenges

    Interested in these or other ways of liberating wealth? Please get in touch.

  • Fierce: We approach our work with unwavering determination and courage, refusing to accept the status quo of wealth inequality

    Nerdy: We embrace complexity and dive deep into technical details, finding joy in understanding financial systems and wealth transfer mechanisms

    Subversive: We creatively disrupt established systems, finding unexpected leverage points to redirect wealth in ways that challenge traditional power structures

    Joyful: We bring enthusiasm and delight to our work, celebrating progress and finding pleasure in both small wins and ambitious dreams

    Spicy: We’re not afraid to push boundaries and add heat to conversations about wealth and power, bringing provocative ideas to shake up the status quo

  • Our impact measurement balances quantitative metrics with qualitative indicators across four key dimensions:

    1. Capital Influence & Movement: Total capital brought under mission-aligned influence, velocity and scale of wealth transfers, adoption rates of tools and approaches

    2. Event & Programming Effectiveness: Qualitative feedback on content relevance, follow-up assessments of connections and actions taken, ongoing engagement tracking

    3. Network Growth & Resource Attraction: New funders and wealth holders joining, diversity of stakeholders, financial commitments to support our work

    4. Community Vitality: Examples of collaboration and resource sharing, voluntary engagement levels, evidence of mutual support

About Hacking & the Hacking Wealth Challenge

  • We’re looking for ways to subvert or reclaim existing mainstream instruments to shift systems toward a just and equitable future. The focus is on scalable interventions that go against the current system’s grain to rewire how capital moves and flows.

    Example hacks across five key domains:

    • Legal/Governance: “Trust-busting” instruments for wealth expression, redefining “fiduciary duty” beyond private accumulation, alternative approaches to wealth guardianship

    • Financial: Inclusive and democratic investment decision-making models, client service models prioritizing repair and redistribution, alternative fund designs building community wealth

    • Digital: Spend-down redistribution modeling tools, holistic financial planning technology, platforms supporting alternative economy investments

    • Accounting: Reimagined P&L capturing all forms of value, tax/regulatory policy reform, tax planning prioritizing redistribution through solidarity

    • Behavioural: Tools for wealth holders to redirect wealth and manage family dynamics, alternative stakeholder governance approaches

    Think of Buckminster Fuller’s trim tab concept: a tiny rudder on a ship’s main rudder that moves first and causes the entire vessel to turn. Similarly, hacks are specific, small innovations with the capacity to turn the massive Wealth Defence Industry toward justice.

  • You can learn more on the Challenge page.

  • Yes! We encourage you to apply in whatever capacity feels most aligned with your project—as an individual, a team of collaborators, representing your organization, or as a coalition.

  • The application is concise and requires:

    • Creating a profile for yourself and organization (if applicable)

    • Describing your hack (approximately 1,000 words)

    • Explaining what the funding will enable you to accomplish

    • Answering short questions about location, industry, projected outcomes, etc.

  • Applications are evaluated across these criteria:


    Strategic Alignment: How well does your project advance the mission of redistributing wealth and power?

    Team Capability: Demonstrated ability of the individual or team to execute the proposed hack

    Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Strength of the initiative’s commitment to JEDI principles

    Resource Efficiency: How meaningfully funding can impact your project’s success and your capacity to implement it

    Impact Potential: The hack’s potential to create outsized positive outcomes for wealth redistribution

    Community Engagement: Your ability to contribute energy and insights to the cohort and wider community of practice.

  • We expect all Challenge Winners to reach a significant milestone to share at the next in-person Liberating Wealth Gathering. However, we follow a trust-based philanthropy approach—while we hope for meaningful progress, receiving and maintaining funds isn’t contingent on achieving specific results or deliverables.

  • There are no formal reporting or communication requirements to receive or maintain funding. However, we expect at least one representative per group to join monthly virtual calls and attend the in-person gathering to build community and peer support among hackers. No formal written reports are required.

  • We do ask that the Wealth Hacker Initiative team is able to share your participation and the existence of your hack with the broader community of practice and in online materials. We will work with you on the appropriate level of detail to share, given considerations around privacy and security, effectiveness of the hack, and commercial considerations. We do not expect you to give away your hacks for free, or to open-source them.

Community & Events

  • At present you can join in several ways:

  • Given limited capacity and the need to curate the group of attendees, we ask that everyone apply to attend.