Edgar Villanueva

Edgar Villanueva is an award-winning author, activist, and expert on issues of race, wealth, and philanthropy, and the Founder and CEO of Decolonizing Wealth Project and its fund, Liberated Capital. His bestselling book, Decolonizing Wealth (2018, 2021), has been called a ‘wake-up call’ to philanthropy. Edgar advises a range of organizations, including national and global philanthropies, Fortune 500 companies, and entertainment on social impact strategies to advance racial equity from within and through their investment strategies. Decolonizing Wealth, offers hopeful and compelling alternatives to the dynamics of colonization in the philanthropic and social finance sectors. Edgar launched the Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) in late 2018. In 2019, he founded Liberated Capital, a participatory grantmaking fund directed by DWP that invites individuals and organizations to give through a reparations model that trusts and supports the leadership of those most impacted by historical and systemic racism. The fund welcomes support from all who are committed to collectively healing the wounds of colonialism and white supremacy by using money as medicine to shape an equitable future. He holds two degrees from the Gillings Global School of Public Health at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Edgar is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and resides in New York City.