Photograph by Brian Kanagaki
Words by Sara Radin
On the last Friday in February, Americans didn’t just protest—they withheld their dollars.
Organized by newly formed grassroots organization The People’s Union USA, the “economic blackout” urged United States citizens to buy nothing for 24 hours: no gas or fast food, no online or in-store purchases from retail giants, and no use of debit or credit cards. The aim was to “send a message to giant companies ripping us off” and restore “fairness, economic justice, and real systemic change” through “government accountability and corporate reform,” a representative from The People’s Union shared on Instagram. The only exception was purchasing “essential” items like food, medicine, and emergency supplies—and in these instances, consumers were encouraged to prioritize spending at small, local businesses where possible.
“I liked that this particular economic blackout was accompanied with more targeted corporations to boycott throughout the next couple of weeks,” Jaycie Hricak, a Philadelphia-based victim advocate who participated in the effort, told Atmos. “Sometimes it feels difficult to be politically active, but our power is in part where we spend our money so actions like this can be easy [ways to hold corporations accountable].”
Bridget Badore, a photographer based in Kingston, New York, also participated in the boycott. “I try to spend money consciously and move intentionally around capitalism wherever possible, so I love a group effort geared toward highlighting ways to do that,” she said. “Though, I’m not sure if this specific boycott was effective in its goals.” Some experts say the economic blackout may have slightly dented sales of targeted retailers and served as a promotional tool for smaller businesses, but real impact requires long-term organizing that couples consumer choices with collective labor action, such as strikes.
Still, the boycott effort sparked conversations about how we spend our money. And while this blackout may not have moved the needle as much as organizers hoped, it’s part of a fast-growing financial activism movement. “[The term refers to] using capital in service of a just economy,” said Deb Nelson, executive director of the Just Economy Institute. “To us, financial activism is working to shift the flow of money and power to solve social and environmental problems.”
Our financial systems don’t just reinforce economic injustice, they also perpetuate environmental destruction. The world’s biggest banks, pension schemes, and investment firms continue to fund fossil fuel expansion, deforestation, and other extractive industries at an alarming rate. The world’s top 60 banks—including JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America—have funneled more than $5.5 trillion into fossil fuel projects since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, according to a 2023 report by the Rainforest Action Network. Pension funds, which manage trillions in retirement savings, are among the largest institutional investors in oil, gas, and coal, often without the consent of the people whose money they are using.
This cycle of economic injustice isn’t new. We saw the largest wealth transfer in modern history unfold during COVID-19 as the world’s 10 richest men doubled their wealth from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion in the first two years of the pandemic, according to reports from Oxfam, while working-class and marginalized communities struggled with job losses, evictions, and medical debt.
“Sometimes it feels difficult to be politically active, but our power is in part where we spend our money so actions like this can be easy ways to hold corporations accountable.”
For writer Jasmine Rashid, whose book The Financial Activist Playbook debuted in September 2024, financial activism is broad but singularly powerful. “I think about it as how everyday people and organizations can take an active role in shifting the flow of money and power—often against the odds,” said Rashid. “Power leads to things like the ability to have self-determination in order to create the material conditions of what it means to live a good life.”
At its core, financial activism is about reclaiming wealth and a sense of collective well-being, and “empowering communities to live more full and equitable lives,” Rashid said.
A good starting point is the understanding that everyone has capital. “And it’s not just financial,” said Deb Nelson of JEI. “We all have social, cultural, and intellectual capital.” When people feel powerless to affect change, financial activism offers a way to use their power in service of the things they care about on a daily basis—for instance by spending money on businesses that prioritize community.
Beyond money, financial activism refers to the ways people can leverage their social capital—whether through professional networks that ease job transitions or trusted community members who can step in for emergency child care—to uplift those building community wealth and justice, ensuring belonging, safety, dignity, and mobility.
In other instances, they can use cultural capital, such as knowledge, skills, and experiences they’ve gained from their cultural backgrounds, to influence broader networks and mobilize climate action. For example, organizations like Hip Hop Caucus leverage the cultural capital of hip-hop to mobilize Black and Brown communities for political and economic justice, while Indigenous communities worldwide have drawn on their traditional ecological knowledge to successfully advocate for climate justice and push for important policy and legal changes.
“There are so many ways to influence how capital flows,” Nelson said. “And that can ladder up to real, significant change.”
One of the strongest acts of financial activism, according to Tori Dunlap, founder of financial-education platform Her First $100K, is to take financial education seriously and double down on pathways toward financial independence—especially during a time when many face increased economic barriers, threats to reproductive rights, and widening wealth gaps. “When we have money, we have options,” she said. “Money gives us the option to leave unsafe situations, travel to a safer state, make decisions about our bodies, support causes we believe in, and live the life we want.”
Over the next four years, Nelson expects financial activism to surge. “The more people feel that influencing change through the political system is neither effective nor enough, the more they’ll seek out other ways to make a difference,” she said. And financial activism—especially among young people—is catching fire. More people are realizing they don’t need to be wealthy to participate; they can start leveraging the resources they already have. Rashid’s book, Nelson adds, is a powerful reminder of just how much is possible.
In The Financial Activist Playbook, Rashid identifies key strategies for financial activism. The first is very simply talking about money. “Fundamentally, that’s about transparency,” Rashid told Atmos. “Talking about money is crucial to all other strategies.” By breaking the taboo around money, conversations can become more trauma-informed and empower people to take control of their financial choices.
Next is banking: reconsidering where our money is held and how banks spend it. This is one of the most powerful steps we can take, as major banks regularly invest in fossil fuels and other extractive industries from private prisons to weapons manufacturing. By choosing banks that align with our ethics—such as credit unions or financial institutions committed to social responsibility—we can redirect financial power away from harmful systems and toward more climate solutions.
Then comes buying: making conscious choices about where we spend our money and supporting businesses that are geared toward improving community and planetary wellbeing—especially small, independent ones. Giving and receiving also play a role, Rashid argues. Most philanthropic donations don’t come from big foundations, but from everyday people through giving circles and mutual aid. This might include neighbors pooling money to cover medical expenses, community-led disaster relief efforts, or crowdfunding campaigns for local businesses and social initiatives. “Giving circles and mutual aid groups are powerful, community-led funding models that redistribute wealth and resources based on solidarity rather than charity,” she said, referencing Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi, which builds Black-led, community-owned sustainable businesses to resist climate gentrification, and the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which provided direct economic aid to undocumented workers during wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Financial activism is working to shift the flow of money and power to solve social and environmental problems.”
Another strategy is shifting the flow of money on a macro scale, particularly through participatory budgeting. “It’s about people actually having a direct democratic vote in where budgets are allocated,” Rashid said, whether at the municipal, federal or local level. This approach puts financial decision-making power directly into the hands of voter communities, making financial activism not just an individual effort, but a collective force for change.
The final strategy is investing and reshaping business. Investing includes impact investing, divesting from harmful industries, supporting reparations and redistribution, and funding infrastructure and resources communities truly need. The good news is that the impact investing sector—encompassing ethical venture capital firms and sustainability and ethics-focused funds—saw assets under its management grow rapidly over the past five years to more than $1.5 trillion globally. On the business side, it’s about structuring workplaces and labor contracts in ways that empower workers rather than exploit them.
“The whole concept behind financial activism is that everyone is an expert in their own lived experience,” said Rashid, emphasizing that money moves differently in every person’s life. “There is no singular formula I can give of three things we need to do in order to transform our economy into a more just one.” True financial activism, she argues, isn’t a quick fix, it’s a long game. But every dollar redirected is a step toward shifting the balance of power—toward justice.
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Your Wallet Holds More Power Than You Think
