In a substantive discussion, Tirrea Billings, a storyteller and narrative strategist, unpacks the realities of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex. She included a bonus discussion on conference burnout.
The Nonprofit Industrial Complex and Its Implications
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Summary
In this compelling interview, narrative strategist Tirrea Billings discusses the contradictions of the nonprofit industrial complex, highlighting how many philanthropic institutions uphold systems of oppression while claiming to dismantle them. Based on her experience as a filmmaker and communications professional, she critiques slow, risk-averse responses to crises. She calls for bold, strategic investment in narrative power, grassroots leadership, and proactive justice work. Her insights challenge the nonprofit sector to move beyond performative allyship and toward transformative change.
- Tirrea Billings defines the nonprofit industrial complex as a system that often reinforces the status quo under the guise of justice and philanthropy.
- She critiques how philanthropy responded too slowly to Trump’s 2016 election and failed to fund urgently needed work until after major crises like the George Floyd protests.
- Billings stresses the importance of communications infrastructure and storytelling in building movements, calling narrative work foundational—not optional—for justice.
- She calls out the hoarding of power and resources by funders and consultants disconnected from impacted communities.
- She notes that conferences have become redundant and performative, offering little more than recycled content and few actionable solutions.
Tirrea Billings clarifies that if the nonprofit sector wants to live up to its values, it must reject neutrality, abandon risk aversion, and directly fund grassroots-led, narrative-driven change. Her call to center impacted voices and invest in communications and independent media strikes at the heart of a system too often driven by elite comfort over real liberation
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Tirrea Billings, a dynamic narrative strategist, filmmaker, and communications professional, has emerged as one of the most incisive critics of the nonprofit industrial complex. In her conversation on Politics Done Right, she lays bare the uncomfortable contradictions embedded in a system that purports to champion equity and justice, yet all too often replicates the structures of oppression it claims to fight. With over a decade of experience in media production and nonprofit communications, Billings draws from firsthand encounters with philanthropy’s institutional limitations, cautioning that we cannot build real power in “panic mode,” nor can we continue to treat nonprofit work as an apolitical endeavor. Her commentary is not only timely but an urgent call to action for funders, organizations, and the broader progressive movement.
At the heart of Billings’ critique is the concept of the nonprofit industrial complex—a term that describes how nonprofits, often dependent on philanthropic dollars, become instruments of systemic stasis rather than change. As she astutely explains, this complex “continues to uphold the very systems of oppression that they claim to want to dismantle.” In other words, while many organizations claim to promote racial, economic, or social justice, they simultaneously cling to hierarchies, bureaucracies, and practices that preserve privilege, discourage risk, and delay bold action. These patterns are especially apparent when reactionary political forces gain power.
For example, when Donald Trump was elected in 2016, many philanthropic institutions were caught flat-footed. Despite the explicit threats to civil rights, democracy, and vulnerable communities, much of the nonprofit sector’s response was sluggish at best. Billings recalls that funders were “slow to act,” paralyzed by “risk aversion and fear of controversy.” It wasn’t until 2020—after the murder of George Floyd and a national reckoning with racial injustice—that many of these same institutions suddenly discovered a sense of urgency. But by then, the damage was well underway. Voting rights had been eroded, immigrant families were separated, and a white supremacist movement had grown bolder.
This delay was not incidental; it was structural. Many funders operate from a place of defending privilege, not democracy. The calculus often boils down to protecting reputations, endowments, and relationships with elite stakeholders, rather than acting in solidarity with grassroots movements. These philanthropic elites worry more about being perceived as partisan than about being complicit in the status quo. In Billings’ words, “We need to be bold. We need to be creative in how we fight back.”
What makes Billings’ critique especially powerful is her insistence on the importance of communication and narrative infrastructure. In a sector where communications are frequently underfunded or deprioritized, she makes the case that storytelling is central to movement-building. “Every movement starts with a story,” she argues, noting that nonprofits can’t rely solely on good intentions or technical solutions—they must also shape the public narrative. She calls for strategic messaging, investment in media, and stronger partnerships with independent media platforms that reach the communities mainstream institutions ignore.
This point hits home when one considers the glaring disparities in progressive infrastructure. Despite billions raised in recent election cycles, little money reached the independent media ecosystem or community-based initiatives. Organizations on the ground—churches, grassroots networks, and small media operations—often receive crumbs, while D.C.-based consultants and think tanks vacuum up the bulk of resources. As host Egberto Willies noted,
“I watched as consultants in Washington D.C., L.A., and New York who wouldn’t know a poor person if one begged them” dictated campaign strategy detached from reality.
Billings also speaks truth to power regarding philanthropy’s tendency to centralize control. Rather than empowering those most affected by systemic injustices, many funders and nonprofit leaders fall into a saviorist trap—positioning themselves as the architects of change instead of stewards who redistribute power. “We are continuing to uphold this hoarding of power and gatekeeping of resources,” she says. The result is a failure to build community ownership, support authentic leadership, and create transformative outcomes.
The conversation eventually turns toward the fatigue and redundancy of nonprofit conferences. Billings recalls how her first experiences with these convenings were energizing—filled with real connection, tangible tools, and a collaborative spirit. But over time, she witnessed a shift toward superficiality and repetition. Conferences increasingly became spectacles of self-congratulation and vague slogans rather than spaces for bold strategies and movement cohesion. “We love talking about the issue,” she says, “but we don’t often hold space to be solutions-driven.”
Her call for a shift in how conferences are structured—toward deeper dialogue, honest critique, and fewer “feel-good” panels—mirrors a broader need within the nonprofit and philanthropic world: a reckoning with performativity. As Billings and others argue, justice work must be grounded in accountability, not optics.
Tirrea Billings offers a searing, essential critique of the nonprofit industrial complex. Her message resonates with anyone frustrated by the inertia of well-funded institutions that fail to meet the urgency of our political and ecological crises. She dares to ask whether these systems are defending democracy or just defending privilege. And she reminds us that movements don’t thrive in fear—they flourish in solidarity, story, and strategy.
