Your contribution at ilsr.org/donate will help us unleash the power that communities have to build a more democratic, equitable, and sustainable future. Donate Today.
ILSR has long recognized that stripping communities of their capacity and concentrating power in distant boardrooms would inevitably destabilize democracy. Along the way, that consolidation has also produced strikingly poor decisions — leaving many places without grocery stores, pharmacies, or hospitals; allowing extractive models like data centers to carelessly deplete our resources; concentrating control of our media and public discourse in the hands of corporations happy to trade truth for merger approvals; making housing unaffordable; and stripping working people of agency, while turning local business owners and farmers into subjects of corporate gatekeepers who control their fate and skim their earnings.
None of this has happened by accident. These outcomes are the product of public policy choices engineered to make us more dependent on distant executives and less reliant on and connected to our neighbors.
ILSR believes that democracy grows from the ground up, out of small, daily, face-to-face interactions. In a world that conditions us to turn inward and seek individual solutions to shared problems, the path forward lies in rediscovering the power of acting together. Across the country, people are gathering locally, not only to find respite, but to find action — to build alternatives, reclaim agency, and demand systems that decentralize power. These acts of mutual aid, solidarity, and imagination are the raw ingredients of democracy.
As we look ahead, we’re working to connect these local struggles, build community power across multiple domains, and help spark a broader cultural shift. By growing our networks and strengthening their capacity to implement proven, sustainable, community-rooted solutions, we’re seeking to foster the cultural and political conditions for deep transformation.
Your support is especially critical this year. As foundations respond to immediate crises, ILSR depends on individual donors for the flexible funding that allows us to take risks, seize opportunities, and lead boldly.
Thank you for your partnership — for sharing our work with others, for standing with us, and for walking this road with us. Together, we’re building lasting strength, security, freedom, and hope.
In gratitude and solidarity,
Stacy Mitchell & John Farrell
ILSR Co-Executive Directors
ILSR Co-Founder David Morris at the 1995 International Forum on Globalization“We have, in brief, built a society in which we’ve separated those who make the decisions from those who feel the impact of those decisions. And that is a prescription, not only for tyranny and widespread insecurity, but for very poor decision-making.”
We were deeply saddened by the passing of ILSR Co-Founder David Morris in June. Throughout his career, David championed a simple but transformative idea: that communities should have the power to shape their own futures. His philosophy remains the foundation of our efforts to advance renewable energy, antimonopoly policy, and democratic ownership.
By emphasizing that worsening economic inequality and threats to democratic governance are not inevitable or random but rather the result of deliberate policy choices, David laid the foundation for ILSR’s focus on identifying long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes. Over the years, we have applied this framework to new challenges and industries, from antitrust reform to local composting. We’ve compiled just a few examples below, and invite you to discover more about David’s influence on ILSR on our tribute page.
Explore Our Tribute to David Morris
ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell in ProMarket“A fundamental shift has taken place: antitrust is no longer the exclusive domain of federal agencies or elite legal circles. It is becoming a live issue in statehouses, courtrooms, and communities across the country.”
As federal antitrust enforcement slows, states are leading the fight. In January, ILSR hosted a virtual event with Attorneys General emphasizing states’ vital role in tackling corporate concentration. We published state antitrust resources, including an issue brief, fact sheet, and interactive map with policy solutions, while briefing AG offices and collaborating with lawmakers on antimonopoly legislation.
Beyond antitrust, states have broader tools for curbing corporate power. ILSR promoted these throughout the year — supporting rooftop solar in Minnesota, affordable broadband in New York, wasted food reduction in Maryland, and a landmark antitrust report in California.
ILSR's issue brief describes how states can step in to overcome shortfalls in our ability to combat monopoly power — as they have many times...
Interviews with solar installers show how inconsistent and resource-intensive local government permitting processes make it harder for Minnesotans to go solar.
ILSR’s Composting for Community policy team has once again worked with Maryland Delegate Boyce to introduce the Solid Waste Disposal Surcharge and Wasted Food Reduction...
Ron Knox joined fellow advocates to demonstrate how the state can bolster its antitrust laws to benefit California citizens.
With federal priorities shifting, ILSR’s support, training, and resources helped communities across the country expand local composting programs, develop municipal broadband networks, shape their own clean energy futures, and maintain vibrant independent businesses. Our work continues to demonstrate how local action can solve national problems, building community resilience from the ground up.
Additional scenes from the March 2025 Tribal Broadband Bootcamp in Southern California
Across coastal New England and NYC, 37 organizations received grants of $10,000 each to support new or existing mission-driven composting projects focused on community improvement.
In this webinar, grassroots leaders discuss how to maximize the benefits of clean energy for communities through local ownership.
More than almost any other factor, a community’s planning and land use laws and policies affect its success in supporting small, locally owned businesses.
ILSR's Community Broadband Networks team kicks off the new Digital Opportunity Lab deep in the heart of Texas.
Ohio State Rep. Tristan Rader on the Building Local Power podcast’s “The New Class” series, which featured emerging state and local changemakers elected in November 2024“It’s an exciting time, especially at the local level. If you look at what some of these cities are doing across the state, there is hope and there’s reason to be excited.”
Corporate monopolies touch nearly every aspect of our lives, and over the past year, we’ve been working to expose that power and build a movement to challenge it. We’ve investigated how monopolies exploit systemic racism, connected corporate concentration to climate change, and engaged communities in the fight for a fairer economy. Our research helped federal agencies take action against price discrimination while exposing corporate wealth extraction across sectors, from waste management to energy. We brought regulators and businesses together, testified before policymakers, and shifted media narratives to demonstrate the real costs of monopoly power to communities.
In this webinar, climate activist Bill McKibben and a panel of energy experts discuss how powerful monopoly utilities block climate progress.
Stacy Mitchell tells an FTC workshop how companies like Amazon engage in predatory pricing and why current antitrust interpretations fail to address the problem.
At a conference inspired by her work, Stacy Mitchell delivers a talk about how abandonment of Robinson-Patman Act enforcement leads to food deserts.
Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter met with small businesses, discussing the critical role of antitrust policy in supporting local economies.
ILSR Senior Researcher & Policy Advocate Ron Knox on the Building Local Power podcast“Antimonopoly is not this little narrow world of technical legislation and lawsuits at the AG’s office. Anything that people do that puts weight on the scale on the opposite side of corporate power is antimonopoly.”
Changing the world often starts with changing the nature of the conversation. ILSR continues to successfully change the narrative from bigger is better to distributed, local power in the hands of the people is paramount.
Our work and our experts are frequently cited in the country’s largest and most respected publications, and we publish think pieces regularly with these same outlets. We also engage with reporters and content creators who reach target audiences most energized to build a more just economic system and more sustainable communities.
Angie Kronenberg, President & CEO of Sligo Solutions, LLC, formerly a principal advisor to FCC Commissioner Clyburn“I always learn something new when I listen to your podcasts. Thanks for sharing!”
Stacy Mitchell provides context to the shifting realities of America as a nation of small businesses.
How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert.
How consumers pay for the sweetheart electricity deals given by monopoly utilities to tech giants on multibillion-dollar data center expansions.
ILSR's Chris Mitchell shares insights on the mission and vision of the Tribal Broadband Bootcamps he partnered in forming with Matthew Rantanen.
The need to decentralize economic power and reinvigorate democracy is stronger than ever. Join us today. With your support, ILSR can continue working to build an American economy driven by local priorities and accountable to people and the planet.
KT Morelli, Breathe Free Detroit“With your incredible work and resources, we are able to guide Detroit’s policymakers into a true decentralized multi-scale composting city… Thank you so much for all you continue to do to make our world a better place to live and thrive in.”