Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation: Asset Owners & Managers Work to Advance Racial Equity
MIE curated its signature Investment Forum at SOCAP in 2019, focused on how foundations and intermediaries partner to advance racial equity in asset management. MIE's Investment Forum uses a specific discussion format to pair asset owners with partners that can examine a deal or project from distinctly different angles. As the two voices come together, a holistic picture emerges. The brief case study below walks through how Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation worked with Impact America Fund to provide venture capital to entrepreneurs in tech, particularly women and people of color. Visit the links below for details on these topics.
Partners
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Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, asset owner
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Impact America Fund, fund
Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation is one of 26 investors in IAF II, which provides early stage investments in entrepreneurs building tech-enabled businesses that create economic agency for lower-to-middle income communities of color in the U.S. Both organizations are committed to addressing structural inequities. Impact America’s approach hits 2 levers to undo centuries of systemic racial barriers. First, it provides access to capital for people of color. Second, it addresses income inequality by fostering fair pay practices.
Winthrop Rockefeller provided a $1.5MM MRI in 2018. You can also learn more about the foundations overall thinking by reading this Stanford Social Innovation Review essay authored by Sherece West-Scantlebury, curated as part of a series by Mission Investors Exchange.
