Aligning Purpose and Investments: Why Are You Stuck?

For foundations, the path to achieving racial equity starts with a simple choice: Do you use your endowment to maintain the status quo, or do you align your investments with your mission?

When I came to Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (WRF) in June 2007, Chief Operating and Financial Officer Andrea Dobson shared that she wanted to transform our endowment. She envisioned aligning our mission and financial investments by increasing capital access to low-wealth communities, and identifying investment firms owned and/or led by women or people of color. She also envisioned investing in venture strategies that provide capital to racially and ethnically diverse entrepreneurs, and to women.

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