The Weingart Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation that partners with communities across Southern California to advance racial justice, released Investing for an Equitable Southern California, a report detailing its approach to mission investing.
The report, released on Oct. 31, chronicles Weingart Foundation’s journey in operationalizing an investment strategy that advances its equity commitment while pursuing its financial and investment performance objectives.
“At the Weingart Foundation, we are committed to leveraging every aspect of our financial and philanthropic resources to advance economic justice for all,” said Joanna S. Jackson, president and C.E.O. of the Weingart Foundation.
“By sharing our journey, we aim to inspire fellow leaders in philanthropy to join us in fully operationalizing their missions through their investments. Together, we can have tremendous impact and create lasting change for the people and communities we are here to serve.”
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The report highlights how the Weingart Foundation built the board and staff capacity to strengthen its ability to implement a mission investing strategy and developed a new framework for evaluating investment opportunities. The report also demonstrates the Foundation’s values in investing: Diversity and Inclusion; Fair and Equitable Workforce Practices; Good Corporate Stewardship; and Transparency.
As noted in the report, the Weingart Foundation investment portfolio prioritizes:
- Economic and Community Empowerment: investments that promote economic access and mobility, quality employment, financial inclusion, affordable housing, education and opportunity for BIPOC communities, particularly in Southern California.
- Diversity/Inclusion: investments that promote diversity within asset managers with the goal of increasing inclusion within the financial sector.
“Guided by our values, we are proud to be part of a growing group of investors harnessing the power of capital to create more equitable access to opportunity,” said Tim Ortez, vice president and Chief Financial and Investment Officer, Weingart Foundation.
“We hope that by documenting our mission investing journey, we can demonstrate that it is both possible and profitable to seek investment opportunities through an equity and justice lens.”
“Philanthropy can play an important role in advancing equity by collaborating with investment managers that seek to address gender-gaps, such as the lack of community, investment, and support for women-led companies,” said Anu Duggal, founding partner of Female Founders Fund, an early-stage fund focusing on investing exclusively in female founders. Weingart Foundation committed $5M to Female Founders Fund in 2023, a fund that has a demonstrated track record of investing in companies led by women.
“Partners like Weingart are a natural ally in our joint pursuit of opening doors of opportunities for people who have long been shut out.”
To access a full copy of the report, visit https://weingartfnd.org/impact-investing-report/
