Shared Impact

The Abolitionist Law Center is a nonprofit, public interest law firm and community organizing project led by people who’ve been directly impacted by the criminal punishment system. We wield litigation, grassroots advocacy, public education and pressure campaigns, and media outreach to end mass incarceration and protect the rights and wellbeing of people who encounter the criminal punishment system in all its forms including policing, the courts, jails and prisons, and other forms of supervision.

Located in the Northern part of the city, Animal Care and Control Team of Philadelphia (ACCT Philly) is the only animal care and control provider and open intake shelter in Philadelphia, taking in nearly 18,000 animals annually. ACCT Philly offers adoption, foster and volunteer programs as well as owner surrender prevention resources, providing a benefit to all of the Philly citizens, regardless of race or economic status.

We invested in the inaugural fund for Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H), an impact-focused private equity firm that tackles the nation’s racial wealth gap by using the tools and best practices of employee ownership. A&H buys great small- and medium-sized businesses with significant workforces of color then converts those companies to 100% employee-owned, enabling workers of color with the opportunity to build wealth, communities with the opportunity to preserve jobs, and founding owners with the opportunity to exit responsibly.

Led by visionary animal protection advocate Mindi Callison, Bailing Out Benji is dedicated to ending puppy mills and inhumane dog breeding. We support Bailing Out Benji as they reveal the relationship between puppy mills and the pet stores and websites that sell puppies. Their research, as well as their associated awareness and advocacy efforts, have already helped pass legislation nationwide that regulates the sale of puppies.

We support Beam, formerly Edquity, an anti-poverty technology platform that helps students and low-income people improve financial security by receiving emergency funding and accessing resources that help them meet basic needs. Founded by David Helene, a former education nonprofit executive, Beam has distributed over $100M in emergency aid to 100,000 students across the nation.

Beyond the Bars is a music and career planning program dedicated to interrupting the cycles of violence and incarceration in Philadelphia. They work with youth ranging from middle to high school who have been impacted by violence to help them realize the talented musicians and leaders that they are.  Beyond the Bars work to combat problems facing our community such as divestment, mass incarceration and the impacts of trauma by working to build safe and accessible music programs throughout our neighborhoods where students can learn to be songwriters and express their emotions. They offer programs at every phase of the school to prison pipeline by offering: community-based programs, diversion programs, and programs for youth who are currently incarcerated.

Big Picture Alliance empowers youth to define their own narrative through filmmaking and digital media. Their pathway of digital media programs, independent filmmaking, and industry apprenticeships provide youth ages 12-24 the tools to tell their own stories and the skills to succeed in school, life and career. They aim to uplift & amplify marginalized voices and cultivate a new generation of storytellers who contribute towards a more inclusive, equitable and just society.

We invested in Bright Ventures, a venture capital fund that focuses on funding early-stage companies led by founders who prioritize diversity and inclusion while building products that promote worker agency, financial and mental wellness. Bright’s mission is to generate investor returns by defining, investing in, and building the future of how diverse people live and work with wellbeing in mind. General partner Lenore Champagne Beirne’s coaching practice and focus on mental health serves as a key differentiator in connecting with transformative leaders and holistically supporting them in their ongoing growth.

We support The Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC), a fellowship designed to help artist-activists make a positive impact on the world. BAC’s inaugural cohort focused on Black women addressing issues related to systemic racism and criminal justice reform.

Photo Credit: Lee Wexler

Building 21 is reimagining education to meet the needs of all learners through two non-criteria public high schools in Pennsylvania, an international Learning Innovation Network, and a postsecondary pathway called Launchpad in Philadelphia. We have supported Building 21, along with Workshop School and the U School — all competency-based, project-based learning models steeped in racial justice and trauma-informed approaches in the Philadelphia School District — to collaborate on ways to amplify their innovative models.

CARE is the first national, Black-led animal welfare organization amplifying the voices of BIPOC leaders in the animal welfare sector and furthering community-driven solutions.

Sharif El-Mekki founded The Center for Black Educator Development to dramatically increase the number of Black educators nationwide, ensuring that students have diverse teacher representation throughout their time in school. One of two original funders, we have worked alongside Sharif and his organization to help secure millions in additional funding. We continue to champion the Center as they scale their impact and reach.

The Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) is the only youth-centered organization that bridges the gap between social science research and media creation to help storytellers better reflect the lived experiences of adolescents. They bring together the academic and creative communities to unlock the power of storytelling to help the next generation thrive and grow. Their primary aim is to support content creators who are working toward changing entrenched cultural narratives around the key issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, mental health, and inequality. CSS is affiliated with UCLA through the faculty appointment of their founder in the Psychology Department, one of the highest-ranked in the nation, and they have more than 100 academic collaborators working with them from universities around the world.

Debut Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in Black, Latinx, and Indigenous founders. Debut’s vision is to invest in companies and founders focused on building products and services for traditionally overlooked and underserved markets. The founders, Pilar Johnson and Bobak Emamian, have experience in product and people operations that helps its portfolio companies navigate initial challenges in starting a company.

We are backing a network of women, minority and BIPOC-led funds that increase equitable access to capital for underrepresented founders and companies. By fostering mutually enriching relationships, we work to shape investor mindsets and promote greater wealth generation for founders and funders who are increasing diversity in entrepreneurship. Our partners include Urban Innovation Fund, Reach Capital, Ruthless for Good, Plain Sight Capital, Debut Capital, Genius Guild Greenhouse Fund, RareBreed Ventures, Impact America Fund, Innovate Capital Growth Fund, Apis & Heritage and Founders First Capital Partners.

Founders First Capital Partners helps support small businesses led by women, people of color, LGBTQ+, military veterans and companies in low to moderate income areas by offering revenue-based funding. This funding is more flexible than traditional bank debt, allowing for payments to vary based on monthly revenue, and it helps minimize the use of predatory loan products. Founders First’s innovative performance platform provides structured growth education, coaching, financial health and post-funding advisory, along with operating and execution support, to position diverse-led companies for premium-wage job creation. A Series A investor in Founders First Capital Partners, Spring Point Partners also partnered with founder Kim Folsom to bring their innovative platform to the Philadelphia and South Jersey region.

The Fund for Guaranteed Income (F4GI) is a 501c3 nonprofit launched to re-imagine the social safety net by decoding complex bureaucracy and building community-designed technology solutions that work. F4GI implements guaranteed income pilots across seventeen states in the US, including the Compton Pledge, Long Beach Pledge, and Pathway to Income Equity (Sonoma County) with a custom payments and admin portal built in collaboration with over 35 community organizations. F4GI partners with systems-impacted people, community organizations, and government agencies to design and implement a new era of service delivery. In only two years, the organization is connecting over 4,000 low-income residents to cash, case management, and community resources. It aims to chart a justice-oriented approach to economic policy, powered by the belief that now is a critical time to build movements that win government contracts, implement policy commitments, and redefine approaches to public safety and prosperity.

We provide ongoing support to The Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange, a member-led network of emerging municipal leaders. The members of the Exchange work together to develop resources and share innovative ideas for expanding climate-resilient stormwater management in ways that meet community needs.

Hand2Paw’s mission is to provide a safe and supportive work environment for youth, ages 16-24, who are experiencing housing insecurity or foster care involvement, as a means of enhancing resilience, compassion, and connection with people, animals and the community of Philadelphia.

We partner closely with a core group of Philadelphia-area nonprofits that apply a strengths-based approach to youth development. Core grantees include Covenant House PA, The Crefeld School, Healing Hurt People (at Drexel University), Hopeworks ‘N Camden, SpeakUp!, Students Run Philly Style, YouthBuild Philly, and the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project. Together, we’re working to strengthen Philadelphia’s youth development ecosystem and support our shared impact goals.

Today, financing for small businesses is shrinking and needs to better meet the communities of color not well served by current lending policies and practices. Honeycomb, an online loan crowdsourcing platform, changes the status quo by recruiting individuals to address the small business lending gap through their own investments. To date, Honeycomb has facilitated investment of $11 million in 175 local crowdfunding campaigns and engaged 11,000 individual investors to bring greater support to businesses in over 30 states.

We are proud of a longstanding partnership with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), providing general operating support to the organization. As the largest LGBTQ advocacy group and political lobbying organization in the U.S., HRC empowers its 3 million members and supporters to mobilize against attacks on marginalized people. HRC protects and expands rights for LGBTQ individuals by advocating for same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination and hate crimes legislation, and HIV/AIDS advocacy.

We support economic justice through Just Income GNV, a guaranteed income project by Community Spring that provides temporary, unconditional monthly payments directly to people impacted by the justice system – no strings attached. The project is based on the belief that a guaranteed income can mitigate known barriers to successful reentry and unlock the inherent potential of our justice-impacted neighbors. This pilot, designed and administered by formerly incarcerated people, provided 115 justice-impacted people with monthly payments for a year.

The Native America Humane Society seeks to empower Native communities to become healthier, happier, and safer through improved relationships with their animals. By providing research, support and resources, the Native America Humane Society advances tribal sovereignty through facilitating self-determination programs for animal population management at tribal nations.

Neighborhood Villages is working to realize a future in which all families have access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education. Through deep partnership with five early learning centers in Boston, Neighborhood Villages pilots and tests programs to transform the early childhood education delivery system, and advocates to scale innovations statewide through public investment and policy.  They have successfully scaled multiple programs, including a debt-free college pathway program to support early educators in attaining teacher credentials, a business management training program for early education administrators, and a unique cost-free apprenticeship model to build a more diverse field of early childhood education leaders. In partnership with Boston Public Schools, they developed an innovative, play-based curriculum for three-year-olds and are collaborating with educators, families, and providers to design an aligned curriculum for toddlers.