Valentine’s greetings!
They’re at it again! Two of our Valentines – our favorite doctor and attorney respectively, Ruth Shaber and Patience Marime-Ball – have created yet another way to put their words into action. Their new Diverse Investment Collective is focused on having 33% of Wall Street assets managed by gender and racially diverse fund management teams by 2033 in order to drive outperformance and social change. (Isn’t it a crying shame that in 2024 we are asking for only 33%! But that’s where we are AND this is achievable with your help!) Their invitation-only “Innovative Investment Circles” are bringing together investors – including foundations! – to make this happen.
Interested?! Please reach out to Robyn Russell to learn more.
And you can read our profiles of Ruth and Patience in “Paradigm Shifters.”
For you and all your Valentines!
Elizabeth
Featured Paradigm Shifter
Alexandra Frazier
Executive Director The Valentine Foundation
Under Alexandra’s leadership, this foundation has set a speed record for change in aligning its endowment! Meet this gentle, super proactive leader and Valentine of ours!
At Work…
What have been the biggest obstacles at your foundation for mission alignment? Luckily, the foundation trustees were also excited about making a bigger impact using the endowment. Our financial advisor, who knew our late founder Phoebe Valentine said, “Phoebe would have loved this idea.” We were lucky because we did not get push-back from our financial person.
How far along is your foundation in this journey? I would say we are pretty far along. At first, we pledged 10% of our assets to be aligned with our mission. Since then Valentine has updated the Investment Policy and found a new investment advisor (the former one retired) who understands what we are trying to do and keeps an eye out for new investments that meet our criteria. Now we are aiming for 100% alignment with 20% invested directly into the Greater Philadelphia community. At this point we are 71% aligned and moving towards 100% in the next year.
What’s next in your mission alignment? We are part of the Philanthropy Network cooperative on Mission Aligned Investing, so we hope to work with other funders to find,vet and fund new community investments. There is talk of shareholder activism, which will be new for us.
What about perpetuity or spending down? We are not considering spending down at this point.
What’s a favorite mission aligned investment of yours? Trapezium Math. We are supporting a woman of color to grow her business that teaches math in a way that everyone learns, not just the top students.
Have you ventured into shareholder advocacy? How so?! Not yet, but we hope to.
What’s the most convincing thing to get others on board? Instead of sitting on an endowment, you can put it to work for your mission and increase impact beyond grantmaking.
After Work…
Guilty pleasure: Doing Wordle before I get out of bed
Kickback film: Love Actually
Last series you binge-watched: Dear White People
Favorite caffeine source: Lots and lots of decaf coffee
Sweet or salty: Salty, hands down
Happy place: Floating in cool water at a sunny beach
A favorite novel: Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres
Animal friends: Cats
Childhood ambition: Olympic Athlete
Biggest challenge: Self-discipline
Soundtrack of your life: 80’s and 90’s rock
Music that lifts your spirits: Freedom (George Michael)
Most unusual gift given: My great, great grandfather’s pocket watch
Most unusual gift received: a 12” metal Christmas tree decorated with cooked shrimp
Last splurge: Floor liners for my car
Mission Aligned Investees
Equal Exchange
The UnTours Foundation has been an investor in Equal Exchange for two decades running. Equal Exchange is modeling the agricultural system we desperately need: democratic, Organic, fairly traded, no RoundUp (have you seen how much RoundUp is in your food?), and truly thoughtful in all transactions. And, their board room is dedicated to our awesome founder, Hal Taussig, Sr!
Equal Exchange is offering an easy Crowdfunding: 3% notes that mature at the end of 2027. You or your foundation – or house of worship or alma mater – may join in. If you have a DEI focus or simply care about the state of the planet and the food we are ingesting, this is an investment for you!
