SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Possibility Labs (“PL”), a nonprofit empowering racial justice by democratizing funding processes and access to business infrastructure, today announced that organizational partner Kataly Foundation (“Kataly”) has made an inaugural $20 million commitment to PL’s donor advised fund (DAF) pilot. The Kataly activation represents a significant investment in PL as the only DAF platform where people of color make up all senior leadership.
Traditionally, DAFs are designed to hold funds in perpetuity and are frequently used as a tool to resist transparency around how much donors are giving, and to whom. However, the PL DAF pilot is designed with the goals of maximizing impact, moving capital faster and more flexibly, and being responsive to the needs of BIPOC movements through the disbursement of at least 10% yearly to make sure money constantly impacts communities. PL’s DAF further incentivizes deploying large-scale capital by co-creating and executing a spend-down plan, which waives the annual fee.
Funders will be able to participate in impact investing and mutual aid fund pools, and support what organizations actually need: multi-year grants and access to complementary sources of funding like low or zero-interest loans, leveraged for impact beyond just single-year grants. The DAF will also make the process of receiving funds easier for communities.
“Possibility Labs makes what has traditionally been impossible, possible, by rethinking the infrastructure and tools needed to collaboratively leverage financial and social capital, upending existing practices that often exacerbate systemic racism and social inequities,” said Lem White, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Possibility Labs. “Kataly Foundation and Possibility Labs are aligned in our dedication to creating practices for a new non-extractive economy. Together, we are launching a way to activate large-scale capital creatively, weaving trust, transparency, and learning for all practitioners of Black and brown community power and wealth building.”
Traditional financial practices are often rooted in racism, preventing Black and brown innovators and entrepreneurs from building the necessary business infrastructure to realize their visions and scale their impact. Possibility Labs was founded in 2020 to transform these systems.
“We see Possibility Labs as a crucial new player and mission- and values-aligned partner in creating a social movement infrastructure that supports solutions by and for Black and Indigenous communities, and all people of color building community power,” said Nwamaka Agbo, CEO of the Kataly Foundation. “With this DAF pilot, PL is fundamentally restructuring an outdated philanthropic tool that was ripe for innovation, thereby investing in an ecosystem where advisors of color and Black and brown community leaders can partner on integrated capital strategies for racial justice.”
About Possibility Labs:
Possibility Labs (PL) envisions a new economy where BIPOC and historically low-income communities have the wealth and power to determine our futures. Traditional financial practices—often rooted in racism—keep Black and brown innovators and entrepreneurs from building the necessary business infrastructure to realize their visions and scale their impact. PL is a new Black and People of Color-led platform that solves this problem through access to the business infrastructure needed for these groups to operate efficiently and effectively, and expanded integrated capital resources to fuel their efforts, especially by furnishing philanthropic partners and investors with more flexible funding tools. Founded in September 2020, PL is opening new possibilities for racial justice by democratizing funding processes and empowering community control over redistributed capital for local economies.
