Our mission is both simple and complex:
DIVERSIFY POWER IN THE FUNDING LANDSCAPE.
OUR WHY
Camelback has spent the past 8 years working towards our mission of increasing access to opportunity and capital for entrepreneurs of color and women. We have learned the needs and wants of these diverse founders, and have come to better understand the unjust system in which entrepreneurship exists. We cannot realize our mission while resultant disparities in funding remain.
We have also learned a lot about funders and social impact investors - those who’ve been allies, and those who haven’t. While some of you are content with the status quo, we are ready to support and accelerate those of you who have the desire and commitment to make meaningful change - within yourself, within your respective institution, and within the philanthropic sector so that it may truly reflect a “love of humanity”. Our mission is both simple and complex: diversify power in the funding landscape. We have a seat at the table for you - we just need to know if you will join us.
Introducing, Capital Collaborative.
OUR IMPACT
100% of Capital Collaborative program participants believe the program has helped shift more money to BIPOC, women, & non-binary led organizations.
Annually, participating organizations move over $23 million to BIPOC- led organizations.
Beyond moving money, Capital Collaborative participants report integrating racial justice and equity into their work in many other ways, including: Cultivating a Growth Mindset, Taking Action through DEIJ Plans, Elevating BIPOC Voices, Diversity in Leadership and Representation, Investing in Innovative Solutions, Shifting Practices for Equity, Fostering Open Dialogue, Understanding the Ecosystem, Transforming Data Practices
OUR WORK
Transforming Governance – Metamorphic Legacy for Funders
The Capital Collaborative exists to move more money to leaders and communities of color and shift power in funding. We have done this by working with White funder professionals to further their equity journeys and help them make changes to funding norms in the orgs they work for. We also know that the funding staff we work with are not ultimate decision makers in their organizations, and that they struggle to make significant changes within the current governance structures of foundations and funds. So, we’re embarking on a new chapter, with the ultimate decision makers. Read more about it here.
In 2024 Capital Collaborative will launch a cohort designed explicitly for board members, trustees, and wealth-holders who want to discover ways to cede their power and create space for new forms of governance to flourish. Participants will be in the safety of a peer cohort, have space to redefine their roles, and support to formulate a transition plan for letting go of power and leaving a metamorphic legacy.
Metamorphic legacy is a beautiful, wise, intelligent form of stewardship. It knows its unvarnished history, feels the present weight of opportunity, and courageously faces a future it won’t control. It embraces change, complexity, and collective design. It recognizes that qualifications and expertise for philanthropic governance are not determined by proximity to wealth but proximity to community, directly relevant diverse types of knowledge or experience, and multifaceted understanding of the systems that hold problems in place.
The results of metamorphic legacy are distributed power and liberatory forms of governance. Learn more about this new program here.
Moving Money – Funding & Philanthropy Staff Cohort
Capital Collaborative’s unique Staff Cohort approach brings together a community of accomplices to engage in a thoughtful and action-oriented curriculum to make their grant-making processes more equitable, move more money to BIPOC-led organizations, and deepen their commitment to racial and gender equity.
Our four staff cohorts have worked with 50+ leaders from over 30 organizations to provide an immersive learning and action experience. The Staff Cohort provides a racial affinity space for White leaders allows us to explore, learn, challenge and support each other, while taking ownership of undoing unequal systems and unlearning biases. All leaders receive 1:1 coaching throughout the program and engage in design cycles and consultancies to address the specific opportunities and challenges that are most relevant to them.
The Collaborative is a great complement to any organization-wide DEI work, allowing individual leaders to deepen their own development and commitment to organizational change.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CAMELBACK CAPITAL COLLABORATIVE
We are grateful for our founding supporter Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and their recognition of the importance of this work.
Please contact capitalcollaborative@camelbackventures.org if your foundation is interested in sponsoring Capital Collaborative.