Welcome to Proximate Investing! We’re a new monthly newsletter that covers the emerging field of participatory investing – practices that shift decision-making power about capital to people with lived experience.

Participatory investing is a nascent field, but an exciting one for those of us who know that public and private markets are inextricably tied to power – and that a more just and democratized approach to investing has benefits well beyond those markets.

With so much growth and experimentation underway, we’re launching this newsletter to provide a snapshot of how collaborative, community-driven approaches are changing the conversation about capital.

Follow along as we share insights from the field, updates from those doing power-shifting work, and news and resources that contribute to the story. Got ideas or insights? Send them our way at hello@proximate.press.

Thanks to World Education Services for their invaluable support, and thanks to our readers for joining us on this journey.

With gratitude,

Sonia Sarkar

Participatory investing doesn’t exist in a financial bubble. It’s closely tied to political power and organizing.

REAL People’s Fund is a $10 million, community-controlled investment fund governed by grassroots organizations in the East Bay Area. They offer non-extractive capital to local small business owners, and combine that with a healthy dose of political organizing and power-building work.

We spoke with Jessie Nguyen, the fund’s organizer, about why she sees developing solidarity between entrepreneurs and local organizers as a necessary lever for democratizing capital.

Proximate

How did the REAL People’s Organizing Collective come to be?

Nguyen

The first year that we launched we focused on understanding the pain points of small businesses, and creating safe spaces for folks to just be in conversation with each other. A focus for us was: how do we build solidarity among the organizations that we’re trying to reach through the fund?

That led to us creating our small business solidarity circles. We [held] listening sessions about challenges that small business owners, entrepreneurs, and worker-owners are facing in Oakland. How do we create room for those folks to share their experiences, and begin to imagine solutions?

Proximate

How is the Collective fighting traditional investment structures?

Nguyen

We want to remove barriers that these small businesses have historically faced when it comes to growth or lending. We've learned that we can create a container for these business leaders to dictate what is most valuable to them… and serve as a voice that is an alternative to more conservative corporations that are in front of Chambers of Commerce.

We as the REAL People’s Fund can’t always be leading – the work needs to also be led by small businesses and co-ops and entrepreneurs. We see the REAL People’s Organizing Collective as having a say in how our city is being transformed.

Proximate

You invested in an initial cohort of small businesses after launching in 2021. In 2023, you secured small business wins after the Collective participated in Oakland's budget process. What's next for you all?

Nguyen

We want to lay out points of unity between the grassroots organizations that have led this vision [to date] and the small businesses we're organizing with – what are our shared values for serving communities of color in Oakland.

We want folks to see a pathway to be decision-makers... ultimately, the goal is that small businesses and co-ops are also governing members that can dictate the vision and values of this roadmap.

A Message from World Education Services (WES)

World Education Services (WES) is proud to partner with Proximate.

Together, we’re driven by a fundamental belief that shifting capital and power to communities generates the most effective, sustainable, and transformative solutions.

As a funder and investor, WES is committed to embedding participatory practices in our own work and backing proximate leaders with relevant lived, learned, and labored experience.

Through this partnership, we aim to elevate participatory investing models and mainstream the movement to reimagine ‘the how’ of investing by shifting power.

Each month, we'll share a roundup of news and updates from the field of participatory investing. Send us any updates to hello@proximate.press.

Appalachia rising.

• The Invest Appalachia Fund, a community-led impact fund focused on Central Appalachia, closed its final round of commitments with a total size of $35.5 million.
  

• The Fund is managed by Invest Appalachia, a nonprofit that is designed, governed, and staffed by community stakeholders representing counties across Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
  

• Stephanie Tyree, Invest Appalachia Board Chair, says: “Impact investing isn’t just an economic strategy in rural communities – it signals hope."

• Also in Appalachia: PODER Emma, a community-owned development organization in Asheville, NC, was featured by the Center for New Economics. They've raised $6M in community investment, including from resident members, to fight displacement via land reclamation and an ecosystem of cooperatives.

Participatory investing in health systems.

• Shift Health Accelerator launched its Reimagining Equity series, kicking off a dialogue about participatory governance and investing within the health sector.

• Camryn Smith, of Durham-based Communities in Partnership, issued a call to action for healthcare actors: "There are norms and tropes that have been placed upon communities of color – about our inability to take care of ourselves, to create, to run our own systems. We challenge those in power to do their own work of decolonizing how they see us."

• Taking part in that dialogue was Rhia Ventures, a new VC fund that is working to advance reproductive and maternal health equity through a participatory lens. They recently held a Masterclass for reproductive health leaders interested in mission-aligned investments.

Participatory investing on the blockchain?

• Blockchain technology – and  mechanisms such as DAOs – have increasingly been part of participatory finance dialogues. A recent Medium blog lays out a framework for participatory investing via the “Simple Agreement for Future Governance” model. 

• The upshot: this model would let members of a community  earn the right to participate in governance decisions based on the time and resources they input to the project. Rather than investors purchasing ownership, this model utilizes participation as currency – further expanding cooperative principles within crypto.

Love, resistance and community investment.

• The Village of Love and Resistance, a Black and Brown-led cooperative community in East Baltimore, is building a community investment trust to fight displacement and center community member contributions as low as $10 in order to acquire property and build community wealth.

• Members of the village take part in the "Own Our Hood" training program, a precursor for those interested in becoming co-investors and co-owners of VOLAR's recently purchased East Baltimore properties.

RESEARCH ROUNDUP

We know: it would be great if we had time each day to curl up in bed with a good white paper. 

But because you can’t always get around to all the reports in your inbox, we read the latest research on participatory investing – the webinars, thinkpieces, and blogs – and include them as resources here.  

For our first issue, we’re backing up a few steps and sharing the most foundational resources out there on what participatory investing is all about.

A "toolkit" for participatory investing.

Common Future’s Participatory Investing Toolkit offers practical advice for shifting power within different aspects of investment execution: investment strategy, investment committee, MRI's and PRI's, and the endowment.

One notable aspect is the toolkit's focus on "defining your community". Before you know how to shift power, you need to know who you're shifting it to – an important point that often gets overlooked.

ICYMI: Transform Finance's magnum opus.

An oldie but a goodie: back in 2021, Transform Finance released Grassroots Community Engaged Investment, the culmination of their cohort of participatory investing leaders.

The report features 16 case studies of organizations across the country that are meaningfully engaging in participatory investing practices. They also provide recommendations for the field, and specific tactics for engaging grassroots leaders in investment decisions.

Artists as change-makers

art.coop, a collective focused on the role of artists and cultural workers in creating economic alternatives, released Solidarity Not Charity in 2021.

The report highlights the importance of integrated capital and community-centered investment processes, particularly when it comes to artist-led enterprises who require the ability to mix different types of financial mechanisms to achieve sustainability.

The report highlights the interwoven nature of the arts with new economic models:

"The oldest Native co-op in the country, Qualla Arts and Crafts, is led by culture-bearers.  The first democratically managed investment fund in the country, the Boston Ujima Project, places BIPOC arts and cultural organizing at the heart of its work. The oldest non-extractive venture capital firm in the United States, The Working World, was started by artists."

Thanks for reading!

Sign up for future Proximate Investing newsletters here. And reach out with ideas for future field notes or stories by emailing hello@proximate.press.