 Good morning. Welcome everyone Thank you all for joining us Really good to see you all My name is Deb Nelson. I'm the vice president of community and client engagement from RSF social finance And I'm here with three people that I respect and admire so much And we get I love you. Yes. I love these three people And I have the great honor and pleasure of working with all of them on our integrated capital Institute So we have a kia winwood from wisebridge former president of rockwood leadership Institute We have Joel Solomon co-founder of renewal funds and author of the clean money revolution and we have a maca agbo founder and principal of a maca agbo consulting and an ICI fellow and We launched our integrated capital Institute three years ago Because we wanted to share what we'd been learning about how to activate capital diverse forms of capital both financial and social and how to activate it in all its forms to affect systemic change and It's been a total Pleasure working with our fellows our faculty advisors. I see a couple of our fellows in the audience How many fellows are both current fellows and new fellows are with us in the audience? I think Wendy is here, too awesome And it's one of the things that gives me great hope these days is working with these incredible Changemakers that have such big visions and are doing such important work in the world And I wanted to share a quote that I read from Bill McKibben He was interviewed earlier this year and they asked him Where do you see the greatest signs of hope and he said to me movements are the great sign of hope? The fact that people are beginning to come together in numbers to stand up and we agree with bill And we are a part of a growing movement of financial activists that are working on a simple yet radical goal and that is to create an economy that works for all people and the planet and We think we don't have time to wait That it's time to rethink our assumptions about money how we activate it and how we leverage capital in all its forms So I have a quick confession to make. I'm asking them very big Complex questions every question that I ask really deserves a half an hour answer, but I'm only giving them about three minutes So I've asked them to share nuggets of wisdom, but you're not going to get the whole enchilada You can come up and speak to us later and get in touch with us after the panel, but we're going to be Short and concise and compelling. So here we go Akaya Joel amaka, how did you become a financial activist and why does it matter to you? Akaya Well, I was sitting around wondering what I was going to do for the rest of my life Actually, I don't know. I would call myself a financial activist. I come from leadership I feel like my job is to support those people who are actually who are going to be the ones who are going to re-imagine our financial and economic systems it it, you know, I've been in social change forever and It seems to me that as much as we want to say oh Capitalism is gonna die and the markets are gonna fall then all that will probably be true to some degree We're still humans and humans trade and then we're gonna need markets We're gonna need ways to actually exchange ideas and goods, etc. So that's not going to go away What's exciting to me is what is what we can imagine and Mako talk about this and Joe will as well in terms of can we imagine and invent new systems that are equitable Because these systems that we're currently in Despite if I even if I were sitting on the biggest pile of money on the planet still wouldn't work for me Because this vast inequality doesn't serve in the long run. So how fun? let's get together and Recreate create some new systems imagine them into to being and do the work of creating that that's what the fellowships about but that to me is really exciting and why I'm in it because it Calls for creativity given that the markets aren't gonna go away. They'll just shift and change Hello everyone I Was messed with by the 60s and what went on in society then Lots of different dimensions of that Yes The urgencies are clear on so many levels We know that there's more than enough money in the world We know that money is concentrated pretty effectively in the hands of the fewer money has a story to it it affected people in places While we hold it it affects people in places and When we deploy it it does as well We don't pay enough attention to what that means and what our responsibility is related to it There is more than enough money combined with human ingenuity to solve most of the problems and crises we face We need to think about how much is enough What that means to us? We need to consider our responsibility for all that impact on people in places and We need to have our money doing things that we believe in and that align with our values That's not necessarily simple, but it's getting easier. This place is loaded with stories and methods Financial activists are going to be needed as those of us that have more than enough Watch the challenges grow and watch society get wobblier Our job with this is to help create a wave and help support a wave of people who can handle a Next level deeper of the complexity of deploying money beyond impact investing. What is social change investing? So I'm dedicated with the rest of my coherence to support That concept to gain traction You guys are so good at modeling the three-minute thing. I'm gonna do my best So the question of being a financial activist I would start by saying I see this work as a continuation of my ongoing social and racial justice work It's just another way that I've continued to fight for equity In liberation for those that have been most impacted right the same like we would have a policy director Kind of work on bills and legislation or community organizer go door-to-door I want to share a little bit about how I came to this work because people oftentimes ask me I'm how did somebody who was actually kind of doing on the ground organizing now be sitting on a stage in Socap And there's two stories that I'll share about myself I had the privilege the privilege of working at an organization called the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights for a number of years And one of the first campaigns I worked on was our green collar jobs campaign the green collar jobs campaign Some of you may be aware it was a movement where we were calling for an investment in green jobs to fight poverty And pollution at the same time and so I spent a lot of time working bringing together multi-stakeholder Leaders that were engaged in union organizing people working in cities people working on education and workforce development To try to create these programs that would then train people to get the entry-level jobs into those green job career pathways One of the things that happened as we started to see the economic recession in 2008 is that the green collar jobs movement came heavily under attack And one of the things that I think allowed the movement to to be attacked was the fact that our analysis Around where power was being held in that movement and who ultimately got to make the decisions about how our call for a green Economy was being structured continued to be those that had wealth and capital, right? It wasn't actually the workers that we were fighting to get entry-level jobs in we didn't actually have an analysis of who Was owning the businesses and how that we were then making the decisions and then who was also investing the capital and to really Revitalizing the screen economy, right? So we it really forced me to really look at can we be bolder? Can we be more audacious in what we're calling for? another key event that happened also coming off of the end of the recession for me was around 2012 in the Bay Area and I Offer across the country as when we started to see a number of social justice organizations Have to lay off staff some organizations even closed and that was because 2012 was just around the time these organizations were starting to experience the delayed impacts of the 2008 recession and for me at the time I was in a leadership role at an organization and Really recognize that we were looking to one individual to have all the answers for how we were going to address our financial Issues in our organization. I did not my I myself did not have enough understanding of the economy and what was happening And what it would mean for our organizations that heavily relied on philanthropic dollars to sustain our social movements Right, so kind of those two events really led me to start to kind of want to understand what was happening in the broader economy Beyond philanthropy, right beyond nonprofit social justice movements and also starting to see many Philanthropies responding to the recession with the call for more program related investments more mission related investments Without ever actually educating our organizations about what those dollars meant and how we could use them to sustain our work And so that's where I started to kind of pull on this thread of this emerging Impact investing movement and what it meant to start to really look at how we can start to use philanthropic dollars As the entry point to actually open up more traditional capital markets in a way that helps to move non extractive capital I'm to social movements on the ground and so I think it's helpful for folks to understand how our social movements need to be resourced and sustained as a broad part of what it means to really transform our financial systems All right. Here's another simple topic and quick question We want to move from an economy that's based on extraction and greed to an economy that's based on Regeneration and interconnectedness What do we need to do to make that happen? She's an excellent facilitator well, I started with something about this and The next step would be as we assess What we have whether it is financial resources or our human resources all hands on deck now Whatever we can do we need to be thinking with a screen about the future of decent civilization in a place that future generations can Have at least a bit of what we have That requires psychological emotional and spiritual development along with practical skills We have to get clear about the meaning of life our purpose and what we're gonna do with this precious life The models for us of what success means are a little off We're hopefully developing some new models of what it means One way that simplifies it for me is being a billionaire is a big goal for a lot of people It's a fairly silly goal Unless you know what you want to do with a billion dollars and why you want to do it and while you get there All the things that you do to get there So that applies whether you're billion dollars or whether we're just comfortably affluent And that's who I'm primarily speaking to we have to be part of building a vision and a Map and roadmaps so that next generations are supported to do things differently and We have to be The stewards of the long-term future So what does that mean to each of us? We have to we have to all figure that out But we can't ignore figuring it out. We have a responsibility and Future generations are watching us. They're studying this time. They're scratching their heads They want to know how we got in this pickle and why we're carrying on partying while The planet suffers and people suffer so assess our life and see how we can be more participating in a more safe clean fair future for everyone Ignore politics at our peril Take responsibility in our communities Find ways to stay strong hopeful and Resilient It's going to be more and more crucial We we are sitting on the cusp of Possibly facing a future that we do not yet understand what it will be like to be part of that's exciting It's a big responsibility Please pay attention to it Raise your hand if you wake up in the morning and say wow it's working This is really working for me and Working for the people that I know and the people that I love and the people I care about Yeah, I'm not seeing a whole lot of hands in the room and I don't think that we are an unusual audience I mean, perhaps there's a room somewhere in Washington where everybody would raise their hands But I would even say for them. It's not working because this is a very precarious Bubble that we're in right here look I think one of the most atrocious Artifacts of oppression and white male supremacist patriarchy. Yeah, I said that Is the cost of isolation from one another? It teaches me that I'm over here and you're over there or you're over here and I'm over here and There are systemic barriers that we have to honor and keep in place In order for the current systems to work And that is cast that's just catastrophic Because it means then I have to pretend that Joel White man straight Jewish Wealthy and I queer African-American Raised we're very working class are not supposed to be sitting here together But it's just we're breaking big taboos let alone work together let alone like each other let alone There I say it love each other. So if we're gonna Change these systems. It's gonna require that we stop it Just stop and refuse to to let those artificially created boundaries be real and Snuggle up to people who we've been told should not be even within speaking distance let alone touching difference and Taking the risk of doing that because it's risky Humble it's risky So you really it takes big courage To say okay, I'm just gonna not we're not gonna play that anymore and to get close to folks it's it's For me it's less about extraction. I mean, that's a bad thing. Don't stop exploiting people Let's just stop that but the only way I know to interrupt the exploitation and the extraction is to know folks Is to say oh, I would I do I want to do that to my my my kin? My sibling my cousin. I don't want to do that and to maybe it's reductive here But I actually don't believe we're going to shift theoretically We are not going to change our systems because I'm sitting in my office Thinking about things We're going to shift because we actually get out there and do some work and cross some boundaries To kind of underscore what a kaya and Joel shared. I you know, I think we're dealing with the realities that We're looking at the financialization of our relationships, right? Our relationships have been commodified I'm a part of the work is to figure out how we reclaim those relationships Understanding that that and to itself takes time a friend of mine Mervin Mercano talks about we can only move at the speed of trust Right and so when we look at the fact that it's taken Centuries and decades to create this level of harm this level of disrepair It is also going to take the time of building relationships and building trust for us to get out of it Right and so how do we actually move in a way in which we are supporting people on the ground to really doing The work I'm to move at the speed of which their communities can kind of grow and to also be able to experiment and innovate I think oftentimes in this field. I observe kind of this Pressure for these communities to kind of have the perfect solution Right, whereas the those of us who have kind of the privilege and the ability to be here in this room Kind of get a little bit more buffer in time to to figure out how we're gonna go along and work things out Right and so how do we extend the level of grace to one another to each other to recognize that this work will take time But to also hold each other and ourselves accountable to doing the work, right? So I think there's one piece around Relationships around the inter the individual action the interpersonal relationships I think the other side of it is that we are dealing with structures in systems that have also created systemic harm right so the The level of harm are like when we talk about the racial wealth gap It's not like an earthquake happened and everything opened up and some of us were left over here And the rest of us were over here with all the resources, right? There were very intentional policies very intentional practices that focused in on the Distribution of land wealth and power across this country that created that gap Right and so when we talk about what is actually going to take to to engage in interconnection We have to close that gap and then we close that gap by having the same level of systemic in government investment Back into the redistribution of that same land wealth and power I'm oftentimes kind of see that the response that we take to Addressing the racial wealth gap is well, you know people should open a savings account and you know We'll train them in filing financial literacy. We respond to a systemic problem by telling individual responses and actions We actually haven't figured out is a movement that's focused in on the economy How we leverage our own economic power to then engage in the political front of the work that needs to happen right oftentimes when we see communities get them The winds that they're able to get they oftentimes have to defend it They have to be able to physically defend their land their wealth and their power And then they also have to be able to defend it in the court of law Right and so I lift this up to say what it takes to get there is yes It's the relationships It's the individual action and then it's also all of us being politically engaged and not allowing ourselves to Feel comfortable enough to say that The the individual actions are enough that we actually do need to have a systemic response That is equal and commiserate to the level of harm that's been created Thank you. I Actually have a question and I'll include you in this Deb You talked about time and Things moving at the speed of trust and I've been thinking about that for a while too But I also think I worry about we don't have enough time so how do you how do we think about balancing the urgency of You know 15 more years before things really fall apart and The the time it takes to build authentic relationship that that will shift this I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time, right? I think we get to Don't choke, please. I love you too much. Don't do that I think that you know as we're working through a project and trying to figure out well how this potential investor could resource this Project those converse when we take time to have those conversations Yes, we're working out the structuring of that particular investment and how to ensure that it's a non-extractive Investment to make sure that we move the money as fast as possible But it's through those connect those conversations that we're actually building the relationship, right? And so finding the ways and the opportunities to To get out of our own ways and say well first I have to wholeheartedly understand you I have to like really be on the ground in the weeds with this community before I can actually just do the thing that I have Access to move right now. And so I guess I'm encouraging us to to figure out how how we hold both How we both turn out to vote how we be engaged in our Communities how we be good civic stewards while also, you know going to the block parties getting to know our neighbors Being a part of the community building that needs to happen Great great response and I would just ask those of you in the audience How many of you are involved in moving financial capital and? How many of you are involved in moving social capital? How many of you are working on public policy and advocacy work? Okay, I could go on and on so we need all of it and I agree with your response and it is part of what we Discuss and work on through the Integrated Capital Institute that Everything happens at the speed of trust really whether it's political change or social change environmental policies changing our financial systems But it all starts with relationships and trust so there's social community and Active political activists Why do we use the term financial activists? because the In a 1% the whole 1% movement if you do the math on that That leaves a lot of people that have concentrated wealth really large concentrated wealth There is Estimated something like 50 trillion dollars passing hands in North America alone in the next three decades through death Through generational transfer of wealth. That's just one big pot of money With all due respect to the wealth management industry. I'm part of it in various ways What we are mostly doing is figuring out how to help people make more money To protect their base and expand it There are all kinds of good reasons for that in certain circumstances, but it's gotten out of control We don't have good fear. We don't have fair taxation. We don't take care of the commons We don't take care of the social safety net very well. We've abandoned a lot of that So there are many reasons that we're creating a situation that might be untenable When someone has the eureka moment and says my capital Needs to do better and we and they come to us in the financial movement We're not financial activists We're maintainers and growers of wealth So if we did that for everyone That'd be good so there need to be people who have a social change mindset and Understand theories about how we what some of what's been being said here analysis of society And what's needed? Money is an incredibly creative tool and instrument. It can do phenomenal things But it takes creativity imagination commitment analysis To shift it from doing further damage and at least reducing damage and doing less harm and more good So financial activist idea is that there are some people with the mindset to understand enough about financial systems enough about political economic social systems to use money the way some very notable Players with Intentions, I don't like have figured out the ecosystem of how to control and dominate society So we need people who understand enough about that that can start moving money To different people different places different outcomes. That's what a financial activist is It's a mindset and that's what this integrated capital fellows program is about Please consider being part of it in the future and support it Thank you. All right, I'm gonna continue on this path of asking you simple quick questions I'm gonna ask you each two questions. You can choose which question you want to answer or you can do a combo So Joel, I'm gonna start with you How have you activated different kinds of capital to affect positive social change and What's wrong with impact investing as we know it? In two minutes Well, the how is I've kind of touched on it The how is we have to have a different understanding of the world and what our purpose is what the purpose of our life is What's the purpose of humanity? And then it gets to be a really fun creative job. There's plenty of Creativity here unbelievable amounts of creativity possible with money. We are mostly constrained in a fairly tightly Designed system that funnels it in same ways How do we what's wrong with impact investing as we know it well? Impact investing as we know it is ready to become social change investing It's ready to become a part of a puzzle and a map of deploying capital in Better ways so impact is a wonderful step that has happened for the last couple of decades number of you have been involved in it for those years And it's a step. It's like the training wheels now. We've got to go deeper and we have to do our inner work to determine if Multiplying our money at the highest rate possible makes sense With the amount of capital and privilege that we have or is it a tool? for joy better future long-term future and stable Society going forward stable ecology stable society and a functional world Akaiya Why is courageous leadership at the heart of a movement of financial activists and? What's the greatest lesson you've learned about money? Well, so we second the greatest lesson I learned that money isn't very real Like it isn't because I mean I don't carry around clam shells anymore I barely have bills and so it money is one of those things it sits on my computer screen With that has ones and zeros and zeros and ones and fives and all of that, but it isn't very real So it took me a minute to get that Because it's a set of agreements among our among us that some things are worth other worth more than other things and so therefore we can give them a greater value Like that makes no sense to me and I know that it that's part of the problem that runs this whole thing that those of us with more resources are somehow better than those of Us with fewer resources, and that's just a lie so the premise of money Which began I'm assuming as a way of exchanging things has become a very distorted way of Separating us isolating us and killing the heart of us Now that said it's also very useful Because we're not post money yet, although we're getting there You know, I'm learning about that Kristen Hull is helping me learn about that how to invest wisely and How to for those of us who come from communities who have not been the investors To actually step into that work and go oh, I can use this Resource that I have to bring about good things in the in the world Which is really different. I think then some a lot of us who come from social change Who who have been taught that anybody with money is automatically bad and wrong? so We got to shift that that whole thing What was my first question? Why is courageous leadership at the heart of a movement of financial activists? I think courageous leadership is a heart of any movement Independent of financial activism If we're gonna change the world Change I hate that if we're going to transform What what our interrelationships are then it takes courage It means that I'm gonna have to maybe get really uncomfortable with looking at what I think I know about certain folks and Think I know about myself and Interrupt that that takes a lot of courage It takes a lot of courage to tell the people that you come from that you actually disagree now and That you're gonna do things differently. It takes a lot of courage to get in a boardroom and say, you know what this is wrong. I Can't say yes to this It takes a lot of courage to step out of the way in which we have been imprisoned by our social identities and Refused to be bound by them any longer One last thing we can't do this by ourselves We actually need each other and We are going to have to do that work of needing each other well in a way that in ways that are non-extractive that are mutually enhancing and that Make a collective difference and that goes against Gravity in this in this culture. So we're gonna have to to make some that's takes a lot of courage Thank you Macca if we're going to address climate change and economic injustice What do we need to start doing and what do we need to stop doing and? What gives you hope I Now know how the presidents feel on up on the debate stage or like the candidates, right? They're like, how are you gonna solve world poverty? Yeah, so I think this question of what are we gonna what we need to stop doing and start doing I'll start off first by saying My work on restorative economics is intentionally rooted in the frameworks of Reparations and the practices of restorative justice because I personally believe that in order to actually start to trans not just change in reform But truly transform society We do need to close that gap and we need to close that racial gender wealth gap In a way that helps to repeat repair the harm that has been done to those communities I've been most extracted from most exploited most excluded from the benefits of our current economy because And when we do that then they have the skills the capacities the resources to meaningfully participate in the conversation About how we transform our economy, right when we don't include their voices when we continue to assume that Those that have continued to lead and be in power are those that are gonna get us out of the problem We'll unfortunately continue to do more of the same and I think we already see our movement in our field Replicating a lot of the same harmful habits and practices that are rooted in Patriarchy that are rooted in racism And we could go unfortunately through all the isms and I think that's really problematic and concerning And so I think that's both a stop and a start I think the the other piece to To what I think we need to start doing it goes back again to this comment around grace I think indigenous communities haven't extended a tremendous amount of grace to all of us I recently learned of the the statistic that 80% of the world's biodiversity Lives or sits within indigenous held land, right? They have shown us so much grace and continue to offer wisdom To us and the ability for us to engage in a place of deep listening to engage in a process of reparations and to really Do that in a way that we understand not only supporting those indigenous communities But also continuing to acknowledge in and support Low-income communities working poor communities communities of color Undocumented immigrant communities the trans communities as well being able to ensure that those communities have voice and vote And how we start to transform our economy is It's extremely important to me and the work that I do. I Think this question of hope always kind of trip it trips me up a little bit and sorry to be the cynical one In the room on one hand, I I think hope is a very helpful posture to have I think hope is a thing that keeps keeps us motivated It's kind of that light that we can look towards and at the same time what I've observed and what I know Is that hope is also a privilege, right? It means that we still have a little bit of a buffer a little bit of a landing pad That's just a bit softer than others that allows us to kind of still be hopeful for something to be better, right? Those people that we see living on the streets those people that we see really struggling to make ends meet and living paycheck-to-paycheck in our country I don't I wonder how much hope they have right? The other thing that I've seen it's those people that have been in the harshest situations Those people that unfortunately have come to a moment of desperation Because all they can rely on is their selves their family and their friends Those are the ones that have also kind of come together To be able to kind of leapfrog over the incremental reforms into something that's truly transformative, right? So when we look at natural disasters like the hurricanes hitting the Caribbean's in Puerto Rico the communities that were Hit the hardest the communities that were also then able to support one another were those that had the micro grid Systems, right? They had the solar panels, right? We saw this also in New York when Hurricane Sandy came and those the Red hook a community named Red Hook had a community owned Wi-Fi system, right? That community owned system was that community on Wi-Fi system was a thing that allowed people from a seven mile radius to come To that community and then access Wi-Fi So I think even though I'm saying like I don't know if we have hope there are ways in which you know I continue to see Those projects those initiatives that are community governed that are community owned and steward as kind of the bright spots that are able to kind of weather the literal Infigurative storms that are coming down And I would also say you know through our cohort with ICI we've already seen people taking on Amazing projects, you know, I Yes, maybe like myself You can't see it, but I'm blushing. Thank you. Thank you very much Yeah, so, you know we continue to see you hopefully people have heard from some of the speakers from Thousand Currents work right with the Buenavivir fund. We have guy three sitting in the back Hopefully some people have had a chance to talk to Aaron Tanaka and Ian Evans with Boston Ujima project Kate Poole and Tiffany Brown from Cordotic Capital will also be At Socap later today. We have Bill in the room as well. So So yes, I just think we need to be mindful when we ask people to have hope right who gets to have hope, right? And we also need to continue to do the work So, you know, we're gonna keep chewing the gum or sucking on a mint maybe and walking and walking at the same time Thank you, Amaka. All right, we're gonna open up to questions and we have Joanne's gonna help us with a roaming mic So when you before you ask your question, please share your name in your organization Hello, my name is Ron. I work for ABM have and I wanted to ask Kind of I'm one of I'm one of those disruptors from within the system What advice do you have for like young financial activists that are looking at the best and most effective ways to disrupt the current system? Believe in yourself Don't give up Find your people Don't try to do things by yourself gather around and Keep working This is the system isn't built for you It really isn't and yet. I'm looking to young people. I Mean, I'm too strong. You see this, right? I'm been in it for too long and Not too long for as long as I've been in it, but I'm not gonna have to live then It's the young folks the disruptors who are going to pave the way for the our great-great-grandchildren who are actually calling to us and we need to respond so Don't let my generation interrupt your work. You keep going Beautiful. Thank you. Other questions You've got one up front Economic development organization is doing innovative things But there is such a large gap between where they are and current funding sources for them and The connection to impact and I don't like I've been participating in conversations I haven't heard what is happening what people are doing to close that specific gap It's a great question. I would offer there's a project I recently finished working on called restore Oakland. It's based in the Fruitvale neighborhood of East Oakland It was a joint initiative of two organizations once again the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Restaurant Opportunity Centres United We did an equitable economic development project 18,000 square feet blah, blah, blah, blah I think one of the things that I learned in working on that project was that being able to kind of find those Those financial partners right that were able to kind of work with us in the early stages Those that were able to kind of provide us with both the grant dollars But then also the long-term patient capital that allowed us to do the capacity building of our staff that allowed us to do the business plan And feasibility those were the things that then we could say we had de-risked our project When we the but then go and talk to kind of traditional capital markets Around how to then finance the acquisition and then the bridge loan for the project I think finding those partners that are willing to work with you that can also then help you leverage Right the terms of the type of capital that you're trying to get is it also extremely important on this project I found that community development financial institutions were kind of our greatest allies in both the The early-stage acquisition loan the pre-development dollars, but also the new market tax credits I'm not totally sure the scale of development project that you're doing But the way the CDF eyes are structured their source of funds through C.R.A. C.R.A.'s also made it possible for them to work with us in a way that unfortunately the The PR eyes the MRI Funding of sides of foundations and then even traditional community-based banks and we're not able to work with us So those early partners are really critical to getting to kind of closing that gap And for funders that are in the room, please think about all of the ways that you are investing lending and giving and Please stop demanding market rate returns market rate returns are Extractive if we demand it every time we need to think about integrated returns Because if we're only thinking about financial returns, we're gonna have concessionary environmental returns, and we're gonna have a concessionary social returns, so Provide the philanthropic capital. That's the most disruptive capital we can use Invest in PR eyes. There's so many options But but please make sure that on the ground community organizations get funded an early stage So-called risky social enterprises get funding I also want to ask us to start thinking long term So it's not oh the deal's done and buy But we're actually building relationships that will last for a long time And that's part of that speed of trust thing because if somebody's gonna come in and give me a bunch of cash I'm gonna get something done, and that's the last time I ever see them Or I may come in dump a bunch of cash on somebody and then say bye What if we were to think about investing in this person and their dreams over time So that is about building partnerships that are beyond the deal There's there's a moment where things shift suddenly and quickly But that moment usually had many many Acts years days minutes that came before it in order to happen We are nearing an inflection point where there's no option but to use money more wisely If those of us that are working in these fields and have for some years have already seen dramatic expansion of the ideas of the creativity of the options and opportunities, but it's just starting work on We have to work on our own inner self our psychological emotional spiritual That helps us know that we're doing what we must do and to have some faith that there are more of us Find each other keep at it each example and model will build a Bigger base and there's already a pretty good sized base out there so The idea of if any of hopefully not that many people here are worried about becoming a billionaire, but that's just a symbol Become enoughness and use your billionaire energy For billionaire of good deeds and billionaire of things that matter and actions that matter Don't worry about accumulating huge money influence huge money and I think that that's how every change movement actually There's a cycle and we're in it That whole question of what's enough is something I think each of us needs to grapple with like how much do I really need and Then don't have any more than that What if what if we said you know what here's actually what I need and I'm not going to be driven by the fears of lack And then whatever I if I have extra pass it along pass it along Part of the problem is is are all all of these resources are being sequestered based on greed and fear I'm speaking to foundations right here y'all And what if what if instead of 5% what if foundations started to give out 10% a year There's no law that said you can't just says you can't give less than five doesn't mean you can't give more than five For real, what if we said hell? Okay, let's be done in 100 years the spend down What if so that whole question of what is enough? Is an important one both Individually and collectively and you involved in foundations know that that 5% includes all your admin expenses also Hi Alex fair from impact Asia Pacific I'd like to go a little bit deeper if we may and Talk about courage and I'd love to know from each of you When you've been faced with very big odds big barriers What has been your most courageous moment that you can identify to get to where you are now? Thank you We've got eight minutes So you'll need to be brief Yeah, that yeah, I feel like you want me to go into a therapy session So if you want to do that we can we can go there I mean I think I think courage is waking up every day is a black young black woman Who has the audacity to engage in the finance field, right? I think I am very much used to people not kind of seeing me as a person That has any experience knowledge or expertise in this body of work And every day I still have to show up because I'm committed to the communities that I come from and the communities that I serve And so I think this is an opportunity for us to all look within ourselves and figure out. What are we committed to? Where are we committed to living most in integrity with ourselves as human beings and showing up and doing that every day, right? I think that is I think that's the task at hand Right, I think the other pieces that were that were also faced with is can we also engage in a practice of vulnerability? Vulnerability where we are also able to recognize our faults where we are not perfect where we're messing up I think for me even this question of what is enough I jumped a little bit right like as someone who you know My parents grew up in the villages of eastern Nigeria I know what it's like to kind of go back home in the summers and you know not have running water not have Electricity, but I also know that I'm coming back to the United States and I'm gonna have those things So the vulnerability to understand even the work that I'm doing and what I'm asking us to step into all into I am also deeply scared about what it means to have the radical redistribution of land wealth and power that I know we ultimately need But you got to show up and do it anyway Well said beautiful You're here Hi, my name is Patricia Hinnon. I'm with capital sisters international and I'm sorry I was a little bit late so you may have addressed this But how can we get the donor advice funds to do more impact investing? It seems like money's just piling up and fees are being paid and this is supposed to be for charitable charitable purposes Great question. Joel. Do you want to take this Donna Daniels? Do you want to take it? Joel you want to start? All of the above that we've been talking about it's a wake-up call It's getting people to be more aware more conscious and take responsibility and be courageous Yeah, we at RSF we have donor advice funds and we're all about flowing money where it's needed most so We don't get rewarded for that. In fact our incentive system is for us to hang on to it but we encourage people to Flow that money because Money is energy. It's like water. It's like blood if it's not flowing. It's not healthy. It's not doing any good so flow that money and If you're looking to a deaf provider donor advice fund provider make sure they're flowing it make sure they're not sitting on it Could I add to that really quickly? I think the the other piece is policy Right, like I don't think that we can act as if our philanthropic policy just you know We're just doing 5% out of the goodness of our hearts We're only we're doing that because it's a tax haven right so when we talk about the political action We need to take we actually need to change the policy the the tax policy that allows dafts to continue to hold those assets as well So we yeah, we got to do both the moving the money and also changing of policy You know you talked about ask about courage Whatever cousin was talking about courage Move things Move things stop keeping things to ourselves pass it along It's choking us We're choking the planet and so it's it's really important to and here's what I want to say None of us can do this by ourselves Policy it how we have together to get together and change policy Systems are created by people No, one of us can do it But if we don't change the systems around us and challenge the systems and nothing will shift And I think we often make the mistake of thinking. Oh one individual human. I love that little Quote we use by Margaret Mead or whomever it was But even then she talks about a collective group of people shift the policies use your privilege Everybody has some use them use it use it wisely and don't pretend like oh, I don't have any power There's phenomenal power in this room and to be able to go. Okay. Yeah, let me move this let me use my power in a way that creates wholeness and Refuse to to not do that when I when I have the capacity and the and the power to do it And that quote from Margaret Mead is never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has We have time for a brief comment or a brief question Well, I just want to say that about held money There's a big secret which is that if you actually activate your money and you get involved with people and things that matter You're gonna probably feel better and be happier and have a better time and In some ways we can use regulation and we need to we must have the proper policies but we have to inspire people with stories and Share the joy and the privilege that it is to have the opportunity to do good works by choice That's that still exists grab it while it's here If you want to learn more, please come up and say hello. Give us your cards. Check us out online A kaya windwood Joel Solomon a Maca Agbo. I'm Deb Nelson. Thank you so much for joining us the pleasure