The Weingart Foundation Commits More Than $10 Million in Impact Investments and $9.4 Million in Grants to Organizations Advancing Racial Justice
Utilizing a racial justice framework, the Weingart Foundation supports nonprofits and investments working on intersectional issues from meeting essential needs to community organizing and policy advocacy.
JULY 13, 2023 (Los Angeles, CA) — The Weingart Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation that partners with communities across Southern California to advance racial justice, committed more than $10 million in impact investments and awarded $9.4 million in grants to organizations working on critical social issues including economic, housing, immigrant/refugee, and disability justice. Over 72% of the funds awarded provide unrestricted operating support to nonprofits that deliver direct services, advocacy, and multi-sector or multi-ethnic collaboration to address multiple issues impacting communities of color.
In addition to grantmaking, the Weingart Foundation advances its mission through impact investments that support its commitment to equity. The Weingart Foundation committed $5M to Primestor Urban Vision Fund, managed by Primestor, a Latino-owned real estate firm. The funds will help develop mixed-use real estate including housing, healthcare facilities, community gathering spaces, and retail in underserved communities. Weingart also committed $5M to Female Founders Fund IV, which aims to bridge the gender gap women entrepreneurs face. Additionally, Weingart is providing a program-related investment loan of $500K to iimpact Capital Holdings, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company focused on providing equity financing to women real estate developers of color creating affordable housing.
“At a time when efforts that celebrate inclusion are under attack, we stand firmly committed to our partners and their pursuit of social and racial justice,” said Miguel A. Santana, President and CEO of the Weingart Foundation. “This includes directing our investments to support those who make the work possible. We’re proud to invest in nonprofit capacity needs geared towards building long-term sustainability.”
The Weingart Foundation, as part of its grantmaking, awarded $250,000 to the Immigrants are Essential Fund, a pooled fund which aims to support the resilience of immigrant rights organizations in LA and surrounding counties. The fund will pilot wellness and sustainability grants to grassroots immigrant rights organizations for programs and activities such as self-care, therapy, wellness stipends, and coaching for staff.
Twenty-seven percent of grant dollars this cycle, totaling $2.45M, are directed to immigrant/refugee justice efforts including support to organizations that advance economic and worker justice on behalf of low-wage workers that are predominantly immigrant and/or people of color. Over the past year, the Weingart Foundation has invested $3.67M in worker centers like Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles, Warehouse Worker Resource Center, and Inland Empire Black Worker Center. Additionally, new partners include Democracy at Work Institute and the Safety Net for All Coalition, each focused specifically on excluded workers such as those shut out of pandemic relief funds due to their immigration status.
The Weingart Foundation intentionally invests in BIPOC-led organizations that have been historically underfunded. Eighty-three percent of the organizations that received unrestrictive funding support are BIPOC-led and more than half are Black-led. The Weingart Foundation granted $1M to the Black Equity Collective, a community-public-private partnership focused on strengthening the long-term capacity and infrastructure of Black-led and Black-empowering social justice organizations in Southern California.
Consistent with the Weingart Foundation’s commitment to systems change, $1.05M (8%) of this round of funding supports organizations engaged in disability rights efforts that incorporate community organizing, advocacy, and leadership development, led by people with lived experience. Examples include Integrated Community Collaborative, an organization that trains parent and self-advocates to help peers access resources, and LA Spoonie Collective, composed of disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill LGBTQIA+ community members offering workshops and training at the intersections of race, gender, and disability justice, feminist theory, and more. The Weingart Foundation is strengthening movement building in the disability community through support of the Disability Inclusion Fund, RespectAbility, and Disability Voices United, which led efforts to pass three important disability justice laws in California.
“Movement building is critical to achieving the full inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities,” said Judy Mark, President of Disability Voices United. “Partners like Weingart that support the infrastructure of organizations building community power are essential to helping us move our disability justice work forward and to strengthening our collective voice to effect change.”
For a full list of the Weingart Foundation’s June partners, please visit:
https://weingartfnd.org/june-2023-grants-and-program-related-investments/
The Weingart Foundation committed $5M to Primestor Urban Vision Fund, managed by Primestor, a Latino-owned real estate firm. The funds will help develop mixed-use real estate including housing, healthcare facilities, community gathering spaces, and retail in underserved communities.
ABOUT THE WEINGART FOUNDATION
The Weingart Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation that partners with communities across Southern California to advance racial, social, and economic justice for all. Our vision is a dynamic and effective social change sector that is creating equitable systems and structures needed to achieve justice. Founded in 1951, the Foundation has to date granted over $1 billion to organizations, strengthening their efforts in human services, housing, health, education, and community power building. In addition, the Foundation builds networks and collaboratives with philanthropic, public sector, and community leaders to advance equity and justice together.
Media Contact: Lorena Alamillo
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