Continuum of Capital - Innovating Funding Structures for Social Innovators of Color

Despite social innovators of color being powerful drivers of social change, too many aren’t receiving the capital they need when they need it most. Recent data shows that start-ups led by underrepresented founders, including women, receive only 43 percent of the funding compared to their white male founder counterparts. We know that social innovators need a continuum of capital – but how does that continuum need to look different for social innovators of color? What changes must be made to existing funding structures to make progress towards systemic equity in funding across the philanthropic ecosystem and beyond?

This highly participatory panel will tackle these important questions by inviting participants to hear directly from social innovators of color who are driving systems level change across food and economic security, social services delivery, and education and AI. Three Echoing Green Fellows who have received investments across a variety of sources — including Echoing Green’s new catalytic capital fund, Signal Fund — will share insights from their challenges and wins, as well as their perspectives on what founders of color need in this moment of uncertainty in the United States.

Together, we’ll explore opportunities for the philanthropic ecosystem to innovate better funding structures through a systemic equity lens, unlocking resources for social innovators of color who are too often overlooked and untapped potential for systems level change across issue areas.