June 2023 Grant and Impact Investing Highlights

The Weingart Foundation 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, we advance our mission through impact investments that support our commitment to equity. We 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.

We 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.

As part of our commitment to our nonprofit partners, we’re proud to invest in nonprofit capacity needs geared towards building long-term sustainability. We 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. We also 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 unrestricted funding support are BIPOC-led and more than half are Black-led.

Consistent with the 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.

For a full list of our June 2023 partners and grants, click HERE.