Eight people showed up for a zoom call in February of 2023, some of them longtime friends and co-conspirators, others strangers. All shared a commitment to serve on the inaugural governing body of the Just Transition Integrated Capital Fund (JTIC Fund), a movement controlled loan fund that offers grants and non-extractive, 0% loans to Just Transition aligned initiatives. Intended as a vehicle to support foundations in moving assets off of Wall Street and back into the hands of BIPOC and working class communities, the Fund has also been an experiment in practicing democracy, redefining the role of capital in philanthropy.

From the beginning, the JTIC Fund was envisioned as a demonstration project for how foundations can redefine the role of capital, reimagine the purpose of endowments, and challenge our sector’s assumptions around impact, returns, and fiduciary responsibility. What was apparent on that first call from my vantage point as the governing body’s facilitator was excitement and a deep desire to do things differently in finance. So we got to work.

By November of 2023, we launched ourInvestment Policy Statement (IPS), created relationship based term sheets, and raised our first $5 million in investment capital. This year we continued to raise capital while creating policies and materials like our Contract of Interdependence, which takes the place of a traditional Conflict of Interest statement, and stewarded our first deployments.

What we’ve learned from this process is that self-governance and practicing democracy is deeply human work that is grounded in relationships. It requires us to slow down, commit to principled struggle, and access our untethered imaginations to dream beyond what we thought was possible.

I say “deeply human” because this work requires us to care for one another. While we look at fund models and design risk assessments, we also check in on each other, rejoice when a member’s lost cat returns home, celebrate when a member’s organization has a win, and encourage each other to rest when we are sick or overwhelmed with the weight of the world.

Read the full article about redefining the role of capital in philanthropy by Lora Smith at Justice Funders.