|
Proudly, in 2020 we directed the most capital and delivered what we view as the deepest impact in our firm’s history: nearly $50m into 30 companies and funds. The last year was one of mounting personal and professional challenges, as well as breathtaking moments of resiliency in our community. Candide Group was well positioned to not only continue our work
|
The last year was one of mounting personal and professional challenges, as well as breathtaking moments of resiliency in our community. Candide Group was well positioned to not only continue our work in the midst of chaos — but to truly put our values, of building the just world we want to see, to the test. Proudly, in 2020 we directed the most capital and delivered what we view as the deepest impact in our firm’s history: nearly $50m into 30 companies and funds, with standout themes emerging like food justice, multi-stakeholder models, fund managers of color, and climate justice. The majority of our investees were women and/or POC-led, and additionally, acknowledging the disproportionate impact of not just the global pandemic but a historical extractive financial system on Black and Native communities in the US, we directed over $15m explicitly to Black and Native-led investees. Investment advisory is our wheelhouse, but not the only realm in which we fight for justice. As you may have heard, earlier this year Candide Group was sued by private prison giant CoreCivic, for our ongoing advocacy and naming the company’s financially-incentivized role in family separation. In exciting news, truth and justice prevailed: the lawsuit was recently dismissed in a major victory for the movement. We look forward to continuing to share links between finance and social justice, as part of Candide Group's broader commitment to changing the culture of money. We hope you enjoy our annual roundup, reflecting on where we’ve been, the growth we’ve been fortunate to embrace, and where we’re going in 2021. Thank you for joining us!
|
Our 2020 Supported Investments
|
In 2020, we were honored to deepen our work with new mission aligned partners. Here’s some of those partners we’d like to formally welcome to the Candide universe! |
|
|
|
|
Welcome Patricia McCarthy (she/her), Candide’s Managing Director!Patricia has spent her career honing her operations and finance skills at non-profits, clean-tech start-ups, and grass-roots community-based arts organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York. Most recently she was the VP of Finance and Administration at Common Future, whose vision is to support a network of leaders and funders who focus on tackling issues such wealth inequalities in communities, systemic racism, and are committed to shifting capital to communities using direct investments methods that will create a more inclusive economy. She graduated from the Juilliard School of Music, holds a Certificate of Human Resources Management from Cal State East Bay, and is a SHRM-CP certified professional. |
|
|
|
Congratulations to Laurika Harris-Kaye (she/her) on new role: Candide’s Portfolio Manager!Transitioning from her role as Director of Operations, in her new role Laurika will help monitor and oversee the Candide Group portfolio, while serving as a critical support resource for investees. Her deep commitment to people and social change — paired with her strategic organizational skills and systems expertise — makes this transition not only a win for our team, but for our entire investment ecosystem. |
|
|
|
We’re grateful for the newest members of the Candide family: Chief Compliance Officer Hope Newsome (she/her) and the team at Virtus LLP!Hope is co-founder and managing partner at Virtus LLP. Hope has served in several capacities within the financial services industry since 1999, including as general counsel and chief compliance officer of registered investment advisers, broker-dealers and public and private funds. Prior to founding Virtus LLP, she served as general counsel and chief compliance officer at a Winter Park, FL based private equity firm. She serves on the boards of the United Way of Central Florida, the Black Chamber of Commerce Central Florida and ATHENA Orlando Women’s Leadership. |
|
|
|
The private prison industry has been squeezing handsome profits from the broken immigration system, even playing a role in the shameful chapter of family separation. When our cofounder Morgan Simon called them out in her role as a Senior Contributor to Forbes.com, CoreCivic, a private prison company, frivolously sued her and Candide Group for alleged defamation. The gambit to silence critics failed, however, as a federal judge recently affirmed that CoreCivic did indeed participate in the family separation crisis through its detention of immigrant parents. We’re excited to share this with you, as an important victory for activists who believe that the American public has a right to know how much money is made off human suffering — and more importantly, have a right to do something about it.
|
|
One of the World’s Largest Private Prison Corporations Lied About Separating Families and Tried to Silence Us with a Lawsuit. They Failed. Read on Medium.com |
|
|
|
|
How a Private Prison Company’s Defamation Suit Against One of Its Critics Backfired. Read on Mother Jones |
|
|
'The best defense is the truth;' Private prison company sues activist for libel and loses. Watch on MSNBC |
|
|
|
|
Prison Company Sues Activist for Writing About Family Separation. Read on Newsweek |
|
|
Some Frontline Partners We Supported (that you can too!)As impact investors, capital is our primary organizing tool. However, we believe that achieving social equity and sustainability requires political and cultural change right alongside economic change — which in turn take both time and money. As a result, we elect to make a small number of philanthropic and political contributions each year to holistically support the infrastructure needed for lasting change.
|
Deepen our commitment to JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) with the help of a strategic partner, while writing about critical innovations and opportunities for equity in the impact investing field on Medium and Forbes. Consistently share capacity building opportunities we’re excited about, like VC Include’s inaugural fellowship for BIPOC Fund I managers. Applications can be submitted before January 14th here. Launch the Climate Justice Investment Collective, a forum for impact-focused investors to identify and collaborate on financial investments that have the dual purpose of addressing the climate crisis, and increasing racial, gender and/or economic equity, with a particular emphasis on racial equity. Founding Members will be accepted until January 15, 2021, and questions about joining can be directed to morgan[at]candidegroup.com. Publish “The Financial Activist Playbook for Racial Justice” with our sister nonprofit Real Money Moves. You can support the book production here! And of course — continue our mission of driving capital to game-changing companies and funds. Feel free to reach out with any opportunities we should know about here.
|
|
|
|
|
