Our team has steadily grown and now includes professionals from a wide array of backgrounds and perspectives. As a company, Candide Group carries policies to ensure fair and competitive compensation for all staff and strives to create a supportive, inclusive environment where people can live their values.
About Candide Group
Candide Group leverages capital to support the transition away from an extractive global economy to one that is built upon values of social justice and sustainability. We support families, foundations, and other clients who want to flow their money to social justice-focused companies, funds, and vital organizations building a new economy.
As a Registered Investment Advisor, we focus on private assets — debt, private equity, real assets, and innovative new structures — where there are both real capital needs and opportunities for mission-aligned clients to build impactful portfolios. We recognize that achieving our values will require an intense reorganization of society, and thus the pursuit of multiple strategies, in addition to our core line of work pursuing transformative impact through investing, we also leverage traditional advocacy through active participation in activism campaigns, work with other organizations about how they can better align their money and values and maintain a thriving presence in media to affect change.
The past few years have been a time of phenomenal growth and development for Candide Group, and since inception we have directed over $240M into over 140 companies and funds thus far (as of October 2024). Over half our portfolio is led by people of color and women - in general, we have a strong commitment to equity and inclusion both within our team and the teams we invest in. As we continue to add more relationships of families, foundations and institutions who want their money working for justice, our team is growing to serve those clients.
Olamina Fund
In October 2019, Candide Group launched the Olamina Fund as a $40M national intermediary loan fund with the mission to address the historic lack of access to capital in American communities that have faced decades of divestment and intentional extraction, and in many cases, have been abused by predatory financial actors. Olamina promotes racial and economic justice, creates access to capital, shifts traditional power dynamics, supports innovative models, and demonstrates community-centered practices in finance. To date, we have invested $42M through 27 loans across 23 relationships. We focus on relationship-based investments, primarily in the Deep South, Indian Country, and Rural America. Our investments support permanent affordability in housing and commercial real estate, power-sharing, land-based liberation, self-determination, cultural preservation, and restoration and healing.
Community-Based Leadership
Olamina was built around the strategy that community leaders know best how to create opportunity and empowerment for themselves. As such, Olamina is structured to empower the community we serve by making them the decision-makers for the Fund. The Community Advisory Board has the power to approve investments and sets Olamina’s strategy alongside the Managing Director.
This Position
The Managing Director is responsible for the overall mission and financial performance of the Olamina Fund through its strategic growth, stakeholder engagement, and business operations.
The Managing Director will initially be responsible for growing the Fund up to $60M over the next two years by building and maintaining relationships with mission-aligned investors. Other responsibilities include supporting and collaborating with the Fund’s Community Advisory Board (“CAB”), managing the Fund’s relationship with its investors and investees, overseeing the loan origination and underwriting processes, as well as fund administration.
This position is unique for an investment professional who is looking to advance racial and economic justice and be a leader in the field by representing Olamina Fund and Candide Group at conferences and speaking engagements, sharing key learnings of the Fund, and collaborating with movement partners on other innovative models that demonstrate equitable investment and governance structures.
Responsibilities
Fund Development (40%)
● Fundraising management
○ Finalize and manage Olamina’s fundraising campaign from investor cultivation to solicitation.
○ Build and maintain trusted relationships with existing and prospective investors.
○ Solicit grants, recoverable grants, PRI investments, and other debt capital, ensuring alignment with Fund goals.
● Movement leadership
○ Represent Olamina in national dialogues through workgroups and movement circles, serving as a thought leader and advocate.
○ Support the advancement of innovative models through knowledge sharing and participation in collaborative investments.
○ Collaborate with Candide Group team members to craft and share impactful stories and lessons learned from Olamina’s work.
Fund Management (30%)
● Governance
○ Build and maintain trusted relationships with Community Advisory Board members to facilitate their engagement in Fund activities.
○ Collaborate with the CAB on identifying and prioritizing investment opportunities and support their participation in the Credit Committee.
○ Lead and facilitate quarterly CAB meetings, as well as recruit and onboard new members through term cycles.
● Investor Relations
○ Provide oversight for the preparation and delivery of presentations for existing and prospective investors.
○ Collaborate with Candide Group team members to contribute to Olamina’s annual impact report and other investor communications.
○ Identify and leverage opportunities for collaborative learning and community building with existing and prospective investors.
Portfolio Development (20%)
● Investment Oversight
○ Supervise the process of moving investment opportunities from Olamina’s waterway to the portfolio, working closely with members of Candide Group’s investment team.
○ Guide and engage with strategic partners and members of the CAB to identify new investment opportunities.
○ Represent Olamina at relevant conferences and workshops to identify new investment opportunities and strengthen external relationships.
○ Oversee the evaluation of investment feasibility and contribute to the diligence expertise to the process; delegate detailed investment analysis to members of Candide Group’s investment due diligence team.
● Process Leadership
○ Provide oversight of the investment origination and underwriting processes, ensuring alignment with Fund guidelines and objectives.
○ Support the negotiation of investment terms and agreements, as needed, relying on the expertise of the investment team.
Portfolio Management (10%)
● Lead the team in tracking social and economic trends that may impact the portfolio community, providing strategic insights for adaptive decision-making.
● Ensure quarterly performance evaluation and reporting of individual loans and overall portfolio is conducted in accordance with Fund guidelines, with execution support from the broader team.
● Act as a resource and facilitator for institutions facing challenges, supporting them holistically and in collaboration with the broader team.
The Ideal Candidate:
We believe that organizations that are led by people from the communities they serve are ultimately able to manage resources and risk more effectively. As such, the ideal candidate will be comfortable working with diverse populations in a transparent way and will center the needs of our community. The candidate must also have a demonstrated commitment to advancing racial and economic justice. Specific desired skillsets include:
● Active in social and/or economic movement spaces.
● Experience in fund management is strongly preferred, but not required.
● Experience with general business operations including budgeting, financial management, people operations (supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture), strategic planning, and project management.
● Experience cultivating and maintaining partnerships with potential and existing stakeholders, investors, and other members of the impact investing, philanthropy, and economic justice community.
● Experience fundraising for multi-million-dollar organizations, with a network of private investors and foundations compatible with Olamina Fund strongly preferred, but not required.
● Experience managing early-stage organizations.
● Experience fostering a team toward successful results.
● Comfort working independently, with high-quality standards for work products.
● Experience with public speaking, panel discussions, and interviews is a plus.
Location:
The preference is for this position to be located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we will prioritize those applications. However, we are potentially open to other locations nationally if the skill set is compatible. We are a mostly remote team with monthly meetings for Bay Area staff and full-team gatherings once or twice a year, which may require travel. Ideally, if Bay Area-based, this role will attend monthly meetings in Oakland.
Hours, Compensation, and Benefits:
This is a full-time exempt position. The salary range is $165,000.00 - $176,000.00 commensurate with experience. Additionally, we offer benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance, an employer-contributed 401K, 15 days of PTO, and our office is closed the first week of July and the last week of December.
To Apply:
Please email the following to hiring@candidegroup.com and include “NAME – Managing Director Olamina Fund Application” in the subject line:
● A cover letter indicating the reasons for your interest in this position, what prior experience you bring that would serve you in the role, and why you think you’d be a great fit.
● Your resume.
● There will be an independent assignment if you are invited to a second interview.
● Please note that before extending a final offer, we will ask for three references.
The deadline for applying is Friday, February 7, 2024.
Candide Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, including bilingual and bicultural individuals, formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. We do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.