Our Activism

 

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 takes both time and money. That’s why as a firm, we contribute both. Read on to hear about our activism efforts and philanthropy.

 

Your Bank Could Be Funding Private Prisons | NowThis

While our advocacy work covers many social issues, recently Candide Group has been especially recognized for our work addressing the private prison industry’s role in family separation and mass incarceration. We are extremely proud of our work as part of the Families Belong Together Coalition, which helped highlight the role of consumer-facing banks in the private prison industry, and opportunities to engage in social investing as an alternative to making money off of locking people up for profit.

In response to our ongoing advocacy — and strong beliefs in favor of ending profiting off of incarceration and immigrant detention — a private prison company filed a lawsuit against both Candide Group and Founding Partner Morgan Simon, claiming that certain of our statements on Forbes.com regarding their involvement in family detention and lobbying activities were “defamatory.” 

We are pleased to share that with the great legal counsel of Davis Wright Tremaine, we won dismissal of this case and subsequent appeals and have issued a press release about its significance. However, given CoreCivic appealed, the case continues. 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. 

PHILANTHROPY

Candide Group is not a grant-making organization and does not accept proposals, however we do make a small number of philanthropic and political contributions out of a DAF each year to holistically support the infrastructure needed for lasting change. The logos provided herein are the intellectual property of the owner and the company's mentioned are not affiliated with Candide Group.

 
 

Organizations that have received support from Candide Group include…

  • Alianza Ceibo, an indigenous-led Ecuadorian non-profit working towards the defense of indigenous territory, cultural survival, and the building of viable solutions-based alternatives to rainforest destruction.

  • Centro De Derecho de Migrante, supporting Mexico-based migrant workers to defend and protect their rights as they move between their home communities in Mexico and their workplaces in the United States. 

  • Chicana Latina Foundation, providing college scholarships to Latina women regardless of immigration status
.

  • Congressional Progressive Caucus Center, committed to helping progressives, both inside and outside of Congress, to work together more effectively, in order to bring all of us closer to making good on The Progressive Promise.

  • Cooperation Jackson, building a solidarity economy in Jackson, Mississippi, anchored by a network of cooperatives and worker-owned, democratically self-managed enterprises.

  • Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), building the power of South Asian low wage immigrant workers, youth, and families in New York City to win economic and educational justice, and civil and immigrant rights.

  • Destiny Arts, inspiring and igniting social change through the arts.

  • Divine Onkar, extending hands, hearts and funds to poor and disadvantaged people in India.

  • El Refugio, a ministry of hospitality and visitation serving immigrants at Stewart Detention Center and their loved ones.

  • Embodiment Project, a San Francisco- based street dance theater company that intersects hip hop, documentary theater, live song and choreo-poetry to illuminate narratives silenced by inequities and inspire critical conversations and healing.

    Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization, based in Montgomery, Alabama, that provides legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and others who may have been denied a fair trial.

  • ERASE Racism NY, a regional organization that leads public policy advocacy campaigns and related initiatives to promote racial equity in areas such as housing, public school education, and community development.

  • Families Belong Together, vowing not to rest until the Administration reunifies every family it has torn apart and is held accountable for creating this humanitarian crisis.


  • Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a grassroots, membership organization run by returning citizens who are dedicated to ending the disenfranchisement and discrimination against people with convictions.

  • Freedom for Immigrants (West County Detention Facility Community Fund), directly paying for bonds and assisting with family expenses, including necessities like transportation to the detention facility, and costs for phone calls with loved ones who are detained in Richmond, CA.

  • FreeFrom, a national organization, based in Los Angeles, whose mission is to dismantle the nexus between intimate partner violence and financial insecurity.

  • Global Village Project, the only school in the country dedicated to educating refugee girls who have had their education interrupted.

  • House Of Tulip, a Community Land Trust creating housing solutions for Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming people in Louisiana.

  • Just BE, a Black women business network founded in 2016 that provides Black women entrepreneurs access to a collective marketplace and business ecosystem.

  • Laal NYC, a community organization dedicated to providing resources and economic opportunities based the needs of Bangladeshi women in the Bronx.

  • Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival, a nonprofit organization that provides artistic opportunities for girls & women in hip-hop culture.

  • Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, organizing communities impacted by the criminal justice system and advocates to release incarcerated people, to restore human and civil rights, and to reunify families and communities. 

  • Mandela Partners, a non-profit organization that works in partnership with local residents, family farmers, and community-based businesses to improve health, create wealth, and build assets through local food enterprises in low-income communities.

  • Movement Voter Project, a fund for local organizing in key 2018 state races
.

  • Music Workers Alliance, an organization of, by, and for independent musicians and DJs, working to improve working conditions and amplify voices in the political and economic decisions that affect their lives.

  • National Mama's Bail Out, a collective effort from several organizations in the Movement for Black Lives to bring mamas home on Mother's Day, and call attention to the inequity of the US bail system.

  • Native Organizers Alliance, a training and organizing network dedicated to building the capacity of Native tribes, traditional societies, and community groups to make transformational change.

  • NEO Philanthropy/New Georgia Project, a non-partisan effort to register and civically engage the rising electorate in our state.

  • NESRI, working to build a broad movement for economic and social rights, including health, housing, education and work with dignity.

  • The New Israel Fund, helping Israel live up to its founders’ vision of a society that ensures complete equality to all its inhabitants.

  • Peralta Colleges Foundation, supporting academic excellence and success throughout the District by building partnerships in the region to raise funds for scholarships to committed students and financial support to the four colleges that comprise the district.

  • Planting Justice, which has built over 450 edible permaculture gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area, worked with five high-schools to develop food justice curricula and created 40 green jobs in the food justice movement for folks transitioning from prison.  

  • Presente.org, the largest online advocacy group for Latin American immigrants in the United States.

  • Rainforest Action Network, taking action against the the companies and industries driving deforestation and climate change.

  • Responsible Endowments Coalition, working with students, alumni, and other university stakeholders to make endowments a force for social, environmental, and economic justice.

  • Seeds of Peace, training next-gen leaders in global communities divided by conflict
.

  • Sogorea Te Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people.

  • Tanka Fund, a nonprofit located in Kyle, South Dakota, working to convert one million acres of virgin prairie to regenerative agriculture built around a buffalo-based economy.

  • Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, organizing Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve.

  • The Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), a campaign hub for organizations working at the intersection of racial justice and Wall Street accountability, and host of the Responsible Endowments Coalition
.

  • The East Oakland Collective, a membership cohort of millennials+ invested in making impact in Deep East Oakland.

  • The Restaurant Opportunities Center, organizing over 25,000 restaurant workers nationwide to advocate for rights like fair wages and freedom from sexual harassment
.

  • Transform Finance, which builds a bridge between finance and social justice through ongoing investor and activist training and education.


  • Zoo Labs, a not-for-profit accelerator that bridges art, entrepreneurship, and capital. Their mission is to invest in artists so they can shape culture in order to build equity in their communities.