As we reported each in October and December of 2023, the nice work of the Fearless Fund has come beneath assault from right-wing extremists. The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) which is led by anti-affirmative activist Edward Blum, is similar conservative group that satisfied the Supreme Court docket to reject affirmative motion standards for faculty admissions in June 2023.
For the reason that Supreme Court docket choice, AAER has expanded its scope to focus on seemingly all efforts to advertise social justice and fairness. The Fearless Fund is a enterprise capital fund that gives pre-seed, seed-level, or Sequence A financing to companies led by ladies of colour. As their web site states, “Our mission is to bridge the hole in enterprise capital funding for girls of colour founders constructing scalable, development aggressive corporations.”
The AAER claims that solely permitting ladies of colour to use for the grants is discrimination.
After some delay, the reason for the Fearless Fund is being taken up by nationwide media. For the reason that court docket actions towards the Fearless Fund are going down in Atlanta, The Atlanta Journal-Structure, the paper of report for that metropolis has been following the story since summer season of 2023.
The AAER and like-minded organizations are attacking not solely organizations that present funding to underserved communities. For the reason that Fearless Fund go well with, quite a few related lawsuits have sprung up throughout the nation. Many of those authorized actions goal Range, Fairness, and Inclusion (DEI) packages carried out by quite a few companies. AAER believes that companies wouldn’t have the correct to coach workers. Apparently, AAER and the remaining have forgotten that companies are folks, too, and folks have the correct to free speech.
“They’re attempting to close everyone down, however utilizing us,” Fearless Fund’s co-founder Arian Simone mentioned in her new podcast that launched final week. “They’re attempting to cease all range, fairness and inclusion. It’s an assault on that.”
Previously few weeks, the story has been picked up by Newseek and CNN. Hyperlinks to their tales are offered beneath.
Hyperlink to Newsweek Story: https://time.com/6554929/fearless-fund-lawsuit-arian-simone-ayana-parsons-interview/
Hyperlink to CNN Story:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/us/fearless-fund-challenge-injunction-reaj/index.html
Hyperlink to story within the Atlanta Journal-Structure:
Fearless Fund Story, Philanthropy Girls 12/19/23
Fearless Fund Story, Philanthropy Girls 10/30/23
One: Encourage Entry Launches Platform to Move Philanthropic Capital to Companies Led by Girls and Individuals of Coloration
Encourage Entry introduced the launch of a brand new platform that facilitates the usage of philanthropic capital to fund corporations led by ladies and folks of colour. Encourage Entry is a pioneer in investing that focuses on this realm of underrepresented founders, narrowing the gender and racial funding hole,
Encourage Entry seeks to reform the normal funding mannequin by activating the $234 billion in charitable {dollars} at present sitting unallocated in donor suggested funds (DAFs), after which use this inactive cash to put money into corporations which have traditionally lacked entry to funding capital.
By utilizing the platform offered by Encourage Entry, people can direct charitable {dollars} from their DAFs or from tax-deductible donations into ventures led by ladies and minority founders who’re shaping the following era of change-making corporations, whereas additionally gaining returns for future giving.
“As we speak, lower than 3% of funding capital goes to ladies and folks of colour, which is a startling statistic,” remarks Patrice King Brickman, founder and CEO of Encourage Entry. “By proscribing monetary entry to this group of exceptional leaders, we lose the potential for highly effective new corporations which can be fixing issues in inventive and efficient methods. At Encourage Entry, we’re keen about mobilizing the $234B mountain of unallocated capital to maneuver the needle on the disproportionate circulate of funding capital that at present exists with a view to shut the gender and racial funding hole.”
HOW INSPIRE ACCESS WORKS
- Make a charitable contribution to Encourage Entry from private funds, DAFs, or personal foundations.
- Suggest the funding you need Encourage Entry to make in an underrepresented founder by way of a working capital mortgage, a direct fairness funding, or restricted partnership place in a personal fairness fund.
- Any monetary returns return to your charitable account, to gasoline future giving or will be reinvested to proceed working to shut the funding hole.
Encourage Entry has already invested in a roster of the following era of legendary corporations and goals to develop funded organizations all through 2024.
ABOUT INSPIRE ACCESS
Encourage Entry seeks to shut the gender and racial funding hole by investing philanthropic {dollars} to fund corporations led by feminine and numerous founders who’ve traditionally lacked funding capital. Encourage Entry permits people to make use of funds sitting of their Donor Suggested Fund (DAFs) to direct investments in for-profit corporations of their selecting, with the return flowing again to these private charitable entities to make a fair better affect.
For the complete Press Launch:
To achieve the web site:
https://www.inspireaccess.org/
Two: Athletes Limitless Expands Advisory Board with Main Girls in Media, Advocacy, and Enterprise
At a time when it appears alternatives for girls are shrinking, one group has adopted by way of on a dedication to elevating ladies into positions of management.
Athletes Limitless (AU) introduced a full slate of girls as the most recent members of its advisory board:
Deena Bahri was StockX’s first-ever chief advertising and was named to the Forbes CMO Subsequent Checklist in 2021 which acknowledges 50 modern entrepreneurs who remodeled enterprise amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Beth Brooke, the Former International Vice-Chair, EY, has been named eleven occasions to Forbes “World’s 100 Most Highly effective Girls” (MPW) record, and is a member of the Indiana Basketball Corridor of Fame.
Molly Levinson, Chief Government Officer of The Levinson Group Levinson. She was one of many strategic architects of the historic U.S Girls’s Nationwide Crew gamers’ equal pay effort.
Reshma Saujani is the founding father of Women Who Code and Mothers First. Throughout her tenure at Women Who Code, 300,000 by way of in-person pc science schooling programming.
Pam Wasserstein is the President of Vox Media, the place she oversees all editorial manufacturers and content material creation. She acquired a 2018 Spirit of ABNY Award recognizing distinguished service to New York Metropolis, and was named to Crain’s New York’s 40 Underneath 40 class of 2017.
Danielle Weisberg & Carly Zakin collaborated in 2012 to create theSkimm, a day by day publication geared toward sparking the curiosity of millennials who typically keep away from conventional information sources. Since launching, the Skimm has grown to 250 staffers and seven million subscribers.
Athletes Limitless believes the normal mannequin of professional sports activities just isn’t constructed to deliver out the perfect in athletes, or to ship essentially the most to its followers. So it developed a brand new paradigm for professional athletes and sports activities – and for everybody.
AU is utilizing this modern player-centric mannequin to create leagues throughout sports activities. Since we launched Athletes Limitless on March 3, 2020, we’ve seen success in our ladies’s skilled softball, volleyball, basketball and lacrosse leagues, and we’ve got extra thrilling ventures on the horizon.
Here’s a hyperlink to the complete article:
Three: NYC Mayor Adams Unveils $43 Plan to Lead on Gender Fairness
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams introduced, “Girls Ahead NYC: An Motion Plan for Gender Fairness.” That is an funding of greater than $43 directed in direction of making New York Metropolis a nationwide chief on gender fairness, together with for transgender and gender expansive New Yorkers, with the bold objective of turning into essentially the most women-forward metropolis in the USA.
This system will mix municipal funding with personal donations, personal and public partnerships, tutorial establishments, and federal grant funding. The plan’s technique is to attach ladies to skilled improvement, the objective to cut back present gender disparities between women and men. It would additionally work to cut back limitations to sexual, reproductive, and persistent well being care, in addition to diminish gender-based violence towards ladies. This system will function with a holistic strategy, together with housing providers, that can even serve previously incarcerated ladies and survivors of home and gender-based violence.
The necessity for packages like this stays acute. Nationwide, ladies throughout the nation are nonetheless going through systemic, gender-based inequities. In New York State, ladies are paid 86 cents for each greenback a person is paid — 64 cents for Black ladies and 57 cents for Hispanic ladies. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, virtually 250,000 moms left or downshifted their jobs in New York Metropolis on account of lack of entry to high quality baby care. Black ladies are 4 occasions extra more likely to die throughout childbirth than white ladies. Lastly, 75 % of girls in New York Metropolis reported being harassed throughout their day by day commutes in 2018.
The one-stop store web site ladies.nyc, has been re-launched andis accessible to New Yorkers to study extra in regards to the motion plan and entry metropolis providers to help ladies and households. The motion plan was introduced, as a part of Mayor Adams’ State of the Metropolis handle. The motion plan builds on the Adams administration’s report of investments and insurance policies that uplift and help ladies throughout New York Metropolis.
For a for much longer and extra detailed description of the plan, please use this hyperlink:
4: Main Femtech Firm Companions to Present Higher Prenatal Care
Sonio as we speak introduced that Pediatrix Medical Group, the U.S.’s main supplier of extremely specialised well being care for girls, youngsters and infants, has deployed Sonio, a cloud-based, AI-powered prenatal care reporting and picture administration answer. This new know-how is meant to simplify and streamline ultrasound workflow, whereas enhancing high quality assurance and medical outcomes, leading to an improved expertise for each sufferers and suppliers.
Girls comprise 50% of the staff and 65% of the board.
This new know-how works to simplify and streamline the ultrasound course of. It additionally enhances high quality assurance and medical outcomes, leading to an improved expertise for each sufferers and suppliers.
“We’re excited to work with Sonio,” mentioned Dr. Alan Fishman, Pediatrix Specialty Medical Officer for Maternal-Fetal Medication (MFM). “Pediatrix has lengthy been dedicated to accelerating well being care innovation. We’re proud to be the primary MFM apply in the USA to implement Sonio’s totally built-in answer.”
Delivery defects happen in roughly 3% of infants born within the US. In virtually half of those instances, the problems had not been detected in the course of the ultrasound. Sonio’s mission is to enhance maternal and youngsters’s well being by way of entry to high quality care, technological innovation, and medical experience.
Using AI enhancements scale back workflow challenges and allow seamless integration with digital well being data (EHR), image archiving and communication programs (PACS), whereas offering AI-enabled viewing and reporting.
As an organization, Sonio’s objective is to help practitioners across the globe in prenatal screenings and analysis by making certain the completeness of their examination with elevated accuracy. Sonio Detect, the FDA-cleared AI medical machine powering the complete platform, allows healthcare professionals to boost the bar on high quality management of ultrasound exams whereas making certain improved effectivity general. In real-time, it routinely detects and views anatomical buildings inside supported views and verifies the standard standards of the supported views.
About Sonio:
Sonio’s AI-enhanced¹ software program empowers prenatal sonographers and ultrasound readers and assists them in performing prenatal examinations that meet the very best high quality requirements, whereas making certain the completeness of every examination, streamlining their workflow, and growing the accuracy of prenatal diagnoses. Sonio’s software program is the product of greater than 5 years of analysis and collaboration between main consultants within the areas of maternal-fetal medication and AI.
To study extra about Sonio, use the hyperlink beneath:
To learn the complete press launch, use the hyperlink beneath:
https://sonio.ai/information/pediatrix-first-customer-usa/
5: The Standing Quo Continues to Stagnate for Girls of Coloration in Enterprise Capital
The intent right here at PW for this week’s entry was to hyperlink to a Enterprise Insider article in regards to the lack of Enterprise Capital (VC) funding accessible to ladies. Sadly, it’s behind a paywall.
In an try to maybe discover one other supply with the identical data, I performed a Google search: decline of enterprise capital for girls. The outcomes had been extraordinarily disheartening. There have been a few entries from late 2023 and early 2024, however there have been quite a few hyperlinks to articles on the subject. The issue is that the articles referenced date again to early 2023, to 2022, 2021, 2020, and one from 2016. All of them just about say the identical factor, that the proportion of VC allotted to ladies is within the low–the very low–single digits. The intense spot is the Enterprise Insider article which pegs the proportion at 2.8%, which is definitely an enchancment to the numbers cited for prior years.
Linked-In
This can be a hyperlink to a weblog/submit on Linked-In. The submit comes from Michelle McDaid, and Olivia Coates-James added a prolonged remark. In it she acknowledged that the proportion fell beneath 3% final 12 months, which doesn’t fairly sq. with the opposite articles. Regardless, low single-digit is paltry, to say the least.
From the Harvard Kennedy Faculty, Lady and Public Coverage Program.
The web page just isn’t dated, however it doesn’t matter as a result of the conclusions are the identical.
One fascinating level will be present in one of many subsections labeled “Entrepreneurship Rationalization”. These subsections must be opened by clicking on the down arrow. Right here is how entrepreneur clarify the low proportion:
“Analysis exhibits that girls are usually much less risk-taking than males, which might be related to each their decrease charges of entrepreneurship and their clustering in much less high-growth sectors for his or her ventures. Analysis has additionally documented ladies’s decrease propensity to ask and negotiate in some contexts, however not all. Furthermore, ladies are extra pessimistic about fundraising, which is doubtlessly on account of buyers’ differential remedy of girls vs. males”.
In different phrases, “blame the sufferer”. However then most entrepreneurs are males.
Quick Firm
Lastly, here’s a hyperlink to an article from Quick Firm, dated October 2023: What Share of VC Funds Goes to Black Girls:
Associated:
Asserting New Documentary Work from Audacious Girls
Mastercard Invests Hundreds of thousands in Enterprise Capital with Fearless Fund
