FROM CHARITY TO JUSTICE
It is long past time to realize the promise of Reconstruction.
As the engine of SRF’s 10-year strategy to scale the capitalization and capacity of Southern communities, FundONE is poised to lead the way towards a future rooted in justice, equity, and a more perfect Union.
The Ownership and New Equity Fund (FundONE), a fund that invests at the thesis development stage of first-time impact fund managers, is purpose-built to finally fulfill the promises of Reconstruction. A core initiative of the Southern Reconstruction Fund (SRF), FundONE catalyzes novel models of ownership and development by providing “(W)Health Capital” to highly-capable but thinly-capitalized impact funds, projects and coalitions across the American South.
In contrast to the more extractive forms of traditional capital investments, our equity is patient, affordable and flexible, giving our investees the time, space and trust to fully direct and pursue their own visions of impact and prosperity.
About Us
Impact Alpha Thesis
FundONE capitalizes highly-capable but under-resourced projects and coalitions across the American South by accelerating investment in emerging funds, supporting the geographic expansion of established place-based strategies, and launching proprietary vehicles to address unmet needs in the market. We leverage our proximity to community and deal-sourcing capabilities across Southern communities to generate significant impact-alpha returns.
(W)Health Capital
Traditional philanthropic grants and investment start and stop. (W)Health Capital walks alongside communities as they rise to health, wealth and prosperity. Our investments address immediate needs, dismantle the forces that perpetuate poverty and ensure people across the South have the opportunity to move forward for the long-term.
Our What
FundONE fills a gap in a broader system of investors and investment strategies focused on closing the racial wealth gap, increasing access and opportunity for Black and brown fund managers, and contributing to a more inclusive economy. FundONE’s investments focus on reimagining markets, capitalizing and catalyzing novel and restorative investment strategies that have been marginalized by mainstream capital markets, and capitalizing highly capable but under-resourced impact funds, projects and coalitions across the South. We position investment to create systems change that results in better, impact-driven, equitable outcomes.
Our Why
Because racial economic exclusion was so forcefully and consistently applied in the South, many southern cities present outsized investable opportunities that have the potential to generate deep impact and quality returns for the community. Yet, equity — the capital market’s equivalent of a trusted handshake — remains largely distributed along racial lines. There are entire classes of wealth-building opportunities that remain out of reach for many across the American South. What’s needed is a trusted and scaled investment partner that can provide the necessary equity capital, connections and collaborative spaces across communities to ensure that on-ramps for (W)Health Capital are built and sustained.
Our How
FundONE’s impact-first investment thesis is rooted in ownership and building together. As a seed investor into novel investment strategies at the proprietary, sponsor and GP levels, we utilize a restorative equity model for investment that is patient, affordable, and flexible. Each individual transaction will be pursued not as a stand-alone, but rather as part of a broader holistic and impact-driven restoration strategy.
Core Values
COLLECTIVE ACTION
We engage multiple partners — community, government, private, philanthropic and religious -- to generate resources for sustainable impact.
LONG-TERM FOCUS
Our focus is long-term, and our funding is flexible. Investments are sustained over multiple years, build capacity over time and target multigenerational change.
PUBLIC VALUE
We set goals that articulate their larger value to society, not to individual stakeholders. Establishing common goals across sectors promotes prosperity for all.
CO-DEFINED OUTCOMES
Our leaders and partner organizations are vetted from within the community. Our outcomes are co-defined and designed for systemic change.
COMMUNITY-DRIVEN CHANGE
We don’t set agendas, we invest in solutions. We increase the capacity of trusted leaders to create change in their own communities.
MULTI-GENERATIONAL IMPACT
Every life changed matters, but we must seed change across generations to end deeply-entrenched cycles of poverty and restore justice for the long term.
Areas of Impact
Where We Do
FundONE enables large-scale, transformational impact-first investment in re-imagining whole community health across the American South. We do not take a passive approach to investing. Most of our work will take place in communities, not in an office, and all of our investments are by invitation only.
We focus strategically on southern states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. We are considering these priority cities and surrounding rural areas: Atlanta (GA), Baltimore (MD), Charlotte (NC), Houston (TX), Jackson (MS) Louisville (KY), Miami (FL), Nashville (TN), New Orleans (LA), Richmond (VA), Savannah (GA).
Core Impact Sectors
& Impact Measurement
FundONE is designed to catalyze positive long-term population level outcomes in the areas of Health and Human Services, Economic Mobility and Inclusion, Workforce and Education, Climate and Environment and Public Kinship. These areas align with investment priorities advanced by the philanthropic investments being made by SRF. Ultimately, SRF and FundONE aspire for all people across the American South to experience whole community health, wealth, and resilience.
