The Tuesday following Thanksgiving has been dubbed Giving Tuesday, as counterweight to the ever-expanding shopping frenzy. We at Zevin Asset Management take this opportunity to highlight a few organizations that we have supported, not only today but also throughout the past year.
United for a Fair Economy supports social movements working for a strong, equitable, and sustainable economy. Founded as Share the Wealth in 1994, focusing primarily on the worker/executive pay gap, United for a Fair Economy has expanded to provide a number of projects and services, including the creation of the Responsible Wealth project, a coalition of people who are the beneficiaries of wealth inequality and believe in speaking out against these systems of disparity.
Women’s Lunch Place is a day shelter in Boston for women experiencing homelessness or poverty, providing hot food, individualized services, and a safe and welcoming space. Since its founding in 1982, WLP’s mission has been to treat women with dignity, understanding, and respect, and to meet each woman where she is with an individualized approach. In addition to healthy meals, staff provide on-site medical care, opportunities for creative expression, a resource center with computers, advocacy for women seeking housing and employment, and more.
Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE) organizes residents of Roxbury, MA and works with community organizers to offer resources to eradicate environmental racism and classism, create sustainable communities, and achieve environmental justice. ACE aims to build on the power of communities of color and low-income communities that are most affected by issues such as climate change and transit inequality. ACE provides legal services, public education, organizing for transit riders and victims of displacement due to urban development, and youth empowerment programming, among other services and programs.
In previous years we have also highlighted a number of other organizations, including:
• Better Future Project
• The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network and their Beyond Bond Fund
• Enroot
• Grassroots International
• Health Law Advocates
• Massachusetts Peace Action
• MassVOTE
• The National Lawyers Guild Foundation
• The Rosenberg Fund for Children
Additionally, many of our staff are individually involved in charitable endeavors. As one example, Pat Miguel Tomaino serves as a volunteer member of the Investment Committee of Boston Ujima Project. In that role, Pat has helped raise Ujima’s first community-based loan fund and vet its first loan made to Cero, a composting worker co-op, in April 2020. Boston Ujima Project is a place-based fund investing in Boston’s communities of color, and controlled by members of those communities, to support businesses, real estate, and infrastructure projects that would otherwise struggle to find financing. Ujima plans to invest $5 million from its first fund for local projects, from fresh food to energy efficiency. Pat’s expertise in business sustainability and impact investing is especially helpful on the Ujima team.
And finally, the work to combat white supremacy and support black lives in the U.S. is challenging and ongoing. Read more about what we think and what we are doing on our website.
As always, if you have any questions about the work we do here at Zevin Asset Management (investment-related or philanthropic), please let me know. And please let us know your most admired organizations.