We are enraged at the violence directed against Black people in America and the murders perpetrated by police forces, whose supposed purpose is to protect all citizens. We are also grateful to all the people who are protesting and risking their lives for change.

We acknowledge our complicity in all this suffering. As bearers of class and wealth privilege, we must locate our position in this system of oppression and put our skills as professional investors in the service of Black communities, justice, and reparation.

As an investment firm, we try to invite in the truth that wealth in this country was built on the backs of black and brown people. We are trying to push in the other direction. We press large employers to be more inclusive and pay people equally regardless of race. We do not invest in the private prison sector, predatory lenders, and for-profit education, and we have helped to lead efforts to get cities, states, and big banks to divest from the prison-industrial complex. We acknowledge that, left to its own devices, financial capitalism exploits racist inequality and profits alongside white supremacy.

In a capitalist system, the momentum and staying power of struggles come from moving significant sums of money - whether that be towards non-profits led by people of color doing work on the ground, private investment vehicles that fund entrepreneurs of color, choosing to work with companies led by people of color, or organizations that hold corporations accountable for their behavior.

We are not doing enough to enact our conviction that Black Lives Matter. We are seeking opportunities to expand our work in solidarity with movement leaders. And we are working with investment industry peers on calls to action around racial justice. We will report to you about this work and we welcome your engagement and critique. We also invite you to consider what the nexus of white supremacy, Black life, and financial capitalism means for you.

We would be delighted to discuss these issues with you, and we encourage you to consider donations to the following groups whom we have supported:

• National Bail Out: National Bail Out is a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a movement to support Black people and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration.

• Movement For Black Lives (M4BL): M4BL provides funding and coordination for local and regional Black Lives Matter organizing. The network is made up of more than 150 organizations including Color of Change, Black Movement Law Project, and Black Lives Matter Network. M4BL provides radical and principled policy muscle for long-term organizing, and Zevin Asset Management has benefited from their thoughtful economic platform and other policy work.

• Families for Justice As Healing: This Roxbury-based group is working to end the incarceration of women and girls in Massachusetts, leading work to shift resources away from the criminal punishment system and into Black and Brown communities.

• Right to the City Alliance: Right to the City is building a national movement to halt displacement of low-income communities and communities of color from their historic urban neighborhoods. In Boston, this national network includes City Life/Vida Urbana and Chinese Progressive Association.

• The Southern Power Fund: The Fund is an effort of several BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) groups collaborating to raise $10 million in the next 60 days to distribute to on-the-ground organizations with current needs in this moment and long-term organizing strategies. Donations can be made via the Highlander Center.

• Black Visions Collective: BLVC is working specifically in the Twin Cities and across Minnesota to organize, build political power, and work toward thriving for Black people. This is an enormous moment. Minneapolis's city council has pledged to disband the police force and forge a new public safety model. Proven organizing muscle will be critical to hold that process accountable and pursue further steps. Black Visions has been inundated with donations of late, but the group highlights other movement groups which need support.

We also use this opportunity to call out a few more organizations to whom we have made donations to this year in an attempt to push funds out to groups effecting change.

Regarding the COVID crisis, our philanthropic response highlights those groups that focus on those that our country marginalizes such as the undocumented and those paid minimum wage at the best of times. These groups include the One Fair Wage Service Workers Emergency Relief Fund, the Freedom for Immigrants National Bond Fund , and the National Domestic Workers Alliance Coronavirus Care Fund.

And we recognize that the best way to stop the country from sliding ever more backward is to fund political organizations. Along with many of our clients, we are supporting the Movement Voter Project  as well as the Campus Election Engagement Project.

In Solidarity, 

Sonia Kowal
President
Zevin Asset Management

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