AJL Foundation

"A major takeaway? Endowments must move beyond passive commitments and take bold steps to integrate sustainability, racial justice, and financial stewardship into their strategies."

The Intentional Endowments Network released the 2024 Endowment Impact Benchmark (EIB) report, offering key insights into how #endowments and #foundations advance sustainable investing. This year’s public participants include Warren Wilson College, The McConnell Foundation, AJL Foundation, The Russell Family Foundation, Sierra Club Foundation, and SK2 Fund. Findings show strong performance in transparency (83 percent) and collective action (93 percent), while shareholder engagement remains an area for growth (61 percent). The EIB provides institutions with a structured framework to assess progress, receive expert feedback, and gain recognition for their leadership. We are now recruiting for the 2025 EIB cohort. Institutions interested in benchmarking their approach and refining their sustainable investing strategies can fill out the interest form here:https://lnkd.in/eUrcctjB Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/eM6iBxyw #SustainableInvesting #ImpactInvesting #HigherEdFinance #MissionAlignedInvesting

The Funders Network annual conference is coming up March 17 - 19 in Baltimore! Catch AJL Co-Executive Director Alece Montez co-facilitating "Critical Conversation: Beyond Allyship" on March 19th from 8:45am - 10am. Hope to see you there! ********************************* Critical Conversations: Engage in a facilitated, peer-to-peer conversation that creates a space for funders to explore difficult issues they may be working through personally and professionally (or both, as the lines between work and home lives become increasingly blurred). These Critical Conversations will hopefully allow us to have frank and open exchange of ideas, experiences and strategies.

It's here, it's here! "Good Thing to Remember" by artist Franklin Cruz is an artistic reflection about their experience serving on AJL's 2024 grantmaking committee. Their reflection was poignant in 2024 and absolutely critical in 2025. Watch it here...

AJL believes our mission applies across our portfolio - not just to our grantmaking - and we hold positive social impact and financial return as equally-weighted objectives within our portfolio.?AJL’s Q4?2024 impact and financial performance results are in. Read on to find out how we did followed by how we invest and evaluate for impact.

AJL Foundation is thrilled to be part of Second Nature's and the Intentional Endowments Network's 2025 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit, Feb 2-4 in Washington, D.C., where we’ll be speaking at the session: "Is Your Endowment Invested for Climate Leadership? Find out Through the Endowment Impact Benchmark (EIB)" as we explore the EIB as an assessment and rating system on sustainable and impact investing for endowments and foundations. Join us and connect with over 400 leaders dedicated to making a difference! Register here: https://lnkd.in/gXgrURQz

What can place-based mission-aligned investing look like? We want to find out so we invested with Gary Community Ventures' COinvest. More details below... ******************************* COinvest is a fund-of-fund platform that enables accredited investors (institutions, foundations, family offices, and high net-worth individuals) with a focus on Colorado to participate in a structure designed to deliver both market-competitive returns and meaningful local outcomes. This framework allows investors to make a difference across critical sectors, from education and healthcare to housing, financial mobility, and climate resilience, all while leveraging Colorado’s unique market advantages. At its core, COinvest is about rekindling a connection to place. It’s about cultivating economic participation and using financial markets as a tool for good. We envision a model that not only generates robust returns but also revitalizes the communities we call home, shifting power and prosperity back into the hands of local residents. As we consider the broader role of impact investing, we see an opportunity for philanthropic and private investors alike to ask: How can our capital serve both financial and social outcomes within our own communities?"

There's a lot of pressure on the first post of 2025... and this one feels worthy. Happy new year to everyone, but especially to Costco Wholesale for "pushing back — hard — against the anti-DEI movement". Hoping to see more folks with long-term business (and people!) strategies thinking beyond just the next 4 years. We're excited to continue our shareholder engagement work with the Shareholder Engagement Project and As You Sow to do our part in 2025! *********************** Costco is pushing back — hard — against the anti-DEI movement New York (CNN) - Costco is battling an anti-DEI wave with a stern rebuke to activist shareholders looking to end the warehouse retailer’s diversity ambitions. Walmart, John Deere, Tractor Supply and other companies are?changing or walking away?from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. But Costco believes DEI helps its “treasure hunt” shopping atmosphere, and it is standing behind its efforts. Costco’s board of directors unanimously recommended that its shareholders?vote against?a proposal brought by a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research, that would require Costco to evaluate and issue a report on the financial risks of maintaining its diversity and inclusion goals. Costco said its DEI efforts help the company attract and retain a wide range of employees and improve merchandise and services in stores. Costco also said its members want to interact with a diverse employee base. The board went further in its recommendation to vote against the proposal, saying the think tank is masking its true anti-diversity agenda under the guise of reducing risk. Costco said the NCPPR is inflicting burdens on companies with challenges to DEI and the organization’s broader agenda is to abolish diversity initiatives. Full article here: https://lnkd.in/e7VJRNRM

AJL is excited to kick off 2025 with this critical webinar: "Racial Equity in Lean Foundations" co-hosted by Confluence Philanthropy and Exponent Philanthropy. Details below and we hope to see you there! ****************************** Racial equity and diversity influence all aspects of managing and operating foundations, even those with limited infrastructure and?few or no staff. However, for leaders of these "lean" organizations, the path to meaningfully pursuing racial equity can be unclear. This event, co-organized by Confluence Philanthropy and Exponent Philanthropy, will?explore?findings from Exponent Philanthropy’s 2024 report “Racial Equity in Lean Foundations: The Lean Funder’s Equity Journey”. The conversation?will cover the typical phases of a lean foundation’s racial equity journey, including how funders can start equity conversations and engage boards in equity work. Lean foundations advancing racial equity through their investments will also share practical insights. This webinar is designed for staff and trustees at lean foundations or other grantmaking entities. All members of Confluence Philanthropy and Exponent Philanthropy are welcome to attend. Speakers: - Sarah DeNicola, Vice President of Programs and Senior Social Equity Program Director, Confluence Philanthropy (Welcome Remarks) - Desiree Flores, Executive Director, General Service Foundation - Ian S. Fuller, CEO, Westfuller - Brendan Mccormick, Associate Director, Research and Publications, Exponent Philanthropy (Moderator) - Alece Montez, Co-Executive Director, AJL Foundation

If you missed the webinar on Shareholder Engagement & Corporate Accountability you don't have to miss the Recap & Takeaways from the Shareholder Engagement Project. On our list: "In addition to continuing to file and support shareholder proposals, investors can consider myriad actions like adopting responsible contractor policies and proxy voting guidelines; engaging asset managers on how they vote their proxies; and providing public support for proposals or other initiatives that other investors are leading."