Adasina Social Capital

Adasina differentiates itself from typical environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment firms by partnering with leaders of left-wing activist organizations that support Adasina’s focus areas of race, gender, economic equality, and climate to create its investment strategies. ⁴

Background

Adasina Social Capital is an investment advisory firm that originated in 2018 as a “social justice investing strategy” at investment firm Robasciotti & Philipson. In 2020, Adasina Social Capital became an independent company founded by Rachel Robasciotti and Maya Philipson based in San Francisco. It is majority-owned and operated by women, people of color, and LGBT people. ⁵ Adasina Social Capital is considered a sister company to Robasciotti & Philipson, which merged with Abacus Wealth Partners in 2021. ⁶

Adasina Social Capital focuses its investments on left-wing social advocacy involving race, gender, economic equality, and climate. It defines itself as “your bridge between financial markets & social justice.” ⁷

According to Investor.com, Adasina Social Capital had six licensed financial advisors, manages $209.5 million, and had 60 clients as of September 2023. ⁸ It is registered to operate in California, Colorado, and Texas. ⁹

In an August 2023 article published in Yahoo! Finance, Robasciotti indicated that she plans to transition Adasina Social Capital to full employee ownership over a five-year period, supporting her belief in the redistribution of wealth. ¹⁰

Investment Focus

Adasina worked with activist groups aligned with race, gender, economic equality, and climate issues to develop the Adasina Social Justice Investment Criteria. The criteria are used to develop its stock portfolios. These portfolios reflect “social justice values and advance progressive movements for change.” ²

Recommended race-related investments are those that advance left-of-center issues such as de-carceration, elimination of cash bail and immigrant detention, Indigenous peoples’ rights, and diversity and inclusion. Gender-related investments support abortion and LGBT employment equality. Economic change investments support labor unions, increasing minimum wages, and reducing executive pay. Climate-related investments support the elimination of fossil fuels, mining, and carbon emissions. Criteria also include eliminating investments that support fur and leather products, tobacco products, and firearms. ¹¹

Products

Stock portfolios based on the Adasina Social Justice Investment Criteria include the Adasina Social Justice All Cap Global ETF and two Adasina Social Justice Separately Managed Accounts. ²

Adasina offers the Adasina-Activest Fiscal Justice Strategy for investors which is a portfolio of investments focused on Black communities to create racial and economic change. ¹²

Investors can work directly with Adasina to create a custom investment account aligned with their specific agenda, or they can apply the Adasina Social Justice Index for stock investment decisions in their current investment portfolios. ¹²

In partnership with the Racial Justice Investing coalition, Adasina published a Racial Justice Investor Dataset that lists companies it claims “exacerbate racial inequities” and encourages investors to remove them from portfolios. ³ These include companies that participate in alleged “systemic racism” by funding prisons and supporting prison labor, cash bail, immigrant detention, and surveillance of citizens and immigrants. ¹³ The dataset was highlighted in a New York Times article on approaches to “socially responsible investing.” ¹⁴

Partners

Dov Baum is part of Adasina’s Stewardship Circle which provides investment portfolio advice. ¹⁵ She is a director of American Friends Service Committee which supports left-of-center policies on immigration and economic issues. ¹⁶

Taj James is founder of Movement Strategy Center which fiscally sponsors many left-wing groups including Bay Rising, Climate Justice Alliance, and the Just Transition movement. ^{17 18} He is part of Adasina’s Stewardship Circle which provides investment portfolio advice. ¹⁵

One Fair Wage is a left-of-center organization that advocates compulsory payment of the full minimum wage in addition to tips for workers who receive tips as a major portion of their income. ¹⁹ It partnered with Adasina to create Investors for Livable Wages that included a Subminimum Wage Investor Dataset of companies that should not be invested in because they paid less than minimum wage to their employees. ²⁰

Movement for Black Lives is a Black Lives Matter racial activist movement that supports immigration, reparations, defunding the police, and eliminating prisons and cash bail. ²¹

UltraViolet is a feminist activist movement that focuses on women of color, Indigenous women, immigrants, and LGBTQ people and supports abortion access. ²²

Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights partners with Adasina Social Capital. Its core causes include left-of-center issues of mass incarceration, gender-based violence, and racial justice. ²³

The Adasina Project

The Adasina Project is Adasina’s nonprofit arm that accepts donations that are then gifted to social advocacy partners that support Adasina’s target issues. ²⁴ Contributions are made to a donor-advised fund at the labor-union-aligned Amalgamated Charitable Foundation. In 2021, $170,000 was donated to Adasina Social Project for “general operating support.” ²⁵

Leadership

Rachel Robasciotti is co-founder and CEO of Adasina Social Capital. She graduated from University of California, Berkeley. After college she worked in financial firms, then started the investment firm Robasciotti & Philipson in 2004. She was a board member of Horizons Foundation and Resource Generation. ⁶

Maya Philipson is co-founder and COO of Adasina Social Capital. She graduated from Antioch College with a degree in Cultural Studies/Critical Theory and Analysis. After working as a financial planner, she co-founded Robasciotti & Phillipson and Adasina Social Capital with Robasciotti. She has been a board member of National Center for Lesbian Rights for over 14 years. ²⁶