Fund for Guaranteed Income (F4GI)

Background

Fund for Guaranteed Income was created in August 2020 to facilitate the research, development, and deployment of guaranteed income funds, otherwise known as universal basic income (UBI). It describes guaranteed income as “direct, recurring cash that support those who have been locked out of welfare programs and economic systems.” F4GI creates both systems and coalitions of political activists, including government officials and community leaders, to make guaranteed income a reality. ¹

Activities

In 2022, Fund for Guaranteed Income supported the “research, infrastructure, and implementation” of guaranteed income programs, such as the Compton Pledge, Long Beach Pledge, Pathway to Income Equity, and Chicago Future Fund. ²

Compton Pledge is the flagship initiative of F4GI. ¹ It aims to give a universal monthly income without strings attached, including to those who “are undocumented, formerly incarcerated, unbanked, or already enrolled in welfare programs.” It claims to have already distributed 8,000 payments to 800 families for a total of $4 million. ³

Partners

Fund for Guaranteed Income has official partners that have signed onto its pledge to promote guaranteed income programs. These include governments like the City of Philadelphia, the City of Long Beach, and Sonoma County, and nonprofit organizations like A New Way of Life, Black Lives Matter, Brotherhood Crusade, Compton Advocates, Compton Community Development Corp, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Dignity and Power Now, Equity and Transformation (EAT), Essie Justice Group, Justice LA, LA Defensa, My Brothers Keeper (MBK), the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, One Fair Wage (OFW), and First 5 California. ¹

Financials

In 2022, Fund for Guaranteed Income reported revenue of $9,718,167, expenses of $2,748,005, and net assets $6,970,162. ⁴

Funding

Fund for Guaranteed Income has received funding from Amazon Studios Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Equity and Transformation ($200,000 in 2021), Families for Justice as Healing ($30,000), the Goldhirsh Foundation, the Greater LA Education Foundation, the Jain Family Institute ($601,013 in 2022), the Reissa Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, Just Impact, New Profit ($100,000), and Spring Point Partners. ^{1 5 6 7 8}

Leadership

As of 2024, Fund for Guaranteed Income was led by executive director and founder Nika Soon-Shiong. She also leads the Compton Pledge program. Soon-Shiong also works as the public safety commissioner of West Hollywood and as a special advisor to the Los Angeles Times. Soon-Shiong is the board chair of One Fair Wage and sits on the boards of the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Compton Development Corporation. ¹

Previously, she was a social protection consultant at World Bank Group (WBG), sending $394 million to West African countries to help them develop and establishing partnerships between the World Bank president and tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft to minimize the effects that technology has in developing countries. ¹