Possibility Labs

The group was founded in 2020 and has received grants from left-of-center organizations including the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the Hewlett Foundation and the Gates Foundation. ^{3 1 4 5 6}

Background

Possibility Labs is a funding platform founded in 2020 that operates donor-advised funds, provides capital to businesses, and fiscally sponsors other nonprofit organizations. The group claims that “[c]urrant capital systems are rooted in white supremacist practices” ¹ and that its donor-advised funds (DAF) program aims to provide advising for “BIPOC-led justice movement[s]…” ² Several issue areas the group focuses on include “[s]ocial, environmental, gender, racial, and economic justice.”²

According to its 2022 report “The Possibility Logs Vol. 1,” the group claimed that at the time of the group’s founding, nonprofit “…infrastructure does not meet the needs of BIPOC-led groups building a new economy…[e]xisting funder-centered practices undermine the needs of impacted communities and contribute to systemic racism…[t]he current finance system fails to help BIPOC communities without collateral or traditional credit history.” ⁷

Activities

Donor-Advised Funds (DAF)

In 2022, Possibility Labs claimed they had developed a donor-advised fund (DAF) as a pilot program with a “$20 million commitment” from the Kataly Foundation. ⁷ Kataly Foundation CEO Nwamaka Agbo claimed the new DAF system used would allow it so that “advisors of color and Black and brown community leaders can partner on integrated capital strategies for racial justice.” ⁷ The group’s DAF requirements include a “…25% payout and encourage investing 75% of remaining assets in BIPOC-led community wealth building activities.”

Since launching DAFs as a full-scale program the group changed the requirements to “require a 25% payout and encourage investing 75% of remaining assets in BIPOC-led community wealth building activities.” ²

Partner Organizations

Possibility Labs’ website lists roughly 55 partner organizations that are operated or funded by the group which includes Abolition Dream Lab, Agrarian Future Alliance, the Black Imagination Lab Fund, CLLCTIVLY, the Radical Inclusion Fund, California Transcends, and Just Economy Institute. ⁸

Funding

Possibility Labs has received grants left-of-center foundations including $10 million from the Open Society Foundations in 2023 to fund CLLCTIVLY, one of the group’s projects. The group has also received funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and the Park Foundation. ^{9 10 11 6 12 3}