Private Equity Stakeholder Project (also known as the Financial Services Stakeholder Project) is an activist group that is critical of the social impact of private equity firms. The group calls on private equity-owned companies to adopt left-of-center employment policies and political stances. It targets private funds’ investments including private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure, private debt, and venture capital.

The organization has been funded by notable left-of-center grantmaking organizations including the Ford Foundation, the Foundation to Promote an Open Society, and the Surdna Foundation. ^{1 2 3}

Background

Private Equity Stakeholder Project was founded in 2017 as the Financial Services Stakeholder Project, which remains the organization’s legal name. Since its founding, the group has used the name Private Equity Stakeholder Project as a “doing business as” (DBA) name. The group was founded to engage in what is described as “anti-private equity activism” and to push private equity firms to adopt left-of-center policies. The group particularly focuses on activism against private equity companies in the housing, healthcare, and energy sectors. ⁴

Private Equity Stakeholder Project criticizes private equity for its “opacity, in contrast to the transparency of publicly owned corporations, and that of pensions and other institutional investors.” ⁴

The organization is described by executive director Jim Baker, who has led the organization since its founding, as “a small staff that is focused on working together, as an informal network, with a variety of different partners.” The organization’s website does not disclose the partners or funders involved with the organization. ^{1 4}

Bake stated that he previously worked for a hotel workers’ union and that he began his anti-private equity activism when companies like Hilton and Caesars Entertainment were bought out by private equity firms. The term “stakeholder” in the organization’s name is a reference to the concept that instead of the traditional legal responsibility to shareholders, companies should prioritize “Neighbors, suppliers, creditors, and employees.” ^{4 5}

Activities

Private Equity Stakeholder Project conducts activism against private equity companies in the housing, healthcare, and energy industries including the Carlyle Group, KKR, Bain Capital, Angelo Gordon and Co., and AEW Capital Management. The group has lobbied the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate private equity firms for proceeding with evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, pressured KKR and Bain Capital to set up a hardship fund for Toys-R-Us employees, and has launched public pressure campaigns to urge public pension funds to divest from private equity companies. ⁴

The group also highlights that private equity firms have invested in conventional fuels and natural gas, whereas some public companies have divested from those sectors due to shareholder activism. The group also opposes the continued use of and investment in natural gas, calling it a “bridge to nowhere” in response to it being described as a bridge fuel to weather-dependent energy. ⁴

1. “Home.” Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://pestakeholder.org/
2. “About Us.” Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://pestakeholder.org/about-us/
3. “Private Equity Stakeholder Project.” Nonprofit explorer Full Text Search. Query Conducted October 2, 2023.
4. Faille, Christopher. “Anti-PE activism on the rise on many fronts.” Alternatives Watch. June 23, 2021. Accessed October 2, 2023. https://www.alternativeswatch.com/2021/06/23/private-equity-stakeholder-project-pe-activism-activist-investor-nonprofit/
5. “Effects of Private Equity Investments.” Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Accessed October 2, 2023 https://pestakeholder.org/private-equity-risks/effects-of-private-equity-investments/