The Predistribution Initiative (PDI) pressures investors and financial institutions to comply with left-of-center policy and social objectives, particularly those related to environmentalism and race and class. Founded by a team of career investors and financial managers in 2019, the initiative highlights corporate practices that do not sufficiently support environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. The initiative also claims that the alleged lack of emphasis on ESG creates “systematic risks” for investors and financial managers. The PDI has a stated policy of hiring and promoting staff on the basis of race and other characteristics, and has indicated that its end result is a team with demographics that comply with left-progressive race and gender ideology. ¹

PDI’s fiscal sponsor is Community Initiatives (CI), a grantmaking organization based in San Francisco, California. ²

Leadership

Delilah Rothenberg is the co-founder and executive director of the Predistribution Initiative. Rothenberg attended New York University from 2000 to 2004, where she received a bachelor’s degree in history and African studies. ³

Rothenberg started her career in Democratic Party politics, working as an intern at the office of then-Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY). She went on to work for Bear Stearns, Citibank, and other major financial firms, eventually shifting towards jobs that involved investments that aligned with ESG initiatives. Shortly before she helped launch PDI, Rothenberg completed an economics fellowship with the Open Society Foundations, the flagship organization within the global activism network of financier George Soros. ⁴ She also sits on the board of For The Long Term, an activist group which pressures state and municipal treasurers to adopt practices compatible with environmental, social, and governance priorities. ⁵

Raphaele Chappe is the chief economist and a co-founder of PDI. ⁶ She is also an assistant professor at Drew University and a fellow with the Open Society Foundations. Previously, Chappe taught investment banking and financial regulation at New York University. She also spent approximately a year at investment bank Goldman Sachs. Chappe studied at King’s College London and the University of Paris and received a doctorate in economics from the New School. ⁷

Amanda Feldman is a co-founder and advisor at PDI. ⁸ She previously worked on an initiative for environmentalist and left-progressive economic policy under the United Nations Development Programme. Feldman received a bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in public policy and management from the London School of Economics. ⁹

Funders

Leading financial backers of the PDI include the Omidyar Network, the philanthropic venture of Pierre Omidyar, the founder of e-commerce platform eBay and a longtime Democratic Party operative who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to left-of-center foundations and Democratic candidates; the Laudes Foundation, an environmentalist grantmaking organization affiliated with C&A, a European clothing chain which places a heavy emphasis on sustainability in its branding and sources the vast majority of its products from Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia; and the Open Society Foundations, the main philanthropic institution within the Soros Network. ¹⁰

Community Initiatives

Founded in 1987, Community Initiatives funds and provides fiscal sponsorship for a wide range of charities and advocacy groups. While many of these are apolitical, dealing with issues such as wildlife conservation and assisting military veterans, many others promote various left-progressive causes, from environmentalism to immigration activism to normalization of gay and transgender ideology. ¹¹

1. “Overview.” The Predistribution Initiative.” Accessed March 27, 2022. https://predistributioninitiative.org/about
2. “Predistribution Initiative Fundraising Ethics Policy.” The Predistribution Initiative. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cacbd4393a632068ec1ee06/t/60526d0ceee6ee1450f51d94/1616014604991/20210317+Fundraising+Ethics+Policy.pdf
3. Delilah Rothenberg. LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/delilah-rothenberg/
4. Delilah Rothenberg. LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/delilah-rothenberg/
5.  For The Long Term. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://www.forthelongterm.org/
6. “Overview.” The Predistribution Initiative.” Accessed March 27, 2022. https://predistributioninitiative.org/about
7. Raphaele Chappe. LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaele-chappe-07431a1/
8. “Overview.” The Predistribution Initiative.” Accessed March 27, 2022. https://predistributioninitiative.org/about
9. Amanda Feldman. LinkedIn. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/feldmanamanda/
10. “The Predistribution Initiative Values Your Support!” The Predistribution Initiative. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://predistributioninitiative.org/support-pdi
11. “Support a Project.” Community Initiatives. Accessed March 27, 2022. https://communityin.org/our-projects/support-a-project/