Frequently Asked Questions

WHY ‘OLAMINA’?

In sticking with Candide Group’s affinity for literary characters, Olamina’s namesake is Lauren Oya Olamina, the protagonist of Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower. Set in California in the 2020s — where society has largely collapsed due to climate change, growing wealth and racial inequality, and corporate greed — the novel centers on a young woman of color who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy or "sharing" – the ability to feel pain and other sensations she witnesses. Olamina boldly leads her community to search for a better future in the midst of their dystopian reality. Fittingly, Olamina has its origins in the African-Yoruban language, meaning “this is my wealth.” 

WHY NOW?

The impact investing field is actively discussing the gaps in many of our systems, specifically the financial system, as a result of systemic racism. Potential noteholders are looking to invest in local communities with institutions that have an established track record of repayment to investors, low default rates, and the ability to work in collaboration with the communities they serve. Foundations and Donor Advised Funds (amongst others) have significant appetite for loans and investments that could be activated towards social and racial justice. CDFIs and private funds are seeking patient and flexible capital to fund their loan programs, to serve low- to moderate-income communities who have been historically excluded and abused by the financial system. The Fund will provide CDFIs with capital that meets these needs and offers noteholders a way to support these organizations in a low-risk, high-impact way.

WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM?

We are grateful to members of the Pritzker family who are the donor advisors to the initial investments made by ImpactAssets in Olamina. We collaborated with them in creating both the structure and values of Olamina including the Community Advisory Board. It was important to us all that we created Olamina as a vehicle to invite others to participate and also engage in deeper conversations with investors on what a return ("interest") should be when we are investing in social justice and to whom that return should accrue. The Fund will manage risk with the aim of capital preservation to serve social and racial justice for the long term. We are under no illusions that launching this fund would not have been possible without the family's willingness to fund the start-up costs to allow us the time we needed to research and develop Olamina rooted in values.  You can learn about our experience through various articles.

When we are investing in communities that have experienced historic extraction, systemic racism and predatory practices, what is considered “reasonable return” to investors must be redefined beyond mere financial return and oriented first toward social return.* Our hope is that we can encourage the field to talk more concretely about what it means to invest in social justice, especially when discussing restoration and repair. 

WHO MAKES DECISIONS? 

We seek to honor all stakeholders within the Fund through community participation in profits and a Community Advisory Board.

Decisions on loans are made by the Credit Committee. The Credit Committee is comprised of the Managing Director and the two founding partners of Candide, Morgan Simon and Aner Ben-Ami.. The Community Advisory Board members have a veto vote in that no loans can be made without their consent.

WHY IS THIS FUND, FOCUSED ON RACIAL JUSTICE, CURRENTLY LED BY A WHITE WOMAN?

This is an important question, and one that we’ve actively wrestled with. While we believe that having a leader of color is preferable, we are proud that the Fund is currently being led by someone who is steeped in social justice work, has superb financial qualifications, will hire and train future Fund leaders of color, and has an absolute commitment to operating a Fund that redresses both extractive and racial injustices. To be clear, we believe it is the explicit responsibility of white people to take on racial injustice, which means bringing humility to the work, knowing that they will make mistakes, that they can learn from those mistakes, they can commit to change and being anti-racist.

HOW DOES THE FUND CHOOSE SERVICE PARTNERS?

The fund is intentional in who it choses as service partners and from what communities those service partners are based. We are committed to getting outside of our “Bay Area bubble” and spending more time in community learning about the intersectionality of issues that racism and white supremacy upholds. Lynne is grateful for her community of Integrated Capital Fellows that keep her accountable in the work and a trusted group of allies, also with growing businesses committed to social justice.

WHY THE EMPHASIS ON CDFIS?

CDFIs have been doing their work quietly and consistently for the last thirty years in significantly disadvantaged communities, supporting a wide variety of businesses owned by women and people of color. In 2001, the Brookings Institute wrote that CDFIs helped prove that gender and race are not reliable indicators of financial performance. The financial system has been built centering race and gender as adverse indicators of financial performance, from racial covenants in loan agreements in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, redlining, or the market failure within venture capital funding that allocated 2.2% of $85B to women founders and <1% or women of color founders in 2018. Since this study came out, CDFIs continued to grow and weathered the great recession despite lending to populations that the traditional financial market deemed risky.  They have been flowing capital to the most impacted for many years and have been disproving the systems assumptions. They have work to do around ecosystem building and how they think about community wealth but in reality, CDFIs are some of the first social justice funders.

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED? 

If you know of investors interested in contributing to the fund — or know awesome CDFIs, funds, and/or social enterprises that are rooted in racial and economic justice — we’d love for you to introduce us directly.

*Nothing on this website should be interpreted to state or imply that past results are an indication of future performance. Additionally, there are no warranties expressed or implied as to accuracy, completeness, or results obtained from any information provided on this website. Investing in private securities transactions bears risk, in part due to the following factors: there is no secondary market for the securities; there is credit and default risk. Please refer to the Offering Memorandum for comprehensive information regarding the risks.

General Disclosure: 

This website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation to sell shares or securities in the Olamina Fund, LLC or any related or associated company. Any such offer or solicitation will be made only by means of the confidential Offering Memorandum and in accordance with the terms of all applicable securities and other laws. The information contained on this website or certain pages in this website about the Olamina Fund, LLC may be considered to be a general solicitation of and general advertising for the sale of exempted securities to accredited investors under Rule 506(c) of the Securities Act. As such, prior to the sale of any security to any investor, the company must take reasonable steps to verify that all potential investors are accredited investors. None of the information or analyses presented are intended to form the basis for any investment decision, and no specific recommendations are intended. Accordingly, this website does not constitute investment advice or counsel or solicitation for investment in any security. This website does not constitute or form part of, and should not be construed as, any offer for sale or subscription of, or any invitation to offer to buy or subscribe for, any securities, nor should it or any part of it form the basis of, or be relied on in any connection with, any contract or commitment whatsoever.