Sharing Risk: Deepening Community Power, Ownership, and Democratic Governance for the Long Haul

The movement for community-owned and -governed economic models is growing—and innovative financial strategies are making it possible. This session explores how private foundations are leveraging tools like Program-Related Investments (PRIs) to advance democratic governance and economic justice.

We’ll examine a case study in movement-funder partnership, highlighting how funders like The California Wellness Foundation—with a $1 billion endowment and a commitment to mission-aligned investing—are setting new standards for how institutions can share risk and shift power—by directly investing in community-led models of economic democracy such as Seed Commons, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC), and REAL People’s Fund (RPF). Together, these partners are building the long-term infrastructure for multiracial democracy and economic sovereignty.

Speakers will explore lessons from the field, the role of catalytic capital, and actionable opportunities to resource a growing ecosystem of community-led transformation and participatory governance.

These initiatives illustrate how community-led models are advancing democratic control over capital, land, and labor:

Seed Commons is a national network of locally-rooted, non-extractive loan funds that emerged from the solidarity economy movement. Its model democratizes access to capital while supporting worker-owned cooperatives and collective decision-making in the workplace. Borrowers co-own the loan fund itself, centering shared governance in capital deployment.

EBPREC is redefining ownership by decommodifying land and placing it into cooperative stewardship. Their model creates opportunities for Black and Brown communities—historically excluded from ownership—to co-govern land and housing, reclaim place, and build intergenerational wealth. They are guided by a bold vision to transform real estate from an extractive force into one that nourishes belonging and rootedness.

REAL People’s Fund (RPF) is a community-controlled fund created by and for BIPOC movement and financial innovators in the East Bay. Shifting power to community stewards, RPF integrates character-based underwriting, holistic business support, and power building to transition the region from an extractive to regenerative economy. By modeling democratic governance of capital, RPF is reimagining how investment decisions can be made—with accountability, care, and shared power.

Together, these organizations form a values-aligned ecosystem building the infrastructure and practices needed for durable, community-rooted governance and economic sovereignty. They demonstrate how capital can align with long-term visions for shared governance, economic liberation, and multiracial democracy.

Community ownership and governance are not only local economic innovations—they are essential democratic practices that cultivate civic power and collective decision-making. In a time of political polarization and institutional retreat, investing in community-held assets and democratic governance is both a defense of democracy and a bold act of imagination.

Capital allocators like The California Wellness Foundation are uniquely positioned to catalyze this work—leveraging PRIs to partner with movement-led innovations in governance capacity and democratic infrastructure across capital, land, and labor.

This session is a field report from the future—where communities are already modeling what the democratic governance of capital can look like. It is an invitation to align with that future—not only by resourcing individual initiatives, but by deepening our shared investment in an ecosystem collaboratively building the long-term civic and economic infrastructure where communities are rewriting the rules that shape our collective future—for generations to come.

Attendees will gain insights into:

How PRIs and other catalytic capital tools are unlocking community wealth-building
The power of cooperative and community-owned governance models to advance economic justice and civic participation
The role of funders in resourcing ecosystem-wide learning and democratic governance capacity
Emerging opportunities to scale community-led economic transformation and shared governance for multiracial democracy