FEATURED PROJECTS
Restoring Relationships
We help ground and facilitate programs to build relational wealth through partnerships and funding opportunities with like-minded entities.
CURRENT WORK SUPPORTED BY THE FOUNDATION
GET CITIES
Promoting gender equality in tech, starting at the city level
Gender Equality in Tech (GET) Cities is a national initiative designed to accelerate the power and influence of historically excluded people and places in tech through ecosystem alignment and activation to build a more equitable and vibrant economy. This program incorporates core components of our relational wealth framework by reorienting focus from the number of innovation projects within an existing tech staff paradigm to enriching the quality of space between innovators through diversity and equality initiatives.
On May 15, 2024, GET Cities is excited to announce the next step in our journey of ecosystem development toward gender equity in tech: Transition to Community. Our commitment to long-term, sustainable impact has led us to select three partners to carry out the work of GET Cities over the next several years. Transition to community is a proactive and intentional step, fostering resilience within communities and encouraging strong relationships with other ecosystem innovators and funders.
We are so proud of the strides we have taken to foster equity within the tech ecosystem for women, transgender, and nonbinary people in tech. In passing the torch to our community partners, we can’t wait to see how they carry the mission forward and create a tech ecosystem where everyone — no matter their race, ethnicity, gender or background — has the opportunity to reach their full potential. We will be sharing updates in the coming months about some of our final investments and how the work will continue, and our communications channels will remain open until later this year.
We invite you to read the program’s legacy report and watch this video highlighting the GET Cities’ journey containing powerful lessons for philanthropy and social impact initiatives. What began as an idea led to a national movement that has left a lasting impact on the gender equity landscape in the tech industry across Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Miami.
FEATURED PROJECTS
The following are featured projects the foundation supports to advance our mission of growing relational wealth in the ecosystem.
INCLUSIVE CAPITAL COLLECTIVE
Overcoming systemic racism through equitable access to capital
The Inclusive Capital Collective (ICC) is being incubated with the support of the SecondMuse Foundation, Zebras Unite and other partners, as a growing, national network of independent loan, equity and real estate funds and entrepreneur support organizations working to create lasting community wealth. It tackles these relational disparities firsthand by providing wealth-building opportunities to entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The ICC continues to educate and engage the ecosystem through the Black Paper series, solidifying its trauma-informed financial products, processes and programming on relationship-based lending to drive equity by centering trust in the financial system.
The membership has now reached 250 individual members of 150 entities. They are all connected via Hylo, the community gathering platform. This platform gives the members an invaluable opportunity to connect, share insights, and inspire one another as we continue to build a world that thrives on cooperation and mutual support.
The Foundation successfully completed managing the 3 year grant from the US Economic Development Administration. Currently, the ICC has transitioned from being incubated by Zebras Unite and is fiscally sponsored by the Possibility Lab. As the ICC spins off and gets stronger, it is expected to grow in membership and benefit the BIPOC community more.
BLACK TECH STREET
Scaling and cultivating Black potential in tech to build inclusive economies
In order to be truly equitable, the architecture, structure and decision-makers of an economy must be inclusive from its very creation. This paradigm shift is the essence of relational wealth — in which systems are in place to support both the collective and the individual. SecondMuse Foundation supports to incubate this entrepreneurial ecosystem: Tulsa’s Black Innovation Economy — an economy designed by, and for, Black entrepreneurs — as a center of inclusive economic opportunities for Black entrepreneurs and businesses.
In the summer of 2023, it was one of the hosts of DEF CON 31 in collaboration with the White House and many other organizations. To learn more, visit BTS’ website.
On July 2, 2024, BTS became one of the recipients of $51million from EDA for a consortium led by Tulsa Innovation Labs and 75+ partners. In addition to being a steering committee member of the THETA Coalition, BTS will receive a significant portion of the grant to establish the Greenwood AI Center of Excellence in partnership with Microsoft and SeedAI, whose mission will be to establish 21st century Greenwood as the global leaders in Responsible AI, with a focus towards Cyber and Autonomous Systems.
We are proud to see that our work and support provided to Black Tech Street from its inception, served as a foundation for this big win.
The Incubation Network
Sourcing, supporting and scaling innovative solutions that tackle plastic pollution
The Incubation Network (TIN) works to improve land-based plastic waste management and advance a circular economy in South and Southeast Asia. TIN achieves this goal by creating growth opportunities for startups that drive better plastic waste management, recycling, and circular economy innovations. TIN aims to build a balanced ecosystem that brings together startups, investors, and industry players to scale impactful solutions.
This complex program is supported by various donors to implement a diverse range of initiatives, research exercises, cohort-based incubation and tailored venture building programs, among others.
TIN conducted the Single Use Plastic challenge (SUP) in 5 countries (India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines) in 2022, to accelerate circular products and services. The SUP Challenge pilots led to the reduction of an estimated 935 kg of plastic waste. Read the insight from the SUP Challenge. In addition, see this report:Exploring Single-Use Plastic Reduction Initiatives
ECCA Family Foundation provided $1.5m grant implemented from 2021-2023, which the SecondMuse Foundation sponsored. Read the final impact report:Driving Circularity in Plastic Waste Management and Recycling in Thailand
Also, see this additional report available both in Thai and English: A Study on the Role of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Plastic Circularity in Thailand.
REGENERATIVE MONTEREY INITIATIVE
Building regenerative and climate positive economic development in Monterey, CA
A new initiative supported by the SecondMuse Foundation, envisioned to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions and position Monterey County, CA as a living model of an equitable and climate positive economy. Given the prevalence of its tourism, agriculture, building/construction trades, and marine industries and its established network of business leaders committed to sustainability, Monterey is poised to source and support an ecosystem of diverse entrepreneurs and innovators. The Regenerative Monterey Initiative will demonstrate what is possible to build a more regenerative, equitable, and diverse economy that integrates all socio-economic levels, new ideas, and reshapes traditional business sectors to become social and environmental leaders - building relational wealth.
Click the link below to read the Insight Report that was launched in August 2023.
financing gender-smart climate businesses in asia
Future Economy Lab Asia
Building on SecondMuse’s extensive networks and regional expertise through the Frontier Labs suite of programming and The Incubation Network, we will run a series of labs to address capital needs of gender-smart, climate focused, small and medium sized enterprises. Each lab will focus on a unique challenge, such as how to scale nature-based solutions or support informal workers.
Read the summary findings on Financing Gender-Smart Climate Businesses in Asia, published by the Future Economy Lab.
To learn more about the Future Economy Lab, click the link below.
Featured Supporters
Some of the supporters of our program(s) and featured projects are as follows:
