Collective Action for Just Finance

Collective Action for Just Finance publishes the Transformative 25 List

A collective of funds, intermediaries, investors, and individuals – shifting power and mobilizing capital for financial justice.

To deliver on this mission, our collective

  • sources funds, banks and initiatives that exemplify a restorative economics, a Just Transition framework, and development without displacement.
  • amplifies funds creating a regenerative and restorative economy via storytelling, convenings, and field building through the T25 list.
  • matches investors, investment advisors, home offices and foundations with opportunities to grant, and invest non-extractive capital into these funds.

Collective Action for Just Finance publishes the Transformative 25 List 

A list of funds, banks and initiatives that are demonstrating the power of integrated capital strategies to reimagine and recreate a financial system that works for people and the planet.

May 1st, 2024: 10AM PT/ 1PM ET


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Note: you can scroll through the 2023 annual report below using the arrows at the bottom. The  2024 Report will be published after May 1st.


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Program Coordinator

Joan Coello (pronounced “Joe- ann Quello”) is our 2023-24 Transformative 25 Program Coordinator. She is a recent UC Berkeley graduate. She has experience in the startup and nonprofit sectors, working closely with Latino and Indigenous communities in Berkeley and Oakland, California.

Through her work in the California Rural Legal Assistance Program and Immigrants Rising Through Education,  she has consistently demonstrated her commitment to social impact by contributing to initiatives that seek to improve the lives of underrepresented communities.

She’s excited to start this new chapter with the Transformative 25 Team because it serves as a unique opportunity to merge her existing career experience in business with her personal mission to help increase visibility and resource allocation for underrepresented entrepreneurs, businesses and initiatives. Her goal is to help create tangible change in the world through the power of financial systems and integrated capital.

Blog Stories on the Transformative 25

Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund Interview with Rebecca Waterhouse; Principal of Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund Jen: How was “Raven Indigenous Outcomes Fund” Created?  Rebecca: The Fund was conceived of by Jeff Cyr and the leadership team at the Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation in response to Raven’s......

FINAPOP: Popular Financing for Healthy Food Production Interview with Ana Terra Reis, Executive Director of FINAPOP           Jen: How was “FINAPOP” Created?  Ana: FINAPOP is the result of the motivation and organization of cooperatives established in Agrarian Reform settlements to seek......

Application Link Here   Download PDF Here   What? A list of funds transforming the economy for social, environmental, and economic justice. They employ a mix of sound financial structures to overcome barriers and transform how they invest capital to benefit unfinanced people and the planet.......

Criteria for the Transformative 25

Here’s a link to the 2024 Criteria.

Integrated Capital

In the words and work of RSF Social Finance, “integrated capital is the coordinated use of different forms of financial capital and non-financial resources to support strategies and enterprises working to solve complex social and environmental problems.” Many of the funds are structured as social purpose funds for community benefit and can receive grant support as well as investments. Others organize themselves with multiple entities.

Creative Finance

A creative finance structure is “when a loan or investment is put together in a different, unusual or innovative way to create a circumstance where a person with a nontraditional credit history or a lack of collateral can access those resources.” By providing diverse finance strategies: fixed low interest rates, royalty payments, repayment moratoriums, recoverable grants and promissory notes, they are reshaping both investor and borrower understandings.

Social, Relational and Ecological Returns

Social, relational and ecological returns are built into the purpose of the funds alongside targeted financial returns. These funds consider return in holistic ways. This stands in contrast to funds where the emphasis is on the return on investment (ROI) or the financial gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the amount of money invested.

Ownership and Governance

Many funds focus on redefining ownership and governance, including questions around who owns the assets, who makes decisions about the assets, and how decision-making processes work. They support cooperative conversions and employee shareholder ownership plans (ESOPs). Others are led and managed by people within their communities. These shifts contribute to wealth redistribution.

Financial Returns

All the funds have a return profile that they articulate in their prospectus and terms. They range in structure and approach and solicit a range of types of capital from grants to recoverable grants, to investments and equity evergreen funds. Some offer dividends or royalty payments, while others financial returns of 0-8%.  Importantly, they are diverse in their approach and tailor their funds to the communities and financial opportunities they understand. Some of the funds are seeking investment and grants now while others are currently closed with plans to open for funding in the next 3-18 months. All funds on the list expect to grow and have plans for the future.