Recently, our Co-founder and Chief Community Officer Lauren Grattan, and Freedom for Immigrants Co-founder and Co-executive Director Christina Mansfield spoke with Morgan Simon of Candide Group in Forbes.com to discuss why they launched the Freedom100 Fund*—and how it’s a vital tool for investors and activists to join the fight for immigrant freedom.
Forbes:
While “finance” to many might conjure a boring system of transactions — or a dangerous game of capitalist exploitation — to financial activists, investment vehicles are fair game for creative and exciting innovations toward liberation. One area of continuous advocacy is the abolition of bail, which forces countless individuals to remain in jail simply because they cannot afford their own release.
LG: “The Freedom100 Fund is designed to extend the impact of donated dollars. In a nutshell, instead of making donations directly to post bonds, donors make grants into a reserve account that absorbs some of the risk to make the opportunity more attractive for private investors who might not have financed immigration bonds otherwise. The fund is structured to leverage $500,000 in the philanthropic reserve account at least four times, unlocking $2M of investor capital — and ultimately expand the availability of rapid, free immigration bond financing.
We need every tool in the toolbox, including finance, to make a more just world. Our hope is that the Freedom100 Fund can provide dignity and care for 100 individuals immediately and hopefully scale to serve thousands. We also want the fund to serve as a model for how innovative finance can move the needle on some of our most difficult social and environmental challenges — and quickly. The first capital from the fund flowed to Freedom For Immigrants earlier in July and they’ve already bonded out eight individuals.”
*This fund is now closed and is not accepting capital.
