Common Future In the News
Our Story: From Eviction to Empowerment
How the Ke’nekt Cooperative and Common Future are transforming gentrification’s impact on Black businesses in Atlanta
Smithsonian: We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence
“Let's build a $10 million fund and make it rain.” –JAIME GLOSHAY
Reclaiming Place: the Kensington Corridor Trust Model
A Philadelphia neighborhood trust shows how local ownership can build lasting community strength
Are We Ready to Rank Participation in Investing?
“Best of” lists of impact-driven funds include some with participatory models – the overlaps can be revealing
Trigger Words Aren’t Nonprofits’ Only Language Problem
Sandhya Nakhasi, Jessica Yupanqui Feingold, and Jennifer Njuguna push back on the idea that “trigger words” are nonprofits’ only language problem. They warn that policing speech can undermine mission and impact.
This year’s ‘Transformative 25’ highlights place-based, Indigenous-led, ownership-focused, impact-first funds
The 2025 Transformative 25 list from Collective Action for Just Finance highlights 25 bold, community-rooted funds, banks, and financial initiatives that are shifting the flow of capital toward social, environmental, and economic justice. This year’s list emphasizes place-based, Indigenous-led, ownership-focused, impact-first funds
Podcast: How ICX Is Leading the Way for Inclusive Capital Connections at SOCAP25
With Astrid Scholz of Armillaria, Allegra Stennett of New Majority Capital, Vanessa Roanhorse of Roanhorse Consulting, Jaime Gloshay of Common Future, and Chris Johnson of Wells Fargo Foundation
ImpactAssets 50 for 2025
Community Credit Lab (CCL) Fund has been recognized as an Emerging Impact Manager in the ImpactAssets 50 for 2025
In Response to Trump, Philanthropy Should Think Bigger
Philanthropy can do more to support nonprofits facing systemic challenges. Common Future Co-CEOs Sandhya Nakhasi, Jessica Yupanqui Feingold, and Jennifer Njuguna urge funders to embrace bolder strategies that strengthen resilience and long-term impact.
Co-Leadership as Practice for an Equitable Future
Nonprofit organizations are increasingly adopting co-leadership models to promote equity and dismantle traditional power structures. This approach challenges the "hero" narrative by emphasizing shared responsibility and collective decision-making.
How to Lend in Native Communities: The 5 Rs of Rematriation
Traditional lending frameworks often overlook Indigenous values and community needs. Jaime Gloshay introduces the "5 Rs of Rematriation"—relational, rooted, restorative, regenerative, and revolutionary—as a culturally grounded alternative to support Native-led economic initiatives.
Remaking the Economy: Liberating Finance to Build a More Just World
Rethinking finance could be key to building a more just and equitable economy. This webinar with Jaime Gloshay and others explores how changing financial systems can empower communities and support long-term fairness.
Reclaiming Land Ownership in Black and Indigenous Communities
Black and Indigenous communities are reclaiming land and power after generations of dispossession. Their stories show resilience and the ongoing fight for justice.
What Would Fiduciary Duty to the Community Look Like?
Reimagining fiduciary duty to prioritize community well-being over capital accumulation, this piece by Sandhya Nakhasi explores how nonprofits can redefine their responsibilities to foster collective prosperity.
Funders: Let’s Stop Making Nonprofits Choose Between Balanced Budgets and Burnout
Nonprofits are balancing budgets at the expense of staff well-being. Funders must rethink grantmaking to support long-term sustainability and prevent burnout.
We Are Powerful Because We Are Many
Collective strength grows when communities and organizations come together. There’s power in numbers, and when people unite, change becomes possible.
The world is ready for impact investing solutions. Are impact investors ready to lead?
The world is ready for impact investing—but are investors ready to lead? This piece challenges the field to move beyond niche solutions, embrace accountability, and align capital with justice-driven goals for inclusive, systemic change.
Acknowledging and Addressing Historical and Present-Day Financial Trauma in Indian Country
Exploring how historical dispossession and ongoing exclusion from mainstream financial systems contribute to persistent economic and psychological trauma in Indigenous communities. Jaime Gloshay observes, “When I think about financial trauma, I think about essentially stolen land, a stolen asset… reservations have essentially been a place that have really impoverished Indigenous people in this country.”
How a four-day work week could help us achieve gender equality
Prioritizing time flexibility for women in the workplace is not just a matter of choice but a strategic imperative.
Remaking the Economy: How to Change Our Stories about the Economy
This discussion shows how shifting economic narratives can build a more inclusive, democratic future. It highlights storytelling as a tool for change and the power of connecting culture, policy, and long-term strategy.
It Isn’t Just Lonely at the Top, It’s Downright Scary: The Reckoning Needed for Black Women Leaders
Common Future Co-CEO Jennifer Njuguna reflects on the challenges Black women face in nonprofit leadership, highlighting the need for multiyear funding, trust, and true comfort with Black women holding power. She calls for systemic change so Black women leaders can thrive and shape a more equitable nonprofit sector
This Economic Equality Funder Is Backing a Movement Whose Time Has Quietly Come
Common Future, an economic equality funder, is partnering with WorkFour to advance the four-day workweek movement. This collaboration reflects Common Future’s commitment to promoting economic equality and expanding choices for individuals, aligning with broader goals for a more equitable society.
The Nation Still Needs a New Birth in Liberty
The print-edition piece titled “The Atlantic — The Commons” (March 2024) reflects on how common goods, communal practices and shared spaces are being eroded in modern society. It poses a challenge: as private interests expand, how do we reclaim the public from enclosure, commodification and fragmentation?
The Growing Movement for a Four-Day Workweek
Recently, Oakland-based nonprofit Common Future, which works with other organizations to advance racial and economic equity, partnered with WorkFour, a national campaign to convince private and public enterprises to adopt the four-day workweek.
No Longer Lonely at the Top: A Growing Number of Nonprofits Hire Co-CEOs
Shared leadership helps organizations find the skills they need and can be an answer to candidates’ demand for greater work-life balance.
The Backlash to Diversity Efforts is Widespread
Across sectors, diversity efforts are facing organized pushback. This Washington Post op-ed traces the growing backlash against DEI—from statehouses to boardrooms—and warns that these rollbacks threaten decades of racial progress.
Executive co-leadership: An emerging model for better economic equality
Shared leadership is gaining traction as a pathway to greater equity in organizations. Could co-leadership be the next step toward a fairer economy?
Power Moves: Coleadership is in at Common Future, Impact Hub Baltimore
Rodney Foxworth will leave Common Future to three co-CEOs while Impact Hub moves to a coleadership model. Plus, Mayor Brandon Scott appoints a new head of procurement and Baltimore’s biotech scene stays winning.
Common Future Launches New Women-led, Multiracial Co-CEO Model
Common Future, an award-winning Oakland-based nonprofit focused on building a future where all people—no matter their race and class—have power, choice, and ownership over the economy, announced today that it is launching a women-led, multiracial co-CEO model.
A 4-Day Workweek Use Case: Jennifer Njuguna, COO of Common Future
In this episode, Tessa and Michael chat with Jennifer Njuguna, COO of Common Future about imlementing a 4-day workweek at her organization.
When it Comes to Loans, This Organization Decided Character Trumps Credit Score
Common Future's character-based lending model was designed in response to the structural patterns of racial discrimination in traditional capital systems.
Common Future and Uncharted merge to expand entrepreneurship and wealth-building in underserved communities
Common Future, the Oakland-based nonprofit focused on economic inequality, and Uncharted, the nonprofit social impact accelerator spun out of the Unreasonable Institute, are combining forces in a merger aimed at expanding economic opportunities to more underserved entrepreneurs and communities.
This majority BIPOC company has a 4-day work week. Here’s how
On this week's episode of The Reset with Coach Tish COO Jennifer Njuguna explains why the 4-day work week can be a win-win.
Common Future is Awarded the Skoll Award for Social Innovation
Once outsiders as first-time attendees of the Skoll World Forum, three years later we are recipients of the prestigious 2022 Skoll Award for Social Innovation.
How To Build An Inclusive Economy
Our economy was designed to exclude and exploit people of color. These entrepreneurs are working to level the scales. In partnership with Skoll Foundation
Lending on Character, Not Credit Scores
Conventional banking hasn't worked for businesses owned by people of color. But a new network is designed to get money flowing fairly to BIPOC economies.