Let’s Catch Up…The Foundation in Five!

In a lively conversation, David Gardner and Jennifer Gennaro Oxley fill us in on March highlights and what’s in store for The Motley Fool Foundation in April, including our 2nd Anniversary Celebration on April Fools’ Day. Watch the clip now!
While there are many ways for our audience to join us as Fools for Good, like contributing your time, treasure, or talent, we need help spreading the word via social media on April 1st. Stay tuned to find out how you can help!
Interventions That Are Helping People NOW: The Latest From Our Financial Freedom Rule Breakers
The Rule Breaker program is the signature initiative of The Motley Fool Foundation. It is our opportunity to identify the winning interventions – the most Foolish philanthropic investments. Together with our donors, we add value to the endeavors of these social entrepreneurs by providing an unrestricted monetary investment, advice, connections through the Fools for Good community, and increased awareness through the Fool platform. Interested in contributing to our next cohort? Click here.

In the news:
Kimberly Driggins and The Washington Housing Conservancy recently had a win! The Washington Housing Conservancy is proud to be one of just 5 US-based organizations to receive a $1M grant from TD Bank’s 2023 #tdreadychallenge! The $1M grant from TD will enable WHC to accelerate its work and launch a Housing + Mobility Lab to bring together a national network of peer cities and stakeholders to replicate and adapt the WHC model to their unique environments. Congrats, Kimberly and the WHC team!

Rule Breaker Spotlight – Happy Women’s History Month!

This Women’s History Month, we salute the diverse women of our Financial Freedom Rule Breaker program. Their social innovations are creating real change for the communities they serve, and we’re honored to help them scale further. Together, we can all achieve more, including Financial Freedom for all.

Kimberly Driggins: Washington Housing Conservancy

The Washington, D.C., housing market is terrifying if you’re a low-to-moderate-income family, as prices are increasing far more rapidly than incomes. This leads to very serious housing instability, which can make it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve Financial Freedom.
After all, if you always have to pay deposits and all the expenses associated with moving once a year, how can you ever hope to save anything?

Why we love and invest in Kimberly’s intervention: The Washington Housing Conservancy stepped in to make housing more affordable for families in the Washington, D.C., Arlington, Virginia, and Hyattsville, Maryland, areas.  Their impact model creates hyper-local neighborhoods with support in all drivers of Financial Freedom (housing, health, education, work, and money).  With over 1,400 rental units acquired so far, over 2,000 residents have taken advantage of far more stable housing options as their area’s rental prices continue to climb. Since 2018, the group’s objective has been to help people find more stable homes. Its current goal is to acquire 3,000 units in the area. A Housing+ Mobility Lab is also in the works to help scale the concept in other local markets nationwide!

Alexandra Bernadotte: Beyond 12

It’s one thing to be accepted into a post-secondary school and quite another to complete your education there. In fact, success in education is about a lot more than just having a school to go to; it’s also about having a community that supports you and helps you through the tough times. This is what drove Alexandra Bernadotte to start Beyond 12.

Why we love and invest in Alexandra’s intervention:  Beyond 12’s work with first-generation college students has made remarkable changes possible for the students in her program.  Of those enrolled in Beyond 12’s coaching program for four years, 85% graduated or maintained their school enrollment for six years, versus the national average of 42%. That education has helped them to go on to get better jobs due to stronger job skills, which has made their individual journeys toward Financial Freedom possible.
Beyond 12 works with students directly and provides actionable data for schools at every level to help improve the outcomes of minority students worldwide.

Bree Jones: Parity Homes
Helping someone own a home is one feat, while building entire communities from scratch is a whole different endeavor.  That’s exactly what Bree Jones at Parity Homes does in Baltimore, Maryland.

A home is definitely a source of financial security and it can be a springboard to Financial Freedom. But breathing life into abandoned parts of a city with the help of a whole community ready to move in block by block?  That’s how everyone rises together.

Why we love and invest in Bree’s intervention:  In the last three years, 60 buyers have gone through Parity Homes’ program, which includes six months of homeownership education with their soon-to-be neighbors.  The community learns together, grows together, and eventually owns their own homes separately, together. A sense of community is one of those unspoken components of true Financial Freedom – you know someone will always have your back when you need it, when you and your neighbors are on the path together.

Molly Hemstreet: The Industrial Commons

When most people think about Financial Freedom, the very first thing that comes to mind is work.  Who has it? Who doesn’t? What kind of work are they doing? How much does it pay?  Molly Hemstreet saw that her community’s traditional industries were being decimated by huge corporations that were buying up local factories and moving them out of the area, so she did something about it.

Why we love and invest in Molly’s intervention: Through the Industrial Commons, Molly has helped bring good-paying, skilled labor back to North Carolina. This goes well beyond jobs and into cooperatives where everyone owns a piece of their company. Workers receive education and on-the-job training that keeps them competitive in a changing market, and it has raised the bar for the entire region.

Work is the most obvious driver of Financial Freedom, but one that we often overlook.  We assume there are jobs, even when there aren’t, and that they will pay a reasonable wage when they often don’t.  Many people just need a chance to have a stable work life to get on the path to Financial Freedom.

Join us in this effort to create sustainable wealth and help more strivers become smarter, happier, and richer. Please consider donating your time, talent, or treasure as a Fool for Good and spreading the word of our collective work in Financial Freedom.
We Will. A Campaign for Financial Freedom.

Donor Spotlight:

“The education, enrichment, and friendships I have made through many decades with the Motley Fool have encouraged me to look beyond investing in the markets and towards investing in people. I have spent a lifetime helping others, so when David had the vision to start a foundation, I was all in to help others gain financial freedom!” – Joy, The Motley Fool Member

In Case You Missed It in February:
TMFF Launches Its First Research Study via February Spark Conversation

On February 22, The Motley Fool Foundation held a Spark Conversation to reveal its first research study, Demystifying Financial Freedom: 4 Key Principles. This is a groundbreaking study commissioned by The Motley Fool Foundation and Ashoka that elevates the voices of people closest to the problems.

As a key part of the Foundation’s ongoing strategy, the study, based on interviews with more than 60 social innovators and in-depth industry research analysis, highlights four key principles around Financial Freedom. Watch the Spark Conversation and download the report today!