Dragonfly Ventures · Fund Canada
Dragonfly Ventures is one of 16 asset owners who have pledged $334.9 million through Fund Canada. The initiative brings together Canadian asset owners and asset managers to direct $500 million in investments and grants to underfunded and overlooked leaders and founders by 2030.
We asked Wendy Cooper, Co-CEO of Dragonfly Ventures, what motivated Dragonfly Ventures to join the Fund Canada pledge.
“We joined the Fund Canada pledge to both be vocal about our commitment to support underserved leaders and communities and to work collaboratively with others on this critical effort. This commitment amplifies and holds us publicly accountable to move more money to those who have and continue to struggle to access capital. It also lets the communities we’re serving know that we are part of a growing collective actively moving money to address historic and current inequities.
Fund Canada aligns directly with our current five-year strategy. One of our core priorities is restorative finance, which we define as prioritizing financial and other types of support to initiatives led by or serving women, gender-diverse, Indigenous, and racialized entities in recognition of systemic oppression and under-resourcing.
This builds on more than 5 years of Dragonfly's work of ensuring the majority of our money is directed this way. This includes:
Our support of the Foundation for Black Communities was in direct response to an ask they put out to the philanthropic community after releasing the Unfunded report, highlighting the philanthropic community's chronic failure to support Black-led and serving efforts. We provided a capital transfer equal to one year of granting at the time to help them establish their endowment. It was also an invitation for us and others to prioritize more direct support to Black communities, an important component of our restorative finance priority.
Building off the partnership between the Afro Caribbean Business Network and Inspirit Foundation, we were thrilled to be part of the next round of supporters to allow ACBN's entrepreneur support program to learn, grow and expand beyond its pilot program to address systemic underfunding of Afro-Caribbean entrepreneurs. Recognizing the importance of combining entrepreneur-readiness support with capital, we paired operational grant support with an investment in their microloan fund.
We've been long-time supporters of Windmill Microlending, given their deep commitment to supporting immigrants and refugees to Canada who are committed to bringing their unique and important skills to our workforce. To support both the loan program and their operations, we participated in their bond and chose to donate our interest back. We also participated in their Cost + Zero loan program to ensure their loan funding is accessible to a diversity of clients with different needs.
We've been a long-time supporter of Ilisaqsivik, appreciating the vision of their founders to create an Inuit-led and serving community hub that centres their values, traditions and culture. Knowing that general operating support was a critical need, our grants have always been available for them to use for the greatest need. We also provided friendly loan funding for them to build their own social enterprise to reduce their reliance on project-based grant funding as they continue to meet the needs of their community and share their model with other Inuit communities.
Investing in diverse leaders is important right now to ensure that we are vigilant and consistent in addressing these inequities. This is not a fad but rather a consistent and enduring commitment to move away from a society and economy that has come at the expense of the well-being of many people and the planet and move towards one that values the well-being of all. When we intentionally create space to recognize, celebrate, and support the unique gifts and capacities of those who have been under-appreciated and under-resourced, we all benefit.”
— Wendy Cooper, Co-CEO of Dragonfly Ventures
