Memo to our investors on systemic racism

MEMO 6/8/2020

To: Investors in the Oregon Venture Fund

From: Your fund management team - Matt Compton, Lynn Fletcher, Jon Maroney, Eric Rosenfeld, Scott Sandler

In pursuing our mission of organizing and unleashing the talent and capital in our region to build a new generation of growth companies we must examine and acknowledge the personal, cultural, and institutional racism that exists with us, in Oregon, and in our venture industry and we must address it directly. As a visible and impactful community-based organization, we are obligated and eager to use our resources and network to be a force for positive change. This will not be easy, and we will undoubtedly make mistakes along the way. Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been strategic priorities for us for the past few years and we recognize we need to accelerate our efforts and do better.

First and foremost, we are turning up our listening and learning. We are increasing our outreach to entrepreneurs and leaders of our local communities of color so we can learn to be better allies and partners. We are also committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion training for our fund management team and investors. From there, we commit to doing better with our primary stakeholders where we have influence, namely…

Investors – One of the strategic initiatives we established for 2020 is to formalize and launch the Oregon Venture Leaders initiative that we have been developing with members of the local Black and Latinx communities. Our intent is to make OVF more accessible, inviting, and welcoming for investors of diverse backgrounds and ensure we have more diverse investors in decision-making roles.

Entrepreneurs – By collaborating more closely with organizations that support underrepresented entrepreneurs, we hope to make our fund, investors, and network more visible and accessible. This includes supporting their work and members and holding joint events, such as pitch and coaching sessions. For increasing diversity within our portfolio, we are committed to ensuring that our searches for board members and new hires include diverse candidates. Of the 65 companies funded by OVF to date, 23% were founded by, or are led by, persons of color. We want this percentage to only go up. 

Community – Our investors include leaders of Oregon’s business, entrepreneur, and tech communities. Many hold leadership positions within our state’s civic, cultural, educational, and social-service organizations. Let us combine our influence, relationships, and resources to address the injustices, violence, and systemic racism experienced by people of color in Oregon.

Thank you for helping us with these efforts and for suggesting additional programs and initiatives consistent with OVF’s mission and areas of influence. Our challenge is to be a fund and community that ALL Oregonians are proud of. Help us rise to this challenge.

Opportunities to support Black-owned businesses in Oregon:

https://mercatuspdx.com/directory/black-owned-businesses/#!directory/ord=rnd

https://siliconflorist.com/2020/03/03/missing-the-daily-black-history-month-tweets-about-portland-founders-me-too-relive-them/

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