The Legacy Fund at Apis & Heritage

Democracy at Work Institute

The Legacy Fund at Apis & Heritage

Impact investment fund financing the sale of businesses to employees

Washington, DC

United States

Nonprofit

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The average white family in America has 10-40X the wealth of average Black households. The majority of Black and Latinx workers will retire with zero savings. This lack of relative and absolute wealth plays a large role in the negative health, housing, educational and entrepreneurial outcomes in communities of color.

Amid a flurry of interest in private equity-style models for investing in broadening ownership of small and medium enterprises, we are the only African American-led investment fund focused on businesses with large workforces of color. This commitment gives us a competitive advantage in both raising funds and deploying them; as importantly, it informs our strategy at all levels. We are the only fund to leverage philanthropic investment in wraparound services and ownership culture. We are the only fund to develop and share comprehensive impact data for systems change purposes. We are taking proven tools and pointing them at new communities while increasing engagement and job quality for low and moderate income workers.

The workers are the ultimate beneficiaries of the Legacy Fund, as they become business owners in high-quality companies. We seek businesses in essential service sectors such as manufacturing, maintenance, landscaping, and others with $1M-$5M+ EBITDA and at least 40 employees. Most workers in these industries have a high school degree with little or no advanced education. Most are unable to access capital to own a business. They have low 401k balances if any retirement savings, few to no assets, and limited autonomy and decision making at work. We will target companies where 51% of workers are low income (less than 80% Area Median Income) and people of color at least one-third of the workforce.