digitalundivided

digitalundivided has 10+ years of experience disrupting structural inequities women face in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and investment landscape.

Based on digitalundivided's proprietary research, Project Diane, as of 2021, Latina and Black women received only 1% of the total venture capital, despite the rapid growth of this demographic. We seek to address that gap for all women founders to create an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem where there is access to investments and capital for all.

digitalundivided's Project Diane has reached a media reach of millions, directly and indirectly impacting a significant number of individuals. With our 5 programs, we have historically served over 1500 founders and funded them with over $500k in non-equitable grants. 

We increased visibility and access for women founders. We first needed to quantify the problem, then we began with groundbreaking research and expanded to research-supported founder-centric training programs, strategic partnerships, and a vibrant founder community. When you empower women, you transform entrepreneurship. digitalundivided, since its inception, believes in the power of research to qualify and quantify the ever-evolving state of the business led by women founders. With that approach, we have proven that preparing founders for more challenging environments through our research-based programs while tracking progress and setbacks with our data is a winning combination.

Our founders have entered global markets, collaborated with large corporations, and improved funding. Our inaugural cohort of Do You Fellowship founders had 105% growth in revenue and four reached over $1M in revenue. digitalundivided distributed $90,000.00 in the inaugural Pitch Competition. They expanded markets, collaborated with the NFL, Nike and had a wide range of press and media mentions. Our BREAKTHROUGH program took place in four cities, impacting 70 businesses with founders securing MWBE certifications and receiving $350,000 in awards. We understand, based on our Project Diane findings, that there is a larger pool of women founders that are indirectly positively affected by our work - one of our findings is that those women founders experience fundraising as challenging and feel that their business is undervalued, but they preserve. digitalundivided’s conclusion is that the need is not only to shift who receives funding but also who is able to fund other organizations. This way, we would be able to see a rapid growth in the levels of venture capital received by women, especially Latina and Black women, which as of 2021 were 1%. 

Although there is still a lot to be done and accomplished and digitalundivided is uniquely positioned to disrupt the entrepreneurial landscape. Through advocacy, and structured developmental programming, we support founders with business knowledge, financial advice, personal and professional growth opportunities, a supportive community, and experienced mentors/coaches. Working with digitalundivided founders has increased revenue, improved networks, increased staffing, and gained access to markets. For example, The New C-Suite Alum, Elise Smith, co-founder of Praxis Labs has reached the $18.7 million dollar mark in funding, Talia Boone, Founder of Postal Petals was named Top Small Business by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Jen Fry, Coordle, Sade Lowoye and Aby Osei-Tutu, TribeMeets were accepted into Techstars.

digitalundivided’s proprietary research, Project Diane has reached a media reach of over 240 million. A study on Latina and Black women in the entrepreneurial landscape, the research and data provided by Project Diane has served as the foundation for the development of key initiatives to expand entrepreneurship. Our incubator programming has impacted over 300 businesses, including Lorio Forensics and Latched & Hooked, Labz, and WellMiss, with founders finding success in fundraising, award recognition and media mentions. Founders in our pre-accelerator and accelerator programs have raised over $58 million dollars in funding, increased revenue, and secured national partnerships with companies such as Target, Nordstrom, and Smashbox Cosmetics, for example. 

digitalundivided disrupts the most entrenched systemic inequities women face in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and investment landscape, through data and research-informed programming.

 “High tides raise all ships”, the famous aphorism spoken by JFK, rings more true today than ever, especially in the entrepreneurial landscape. digitalundivided believes that when the tide of an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem rises at its lowest point, women entrepreneurs, the entire investment landscape becomes equitable for all.

This is the year of digitalundivided’s transition to the next level of impact. After a nationwide search, the digitalundivided Board of Directors announced Leah Williams as its permanent CEO. Leah brings a wealth of expertise to lead the organization through its next growth phase with her successful track record as a C-Suite executive and leader across startups, new ventures, and quasi-governmental organizations. "Leah's appointment heralds a transformative chapter for digitalundivided," said Patricia Mota, Board Chair at digitalundivided.

Looking at the landscape of attacks on DEI and the economic instability, digitalundivided has leaned into its expertise under Leah’s leadership and restructured to multiple impacts and increase efficiency. digitalundivided is building on its prior success and continues to innovate based on the changing landscape. digitalundivided research is even more necessary to keep a pulse on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and investment landscape as forces seek to retrench to a time of greater inequity and continue to innovate its programming.  

The organization’s impact is reflected in the success of our founders as they entered global markets, collaborated with large corporations, and improved funding - and to reach that point of scale and growth, with  long-term durability. 

To reduce and mitigate any risks, digitalundivided has several systems in place and is implementing new ones, including using a robust CRM system cross-departmentally to optimize efficiency and efficacy. Extensive planning before implementation and execution is critical to our success. Our team, which is currently at a reduced capacity given the recent reset that the organization needed to go through, due to financial constraints and industry trends, is dedicated to specific programming components, including events, research, communications, and the actual programs, that cross-collaborate to deliver programming to our founders effectively. 

Experienced staff, coaches, and mentors are scheduled for events and programs and adept at pivoting when personnel is delayed or unexpectedly unavailable. We are also solidifying our Operational systems and processes to maximize the team and resources the organization currently has. We seek your urgent support to ensure the continuity of this work.

For over a decade, across the U.S. and territories, digitalundivided has increased visibility and access for Latina and Black women founders and is now expanding to a broader mission to disrupt the most entrenched systemic inequities women face in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and investment landscape through data and research-informed programming. 

We began with groundbreaking research and expanded to founder-centric training programs, strategic partnerships, and a vibrant founder community. digitalundivided not only champions an equitable entrepreneurial landscape, we provide women at various stages of running a business the space to improvise and innovate. When you empower women, you transform entrepreneurship.

digitalundivided is uniquely positioned to disrupt the entrepreneurial landscape. Through research, advocacy and structured developmental programming, we support founders with business knowledge, financial advice, personal and professional growth opportunities, a supportive community, and experienced mentors/coaches. Working with digitalundivided founders has increased revenue, improved networks, increased staffing, and gained access to markets. For example, The New C-Suite Alum, Elise Smith, co-founder of Praxis Labs has reached the 18.7 million dollar mark in funding, Talia Boone, Founder of Postal Petals was named Top Small Business by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Jen Fry, Coordle, Sade Lowoye and Aby Osei-Tutu, TribeMeets were accepted into Techstars.

In 10 years, our flagship early-stage program, START, has reached over 200 businesses and provided industry-led workshops, mentorship, tools, resources, and community access. Our competitive 12 week pre-accelerator, BIG, started in 2017, has reached over 90 businesses with 100% launch to market. Seven months into the Do You Fellowship, founders from the 2023 cohort saw a 105% increase in their annual revenue and two have crossed the 1 million dollar mark in fundraising. Our high-growth founders in the Scale programming vertical, Do You Fellowship 2023 cohort, were introduced to potential investors through the end-of-program pitch competition, which included an award intended to better move the needle when it comes to providing capital to their businesses.  In BREAKTHROUGH, 82% of participants identified the best types of funding for their business and over 96% expanded their network and community.  The New C-Suite founders’ extensive success ranges from raising 1.6 million in funding to product placement in over 80% of top supermarkets across Puerto Rico to partnering with Amazon.

digitalundivided seeks both monetary and non-monetary support. We understand that a solid network is crucial to support organizations with missions like ours to navigate through times in whichconservative groups continues with structured attacks on DEI initiatives, such as the Fearless Fund lawsuit. 

digitalundivided wants to become a Solver to:

• Connect with mind-aligned organizations and individuals 
• Be a bridge to connect those organizations and individuals directly with the founders we serve
• Funds
• Upskill our staff
• Gain visibility and trustworthiness within our industry
• Share mutually beneficial volunteering opportunities at digitalundivided with larger networks (i.e.: Mentorship, facilitation etc)
• And more!

digitalundivided was the first organization to quantify the discrepancies in funding for Latina and Black women in entrepreneurship. Ever since, we have been leading the shift towards more inclusivity, seeking an equitable investment landscape. 

Although we have made significant progress through the last decade, there is still a substantial amount of work to be completed to create an equitable ecosystem where there is access to investment and capital for all.

Differently from other organizations that share our mission, digitalundivided's programming is research-based and research-created. The insights from our data feed our curriculums to ensure continued relevancy and impact in the communities we serve. 

digitalundivided's model has been socially proven throughout its history. Being now on the scale phase, we want to impact more founders.

Over the next 3 years, digitalundivided is committed to empowering a 30% surge in women founders reached by our cutting-edge programs and influential insights. While tripling our network of global capital partners, driving unprecedented opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

In the short term, we expect to improve the capacity of the founders we directly serve. In the long term, we expect to increase the levels of funding and access to women founders and educate our society about inequities through research-oriented reports, events, workshops, and expanded reach.

• Number of founders served and the impact of our programs in their entrepreneurial journey
  • We run pre, during and post-program surveys to evaluate those areas
• Dollar amount provided to our founders as non-equity grants
  • Our finance team keeps track of money directed to this goal
• Ecosystem reach
  • Including our community, subscribers, social media followers, as an example
• Number of global capital partners
  • Number of global partners supporting our mission and vision
• Influence (media audience reach)
  • For our publications, including, but not limited to Project Diane research report

digitalundivided heavily relies on the insights from its proprietaries' research reports, such as Project Diane, which is also widely used by other organizations. 

Additionally, we use other technologies to allow a remote team to cross-collaborate effectively, following privacy and security measures. Examples are: HubSpot, Slack, Zoom, and other integrated solutions.

Full-time: 5

Part-time: 7

Contractors: 

12 years.

The digitalundivided board and team represent a broad spectrum of careers, professions and experiences across major corporations and financial institutions as well as entrepreneurial ventures. Reflecting the community we serve, our eight-member Board of Directors and our staff represent ethnic diversity, in alignment with the community we serve. Our Board of Directors are professionals in industries from major financial institutions to green energy companies. The combined experiences, knowledge, skills and lived experiences have created a passionate team, well-positioned to understand, represent, and advocate for women founders and entrepreneurs.

digitalundivided is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that mainly relies on funding from foundations, corporate partners, and individual donations to run programs, events, and research reports with the mission to create an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem where there is access to investments and capital for all.

• Programming: 5 programs offering supporting
• Thought Leadership Events
• Advocacy
• Research reports: 

digitalundivided has historically been mainly funded by large corporations and foundations, in addition to individual donations. Our financial goal for 2024 is to be granted governmental dollars to bring extra financial stability to the organization, which is crucial, especially when DEI initiatives are under systematic attacks.

Historical Major Gifts (over $50,000)

• Tiger Global - $1,950,000

• Chan Zuckerberg Foundation - $250,000

• Prudential - $500,000

• American Express - $275,000

• MetLife Foundation - $375,000

• JPM Chase - $1,710,828 

• Jordan Brand - $100,000

• Linkedin - $250,000

• AWS - $75,000

• Pivotal - $2,500,000

• Surdna Foundation - $400,000

• UBS - $175,000

• Nasdaq - $145,000

The organization recently needed to undergo a complete reset and is currently operating at a conservative budget of $1.6M.