Allow us to introduce ourselves.

February 2023

It is a joy to finally share our work with the world. Liberation Ventures has been in existence for almost three years — we are thrilled to unveil our hard work with our community.

Over the last three years, we have laid down roots in the reparations movement. We’ve raised and deployed resources, launched our narrative strategy, published original qualitative and quantitative research, grown our team, deepened our relationships, and more. We are so grateful for the people who have supported us along the way, and excited to bring more people into our family.

Much of this time was also spent getting clear on who we are as an organization. We refined our organizational beliefs, our vision for the future, our role in the field, and our strategic plan. We reflected deeply on the kind of leadership needed in this moment, how we want to show up in the work, and what we’re fighting for.

Here is where we landed:

Our Why: A Dream in Our Name; to build a new American mythology where racial repair is the key that unlocks a true multiracial democracy, and real belonging for us all.

Our What: A Culture of Repair; Black power, joy, and resources as a precondition to collective prosperity.

Our How: A Movement that Moves; mobilizing resources, spreading narratives, and strengthening relationships that nourish the reparations movement.

Liberation Ventures has a long-term, three phased plan to win — and the journey is just as important as the destination. We are steadfast in a radical aspiration for this nation, and can define the incremental path to getting there. Significant long-term resources will be critical for success, and we are currently the only philanthropic organization entirely dedicated to achieving reparations for Black Americans.

We are a bridging organization — our role is to build infrastructure that supports and grows the movement, which requires bringing many different audiences into the work of racial repair. At the highest level, we are a multiracial project, yet some components of our work require all-Black space. We know that there are many kinds of work needed to achieve our goal, and different containers needed to hold each of the different kinds of work. All-Black spaces are needed for healing and strategizing without others’ gaze. All-white spaces are needed for unlearning superiority and dominance without causing harm in the process. Multiracial spaces are needed for learning how to build accountable partnerships across difference and how to share power. All of this work is necessary, and we believe that clarity about the nature of our project helps us align expectations, hold conflict and complexity with grace, and stay accountable to our core work of Black healing and thriving.

Finally, we believe that narrating the details about what liberation looks and feels like — articulating our world on the other side of reparations — is critical to generating the hope, motivation, and public will we need to get there. Liberation Ventures is just as focused on what we’re building than what we’re dismantling, and determined to visibilize the joy, integrity, and fulfillment of that world to make it irresistible. Our visual identity, developed in partnership with A–B Partners, is a manifestation of this:

• Our logo features text set on curved paths that create a wave, reflecting the ebbs and flows of a movement that is older than emancipation. Evoking these steady swells reminds us of those whose shoulders we stand on, and clarifies our mandate: getting the country to catch this wave. Or, picture half circle shapes set on an invisible horizon line represent the sun setting on a culture of denial, and rising on a Culture of Repair.
• Our colors and imagery hold our multitudes. Our color palette spans from linen to dark sienna — representing the range of people we believe must be an Agent of Repair. Our images evoke Black joy, Black parade, and Black self-determination.
• And finally, gold. Gold shines bright, and makes everyone around it shine — which is what we aim to do. Think golden hour, that perfect light that makes everyone and everything look beautiful and feel possible. Also, gold means winning. We, along with our community of brilliant movement leaders, won’t stop until reparations are a reality.

What do you think the world looks like on the other side of reparations, with a Culture of Repair? Say hello and let us know!