The Ford Foundation, Visa Foundation, and Fairview Capital have announced a partnership and expanded financial commitment to the Fairview Foundations Emerging Managers Fund.

The multiyear investment fund, originally backed by the Ford Foundation in 2019, invests in funds and direct co-investments backed by diverse and women-owned venture capital and private equity firms. Managed by Fairview with significant financial commitments from both Visa Foundation and the Ford Foundation, the fund was launched to catalyze the growth of diverse firms nationwide by focusing on new and small funds, and serves as a model to other foundations and endowments that an appropriately structured programmatic approach to investing with diverse managers has the potential to generate market or above market returns.

“When we formed our initial partnership with the Ford Foundation we believed that, in time, nothing would prove more compelling to additional institutional investors than our demonstrated success in building a high-performing portfolio of talented, diverse investment managers investing capital profitably across a broader landscape of people and investment opportunities than that of most private markets investors,” said Laurence C. Morse, co-founder and managing partner of Fairview Capital. “The fact that the Visa Foundation has analyzed the results of this effort and chosen to partner with us and the Ford Foundation to expand it further is immensely gratifying, and we could not be more pleased to have the opportunity to partner with them.”

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