Just Economy Institute

What Just Economy Institute does

Just Economy Institute (JEI) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit fellowship program that activates, connects, and supports financial activists and impact investors working to shift capital toward just and regenerative economies. Founded in 2017 as an evolution of the Integrated Capital Institute (incubated by RSF Social Finance), JEI operates as a fiscally sponsored project of Possibility Labs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The organization has run nine cohorts of Fellows from 2017-2018 through 2025-2026, building a transnational network of 125+ alumni across the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Singapore, and Malaysia.

JEI's core product is its selective fellowship program, delivered through application-based admissions, in-person retreats at Paicines Ranch, and ongoing alumni programming. Fellows include leaders of impact-investing firms, Indigenous-led CDFIs, social enterprises, and wealth-management practices targeting reparative and just-economy outcomes. Supporting offerings include a collaboration-stories library, a video library, monthly Community Connections newsletters, and a tax-deductible donation portal (with an Access Fund subsidizing fellows who cannot cover full participation costs). The underlying technology is a standard web-based content platform; no proprietary AI, data, or software is central to the value proposition.

JEI's revenue model combines philanthropic donations from individuals and institutional funders (including #NoRegrets Initiative, eBay Foundation, TomKat Foundation, Nia Community Foundation, and donor-advised funds at ImpactAssets and the Women's Foundation of Minnesota) with fellowship participation fees. The go-to-market is community-led and event-driven: JEI markets primarily through thought-leadership content, presence at convenings such as SOCAP and Climate Week NYC, and peer referrals within the impact-investing and reparative-capital fields. Cross-sector strategic alliances (NDN Fund, Collective Action for Just Finance, Oregon Impact Roundtable, and alumni-spawned initiatives like the Financial Activist Playbook Tour and Transformative 25 list) extend JEI's reach without commercial sales motions.

Name

Just Economy Institute

Legal name

Just Economy Institute

Website

https://justeconomyinstitute.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Just Economy Institute is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that runs selective fellowship cohorts for financial activists, impact investors, and community capital leaders, building a 125+ alumni network across 9 cohorts to shift capital toward just and regenerative economies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Fellowship and Leadership Development

NAICS

Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

College Access, Scholarships & Student Success Nonprofits (BPAGADAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Workforce & Job-Seeker Services (Community-Based) (EDAAAFAM)

Keywords

• Fellowship program
• Financial activism
• Impact investing education
• Nonprofit leadership
• Community development

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Fellowship Program Fees: JEI charges participation fees for its fellowship program, with an Access Fund available to support Fellows who cannot cover the full cost.
2. Donations and Philanthropic Support: JEI is funded through donations from individuals and organizations. Donors can contribute to a general fund (supporting fellowship, alumni services, field-building, and operations) or the JEI Access Fund. JEI is a fiscally sponsored project of Possibility Labs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; all gifts are tax-deductible.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Just Economy Institute operates a multi-cohort fellowship program that selects leaders working to shift capital and power toward just and regenerative economies. Fellows participate in in-person retreats at Paicines Ranch and an ongoing alumni community that produces collaboration stories, field-building events, and educational content. The organization is funded through donations and fellowship participation fees, with an Access Fund subsidizing fellows who cannot cover the cost.

Product overview

Just Economy Institute (JEI) is a nonprofit fellowship program, not a technology product company. It offers a single unified program—the JEI Fellowship—along with supporting content resources including Collaboration Stories, Community Connections Newsletters, a Video Library, and a Donation Portal. The fellowship activates leaders, connects financial activists, and builds community to shift capital and power toward solving social and environmental problems. JEI evolved from the Integrated Capital Institute (ICI), which was incubated by RSF Social Finance. The organization accepts applications for its Canada fellowship in August 2026 and US fellowship in February 2027.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• JEI Fellowship Program A selective fellowship program for individual leaders (financial activists, impact investors, and community wealth practitioners) that delivers in-person retreats, peer learning, and ongoing alumni programming to help them catalyze collaborations and shift capital toward just economies.

Quantifiable outcome

• 93% of Fellows report collaborating with one another
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• NDN Fund / NDN CollectiveflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Kim Pate (NDN Fund Managing Director) and Jen Astone collaborated to spotlight Indigenous-led funds during Climate Week NYC, bringing nine Indigenous-led funds into the room for the first time. Their collaboration has shaped the reparative capital narrative and connected twenty Indigenous-led funds through the Transformative 25 (T25) list.
• Collective Action for Just Finance (CAJF)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Jen Astone founded CAJF to highlight and connect impact-first funds. Through CAJF's governance committee, Kim Pate is part of a broader network navigating shared challenges in mobilizing capital in uncertain times. CAJF creates the connective tissue bringing funds into relationship with NDN Fund and other Indigenous-led funds.
• Oregon Impact Roundtable (David Kenney, Dara Westling)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024JEI Fellows David Kenney and Dara Westling led the Oregon Impact Roundtable, hosting Jasmine Rashid for two live TV appearances, a Powell's Bookstore event, and a gathering at Meyer Memorial Trust featuring local financial activists.
• Paicines RanchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Paicines Ranch hosts the JEI annual alumni retreat and creative capital invitation, where fellows engage in visioning exercises and collaborative workshops. The ranch is the venue for the in-person fellowship programming.
• Jasmine Rashid / The Financial Activist PlaybookflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Jasmine Rashid (JEI Cohort 5) wrote The Financial Activist Playbook with extensive JEI community support. JEI Fellows and advisors co-designed the 17-month, 12-city, 35+ event book tour. The collaboration produced national media coverage (NPR, Forbes, Teen Vogue, LinkedIn News) and expanded public discourse on wealth and collective liberation.
• Possibility LabscoreOthersJEI is a fiscally sponsored project of Possibility Labs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Possibility Labs serves as JEI's legal and administrative home, processing donations and providing organizational infrastructure.
• SOCAP GlobalcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorJEI and its Fellows participate in and present at SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) conferences, a major convening for impact investing and just economy practitioners. SOCAP serves as a key channel for JEI to reach the broader field.
• RSF Social FinancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJEI evolved from the Integrated Capital Institute (ICI), which was incubated by RSF Social Finance. RSF Social Finance provided the original institutional home and programmatic foundation for what became JEI.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ashoka: Ashoka operates a global fellowship for leading social entrepreneurs and is directly comparable to JEI's fellowship model in structure, prestige, and focus on identifying and supporting systems-change leaders.
• Echoing Green: Echoing Green runs a fellowship for social impact leaders and is one of the most directly comparable organizations to JEI's fellowship model; both curate cohorts of practitioners advancing social-change missions and operate community-of-practice programming for alumni.
• Scale Collaborative: Scale Collaborative is led by JEI Fellow Kristi Fairholm Mader and operates in the social-enterprise/impact-capital space with capacity-building and integrated capital solutions, making it a directly comparable peer in mission and offerings.
• RSF Social Finance: RSF Social Finance incubated the Integrated Capital Institute (ICI), the predecessor to JEI, and shares JEI's focus on integrated capital and patient philanthropic capital deployment; the two organizations have overlapping institutional history and field alignment.
• NDN Collective: NDN Collective / NDN Fund is both a JEI flagship partner and an Indigenous-led integrated capital organization with multiple JEI Fellows (Kim Pate) on staff; it is directly comparable in its focus on Indigenous-led capital deployment and field-building.
• Collective Action for Just Finance (CAJF): CAJF was founded by JEI Fellow Jen Astone to connect impact-first funds and is a flagship JEI partner; both organizations operate at the intersection of integrated capital, climate justice, and field convening.

Broad incumbents

• Aspen Institute: Aspen Institute runs multiple fellowship and leadership programs across policy, business, and social-impact sectors, broadly comparable to JEI's fellowship/community-of-leaders model but at much larger scale and broader topical scope.
• B Lab: B Lab operates the B Corp certification and broader social-enterprise community, overlapping with JEI's just-economy field-building focus but at significantly larger scale and with a certification/standards rather than fellowship model.
• New America: New America operates multiple fellowship programs for public-interest leaders and is broadly comparable as a fellowship convening organization, though focused more on policy than on integrated capital specifically.

Others

• SOCAP Global: SOCAP is the largest convening for impact investing and social capital and serves as a key event/channel partner for JEI Fellows; both organizations sit at the intersection of the impact-investing field but SOCAP is an events/convening platform rather than a fellowship.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/justeconomyinstitute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Just Economy Institute