Another installment in my ongoing coverage of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund, founded in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the #BlackLivesMatter protests in 2020 and promising $50 million in investment over ten years (but not quite proving it).
It’s a case study in how to build local credibility, while staving off discussion of such things as public subsidies for a very successful business.
The SJF recently launched a new initiative, the Brooklyn Pitch Competition.
It aims to help Brooklyn businesses “access the growth capital, strategic support, and connections they need to scale,” offering a cumulative $450,000 in unrestricted grant funding, including a $150,000 grand prize and additional finalist awards ranging from $25,000 to $75,000.
This seems to be a successor to the 2024 program Revitalize Brooklyn, a grant program that, without public announcement of a competition, offered $50,000 each to 9 Brooklyn-based businesses in food and fashion.
I wrote more about Revitalize Brooklyn in the article below.
What Has the Social Justice Fund Been Doing for Five Years?
Unlike Revitalize Brooklyn, the Pitch Competition has an open call for applicants. It is also open to a broader range of businesses that earn between $1 million and $5 million in annual revenue and can demonstrate their ability to grow.
Five to eight finalists “will pitch live in November at the Barclays Center and will receive more than funding,” the announcement states, citing “access to investor introductions, capital matchmaking, strategic advisory sessions, and connections to procurement and growth opportunities.”
So some could do business with the arena, for example.
Some commenters on Instagram were critical, suggesting that it would help only those already successful.
“This is a well meaning initiative that either fundamentally misunderstands what a small business is, or is specifically targeting those with multiple locations and/or have taken on investment already,” one wrote. “I suppose it helps some people, but not the people/businesses that need it most.”
There was no rebuttal posted, but presumably the Social Justice Fund could say that a previous program offered low-interest loans to a host of very small businesses, with no collateral required, as described in the link below.
How Has the EXCELerate Loan Program for BIPOC Brooklyn Businesses Worked?
The press release cites “The Social Justice Fund, founded by Clara Wu Tsai, owner of the New York Liberty,” and states that “Clara Wu Tsai launched The Social Justice Fund in 2020 in Brooklyn to support economic mobility within communities across the borough.”
Such phrasing continues two obfuscatory trends I previously highlighted in my series.
First, it credits the initiatives to Clara Wu Tsai, not her husband Joe Tsai, whose business success led to their purchase of the Brooklyn Nets and holding company that includes the arena.
Is Clara Wu Tsai Founder of the Social Justice Fund? No, but Claim Diverts from Joe Tsai and Alibaba
It also highlights the WNBA’s Liberty, who are in the middle of their season and have a record of success, unlike the floundering Nets.
The focus on Clara Wu Tsai avoids discussion of her husband’s business dealings in China and his support for the authoritarian government.
Also, the emphasis on “economic mobility” downplays the role of race, showing an evolution in tactics as the national political scene changed. Initially, as I wrote in the article linked below, their efforts supported “BIPOC Communities,” but now it’s just “Communities.”
The Social Justice Fund Pulls Back on Race Talk, But Grantmaking Doesn’t Change Much
That said, the image chosen for the program’s webpage shows two people of color, an Asian-American man and a Black woman.
Coverage June 2 in BKMAG dutifully stated, “The initiative is a product of the Social Justice Fund, the organization New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai founded to support economic mobility in the borough.”
To my surprise, the article included this not-so-typical disclaimer: “BKMAG is owned by Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the company referenced in this article.”
The article actually didn’t mention Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, though it did cite the Liberty, a company. However, as I wrote, the Social Justice Fund might be seen as an extension of the Tsais’ overall business interests.
I didn’t see any other coverage, beyond the BKReader (whose founder has previously been honored by the SJF). Some previous programs launched with much more of a public relations push, as noted below.
Also strategic: the recently announced Elevating Business Loan Program, about which I wrote in May.
Though in partnership with New York State and two Asian-American institutions, the Asian American Foundation and Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, it’s highlighted on the Social Justice Fund’s homepage with a photo featuring a Black man and a couple of people who are more ethnically ambiguous.
“The Brooklyn Pitch Competition is part of the Social Justice Fund’s ongoing commitment to the business community in Brooklyn,” the new press release states. “The fund has launched programs that make capital affordable for entrepreneurs, such as loan, equity, and grant programs.”
The umbrella of social justice is pretty broad, as I’ve noted.
How much does the new initiative differ from Ignite Brooklyn Made, a recent live pitch competition for “Brooklyn’s most promising entrepreneurs,” funded by Wells Fargo and administered by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce through its Brooklyn Made initiative, which features local makers?
It offers $300,000 in total funding, plus various ancillary services.
After ten finalists were selected and awarded $25,000 each, the consultant Progress Playbook designed a program—a business growth coaching curriculum, a pitch coaching track, a 10-slide pitch deck template, and a judging rubric for the competition—to help them compete for additional growth capital: up to $25,000 for first place, $15,000 for second, $10,000 for third.
It’s worth noting how those Social Justice Fund programs have evolved.
As I wrote, the EXCELerate loan program, aimed to help Brooklyn BIPOC businesses survive the pandemic, was a significant proof of concept, though the low interest rates made it unsustainable. As I wrote, the Social Justice Fund, curiously, does not promote the successor, EXCELerate 2.0.
How Has the EXCELerate Loan Program for BIPOC Brooklyn Businesses Worked?
The other SJF program with significant hype was BK-XL, an accelerator aimed to boost BIPOC-led start-ups with equity funding. That program expired after two rounds, with the second less ambitious than the first.
As I wrote, the brief time most of those start-ups spent in Brooklyn, as well as the presence of a good number of founders from afar, made it hard to claim that the program was helping the “business community in Brooklyn.”
The Tsais’ BK-XL Accelerator Put $4M+ Into 17 BIPOC-Led Start-Ups. Was This “Wealth Creation in Brooklyn”?“Through the Brooklyn Pitch Competition, our goal is to elevate entrepreneurs who are actively shaping and strengthening the Brooklyn economy by expanding their access to growth capital,” said Gregg Bishop, executive director of the Social Justice Fund, in the new press release. “This initiative is about more than funding. It’s about unlocking opportunity, bettering our neighborhoods, and building a more equitable Brooklyn for everyone.”
The Pitch Competition guidelines cite these criteria:
Be headquartered or primarily operating in Brooklyn
Generate between $1 million and $5 million in annual revenue
Demonstrate a clear growth strategy and strong potential for expansion
Show evidence of innovation, execution capacity, and business momentum
Contribute to Brooklyn’s economy through job creation, local hiring, community impact, or neighborhood investment
Be prepared to participate in a competitive screening process and pitch event if selected as a finalist
Interested businesses have a three-month window to apply, with the deadline Sept. 4.