For many of us, innovation and technology go together like Tik and Tok. Carmen Rojas, the incoming CEO and president of Marguerite Casey Foundation, encourages people to think more expansively about what innovation means and to remember that it applies — and is desperately needed — in the social sector, as well.
Rojas was previously the founder and CEO of The Workers Lab, an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit whose focus is on worker empowerment. In May, Rojas took over leadership of the Seattle philanthropy from a fellow Latina, Luz Vega-Marquis. She is the youngest and only Latina president of a nationally endowed U.S. foundation.
Marguerite Casey Foundation provides funding and guidance for creative, novel projects that tackle challenges affecting low-income families. The organization, to frame it in tech terms, includes elements of startup accelerators and angel investors. Its ROI isn’t an acquisition or IPO for the groups it supports, but making meaningful improvements to people’s lives — namely those who are struggling financially and often from communities that are Black, indigenous and people of color.
The philanthropy is providing “investments in innovation that allow unproven experiments to actually take shape in contexts where there won’t be progress without disruption,” Rojas said.
Over nearly two decades, the foundation has invested more than $800 million in projects to empower low-income families. It’s unusual among philanthropies for granting funds as unrestricted, general operating support, giving grantees a high degree of freedom for how to use the money.
Rojas also reminds us that investing in groundbreaking ideas isn’t just about creating shiny new objects.
“Innovation isn’t only about the future,” she said, “but about fixing the past.”
Sparked by the recent killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, many in the U.S. are taking a hard look at our country’s long-held inequities and inequalities. That includes policies, institutions and attitudes that over decades have propelled some to success while leaving others well behind. The foundation recently granted $600,000 to multiple Black-led racial justice organizations working to disrupt income inequality and white supremacy, and to close those gaps.
“What philanthropy is doing,” Rojas said, “is throwing spotlights into the sky for what a different world looks like.”
Foundation grantees include two California organizations that successfully removed police department officers from their school districts. In San Francisco, those resources are now going to security aids who will provide “supportive services.”
Among Rojas’ concerns are police surveillance technologies such facial recognition and widespread camera use. She called out the uneven application of the invasive technologies. If the communities where Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos lived were being policed like poor communities, she said, there would be outcries over law enforcement watching our every move.
Marguerite Casey Foundation staff are 60% people of color, and more than 80% of the board are people of color. As organizations nationwide are reflecting on their own lack of diversity, particularly in leadership roles, they’ve been reaching out to Rojas for guidance in making changes.
Her message: the changes have to go deep and tackle institutionalized, pervasive racism.
“There is a real difference between a conversation on diversity, equity and inclusion, and a conversation about white supremacy and racial injustice,” she said. “I’m just not interested in diversity within racist structures.”
We caught up with Rojas for this Working Geek, a regular GeekWire feature. Continue reading for her answers to our questionnaire.
Current location: Seattle
Computer types: MacBook Air
Mobile devices: iPhone
Favorite apps, cloud services and software tools: Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Signal and Peloton are my daily go-to apps
Describe your workspace. Why does it work for you? I am working from a corner in my house. I recently moved to Seattle and wanted to take advantage of the beautiful views so I live in an all glass apartment with sweeping views of the city. It allows for daydreaming, which in this moment is super helpful as I start to imagine the world I want to live in and support.
Your best advice for managing everyday work and life? Take walks during the day. Read YA novels. Exercise. Send people letters. In the current context of health crisis, social uprisings and economic free fall, I am doing my best to keep a routine that reminds me of a world of possibility.
Your preferred social network? How do you use it for business/work? Twitter. I am an early morning riser and read the Guardian, Times, and listen to NPR so I use it to share stories relevant to the families and working people at the center of our mission.
Current number of unanswered emails in your inbox? 0
Number of appointments/meetings on your calendar this week? 37. And I am a big believer in the 15-30 minute meeting as well as ending a meeting when it’s done as opposed to dragging it on to say we used the whole time. I love the gift of time.
Everyday work uniform? T-shirt, jeans and Nike Air Force 1s
How do you make time for family? I try to keep clear work hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Best stress reliever? How do you unplug? Exercise. I love to sweat and have a couple of great fitness apps that I swear by.
What are you listening to? Beyonce, Megan Thee Stallion, “Insecure” soundtrack
Daily reads? Favorite sites and newsletters? Guardian, New Yorker and the New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast
Book on your nightstand (or e-reader)? So many. “They Were Her Property” by Stephanie Jones-Rogers, “Makers and Takers” by Rana Foroohar, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” by Shoshana Zuboff, “The Undocumented Americans” by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, and “Muslim Women Are Everything” by Seema Yasmin.
Night owl or early riser? Early riser
Where do you get your best ideas? During my morning exercise routine.
Whose work style would you want to learn more about or emulate? Toni Morrison. In the documentary made about her life before she passed, I was so captivated by the ease with which she moved between different roles and maintained full awareness of herself, her voice and her power. From professor to editor to brilliant author, she was able to do seemingly different things in service of creating room for us to build a collective story about Black people for Black people.
