Initiative Area

Social Wealth

From natural resources to physical infrastructure, public assets represent a shared inheritance — yet their management is often underthought. JFI’s Social Wealth initiative seeks to develop financial infrastructure to transform these assets into long-term portfolios that can facilitate the wider distribution of returns to capital, endow critical social programs, and catalyze inclusive economic development. Our aim is to aid the management of social wealth funds, drive the democratization of finance, and strengthen the solidarity economy.

Drawing on resources from across the public, private, and academic spheres, JFI builds tools, conducts basic and applied research, convenes scholars and practitioners, and develops partnerships to help transform public assets into long-term financial portfolios in service of the public interest.

PARTNER WITH US

We partner with social wealth fund managers, academics, policymakers, and government officials in the US and abroad. Examples of this work include a study of financing and infrastructural options to support cash transfers and economic development in Compton, California, as well as our ongoing collaboration with UFF and the Treasury of Niterói, Brazil to develop tools and resources for the newly created Fundo de Equalização da Receita (Budget Stabilization Fund), including stochastic modeling software for portfolio analysis and risk management.

PARTNERS

Forum of Brazilian Sovereign Wealth Funds
Fundo de Equalização da Receita, Niterói, Brazil
Fundo Soberano do Estado do Espírito Santo, Brazil
Fundo Soberano de Maricá, Brazil
Fundo Soberano Municipal, Ilhabela, Brazil
Universidade Federal Fluminense
Fundação Euclides da Cunha, Niterói, Brazil

Featured Partners

Brazil's Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds

The Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds in Brazil builds innovative pathways for increasing the capacity of publicly-held assets to fund bold new social programs. Led by VP Paul Katz, JFI has worked with Brazilian partners to launch the forum, bringing together fund managers and political leaders into conversation with experts from academia and finance, and building the modeling capacity of the member funds.

Social Wealth Contributors

Social Wealth

Adriel Araujo

Fellow

Social Wealth

Andrea Gama

Affiliate Researcher

Special Projects

Francis Tseng

Lead Developer

Social Wealth

Jason Windawi

Fellow

Social Wealth and Financing the Energy Transition

Jonathan Calenzani

Fellow

Social Wealth

Paul Katz

Senior VP

Social Wealth and Financing the Energy Transition

Sina Sinai

Senior Research Associate

Social Wealth

Thaís Donega

Fellow

Related Publication Series

Mineral Wealth and Electrification

The energy transition represents a significant opportunity for countries producing the materials critical to electrification. In this series, we look at eight such materials: aluminum, cobalt, copper, natural graphite, iron, lithium, manganese, and nickel. As demand for so-called “critical minerals” grows, producer countries must develop robust strategies for effective value capture to transform a temporary windfall into an opportunity to grow shared wealth and climb the value chain. Doing so demands both institutional capacity and political will.

Municipal Public Banking

A joint publication series of JFI and the Berggruen Institute that lays out a playbook for how a publicly-owned bank could unlock solutions to Los Angeles’ pressing challenges; new digital tool will power analysis for policymakers and advocates