All Raise

All Raise All Raise is a nonprofit organization focused on accelerating the success of founders and funders who are women and underrepresented minorities in venture capital and startup ecosystems. The organization works with venture capital firms, angel investors, accelerators, corporate partners, universities, and policy organizations to increase diversity among investors and founders. All Raise engages in mentorship, research, advocacy, and community-building to influence venture capital networks across the United States and globally.

History

All Raise was formed in 2018 amid growing attention to gender disparities documented by organizations such as National Venture Capital Association, PitchBook, CB Insights, Crunchbase, and Kauffman Foundation. Its founding cohort included leaders from firms like Cowboy Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, GV, Founders Fund, Benchmark Capital, and Sequoia Capital who responded to reporting from outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and TechCrunch about low funding rates for women-led startups. Early initiatives drew on research from McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and academic work at institutions such as Stanford University, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over time All Raise expanded membership programs, partnerships with accelerators like Y Combinator and Techstars, and collaborations with corporate partners including Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon to influence hiring and investment practices.

Mission and Programs

All Raise's stated mission includes increasing access to capital for underrepresented founders and improving diversity among venture investors via programs that mirror efforts by organizations such as Female Founders Fund, Backstage Capital, Project Diane, and Black Founders. Signature programs have included mentorship networks modeled after 500 Startups cohorts, fellowship programs inspired by Echoing Green and Kapor Center initiatives, and training curricula drawing on resources from Stanford d.school and Harvard Business School. All Raise runs research initiatives producing reports comparable to those by Deloitte, PwC, and EY on funding flows, and organizes events similar to TechCrunch Disrupt, Collision Conference, and SXSW to connect founders with investors and corporate partners. The organization also operates investor education and recruitment programs akin to Kauffman Fellows and AngelList syndicate initiatives.

Leadership and Governance

All Raise's governance structure includes a board of directors and an advisory council composed of leaders from venture firms, startups, philanthropic organizations, and higher education. Notable board and advisory participants have included partners and executives associated with Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Accel Partners, NEA (New Enterprise Associates), Benchmark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Intel Capital, and GV. The organization has employed executive leadership experienced in startup growth, nonprofit management, and corporate strategy with backgrounds connected to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Stripe, Square, and PayPal. Governance practices emphasize transparency, board diversity similar to standards advocated by Catalyst (nonprofit), National Association of Corporate Directors, and corporate stewardship frameworks promoted by Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation grantees.

Funding and Partnerships

All Raise has funded operations through a combination of membership dues, philanthropic grants, corporate sponsorships, and event revenue, paralleling funding models used by Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Kapor Center for Social Impact, Recode, and New Venture Fund. Major partners and sponsors have included technology companies and venture firms such as Google, Facebook, Apple Inc., Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Founders Fund. Philanthropic supporters have included foundations like Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, Ford Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Collaborative programs have been run with accelerators and incubators such as Y Combinator, Techstars, StartX, and university entrepreneurship centers at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Harvard University.

Impact and Criticism

Proponents credit All Raise with helping increase visibility for women founders and investors and influencing hiring and investment commitments at firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures. Reports and analyses by groups such as PitchBook, CB Insights, Crunchbase, and consulting firms like McKinsey & Company have documented modest increases in funding to women-led startups since 2018, though attribution to specific organizations remains contested. Critics and commentators in outlets like The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, and Vox have argued that structural issues—highlighted in research from Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and MIT Sloan School of Management—require broader policy changes and capital allocation shifts beyond voluntary industry pledges. Other critiques from journalists and scholars associated with Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and London School of Economics question the scalability of mentorship-based interventions and urge measurement standards like those advocated by Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. Supporters point to partnerships with venture firms, corporations, and foundations, and to mentorship and investor training outcomes, while independent evaluations continue to assess long-term changes in portfolio composition, exit outcomes, and founder economic mobility.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in San Francisco