A Pledge to Los Angeles

Convened in October 2018 by an alliance between LA’s venture capital community, Annenberg Foundation, and the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, this pledge is a collective call for change and a commitment to better reflect, support, and leverage the creativity and diversity that is Los Angeles.

We, LA’s venture capital community & tech leaders,

recognize:

  • Los Angeles is at the dawn of a rising tech boom and like many other regions that have
    gone before us, we risk leaving out large portions of our community as we innovate
  • companies that engage meaningfully in communities reap social and economic benefits. Likewise, companies with a diverse workforce consistently outperform those with a homogeneous workforce
  • many companies currently lack community engagement, equity, diversity, and inclusion within their organizations and investment decisions
believe:
  • we have the opportunity to generate explosive growth and innovation, AND increase opportunity and prosperity for ALL of Los Angeles – including but not limited to people of color, women, veterans, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ Angelenos
  • by intentionally increasing our community engagement and investing in equity, diversity, and inclusion, we are doing both the right thing (as humans) and the smart thing (as investors)
pledge:
  1. to increase our community engagement by supporting organizations that are making a difference throughout Los Angeles
  2. to actively and continuously improve equity, diversity, and inclusion at all levels of our organizations and in our investment decisions
  3. to hold ourselves accountable by measuring and transparently reporting on our progress and impact on these outcomes
intend:
to keep expanding this initiative by inviting more VCs, CEOs, and founders throughout the LA tech community, and establish an independent organization to implement and support this pledge.

Accountability

PledgeLA members commit to measuring their progress on key metrics annually, which allows us to provide a  focused regional snapshot of growth and challenges.

Join Us

Is your company ready to join our community of members working to build a more inclusive LA?

Get Involved

Learn about mentorship and volunteer opportunities, events, and more ways you and your organization can make an impact.