Thursday, October 3, 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Online

Discovering Endowment Alternative Assets - Featuring: Paul Biggar and Rahma

by ethics.vc — Institute for Ethical Venture Capital

Alternative assets usually represent 40-60% of a University Endowment’s investments. These Alternative Assets, such as Private Equity and Venture Capital, often provide significant support to the state of Israel and the war on the people of Gaza. Meanwhile, these assets are opaque, hidden from view, and shield university complicity from student demands.

Join Paul and Rahma as we show how to navigate these issues. Paul will explain how Venture Capital is complicit, and outline how he researches this complicity across the startup ecosystem. Rahma will go through her process which has successfully been used to find alternative assets of two major organizations, teaching you how to replicate this for your university and giving you the evidence needed to demand full disclosure.

Speaker 1: Venture Capital Complicity, by Paul Biggar, Tech for Palestine

Venture Capital (VC) provides significant support for the Israeli economy. However, Venture Capital partners and firms also have more direct complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, having worked tirelessly to support the Israeli genocide, manufacture consent for the invasion of Gaza, and create a culture of fear and silence towards supporting Palestinian freedom in the technology industry.

Paul Biggar will discuss how to address the complicity of VC in the crimes against humanity, including VC leaders manufacturing consent for the war on Gaza, the massive role of tech in the Israeli economy, and how to divest university endowments from Venture Capital implicated in the ongoing genocide.

Speaker 2: Unmasking Alternative Assets, by Rahma, Israel Divestment Research Team

University Endowments have transitioned into “Financial Institutions” focusing on fast growth with Nonmarketable Alternative Investments (NAIs) as a huge part of their investment strategy. The absence of standardized reporting, combined with the ubiquity of confidentiality agreements and the private nature of these investments, leads to a lack of disclosure.

Rahma will present her research methodology that she has used to reveal NAIs from two different complicit institutions. She will demonstrate where to find your own institution’s alternative assets by using public disclosures, public and private sites, datasets, and reports.

To register and speaker bios: Discovering Endowment Alternative Assets — ethics.vc — Institute for Ethical Venture Capital