Less than a year after assuming the role, All Raise CEO Mandela SH Dixon She was removed from her position in the charity organization. The entrepreneur, who previously ran an online training program for underrepresented founders, said in a blog post that the decision was made after realizing she was “in the field working directly with entrepreneurs every day.” Dixon said she will explore new opportunities in line with this.
Her resignation is effective February 1, 2023. She continues to be a consultant to Bay Area nonprofits.
This is the second CEO to resign since its inception in 2017. Costca is now an operator in residence and a limited partner in Operator Collective, according to LinkedIn. Paige Hendricks Buckner, who joined the group as CEO nine months before Dixon’s departure, will take over as interim CEO. In the same blog post, Buckner wrote, “Mandela has left Grow All in a strong position, and I am grateful for the opportunity to continue the hard work of growing the VC-backed ecosystem.”
Dixon did not immediately respond for comment on the record. It’s unclear if All Raise is immediately starting a search for a permanent CEO.
The nonprofit has historically stated its goals in two ways: First, it wants to increase the amount of funding given to female founders from 11% to 23% by 2030, and second, it wants to double the percentage of female decision-makers in American companies by 2028.
Dixon has said in previous interviews that the company works to create clear goals for how it wants to impact historically anonymous individuals. The data highlights the challenge ahead. Black and Latinx women receive less venture capital funding than white women; Non-binary founders can face higher hurdles when seeking funding, AllRaise board member Eileen Lee explained in a blog post. The nonprofit has created specific programs for black and Latinx founders but has not yet defined a specific goal for the group. If not monitored, these connections can be lost. All Raise’s final impact report was published in 2020 and they are working to bring that analysis back; Lee He tells TechCrunch in an interview.
“All of Rice has a great hand from Paige as interim leader and we have a lot of fun things to model and measure,” Lee said. We all need to continue to join hands to try and continue to make improvements for our industry… We’ve made great progress that we can’t let go of.
Since its inception, the charity has raised $11 million in funding, and has opened regional chapters in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC and most recently Miami.
