Image - speaker photo

San Francisco

Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor: Closing the Equity Gap

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Despite economic headwinds and job cuts, companies backed by venture capital—including many in the Bay Area—drive the U.S. economy, accounting for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales and profits. However, most of this wealth winds up enriching entrenched investors and favored private interests, further widening economic inequality. Two well-known technology investors and entrepreneurs, Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein, have committed their lives to doing things differently and finding ways to close these equity gaps.

As they explain in their new book, Closing the Equity Gap: Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing, Kapor and Kapor Klein build on their work at the Oakland-based Kapor Center and Kapor Capital, two institutions that invest in seed-stage tech startups focused on closing gaps of access, opportunity and outcome for low-income communities and communities of color.

Join us as Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein share how they’ve "done well by doing good" and how you can, too.

Notes

This program has 2 types of tickets available: In-person and online-only. Please pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event.

Safety Protocols for in-person attendance:

  • We follow best practices laid out by the CDC and state and local guidelines.
  • We strongly recommend vaccination for guests, staff, and volunteers.
  • Masks are strongly encouraged while indoors (if you do not have one and would like one, inquire at our front desk for a complimentary mask).
  • We reserve the right to require different rules for specific events as necessary.

Our LEED Gold-certified building is designed to cool with outside air, using digitally controlled moveable windows and large ceiling fans. We are deploying additional HEPA filters inside to scrub the air. This is all in addition to increased cleaning of surfaces throughout the building.

We welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programs.

Kapors photo by Robert Silver Photography.

All ticket sales are final and nonrefundable.

Mon, Apr 3 / 6:00 pm PDT

The Commonwealth Club of California
110 The Embarcadero
Taube Family Auditorium
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States

Speakers
Image - Mitch Kapor

Mitch Kapor

Co-Chair, Kapor Center; Founder, Lotus Development Corporation; Co-Founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation; Co-author, Closing the Equity Gap: Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing.

Image - Freada Kapor Klein

Freada Kapor Klein

Co-Chair, Kapor Center; Entreprenuer; Activist; Founding Partner, Kapor Capital; Co-author, Closing the Equity Gap: Creating Wealth and Fostering Justice in Startup Investing

Image - Aarti Shahani

In Conversation with Aarti Shahani

Host and Creator, "Art of Power" Podcast

Format

5:30 p.m. doors open & check-in
6–7 p.m. program
7 p.m. book signing
(all times PST)

COST

In-person:
$15 members
$25 nonmembers
$47 members with a book
$57 nonmembers with a book
Online:
Free for members
$10 nonmembers
$32 members with a book
$42 nonmembers with a book

Commonwealth Club

The leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. Each year, we bring nearly 500 events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy to our members and the public, both in-person and via extensive online and on-air listenership and viewership.

The views of Club speakers are their own and their participation does not constitute or imply endorsement or recommendation by The Commonwealth Club.

San Francisco Headquarters

110 The Embarcadero
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-597-6705

Mailing Address:
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San Francisco, CA  94119–4210

Silicon Valley

408-280-5530