Interest Area
Infrastructure
Our Thinking
The internet and emerging technologies have changed the way we engage with one another and our institutions, and reshaped elements that underpin our civil society. The choices and values driving the building and maintenance of our infrastructure shape our future. It’s essential that we rethink how to define, design, govern, and fund it. We apply our multidimensional framework for infrastructure to deliver positive community outcomes and address the urgent challenges facing American society.
Vibrant communities flourish when supported by just and equitable infrastructures, co-created in partnership with those they serve. Without intentional power-sharing and collaboration, inequalities will deepen, eroding our collective potential to build a more inclusive and sustainable future. How might we ensure that communities have meaningful opportunities to co-design, guide, and oversee the development, implementation, and maintenance of the infrastructures they rely upon?
Our Inquiry Areas
We prioritize practices that empower communities in co-creating sustainable digital, social, and physical infrastructure centered on their unique values, needs, and aspirations.
Inquiry Area
Public Interest Technology (PIT)
With the increasing prevalence of digital technologies in our lives, there must also be intentional efforts to ensure that our society’s priorities and aspirations are reflected across its lifecycle. We work with policy-makers, technologists, researchers, and educators to ensure that the design, deployment, and use of technologies are leveraged in a way that advances the public interest. We fund initiatives that expand and strengthen the PIT ecosystem by ensuring technology serves the public good through diverse talent pipelines, equitable infrastructure, and responsible innovation across the private and public sectors.
Inquiry Area
Community in the Digital Age
Our grantmaking will focus on policy, community, and civic knowledge to build equitable, community-driven digital ecosystems. We will fund initiatives that shape inclusive digital policies, strengthen locally and globally connected communities, and advance civic knowledge with a strong emphasis on digital infrastructure. Our investments will prioritize bold, community-led solutions that challenge entrenched digital power structures and create more just, participatory, and resilient digital spaces.
Highlighted Grantees
Code the Dream
The ultimate aim of Code the Dream is to create a unique win-win, where our coders gain real experience building apps that make the world a better place, and then use that experience to launch new careers with life-changing opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Public Interest Tech Fund
The Fund is a shared space for philanthropists to leverage one another’s expertise, incubate investment strategies to advance visionary concepts, and catalyze big ideas that can transform the use of technology to serve the public interest.
The Bell
The Bell equips New York City students with the tools to tell impactful stories today and the skills to thrive in the media careers of tomorrow.
Infrastructure Insights
Case Studies
ICA Case Study Series – Propagation: Choosing Propagation Over Scale or Replication
ICA has nurtured small businesses in the Bay Area through capital investment and mentoring for nearly thirty years. A central…
Case Studies
ICA Case Study Series – Policymakers: Creating Economic Growth and Thriving Small Businesses Through Equity Investing
ICA Fund is known as an innovator in the CDFI field because it extends patient, flexible capital on founder-friendly terms…
Case Studies
ICA Case Study Series – Capital Markets: Prioritizing Social Impact Alongside Financial Returns
Since its founding, ICA Fund has invested in small businesses with the potential to positively impact their communities. It does…