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Access Ventures · Fellowship Overview
Access Ventures
Access Ventures Fellowship · 2025-2026

Catalytic capital for a
flourishing society.

You’re not here to perform. You’re here to be formed.

Welcome

Let’s begin the journey, together.

This is an invitation into a year of formation and impact: space to create, explore, pursue purpose, and practice rest, alongside a community of bold thinkers and doers.

About me
Bryce and family

Bryce Butler

Managing Director, Access Ventures

FamilyMarried to Bethany since 2006 · four daughters: Madi, Merynn, McKinley & Myra
RootsIn Louisville since 2005 · former Armor Officer, U.S. Army (Korea) · Army brat · former pastor
EnjoysRunning, hiking, flyfishing, and traveling with family
WiringENTP · Culture Index Architect · Enneagram 8w7
StrategySystems thinkingBlended financeFavorite color: blue
Our mission · Advancing human dignity

Supporting bold leaders to foster human flourishing.

We believe your leadership, rooted in justice, creativity, and joy, can help communities thrive.

Who we are

Two forms of capital. One mission.

Access Ventures is an endowed foundation. We steward two complementary forms of capital toward a single end: human flourishing.

Charitable capital

Through our 501(c)(3)

Funds the work markets can’t reach: community development, capital access, storytelling & culture change, and forming values-driven leaders.

↳ The AV Fellowship lives here.
Investment capital

Through our endowment

Funds market-based solutions in the systems that scaffold daily life: food, energy, water, work, health, and more.

Both flow from the same three commitments: Access · Agency · Risk

How we work

Access. Agency. Risk.

Everything we do, charitable and investment, moves through these three.

A

Access

Expanding the conditions for participation, with flexible tools that meet people where they are.

A

Agency

Aligning capital with people and place to expand ownership, dignity, and creativity.

R

Risk

Holding risk faithfully, not fearfully, with patient blended capital for overlooked people and places.

How we say it publicly: Empowering People · Building Systems for Better Access · Investing Your Values

What we do

One mission, expressed two ways.

Charitable activities
Community Development
Access + Agency
Capital Access
Access
Storytelling & Culture Change
Agency
Leadership Development
The AV Fellowship
Investment verticals
Agriculture
Energy
Water
Work
Health
Markets
Place
Government
Story & Culture
In practice
Ethic

Values-aligned investing platform for advisors, now $2B+ in assets.

Investing Your Values
SoLo Funds

Community finance app for small-dollar loans between members, no credit score required.

Capital Access · Markets
Samaritan

Smart-wallet tech connecting unhoused neighbors to funds, goals, and support.

Community Development
At our core

Rightly ordered love. Trust, not fear.

Ordo amoris: our lives are shaped by what we love. Fear narrows our imagination and pushes us to hoard and control. Trust opens it back up. We hold capital with courage rather than control.

D

Dynamic

Adapts and creates for the good of people.

R

Resilient

Absorbs shocks without abandoning the vulnerable.

E

Equitable

Fair access and opportunity, rooted in dignity.

None of this is done alone. Flourishing is communal, not competitive. Dynamic, Resilient, and Equitable only work together. Interdependence is the point.

A 12-month journey of formation & impact

What is the AV Fellowship?

  • Build a community-rooted project aligned with your vision for human flourishing.
  • Engage a guided journey with bold thinkers and doers to refine your path.
  • Gather three times, at Orientation, Midyear, and Celebration, to anchor your growth.
  • Embrace intentional space to create, explore, pursue purpose, and practice rest.
Our values

Rooted and imaginative. Joyful, generous, humble.

01

Rooted

We stay grounded in conviction, community, and the belief that human flourishing is both personal and systemic. Your work is anchored in what matters most, not what’s most visible.

02

Imaginative

Creativity is leadership. Fellows are encouraged to explore new ideas and lead with hope. As we say: “We don’t wait for permission to create something beautiful.”

03

Joyful

Joy is serious work. We choose celebration, play, and awe as fuel for change. This experience should be life-giving, not draining.

04

Generous

Flourishing is shared. Fellows lead with openness, not competition, through what you give and what you receive.

05

Humble

We lead by learning. Fellows are invited to hold ideas and influence with humility, curiosity, and courage. Growth happens in community.

What is human flourishing?

A good and meaningful life, aligned with purpose, justice, and community.

Access & AgencyOpportunity & AutonomySecurity & Freedom

True flourishing means all people have what they need to thrive mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. At Access Ventures, we define it as a vision of holistic well-being and shared dignity.

The year ahead · 2026-2027

Three catalytic gatherings.

August · Now

Orientation

Connect and begin. Between gatherings, informal calls and follow-ups: how can we help you?

NYC
January 5-7

Mid-Year Convening

Connect on progress, learn from others, map out what’s next, and have some fun.

LA
May 10-12

Final Celebration

Connect and reflect on a year of formation and impact.

The 2026 fellows

You belong here.

Growth happens in community, through what you give and what you receive.

Sophia Newhouse Brown
Sophia Newhouse Brown
Los Angeles, CA
Sarah Hartono
Sarah Hartono
La Mirada, CA
Roosevelt Augustin
Roosevelt Augustin
Los Angeles, CA
Jordin Young
Jordin Young
Imperial Beach, CA
DaNae McDaniel
DaNae McDaniel
Los Angeles, CA
Chase Dominguez
Chase Dominguez
Pasadena, CA
Why we work this way

Complex problems require creative solutions.

The problems we care about are often too risky for traditional philanthropy and too complex for traditional investment. Meeting them takes a high tolerance for risk and a willingness to be catalytic with capital.

How does homelessness happen?

Hold that question. There is no single cause. Homelessness is a system.

Understanding complexity

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Systems thinking is a holistic way of understanding the world. Rather than dissecting problems into isolated parts, it recognizes the interconnections, feedback loops, and emergent properties at work, whether ecological, social, or economic.

Iceberg model
Keystone species, Yellowstone
Keystone species

One change can shift a whole system.

Reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone and the whole system rebalances: rivers, forests, and species alike. Find the right leverage point and everything downstream changes with it.

Leverage points

Where you push determines what changes.

Deeper leverage points have more impact, but they are harder to reach. Knowing where to push matters as much as how hard you push.

Leverage points
Before we solve anything

Your starting point matters.
Your worldview matters.

Back to the question

Homelessness is multifactorial.

Many pathways lead to homelessness, and the cyclic nature of poverty reinforces other systemic failures: criminal justice, healthcare, housing infrastructure, and the long-term effects of institutional racism.

Pathways to homelessness
Lenses
Lenses

Overlays on a map.

Each lens shows a different layer of the same territory. Stack them together and you start to see the real shape of a problem, and where to act.

Changing the way the world invests

From how we invest to human flourishing.

Changing the way the world invests and Human Flourishing
Creating a blended strategy

Investing for impact.

  • Concessionary where it counts. The strategy may trade some return for impact, but not always and not everywhere.
  • Aggressive in deployment. Momentum matters, and these conversations need to keep moving.
  • The story must be told. An effort like this should create buzz, even some FOMO, to galvanize others. To get the results we want, it has to be catalytic.
  • Across the capital stack. Grants, debt, and equity all play a part in the solution.
Access Ventures

Let’s build toward flourishing.

accessventures.org · info@accessventures.org
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