July Newsletter: Outsmarting the Machine

NEWSLETTER VOL 26 | July 2026

Outsmarting the Machine

One year ago, our July newsletter Public Dreams, Private Means called for strategic private dollars to help replace public funding cuts and environmental rollbacks. With hundreds of billions of new AI-related wealth being created this year, we’re re-emphasizing the need for intentional capital to fill these gaps and go even further to create new regenerative systems.

Our “Beyond the Exit” blog series explores what is at stake if this new wave of IPO wealth defaults back into the same financial systems and structures (“the machine”) that created the problems we are trying to solve. As public funding for critical social and environmental systems continues to recede, the need for values-aligned investing has never been greater.

One such rollback recently occurred in our backyard. This month, Washington Farmland Trust turned down a major federal grant rather than compromise its commitment to equitable land access, and is now facing a funding gap that private donors can help close. And just last week, Jenae joined EFM on an investor tour on the Oregon Coast, witnessing firsthand how dollars redirected to climate-smart forestry are creating lasting ecological outcomes. Whether through philanthropy or investments, we’re encouraging wealthholders to gain clarity before the default settings for deployment kick in.

Jenae participated in the EFM Investor Tour last week where she learned first hand about the power of climate-smart forest management.

BLOG

Thu, Jul 30

Beyond the Exit Part 1: Get Clear Before the Machine Kicks In

Before a single dollar is deployed, the most important work is internal. Part One of our Beyond the Exit series explores what it looks like to slow down, ask the questions advisors typically don’t ask, and build a financial plan that begins with values & purpose.

Incorruptible by Eric Ries

“Eric argues that companies founded with strong ideals often drift toward short-term thinking, extractive behavior, and mission abandonment—often despite the best intentions of the people inside them. As organizations grow, the systems that govern them—ownership, incentives, charters, accountability, and decision-making—quietly reshape behavior. When those systems are poorly designed, even principled leaders are pushed toward outcomes they never wanted.”

As founders, we regularly think about how to anchor Humanize Wealth in our mission and values. Along this newsletter’s theme of resisting the default, reading this book helped us better understand how to design corporate governance that withstands the pull of financial gravity.

A CAUSE WE’RE SUPPORTING

Here’s how you can help farmers

Washington Farmland Trust (WFT), a nonprofit working to protect farmland and support farmers across Washington state, recently made the difficult decision to turn down a $676,000 federal grant. The updated grant terms would have required the organization to abandon its commitment to equitable land access and comply with conditions that conflict with its core values.

Executive Director Melissa Campbell wrote candid letter about the dilemma, noting that accepting the funds would have meant deprioritizing the farmers with the greatest barriers to accessing land and erasing commitments the organization has spent a decade building. WFT is now facing a $134,000 shortfall and is actively fundraising to keep their Farm to Farmer program running. If this kind of values-driven, community-rooted work resonates, consider making a gift before the matching deadline.

EVENTS WE ATTENDED

EFM 2026 Investor Tour

Earlier this month, Jenae joined EFM for their annual Investor Tour on the Oregon Coast, a trip that turned the fund's strategy from a slide deck into tangible, ecological wins that you could witness first hand. Day one featured a tour of one of EFM’s longest held properties near Garibaldi. Investors were able to see the various stages of EFM’s climate-smart forestry practices up close, and compare those with adjacent “clear cuts” on neighboring properties. Jenae learned about how EFM protects and regenerates riparian regions on the properties which are crucial for salmon spawning.

Day two brought a visit to a newly acquired property along the coast and a walk through Oswald West State Park, where old-growth forest gives way to a riparian corridor and, finally, the open Pacific. It was a striking, firsthand look at how EFM's approach of weaving timber production together with carbon sequestration, conservation, and biodiversity actually plays out on the ground. EFM hosts similar tours every July and welcomes all investors to come and learn on the ground.

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