Omidyar Network is a venture of The Omidyar Group
We believe capitalism can still be a powerful force for good.
But while free markets have led to prosperity for some, they have also generated increasingly harmful and untenable inequities across economic, racial, and geographic lines.
We are capitalists who know that the current form of capitalism is fundamentally broken.
That’s why Omidyar Network is working to address the structural challenges at the heart of our economic system, and to shape a new, inclusive economy where markets serve the interests of all people and society. We do so by supporting a range of organizations—nonprofits, advocacy organizations, worker groups, think tanks, journalists, and entrepreneurs—with grants, investments, and the power of our network.
Read Our Call to Reimagine Capitalism to learn more about our point of view.
Ideas matter. Some ideas are so deeply ingrained that we don’t even realize the power they hold over our thinking and behavior.
These ideas affect everything from how we structure our society, our democracy, and our families—even something as complex as the economy.
The prevailing economic ideas of the past 50 years in the U.S. have dramatically failed by most measures. We believe it is long past time to replace them.
Philanthropy supported the creation of these outdated ideas. We believe philanthropy must play a role in supporting new, better ideas. Our goal is to shape a new economic paradigm that describes our world today and points us toward systemic solutions that build a more equitable, inclusive, and resilient society. We are working with grantees, philanthropies, and other partners to help build alignment around a coherent new vision and set of economic values.
Read Our Call to Reimagine Capitalism to learn more about our point of view.
People need meaningful power to shape their destiny at work and in the economy overall. Power allows working people to advocate for better wages, policies, benefits, training, job opportunities, and working conditions.
Greater worker power provides an essential counterweight to rising corporate dominance, and to the spillover of corporate economic power into political power. This power imbalance is one of the main structural reasons American capitalism is failing so many in its current form.
We believe we will only have a healthier economy—one that is better for employees, businesses, and society—when working people have greater power, agency, and voice at work, both individually and collectively.
We support new organizing models to build power, as well as championing federal, state, and local labor reform policies that increase the power of workers in innovative ways. We also want to expand the net of American labor law to cover all working people, whether in the gig economy, in homes, in fields, or in a conventional workplace.
Read Our Vision for the Future of Workers and Work to learn more about our point of view.
Start-ups are part of our DNA, and we believe in competitive, dynamic economies. But start-up rates are down in the US, and concentration of market power is rising in a majority of industry sectors. While unchecked government power is a real danger to individual liberty, so is unchecked corporate power. Monopoly power threatens both the economy and our technology sector, and we work to address the issue in both arenas. We believe market guardrails can come from real competition, strict checks on monopolies, empowered consumers and grassroots organizations, and civil society.
As an organization founded by the creator of eBay and with more than a decade of experience investing in impact-oriented entrepreneurs, we believe that business can be a real force for good. But too often, businesses and markets do not deliver the outcomes we need because the rules and incentives that govern them reward decisions that generate financial returns for shareholders but are harmful for society.
A fundamental change in how corporations and capital markets operate is needed if we are to address the challenges of growing inequality, atrophying worker power, persistent structural racism, and a rapidly changing climate. This is why we are committed to building an economic system in which markets incentivize businesses to contribute to the common good, and curb the pressures that lead to negative outcomes for people and the planet.
We are working to shift business away from a paradigm anchored on shareholder primacy, and towards one centered on a different model of corporate governance, a different definition of value creation, and a different orientation of investment and capital markets activity. We support new models, policies, and organizations focused on changing the incentives of corporate decision makers, and enabling stakeholders to hold companies accountable for their impacts on society.
“We learned long ago that liberty could be preserved only by limiting in some way the freedom of action of individuals; that otherwise liberty would necessarily yield to absolutism; and in the same way we have learned that unless there be regulation of competition, its excesses will lead to the destruction of competition, and monopoly will take its place.”
– US Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
Elections often shape economic policy, narratives, and views of the economy, and decide their course. We support organizations on the frontlines fighting for more inclusive economic policies. We do this by funding ballot initiatives, referendum, and issue advocacy campaigns, as well as the narratives that can shape public discourse on the economy beyond Election Day.
As power in our society continues to concentrate, grassroots organizing is often the best way for ordinary people to stand up to it and provide meaningful counterweights. That’s why we are exploring how we can help stop the boom-and-bust cycle of advocacy funding. To strengthen the infrastructure that serves grassroots economic advocacy groups, we support technical assistance networks, post-election efforts, and coordinated catalytic funding over the long-term.
Learn more about our COVID-19 Economic Recovery Advocacy Fund.
Omidyar Network is a venture of The Omidyar Group