Updated:
Slow Money
Woody Tasch founded Slow Money in 2008, channeling over $80M into organic food and farming through a network of family offices and foundations.
Slow Money
Slow Money was founded in 2008 by Woody Tasch, a former venture philanthropist at the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, as a network of investors seeking to rebuild local food systems. The firm operates as a multi-family office and impact investing platform, coordinating capital from HNWIs and family foundations into small-scale regenerative agriculture, soil health projects, and farm-to-table businesses (per public record). Investment strategy focuses on asset classes including private equity, direct impact investments, and real assets, primarily through local food system companies. The firm has facilitated over $80M in aggregate deployments (as of 2023) across more than 700 small enterprises, using a mix of direct co-investments, donor-advised funds, and a 501(c)(3) foundation structure. No specific portfolio companies are publicly named, but activity spans the United States and Canada, with an emphasis on small producers, urban farms, and processing facilities. Slow Money operates with a lean, decentralized team of volunteers and a national network of local chapters; total professionals is undisclosed. Additional offices exist in San Francisco, Oakland, and Toronto, and the firm maintains a philanthropic foundation — the Slow Money Institute — that separates grantmaking from investor services. The network's annual National Gathering, ongoing since 2009, serves as its primary sourcing and relationship-building event. Structural differentiator: Slow Money is a mission-aligned investment club, not a traditional family office — it pools capital from a network of like-minded families and individuals rather than managing a single fortune. Its mandate explicitly rejects the pursuit of maximum financial return, instead emphasizing soil health and community resilience as performance metrics, a posture rare among allocators of any size.
General information
Firm type
Multi Family Office
Year founded
2008
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Boulder
Corporate office
Boulder, CO, United States
Additional offices
Oakland, CA, United States · San Francisco, CA, United States · Toronto, ON, Canada
Principals
Woody Tasch
Founder & Chair Emeritus
John Katovich
Board Chair
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Slow Money?
Slow Money operates as a decentralized network, not a centralized investment firm. Investment decisions are made by individual members and local chapter coordinators, with guidance from a board led by Chair John Katovich (as of public records). Founder Woody Tasch serves as Chair Emeritus and remains an influential voice in the network's strategy.
How does Slow Money source proprietary deal flow?
Slow Money sources opportunities primarily through its National Gathering and regional chapter events, where food-system entrepreneurs pitch directly to the investor network. The firm does not employ a formal sourcing team; instead, it relies on member referrals, grassroots outreach, and the public visibility of its mission (per public record).
Is Slow Money structured as a single family office, multi-family office, or something else?
Slow Money is best described as a mission-oriented investment network with elements of a multi-family office and a donor-advised fund platform. It coordinates capital from multiple families and foundations, but it does not manage assets directly; rather, it facilitates connections between investors and small agri-food enterprises.
What investment stages does Slow Money typically target?
Slow Money focuses on early-stage, seed, and growth-stage small businesses in the organic food and regenerative agriculture space. Its investments are typically much smaller than traditional venture capital — often $25,000 to $500,000 — and prioritize enterprises that lack access to conventional capital.
Which sectors does Slow Money explicitly avoid?
Slow Money explicitly avoids industrial agriculture, synthetic fertilizers, food products that rely on fossil fuels, and large-scale commodity systems. It does not invest in companies that do not align with its soil-health-oriented mandate.
How is Slow Money related to the Slow Money Institute?
The Slow Money Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity that operates alongside the investment network. It hosts educational programming and the National Gathering, while the investment network itself facilitates capital deployment. The two share governance but serve distinct functions: education and grantmaking versus investor matchmaking.
Where does the underlying wealth at Slow Money come from?
The wealth comes from a dispersed network of high-net-worth individuals, family foundations, and mission-aligned investors who participate as members. No single principal or family is the source; the capital is pooled from dozens of families and philanthropic entities, each with their own disclosed or undisclosed wealth origins.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: