ABOUT
Built from what
we know is possible
The Tepal Fund is the investment arm of Orchid Capital Collective, a 501(c)(3) building the financial infrastructure for community-led reproductive care. We move capital that repairs instead of extracts, and we stay in relationship long after the check clears.
Our care system was not designed for care.
THE PROBLEM
Our systems have put profit and extraction ahead of people. The results are high costs, growing care deserts, and worsening outcomes, and Black, Brown, and Indigenous birthing people bear the most.
Sources: March of Dimes; HRSA Area Health Resources Files; National Center for Health Statistics; American Association of Birth Centers. [Full citations in Squarespace footnote block.
55th
US ranking in maternal morality worldwide, last among industrialized nations
$37B
spent each year on preventable
maternal and infant health complications, not supportive care
$744K
people across 1,100+ counties living in maternity care deserts
Community-rooted care works,
and it remains overlooked.
Community midwives, doulas, and advocates deliver evidence-based care that improves outcomes. Yet
they're shut out of philanthropic capital, reimbursed inequitably, and offered limited, often predatory financing.
40%
Grants
Midwifery and doula-led care yields at least 40% lower cesarean rates and 26% lower preterm birth rates.
$189M
Annual savings possible
Shifting just 1% of births to community birth centers could save $189 million a year, money that could flow back into local care.
16%
Shaped by clinical care
Only 16% of health outcomes come from clinical care. The rest depends on the social and community conditions that community providers address.
This care is producing better outcomes right now, without benefiting from the value it creates. The capital hasn't caught up.
WHY “TEPAL:
tē-pəl (TEE-puhl)
In an orchid, the tepals are the outer petals and sepals that surround and protect what grows at the center. That's the role this fund plays: a protective layer of patient capital around the community leaders doing the work. [Confirm the botanical framing with Orchid.]
Tepal is evergreen. It doesn't close after a set period. Capital goes out, comes back, and goes out again, building toward $75M–$100M over 20 years.
INVESTING AT THE INTERSECTIONS
Reproductive justice is bigger than the right to abortion.
Bodily autonomy requires economic security. So we invest where reproductive justice and economic justice meet.
Reproductive justice
The right to have children
The right not to have children
The right to raise our families in safe, sustainable communities
Where Orchid & Tepal invest
Community-stewarded land and trust real estate
Care workforce development
Regenerative, non-extractive capita
Economic justice
Access to capital and resources
Economic self-determination
Community wealth building
Regenerative, not extractive
WHO WE ARE
The Orchid team brings together leaders from clinical care, organizing, philanthropy, academia, impact investing, and venture capital to build a holistic investment firm centered on reproductive justice.
We are this work.
Forged in direct service. We are care workers and community practitioners who have led frontline work and managed integrated capital. We learned that care and finance can’t be separated.
Practiced in equitable resource distribution. We come from national advocacy in VC, impact investing, and philanthropy, moving resources to overlooked work.
Rooted in transformational care. We’ve experienced midwifery and doula care ourselves. It showed us what’s possible, and what we all deserve.
MEET THE TEAM
Tenesha Duncan Rose
FOUNDER & CEO
17+ years in reproductive health,
rights, and justice, philanthropy, and
impact investing
Sabia Wade
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
Entrepreneur, accredited investor,
published author, full-spectrum doula,
and nonprofit leader.
Ola Allen-Taylor
DIRECTOR, INVESTMENTS
20+ years in equitable investment, real estate development, and systems change across education, climate, and capital markets.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Crystal Pirtle Tyler
CHAIR
20+ years in research, evaluation, and health equity.
Crystal Pirtle Tyler
CHAIR
20+ years in research, evaluation, and health equity.
Crystal Pirtle Tyler
CHAIR
20+ years in research, evaluation, and health equity.
Crystal Pirtle Tyler
CHAIR
20+ years in research, evaluation, and health equity.
Crystal Pirtle Tyler
CHAIR
20+ years in research, evaluation, and health equity.
INVESTMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Mission-aligned leaders with lived experience who guide strategy, review investments, and hold us accountable to community-rooted, non-extractive capital.
Dr. Zöe Lucier-Julian
OB-GYN, reproductive justice clinician and leader
Dr. Clinton Boyd
Nonprofit executive, academic, public sociologist
Dr. Stephanie Mitchell
Midwife, birth center entrepreneur, policy leader
Himalaya Torres
Investor, executive, ecosystem builder
Jen Mayer, AFC
Doula, financial counselor, entrepreneur
Maria Nakae
Community investment practitioner and organizer
Panquetzani
Indigenous mother, entrepreneur, organizer, RJ advocate
STRUCTURE & ACCOUNTABILITY
How we stay accountable and mission- aligned
Orchid Capital Collective · 501(c)(3)
Houses the team, provides oversight, and delivers portfolio support and programming.
SOLE MEMBER OWNERSHIP
Tepal Fund LLC
The investment vehicle. Holds and allocates capital.
Nonprofit ownership
The fund sits under the nonprofit. All capital recycles back into the nonprofit, the fund, and the ecosystem.
Community governance
Our Investment Advisory Committee of leaders with lived experience guides strategy and reviews every investment.
Fund administration
Mission Driven Finance ($300M AUM, 30 partner funds, 300+ investments in social enterprises) supports underwriting and administration.