Guiding the Equality Fund's Investment Strategy Part 2 (From Playbook: Investing in Gender Equality)

Forming bridges amongst feminist activists and economists and allies with gender-lens investment expertise, part of a six-part blog series that explores why and how an investment program is an essential part of the Equality Fund’s work to shift power to women, youth, girls, and non-binary people around the world. Through the lens of six “P”s (Purpose, People and Partners, Perspectives, Process, Philosophy and Products), the Equality Fund shares their approach to gender-lens investing and illuminate the values, strategy, and structure that guide it.

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Investment Policy, North America Debbi Evans Investment Policy, North America Debbi Evans

Investing in Racial Equity: A Primer for College & University Endowments

From The Intentional Endowments Network: This Primer is intended to be a catalyst for conversation and action on racial equity for fiduciaries of university endowments who are looking to learn more about the current state of racial inequity in the U.S. as it relates to the long-term sustainability of the economy; the unique, under appreciated opportunity available to college and university endowments in racial equity investing; and the variety of tools, products, partners and best practices available. University fiduciaries can begin to address racial equity in their roles by taking the actions outlined in this Primer.

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How Can Investors Help Confront Racial Injustice?

This impact brief from Zevin Asset Management is an update of their original call to action and a review of their continuing work to build an awareness of racial justice into investment — both as an analytical lens and an economic reality. Doing so helps to protect the value of their portfolios and channel their clients’ voices to help create positive change.

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Moving from Intention to Impact: Funding Racial Equity to Win

From Policy Link: Moving from Intention to Impact: Funding Racial Equity to Win, a joint PolicyLink-Bridgespan study analyzes the state of funding for racial equity work. Among a host of important findings, the report offers two key takeaways to funders who want to be generative members of the racial equity ecosystem. First, accountability, a necessity of racial equity work, is impossible without rigorous and transparent reporting. Second, funders must trust and defer to the articulated needs of movement leaders and fund the work that movement leaders say is needed to achieve enduring change.

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Integrating Racial Equity into Total Portfolio Activation

This paper offers a synopsis of the evolution from community development and ESG investing to the emergence of investing explicitly with a racial equity lens, proposes a definition for racial equity investing, and presents emerging opportunities across asset classes for investors. This report is supported by the Nathan Cummings Foundation & Trillium Asset Management.

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The Investment Case for Board Diversity: A Review of the Academic and Practitioner Research on the Value of Gender and Racial/Ethnic Board Diversity for Investors

This paper from the Office of the Illinios State Treasurer seeks to examine the wealth of literature on the subject of whether and to what extent gender and racial/ethnic diversity affect the functioning of corporate boards and the performance of the companies they oversee, to provide further insight and render a judgment on the investment case for gender and racial/ethnic diversity on corporate boards. In summary, this paper concludes that the gender and racial/ethnic composition of corporate boards does indeed have a material and relevant impact on company performance and investors.

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