Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: Racial Diversity and Investment

Whilst gender diversity has been a growing priority for several years, investors have not approached racial diversity with similar enthusiasm and urgency. The topic of racial diversity in the investment industry was recently raised in an open letter in the UK from a group called Black Women in Asset Management, challenging the industry to move beyond statements on solidarity and anti-racism. The extensive Black Lives Matter protests, catalysed by the killing of George Floyd, have highlighted our interdependence in the midst of a global health crisis and the urgent need for action. It is time to ask what institutional investors can do to address the increasingly evident racial iniquities and their inconsistency with commitments to responsibility in business and investment.

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Racial Equity: Foundational Concepts

If you're early in your journey of exploring the links between racial equity and impact investing, a useful place to start is by understanding core concepts behind racial equity and how it differs from concepts such as diversity and inclusion. To help you get started, Mission Investors Exchange has compiled a brief list of frequently used terms, synthesized from the resources of leading educators. 

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Racial Equity Tools Glossary

Words and their multiple uses reflect the tremendous diversity that characterizes our society. Indeed, universally agreed upon language on issues relating to racism is nonexistent. Even the most frequently used words in any discussion on race can easily cause confusion, which leads to controversy and hostility. It is essential to achieve some degree of shared understanding, particularly when using the most common terms. In this way, the quality of dialogue and discourse on race can be enhanced.

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Discussion Document for a Pan-Canadian Strategy to Advance Gender Equality

The Discussion Document for a Pan-Canadian Strategy to Advance Gender Equality of the Gender Equality Network of Canada is a culmination of the experiences, stories, expertise, and aspirations of over 150 leaders from across what is commonly known as Canada, nominated by local, federally funded, gender equality projects. The Discussion Document was developed out of three years of dialogue, learning, and knowledge sharing of the Gender Equality Network of Canada and is their collective response to a pandemic of gender-based violence, inequity, and the perpetually operationalized patriarchy which informs, directs, and administers our lives as women and people of marginalized genders.

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A Blueprint for Revamping the Minority Business Development Agency

Across the United States, small businesses are a significant source of employment and provide a variety of goods and services. For those who are fortunate enough to own a small business, they can also offer a pathway to wealth building and prosperity. Unfortunately, the ownership, profitability, and even presence of small businesses are grounded in differences in capital finance and unevenly distributed by race—especially when comparing Black and white communities. This issue brief examines the disparity.

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Inclusive Africa

Inclusive Africa is a leading player for systemic change to improve inclusivity and drive diversity in Africa. They help development agencies, impact investors, and organizations working in Africa to track and improve inclusivity with a particular focus on intercultural and ethnic diversity to create opportunities for all.

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Global Diversity and Inclusion: Perceptions, Practices and Attitudes

In 2008, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a subsidiary of The Economist Group, to conduct an International Study on Diversity and Inclusion. The study was launched to provide a deeper understanding of Diversity and Inclusion issues on a global scale, and to offer insight into Diversity and Inclusion best practices worldwide. This groundbreaking study included surveying over 500 executives and interviewing 40 of them. In addition, the Economist Intelligence Unit researched the diversity readiness of 47 different countries to create the Global Diversity Readiness Index. This report details the findings of both the research and this groundbreaking new tool.

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The Diversity Forum

From The Diversity Forum: The Diversity Forum is a collective on a mission to drive inclusive social investment in the UK, through the convening of sector-wide groups, commissioning research, and knowledge sharing. Their report, published in January 2019, found that only 2.8% of directors in the social investment sector were women of ethnic minority backgrounds, and almost one in five directors in the sector had attended Oxford and Cambridge universities. There is urgency to change this to ensure that we represent the people we seek to serve, as well as to uncover new opportunities.

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The Equity Equation: A Roadmap to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Canadian Finance

The Equity Equation aims to inform the finance industry’s diversity strategies and best practices, and to equip WCM’s partner firms, their leaders, managers and employees with tangible recommendations to advance equity. These recommendations offer a roadmap for their partners who wish to advance equity, diversity and inclusion.

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A Framework for Inclusive Investing: Driving Stock Market Participation to Close the Wealth Gap for Women of Color

From Commonwealth: A new, unified analytical framework for understanding the barriers holistically and articulating how the nation’s public, private, and social sectors can use this framework to pursue promising actions to help narrow the nation’s wealth gaps

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