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.
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.
Racial Inequality is a Business Risk
The events of 2020 drew heightened attention in corporate America to the issue of economic inequality. Following the protests across the United States sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, nearly half of the companies in the S&P 500 issued public statements denouncing discrimination or pledging a review of policies and practices related to diversity and inclusion, according to an S&P Global Ratings report. Simply recognizing the problems of racism and inequality, however, is not enough. The private sector can play a leading role in addressing social issues, and investors can help lead the charge. Investors should integrate the risk posed by economic inequality into their investment decision-making and hold portfolio companies accountable for addressing this critical issue. Inaction on these fronts can have financially material effects that undermine corporate value and threaten fund performance.
Narrowing the Gap: Why Long-Term Investors and Corporate Leaders Should View Addressing Economic Inequality and Improving Diversity as Critical Forms of Risk Management
From Ariel Investments: This paper is designed to help investors understand the urgent need to address economic inequality and provide corporate leadership teams practical steps to drive change within their companies and for society at large. Drawing on Ariel Investment’s work with the Black Corporate Directors Conference, the authors outline actions relating to people, purchasing, and philanthropy that companies can take to leverage corporate influence.
Think racial and ethnic diversity is better in impact and ESG investing? Think again...
In this article from Responsible Investor, Paul Hodgson explores the progress being made on diversity and inclusion in the sustainability world.
There is a Strong Business Case for Racial Equity, But Investors Must Look Beyond the Data
From Veris Wealth Partners: Veris Wealth Partners asserts, "[The] data indicates that too many public commitments to racial equity and racial justice amount to impact washing–it is more a marketing tactic than an authentic, action-backed commitment to change. To ensure authenticity we must look beyond public statements and seek action and accountability. We must look to see who is in leadership. Is racial equity evidenced in the C-suite or in the boardroom of these corporations? Is pay equity addressed at all levels of the firm? Unfortunately, not a lot has changed on that front."
The United States Prosperity Index 2021
The Legatum Institute’s United States Prosperity Index provides a comprehensive picture of prosperity for the 50 states of the Union and Washington D.C., as well as the 1,196 counties of 12 selected states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Action for Racial Equity
In 2020, Citi and the Citi Foundation announced Action for Racial Equity, a comprehensive set of strategic initiatives that harness the core capabilities of each institution to help close the racial wealth gap in the U.S. The intiative's website provides updates and key statistics.
Inequality Trends and Diagnostics in Kenya 2020
This report is a joint publication produced by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in partnership with the Eastern Africa research node of the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research (ACEIR) based at the School of Economics, University of Nairobi, with support from Agence Française de Developpement (AFD) and the European Union (EU). The report presents a comprehensive analysis of multidimensional inequality in Kenya over the period 1994 to 2016 using nationally representative survey data collected and released by the KNBS. The household datasets used in the analysis were derived from the 1994 Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS II), the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Surveys for 2005/06 and 2015/16, the Labour Force Survey for 1998/99 and the 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census. In addition, the report uses secondary data from local and international reports to enrich the information derived from sample surveys.
Bridging the Gap between Local and Expat Founder Funding
Over the years, the inflow of startup funding capital in Africa has been rapidly growing, as investors have started paying more attention to investment opportunities in Africa. Getting down to who received the cash gives deeper insights as to the development of different ecosystems. This article from VC4A puts forth the belief that the question of who received the money is a relevant one and one that should be consistently tracked; or, to put it differently, it is not enough that the cash raised keeps increasing, but it should also reach local founders.
Racial Equity: The Economic and Business Case for Change
This page from Mission Investors Exchange compiles evidence, in reports going back to 2013, illuminating how and why racial equity is good for business — and how inequity causes economic harm — with increasing implications as America's heads towards a population in which more than half of U.S. workers and consumers will be people of color by 2050. Impact investors can use these data to make the case for why pursuing racial equity in impact investing may indeed be a fiduciary responsibility and lead to long-term gains.
Ten Things to Know about Gender Equality
How can we ensure that the role of women in the workplace and in society is central to efforts to rebuild economies in the COVID-19 era, and that women do not fall further behind? As world leaders at the UN General Assembly assess progress, look ahead to recovery, and commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Beijing declaration, McKinsey offered their perspectives on the ten things everyone should know about gender equality.
Diverse Asset Managers: Opportunities for inclusion
The Knight Foundation reviews the data on firms owned by women and minorities in the asset management industry.
Investing in the Future: The Case for Increasing Diversity in Finance
As companies are setting their action plans to respond to social injustice around the world, Accenture's Managing Director - CEO and Enterprise Strategy adds to the discussion by sharing some thoughts on how the finance function has a particularly strong mandate to be more inclusive: not only is it the right thing to do–it’s vital to future success.
Investors Are Committing to Action on Diversity. Now What?
By Marcella Pinilla and Nandini Hampole: Amid a wave of societal commitments to action on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and racial justice, investors are stepping up commitments and vowing to intensify engagement with companies on DEI. Despite some progress made to reflect a country’s demographics in the corporate office, in the U.S. and around the world, we are now amid a racial reckoning that calls on all of us to reflect on the real progress made and what needs to advance for real change. So, what does that mean for companies, and how should they prepare to meet the moment? BSR's report seeks to answer this question.
Inclusive Impact: A Comprehensive Review of Diversity in the Social Investment Sector
From The Diversity Forum: In 2018 Inclusive Boards was commissioned by the Diversity Forum, funded by the Connect Fund to extend and contribute to existing research on diversity in the social investment sector. The primary aim of this research was to use different data collection methods to better understand why there are ceilings for women in management positions and ethnic minorities in back office functions. They also examined other diversity strands whilst taking into account intersectionality factors.
Diversity Beyond Gender: The State of the Nation for Diverse Entrepreneurs
By Erika Brodnock from Extended Ventures: This vital piece of research, which was carried out by Extend Ventures with the support of Impact X Capital Partners and Tech Nation, looks at how the colour of a founder’s skin can adversely affect their access to capital in Britain.
Diversity As $uperpower: The (Well-Known) Data Against Homogeneous Teams In Venture Capital
The data are clear: As with public companies, startup founder and investing teams that are diverse—specifically with more than one gender and/or one race or ethnicity represented—are more innovative and make more money. In fact, venture capital investing teams limited to any one gender and/or any one race damage innovation and risk limiting financial outcomes. This article summarises the steady stream of evidence published since 2013 indicates that when startup teams and venture investing teams embrace differences in gender, race, ethnicity, educational background, and/or professional experience, these heterogeneous teams outperform homogeneous teams.
The Economic Benefits of Improving Social Inclusion
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to quantify the economic dividend from raising the level of social inclusion in Australia, with a focus on cultural diversity, in order to help shape its future policies and strategies for delivering on its Charter. The quantitative analysis in this report largely focuses on the benefits of social inclusion for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, specifically migrant communities, but this report recognises that there are many other groups that contribute to diversity and for whom improving social inclusion is likely to result in additional economic benefits.