From summer camps to long-term care insurance, automated meal-planning, and renovations to make beloved homes more accessible for older adults, the market for products and services that help consumers care for the people in their lives is huge. In fact, in 2019, the care economy totaled at least $648 billion, making it $138 billion larger than the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.

The Investor’s Guide breaks new ground by measuring the care economy as a singular, holistic market. The findings help founders and funders think strategically about entering the care economy.

From McKinsey. A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, women in corporate America are even more burned out than they were last year—and increasingly more so than men. Despite this, women leaders are stepping up to support employee well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, but that work is not getting recognized. That’s according to the latest Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey, in partnership with Leanin.Org.

From McKinsey. An updated view into gender and racial diversity in financial services—as well as women’s day-to-day work experiences—reveals some progress. But challenges in building an equitable and inclusive workplace persist.

At the beginning of 2021, women in North America remained dramatically underrepresented in the financial-services workforce—particularly at the level of senior management and above. A new industry-specific analysis of data from the latest Women in the Workplace report, a McKinsey collaboration with LeanIn.Org, reveals a leaky pipeline from which women are falling out in greater numbers as they progress up the career ladder, resulting in significant inequality at the top. Consistent with previous years, women in financial services continue to experience a “broken rung” at the first step from entry level to manager—where they are significantly less likely than men to be promoted (for more about our research, see sidebar “About the research and findings”). At the same time, women leaders have taken on the additional responsibilities of supporting employees and investing in diversity and inclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic—but they aren’t being rewarded for this critical work.

From USAID. Countries around the world are in the midst of a historic digital transition. The rapid development and adoption of digital technology is transforming industries, governments, economies, and societies. Digital ecosystems—the stakeholders, systems, and enabling environment that together empower people and communities to use digital technology to access services, engage with each other, or pursue economic opportunities—hold immense potential to help people live more free and prosperous lives. At the same time, digital transformation comes with the risk of increasing inequality. Despite the global prevalence of mobile phones and the Internet, the reality in many communities does not yet reflect the potential of a digital ecosystem that drives sustainable and equitable growth, often excluding vulnerable and marginalized groups. The USAID Digital Strategy aims to strengthen open, inclusive, and secure digital ecosystems in each country where they work. Through the Digital Strategy, the Agency is further demonstrating its commitment to closing the gender digital divide, by building awareness and capacity of USAID staff, partners, and partner countries to overcome the barriers to women’s access and meaningful use of digital technology. No country will be self-reliant if all members of its citizenry cannot benefit equally from the gains of a global digital ecosystem.

Resource is a nationwide project to support and connect entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) led by and focused on founders of color.

Startup investing has a diversity problem: Black, Latinx and Indigenous founders receive less than ten percent of startup funding.

Resource will build a community of practice around these ecosystem leaders.

From Transform Finance. What would investment to communities look like if those very communities were part of the process? This report makes the case for grassroots engagement, participation, and governance over investments.

From FCDO/DIT and Palladium. Despite Black female entrepreneurs being one of the fastest growing entrepreneur groups in the US, they receive a disproportionately small amount of investment. In 2019, less than 9% of investment went to female founders, and less than 3% went to founders of color in the US. In the UK, only 0.5% of start-ups with Black founders received VC investment. Recent studies have shown the importance of diversity in building more equitable societies. Investment rates and current trends suggest Black Female Entrepreneurs’ (BFEs) fair access to investment resources requires attention. Despite Black female entrepreneurs being one of the fastest growing entrepreneur groups in the US, they receive a disproportionately small amount of investment. In 2019, less than 9% of investment went to female founders, and less than 3% went to founders of color in the US. In the UK, only 0.5% of start-ups with Black founders received VC investment.

Recent studies have shown the importance of diversity in building more equitable societies. Investment rates and current trends suggest Black Female Entrepreneurs’ (BFEs) fair access to investment resources requires attention.

The FCDO/DIT partnered with Palladium Impact Capital to conduct a market study examining the barriers to investment that BFEs experience in the UK and the US, and potential pathways to removing them.

Nearly five decades after the Civil Rights Movement, Black Americans and other communities of color continue to struggle for equity in the United States. The wealth gap data for Native, Latinx, and Black communities are indicative of the underlying symptoms of inequities in our society. The combination of COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on black and brown lives and the brutal murder of George Floyd has served as a lightning rod. In this moment, the issue of racial equity is on the minds of investors, foundations, and corporations. How do we seize this moment to redirect capital to create opportunities for greater social and economic prosperity.

Panelists explore opportunities and challenges to investing in communities of color to support entrepreneurship, wealth-building, and greater professional inclusion.

From the Government of Canada. In 2013, the Government of Canada announced the Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP). It is a market oriented approach to put Canada's VC industry on the path to sustainability, make it more globally competitive, and increase the availability of financing for innovative Canadian firms.

Under VCAP, the Government is deploying $390 million in new capital. In particular, VCAP has made available:

• $340 million to establish and recapitalize four large scale private sector-led funds of funds in partnership with institutional and corporate strategic investors, as well as interested provinces; and

• $50 million in four existing high-performing VC funds in Canada.

The four VCAP funds-of-funds attracted significant investments from a diverse set of investors that included pension funds, high-net-worth individuals, corporations, banks, and the governments of Ontario and Quebec. Including the federal government investment, the four funds-of-funds raised $1.356 billion. Of that, $904 million came from private sector investors.

From CDP. This toolkit originates from a yearlong initiative of CDP through its Matchmaker Program. Matchmaker aims to bridge the divides among infrastructure ideas, interdepartmental communication and funding. By working directly with cities, CDP highlights sustainable urban infrastructure projects to the investment community.

The intention of this document is not to serve as a template, but to ignite ideas on how to ideate, pilot, implement, and facilitate projects that equitably benefit people and respond responsibly to the causes and impacts of anthropogenic climate change. This toolkit is developed, written, and designed within a North American context, using a lexicon and concepts most familiar in the North American region. Moreover, the target audience for this toolkit is individuals working with a government (whether city, municipal, or state), regional consortia, academic institutions, or other organizations to develop climate interventions in their communities. The concepts, however, just as easily apply to organizers, community leaders, or other individuals with an interest in developing community-centered solutions to mitigate or adapt to the impacts of climate change.

According to asset managers and industry associations with which GAO spoke, minority- and women-owned (MWO) asset managers face challenges when competing for investment management opportunities with institutional investors, such as retirement plans and foundations. For example, institutional investors and their consultants often prefer to contract with large asset managers with brand recognition and with whom they are familiar. Also, small firms, including MWO firms, are often unable to meet minimum requirements set by institutional investors, such as size (assets under management) and past experience (length of track record). State, local, and private retirement plans and foundations GAO interviewed addressed these challenges in a variety of ways, such as asking their consultants to include MWO firms in their searches. Many plans also lowered their minimum threshold requirements so that the requirements were proportional to the size of the firms while maintaining the same performance requirements for all asset managers in their selection processes.

Federal retirement plans, the endowment, and the insurance program GAO reviewed invest in asset classes in which MWO asset managers have a market presence, but overall use of MWO firms varied. For example, some retirement plans either did not use any MWO firms or did not track this information. The endowment and insurance program reported using some MWO asset managers.

GAO identified four key practices institutional investors can use to increase opportunities for MWO asset managers. These practices are consistent with federal interests in increasing opportunities for MWO businesses.

• Top leadership commitment . Demonstrate commitment to increasing opportunities for MWO asset managers.

• Remove potential barriers. Review investment policies and practices to remove barriers that limit the participation of smaller, newer firms.

• Outreach. Conduct outreach to inform MWO asset managers about investment opportunities and selection processes.

• Communicate priorities and expectations. Explicitly communicate priorities and expectations about inclusive practices to investment staff and consultants and ensure those expectations are met.

Some federal entities we reviewed, such as the Federal Reserve System, have used all the practices, but others made partial, limited, or no use of the practices.

• The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board does not intend to use the practices in its planned mutual fund window platform.

• The Navy Exchange Service Command and Tennessee Valley Authority Retirement System used one practice, but have not used the others.

• The Army and Air Force Exchange Service has used two practices, and partially used two practices.

By using the key practices, the entities GAO reviewed could widen the pool of candidates in their asset manager searches and help ensure that they find the most qualified firms. In keeping with federal interests, the practices could also help address barriers MWO firms face and increase opportunities for them.

From the Financial Times. All-women and mixed-gender US fund teams outperformed all-male portfolio management teams so far this year, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis that raises fresh questions about the investment industry’s progress in addressing its gender diversity problems.

To mark the centenary of US women winning the right to vote, Goldman analysed 496 large-cap US equity funds with combined assets of $2.3tn to compare the performance of funds where at least one-third of the portfolio management roles were female with portfolio management teams run entirely by men.

From WCM. The Equity Equation is an industry-wide study of employee experiences in Canada’s finance industry. It investigates how gender, race and sexual orientation impacts an employees’ experience at work.

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 our partners who wish to advance equity, diversity and inclusion.

This report is based on survey data gathered in 2019 by WCM, from 600 professionals working in firms in Canada’s finance industry. Respondents span many demographic groups, including gender, sexual orientation, race, seniority level, age and areas of capital markets.1 WCM’s future research will further explore the lived experiences of a wider range of intersectionalities, including disabilities. Full datasets to each survey question are presented in the "Selected Survey Responses" section from page 18 onwards.

From the Association for Enterprise Opportunity. There exists a wide tapestry of Black-owned businesses and their owners in the United States — with different countries of origin, focused on different goals, and with different needs — spreading from coast to coast. This report begins to describe those segments and launches the discussion on how to tailor appropriate supports.

From Digital Undivided. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Digital Undivided set out to gain a more holistic understanding of the short and long-term implications on Black women entrepreneurs. This report is a snapshot of the experiences of 1,157 Black women who have applied to the fund, thus far.

ProjectDiane2018 is a biennial demographic study authored by digitalundivided that provides a snapshot of the state of Black Women Founders, and the startups they lead, in the United States

From the US Small Business Administration. This report addresses key questions comparing the diversity and performance of Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) with the broader VC and PE community, and asks whether diverse SBICs are more likely to invest in diverse portfolio companies or in low- and moderate-income communities.

From the Knight Foundation. This report captures insights from a new study about the state of diversity in the U.S. asset management industry. Professor Josh Lerner (Harvard Business School) and Bella Research Group led the research, building on a similar study published in May 2017. While numerous studies have documented the lack of diversity among asset managers and asset management firm employees, the current research contributes a new perspective by analyzing the diversity of ownership of asset management firms as well as any performance differences between diverse-owned and non-diverse owned asset mangers.

The Midwest Investors Diversity Initiative is a coalition of institutional investors dedicated to increasing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity on corporate boards of companies headquartered in six Midwest states. With a combined $300 billion in assets in management, the coalition uses corporate engagements and shareholder rights to protect shareholder value and maximize returns. Members include the City of Chicago’s Treasurer’s Office, Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, School Employees Retirement System of Ohio, SEIU Master Trust, Sundance Family Foundation, Segal Marco Advisors, Seventh Generation Interfaith, Trinity Health, UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, and Wespath Benefits and Investments.

From the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The report projects a tremendous boost to the United States’ workforce and consumer spending when organizations take the necessary steps to advance racial equity. Led by Ani Turner, co-director of Sustainable Health Spending Strategies at Altarum, researchers analyzed data from public and private sources, including the U.S. Census, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, Brandeis University and Harvard University. Their methodology included applying established models to estimate the economic impact of the disparities faced by people of color.