From British International Investment- This report outlines British International Investments' Gender and Diversity Finance Position for 2022-26 and their commitment to women's economic empowerment.

From CWEEE. The Coalition for Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality (CWEEE) is an advocacy coalition that seeks to advance women’s economic empowerment and equality as a foreign policy priority of the U.S. government and multilateral development institutions. CWEEE seeks the advancement of women’s economic empowerment and equality as a priority for the United States in its foreign policy and assistance. CWEEE also seeks to work with multilateral organizations and financial institutions to encourage broader investments for all women.

By Ben Walker, Erin Roxburgh-Makea, Jesse Pirini, and Stephen Cummings. Walk into any boardroom or business school and you’ll often hear the same companies held up as models of excellence: Apple, Tesla, Google and so on. Sharing success stories from te ao Māori (the Māori world)? Not so much. And that’s a shame. There are many of them, and they can teach us how to manage and grow organisations in sustainable ways that benefit the wider community — goals that often elude large Western businesses.

By Alison Rose. As we’ve witnessed in recent months, our economic and social challenges are complex and interconnected. In order to achieve truly effective and sustainable solutions which benefit a broad spectrum of communities, we must not disenfranchise a diversity of entrepreneurs from making their economic contribution. We need to keep this at the forefront of our agendas, and ensure female entrepreneurship helps fuel a fairer, more productive future.

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.

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.

From Trilium Asset Management. The Black Lives Matter movement is igniting corporate America to examine diversity, equity, inclusion, and systemic racism both within their “four walls” and externally, as they realize that their actions affect more than just their employees. In this piece, the authros explore what Trillium can do and has done as an investment firm, an employer, and an advocate for change.

From the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF). RBF is committed to becoming an anti-racist, anti-sexist institution where each person, in their uniqueness, knows they are valued and belong. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are critical to our mission of advancing a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Read the full Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

From Morgan Stanley. Hosted by Carla Harris. ‘In the wake of continued violence against black lives, we are revisiting conversations with black entrepreneurs and investors whose stories advance our understanding of how these injustices are lived and overcome.’

By Brent Kessel, Rachel J. Robasciotti, Tracy Gray, and Erika Seth Davies. BIPOC asset managers consistently state that existing financial industry due diligence standards result in institutional assets continuing to be managed by the same firms, which are overwhelmingly white. While asset allocators may have initial conversations with many BIPOC managers, they are notably missing from institutional portfolios. Often BIPOC managers are eliminated from the selection pool based on historical industry standards for due diligence that reinforce existing social inequities.

To catalyze movement of capital to BIPOC managers, signatory asset owners, consultants, and financial intermediaries, on behalf of asset owners who value BIPOC manager inclusion, commit to making specific shifts in their due diligence processes.

From Black Women in Asset Management. ‘As Black women professionals in the asset management industry, we call on investment firms and institutional investors in our industry to go beyond solidarity statements and instead commit to action, activism, and accountability to dismantle the racial inequities plaguing society. It is the responsibility of all of us to drive change…

‘Our industry must come together and put purpose and values into action. We all know it makes good business sense. Closing the racial wealth gap in the US alone would create an additional $1 trillion in earnings and add $8 trillion to GDP. In the UK, equal participation and progression across ethnicities would add £24 billion per year to the British economy. The impacts of bias and systemic racism in the private and public sector continues to leave money on the table.’

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.

We are a non-profit partnership promoting diversity in Venture Capital. Venture Capital is funding the future. The decisions made by VCs filter through to the whole community and we have a responsibility to ensure the right decisions are being made. We need the industry to be free from bias.

We have four key initiatives:

• We are building a diverse network of Venture Capital professionals.

• We are helping Venture Capital firms hire from diverse backgrounds.

• We are connecting the VC community to a broader network.

• The Data Project

The goal of the initiative is to build a vibrant, coordinated effort to change the culture of the financial services industry as it relates to asset managers. Success will be achieved when there is common knowledge in the industry of the existence of numerous, high performing diverse-owned asset management firms and when they are valued and seamlessly considered by institutional investors. The measurement of success will be the increased use of diverse asset managers by institutional investors and the amount of assets under their management.

IEN and the HBCU Green Fund have joined forces to launch a new initiative aimed at improving endowment investment decision-making in higher education to better incorporate factors related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

The central driving force of this initiative is this Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group comprised of senior leaders from higher education, the investment industry, foundations, and non-profit partners. The group seeks to leverage the wide networks and expertise of the members and enable cross-sectoral collaboration to ensure that this work is championed by a diverse range of decision-makers involved in the endowment investment process.

The Diversity Project is a cross-company initiative championing a more inclusive culture within the Savings and Investment profession.

We believe that we have an extraordinary opportunity to press the re-set button in our industry: to recruit, nurture and retain the first truly diverse generation of Savings and Investment professionals.

That generation will themselves perpetuate diversity in our industry; we are looking to break one cycle and create another. If we are successful, in the next four years:

1. Our businesses will better reflect both society at large, and the individuals who trust us with their money.

2. Our people will create better financial outcomes to benefit our diverse savers and investors.

3. We will attract more interest in the industry, with a pipeline of diverse talent.

Diversity is not only our social obligation, it’s a business imperative.

Transform Finance envisions a world where capital is aligned with social justice values and is accessible to activists and community leaders as a tool for transformative social change. We empower community leaders to shape how capital flows affect them – both in terms of holding capital accountable and having a say in its deployment – by demystifying finance and building capacity for community-centered initiatives. We support investors committed to deepening their impact investment practice to adopt transformative approaches and demonstrate the viability of the approach via education, concrete tools and strategies, and overall guidance. We foster a new discourse and collaboration between previously disconnected stakeholders – investors and social justice practitioners – by creating connections, breaking down barriers of knowledge and values, and facilitating dialogue.

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.

The VC Include platform was created in 2018 to accelerate investment into diverse emerging managers—women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous and LGBTQ—to drive economic growth and opportunity in the market. We’re thoughtful about integrating environmental, social, corporate governance (ESG) and sustainability into the funds we support.

From ABFE. Becoming a signatory to the investment manager diversity pledge allows your organization to publicly demonstrate its commitment to diversity and inclusive investment management practices and places your organization at the heart of a community of foundations and endowments seeking to ensure a level playing field for minority and women investment managers. Your commitment acknowledges that hiring a diverse pool of quality investment managers is not contradictory to the goal of maximizing returns or fiduciary standard of care; it demonstrates a focus on finding the best investment management talent and alignment with the mission of community philanthropy by helping to build wealth in communities of color and among women.