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.
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.
DEI Data Group: DEI Data Standard
In August 2020, the DEI Data Group commissioned a framework to monitor equity considerations in grantmaking, with a view to including the data in published grants information. This framework is not a judgement of organisations, it simply spells out the different categories that enable funders to collect data in a systematic manner to understand whether the reach of the funding and their funding practices are equitable. It will be used to inform funding strategies and specific funding strands/programmes, not individual funding decisions - except where it is explicitly a part of the fund criteria. The primary use will be for funders to monitor their grant programmes, but it is also anticipated that there will be wider use of a shared framework for sector analysis.
Social Equity Investing: Righting Institutional Wrongs
From Cambridge Associates: This paper reviews the current state of social equity in the United States, highlight eight core social equity issue areas, and discuss the lessons they've learned in constructing portfolios with these investments. They define social equity investing as investments to promote equal opportunity and access for all, regardless of background, but understand that many investors have different definitions. While investors need to be mindful of risks, the authors believe that investments can be made to promote a social equity impact agenda across the portfolio.
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.
Racial Equity Action Plans: A How-to Manual
Racial Equity Plans are both a process and a product. A successful process will build staff capacity which can be valuable during implementation. A process can also serve to familiarize more staff with the jurisdiction’s racial equity vision and its theory of change. This manual from GARE provides guidance for local governments to develop their own Racial Equity Action Plans after a period of research and information gathering. This manual also provides guidance and tools to conduct this research.
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.