Description

Goals

Resources

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.

2021-2022 Initiative Sponsors

Our Working Group seeks to start the education and advocacy process for endowments to consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) factors in the investment process in the following ways:

• Enhancing diversity within the university investment offices by ensuring people are not excluded deliberately or through implicit bias on the basis of race, ethnicity, or gender.
• Evaluating the performance of companies and funds with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion in their boards, management, and staff in the investment process and engage with companies and funds to improve on these issues.
• Identifying minority-led investment managers.
• Making investments that benefit women, low-income communities, and communities of color.
• Supporting finance and investment education of diverse students to build a pipeline of talent.

We advance the conversation on this agenda through a series of educational and peer-networking activities, including events, webinars, and white papers.

• Report: Investing in Racial Equity: A Primer for University & College Endowments | August 2020

• Webinar: All Investments Affect Racial (In)Justice  | December 2020

• Webinar: Incorporating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Factors in the Investment Process | November 2018

• Find more resources on DEI and reducing inequalities throughout the investment process on this page: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities  

Get Involved

If you are interested in getting involved with the Working Group, please email

Kaede Kawauchi at [email protected].

You can also join our listserv or post to this group by sending an email to [email protected]. 

For 2021-2022 sponsorship details, see here.