Increasingly, college and university endowments are exploring and implementing strategies for endowment portfolios to more closely align their investments with institutional mission and sustainability goals. One strategy to do so is to invest with a gender lens—investing for financial return while also considering the benefits to women, both through improving economic opportunities and social well-being.
Colleges and universities can leverage several tools and resources as they explore a gender lens investing approach to their investment strategies, including updating the investment policy statement, entering a dialogue with the investment consultant, investing and engaging across the landscape of gender lens products, and communicating progress. By doing so, colleges and universities can potentially drive corporate performance, downgrade investment risk, and reinvigorate a donor base by signaling to alumni donors, students, and faculty that the school fully embraces its educational mission.
This primer explores the link between value creation and gender diverse companies; highlights the rising trend of colleges and universities moving towards mission-aligned investing; and outlines a diverse range of tools and investment strategies available to decision makers as they consider the integration of gender lens products in endowments.
Click here to access "Gender Lens Investing: A Primer For College and University Endowments" (pdf).
Development of this primer was a collective effort of members of the Intentional Endowments Network, Catalyst at Large, and others in the field. The following people played critical roles in the research, writing, and review of this document:
Primary Author:
Julia Enyart, Glenmede
Contributing Authors:
Suzanne Biegel, Catalyst at Large
Andrea Dalton, Revelio
Alice DonnaSelva, Intentional Endowments Network
Julie Gorte, Impax Asset Management
William Jarvis, US Trust
Lawler Kang, League of Allies
Natasha Lamb, Arjuna Capital
Laura LaRosa, Glenmede
Elisa Miller-Out, Chloe Capital
Nicole Torrico, Intentional Endowments Network
Gender Lens Investing Working Group:
Suzanne Biegel (Chair), Catalyst at Large
Casey Clarke, Glenmede
Andrea Dalton, Revelio
Olympia DeCastro, Community Investment Management
Julia Enyart, Glenmede
Julia Frost, Arjuna Capital
Julie Gorte, Pax World Funds
Tracy Gray, The 22 Fund
Lydia Guett, Cambridge Associates
Lisa Hayles, Boston Common Asset Management
Meredith Heimburger, Global Endowment Management
R. Paul Herman, HIP Investor
Kristin Hull, Nia Global Solutions
Bill Jarvis, US Trust
Lawler Kang, League of Allies
Natasha Lamb, Arjuna Capital
Laura LaRosa, Glenmede
Elisa Miller-Out, Chloe Capital
Donna Morton, Change Finance
Jameela Pedicini, Perella Weinberg Partners
Jackie Rotman, Tara Health Foundation
Jacqui Smith, U.S. Trust
Jackie VanderBrug, US Trust
Laura Weeks, Acadian Asset Management
Additional Gender Lens Investing Resources:
- Resources on Gender Lens Investing
- Intentional Endowments Network Gender Lens Investing Working Group