Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement
We continue to believe that Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion has to be at the heart of everything that we do – supporting the creation of resilient and successful communities. This is what we have been working on this year.
Diversifying investees
We are in dialogue with our investees and other social enterprises to make sure we are as accessible as possible to the communities most in need. We are also monitoring the makeup of our investees and the communities they are serving. Taking part in the delivery of the Social
Enterprise Support Fund 2 that was referenced in Matt’s intro has supported our focus on this due to the rightly challenging targets on this contract.
Working with partners
We understand that we can’t single handily remove structural barriers to finance. That’s why we are actively collaborating with other social investors to share knowledge and best practice and have signed up to Diversity Forum’s sector wide Manifesto.
Marketing
We have integrated an EDI lens into our marketing and communication strategy. This means cultivating longterm and mutually beneficial partnerships with social enterprises led by/supporting marginalised groups to act as critical friend; diversifying our infrastructure and community led organisations networks and building trust in Key Fund and social investment more widely.
Inclusive workforce
We have invested resource dedicated to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work.
We are on a long-term training journey. This year we are reflecting on our power, privilege and personal bias and further developing our inclusive behaviours.
In order to actively remove barriers to entering the social investment sector we are setting up a training scheme for young people from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in the social investment sector.
Our gender pay gap is 6%, the salary for a male member of the team is 6% higher on average.
Governance
We have diversified the membership of both our Investment Panel and Board. We are integrating an equity, diversity and inclusion lens into our governance, strategic aims and decision making at Board and Investment Panel level. We have a staff and board EDI Working Group that oversees the implementation of our annual EDI Action Plan.