By Dr. Stephanie Gripne, Founder & Executive Director Impact Finance Center

It’s a known fact that investment firms owned and run by women and people of color manage only a small proportion of institutional assets under management (AUM). Investing with these diverse managers provides access to unique investment opportunities that otherwise may be overlooked. While many asset owners want to prioritize justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion when looking at investment opportunities, few of them have sufficient investment staff to conduct due diligence on emerging diverse managers. Impact Finance Center is raising funds to create a shared-ownership, due diligence database of emerging diverse managers in all asset classes. This sorely needed infrastructure will help to increase allocations to diverse managers and help move them from emerging to established while building capabilities and capacity.

To help reach our goal, George Suttles, executive director of Commonfund Institute, will lead a new steering committee of asset owners, who altogether control more than $25 billion in AUM. George also serves as a member of the Commonfund Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office. If you missed it, listen to a recent Commontalk Coffee Talk series, Impact & Values: Aligned Investing, featuring George, IFC’s Dr. Steph, and Ian Fuhler of the Marguerite Casey Foundation discussing opportunities that foundations have in the impact and values-aligned investing spaces.

With our Diverse Emerging Strategy a priority, IFC recently partnered with the Boston Impact Initiative (BII), a nonprofit impact investing fund working to build financial, social, and political power for entrepreneurs of color in Massachusetts and the Northeast. On March 15, we’ll host a virtual event to discuss the goals of the partnership and how both organizations are working to transform the field of impact investing.

“I am excited to join forces with IFC to bring together innovative programming showcasing diverse emerging managers who are using integrated capital to build community wealth and power,” said BII CEO Betty Francisco.

In addition, IFC will showcase diverse emerging managers across three events as part of a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation to study the feasibility of a shared ownership due diligence database. These are scheduled for May 11, June 15, and October 3, with more details to come. For more information, email dm@impactfinancecenter.org.