We rely heavily on our partners to lead this work, which is why we were really pleased to recently convene our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strand partners for a day at The Foundry. The aim of the day was to help build strong connections of support, share learning and explore some of the key issues in EDI in the social investment sector.  

Sara Llewellin, Barrow Cadbury’s Chief Executive, anchored the day’s focus on equality’s pivotal role within social investment noting the Connect Fund was launched in the very same room over 5 years ago.   

Géraud, Chief Executive at Barking and Dagenham Giving, presented their programme of work detailing a community-centred approach in involving individuals with the lived experience in decision-making processes.

In the first workshop of the day, delivered by the Social Change Agency we delved into ‘Lived Experience in the context of Social Investment’ debating together and asking the question is this term even relevant or useful? We spoke about the difficulties of placing the onus on individuals in social enterprises, who are applying for finance, to share their own experiences and how this can be difficult and traumatic.  

In the afternoon, our Equalising Deal Terms’ workshop, facilitated by the Equality Impact Investing Project and Bates Wells, led to some fascinating discussions about the frameworks created by legal documents, the principles and codes of conduct from both investor and investee perspectives and provided some valuable insights on the ongoing work to redress power imbalances within legal documentation and deals. We look forward to seeing the final research findings and will share more on our channels.

Spotlight sessions from the Diversity Forum and The Diversity Manifesto 2.0, Good Finance and Investment Committees of the Future and For Business Sake and the Social Tech Trust (on their tool for identifying equality transformative ventures) brought us all up to speed on the developments and work of these partners. The sessions all underscored the need for diversity and inclusion to be at the forefront of social investment practices. 

Thanks to all who attended and contributed to the day – it created challenge, explored differing perspectives and was an invaluable opportunity to network with others in the sector. We look forward to taking the conversation forward in future meetings.