Racial equity is a complex and multifaceted issue with deep links to capital markets and the broader financial system. For charitable foundations who have made commitments to this issue, their main investment portfolio can be a powerful tool to drive positive outcomes. Yet it often remains an underutilised lever for impact.
This echoes a long-standing paradox. Foundations often give grants to achieve specific social or environmental objectives, yet their endowments are not invested with those same objectives in mind. There is a vast body of work in the UK and globally, including investor toolkits, data frameworks and capital allocation models to support asset owners in advancing this agenda. However, adoption by asset owners in the UK is still nascent.
As mission-driven organisations, charitable foundations in the UK have the opportunity to be pioneers in this space and ensure their capital is allocated, managed and stewarded in a way that delivers positive racial equity outcomes.
The Impact Investing Institute, with support from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and City Bridge Foundation, is launching a programme engaging charitable endowments to explore what actions they can take to invest in racial equity outcomes, within current financial systems.
Our approach
To act as a convener and a bridge, bringing together capital allocators like charitable foundations and those working to advance racial equity in financial institutions and beyond. We will amplify existing expertise and help translate that into practical pathways that investment committees and senior leaders can act on.
The intention is not to replicate work already underway, but to connect and strengthen it so that foundations can build collective momentum and progress with confidence to embed racial equity considerations into their investment activity.
We are doing this in two key ways:
- Convening a cohort of charitable foundations to explore how racial equity considerations can be reflected in their mainstream investment strategies.
- Sharing emerging case studies and amplifying existing tools and resources to inspire action and signal an appetite for change within the broader market.
Project lead
Senior Programme Manager, Private Wealth programme
