ESG and EDI

Our Responsible Investment Policy forms the foundation of our ESG approach. You can find out more about our EDI approach and framework here.

2024 Highlights

Our portfolio of fund managers and social banks outperforms industry averages in gender identity diversity, compared to the wider private equity and venture capital industry.

Collaborating with fund managers to improve their EDI practice through our EDI due diligence (DD) assessment and have observed increases in diversity in decision-making bodies and in reporting since we invested.

Ongoing support for market building initiatives, including the Diversity Forum's Data Project to enhance sector-wide diversity data collection, and the Equalising Deal Terms Project to address the power imbalance between investor and investee.

No all-men boards or senior leadership teams.
56% decrease in all-white boards.
370% increase in women making up over half of fund manager boards and 526% increase in women making up to half of the investment committees [1].
25% increase in people with a disability or long-term health condition in senior leadership teams.
Lower levels of diversity in our Treasury portfolio compared to our Social Impact Investment portfolio.

Find out more about our EDI survey results.

Spotlight:

Examples of EDI best practice in our portfolio

Social Investment Scotland: Understanding barriers to investment for ethnic minority social entrepreneurs.

Social Investment Scotland (SIS) engaged in a joint research project with Firstport and Dechomai to investigate the challenges faced by ethnic minority social entrepreneurs in Scotland regarding access to finance. The study, supported by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, highlights that many ethnic minority social entrepreneurs struggle with limited awareness of financial support options, a lack of trust in financial institutions and the absence of tailored support.

The report identified the following three key recommendations: (1) a comprehensive Strategic Awareness Campaign to elevate understanding of investment products; (2) specialised early-stage funding mechanisms, such as a start-up programme tied to grants; and (3)  segmented support, such as microloans distributed in stages rather than lump sums which would enhance accountability and credibility by requiring entrepreneurs to show progress before receiving additional funds. As a result of the research, SIS and Firstport have already run an early-stage investment readiness programme, co-designed with Dechomai, where 35% of participants were from ethnic minority backgrounds. SIS also now organises funding Socials events specifically focused on engaging ethnic minority social entrepreneurs to increase awareness of investment products.

Birds eye view of a river, with lots of trees on one side and buildings on the other, with a road bridge going across

End notes

These percentages represent an increase of one to six organisations from 2023 to 2024 of women representing over half of Boards and one to eight organisations from 2023 to 2024 of women representing 26-50% of Investment Committees.
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2024 Highlights

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