Mission
Improving Sector Diversity among Social Investors in the UK
We’re a collective on a mission to drive inclusive social investment in the UK, through the convening of sector-wide groups, commissioning research, and knowledge sharing.
Our thinking on diversity is informed by the world of equalities and a fundamental belief that differences – whether it be a protected or unprotected characteristic – makes for richer experiences, workplaces and decisions.
The Diversity Forum emerged out of important discussions held at The Gathering in 2017 about the need to improve diversity among social investors in the UK. After a session co-facilitated by Gemma Rocyn Jones and Bonnie Chiu on diversity, a working group was established convened by Danyal Sattar, CEO at Big Issue Invest.
Since then the Forum has grown to encompass three sector-wide initiatives to improve diversity among social investors in the UK; The Diversity Working Group, the Diversity Champions Network and the Diversity Training Group.
Thanks to the Connect Fund, a £3 million fund managed by the Barrow Cadbury Trust in partnership with Access – the Foundation for Social Investment, the Diversity Forum has funding to embark on diversity projects with five strands:
• Leadership and convening;
• Research: commissioning research;
• Skills development and resources sharing;
• Data sharing and networks mapping;
• Communications.
“Diversity crosses ideological boundaries. From the pure competition of the free market, selecting other than on grounds of the best person to do the job, is not efficient. From an equal rights perspective, how can we deliver social change if we look like part of the problem?”
Danyal Sattar | CEO Big Issue Invest
History
The Diversity Forum is born out of The Gathering in 2017.
Growing research findings in both mainstream and social finance led to an important discussion at The Gathering in February 2017 about the need to improve diversity among social investors in the UK.
As the social investment sector, our ambition is to address inequalities and disadvantage in the UK, and promoting diversity and inclusion in its broadest sense should be an important part of this. After a session co-facilitated by Gemma Rocyn Jones and Bonnie Chiu on diversity, a working group was established convened by Danyal Sattar, Head of Social Investment at Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
There is collective goodwill in the sector to make concrete changes to improve diversity, and this fund is an excellent opportunity to channel much-needed resources into this working group.
The interest from the sector in participating in the working group, and supporting its work, has indicated that there is a need to champion this agenda in the sector. The working group is now co-chaired by Gemma Rocyn Jones and Danyal Sattar.
Thanks to the Connect Fund, a £3 million fund managed by the Barrow Cadbury Trust in partnership with Access – the Foundation for Social Investment, the Diversity Forum has funding in 2018 to embark on a year-long project with five strands:
• Leadership and convening;
• Research: commissioning research;
• Skills development and resources sharing;
• Data sharing and networks mapping;
• Communications.
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