This report shares insights from the Growth Impact Fund, which was launched in 2022 to actively address inequality by increasing access to finance. It highlights expected and unexpected barriers the fund has faced, such as challenges within the legal process during contracting and negotiation stage of deals, and the steps taken to address them.

This report from Impact Investing Institute by Connected Places Catapult examines the diverse ecosystem of community-based finance in the UK, mapping the key actors, mechanisms, and success stories that demonstrate its potential.

This report from SEUK and LSE uses elite education as a proxy to investigate aspects of diversity not yet well analysed in the social investment sector: socio-economic inclusion, and the role of power and privilege among those who work for social investors. While many social investors are taking steps to address imbalances in terms of diversity, it is important that the role of socio-economic advantage is incorporated into this work, so that investment can be better directed to people and communities that have been historically disenfranchised.

This 'Report Card' from Social Enterprise UK reviews the extent to which the social investment market has been reformed following the recommendations of the 2022 Adebowale Commission on Social Investment. The Commission found structural issues included the de-prioritisation of social enterprises and regional disparities in access to finance.

The Equality Framework highlights how inequality is deeply connected to power structures, climate justice, democratic practice, and how it is deeply entangled with philanthropy’s history, funding models, operating practices and legitimacy.

This action guide is for those seeking to pursue and advance a Community Wealth Building approach in their locality, including economic development practitioners, community activists and organizations, anchor institutions, local government agencies and leaders, and other interested stakeholders.

This report on the impact, learning and legacy of the £6.3 million Connect Fund found its impact was strongest on open, fair and transparent access; and far greater understanding and action on barriers faced by organisations led by under-represented groups and investment flowing particularly to organisations led by under-represented groups.

This interactive Equality Transformative Tool can be integrated into impact investors’ due diligence and portfolio management processes to identify ventures that remove barriers for the most marginalised and underserved people in society, supporting alignment with one of five EII strategies.

The Investment Policy Statement for Justice Funders' Just Transition Integrated Capital Fund serves as an open-source learning tool for democratically controlled investment funds and philanthropic institutions.

This III guide empowers investors to identify and pursue community engagement opportunities within a place-based impact investment approach.

This report from The Investment Integration Project outlines how the financial industry can manage the systemic risk of racial inequity and promote the equitable distribution of resources, power, and economic opportunity across all races and ethnicities in the US.

Criterion's Standards of Practice aim to make the negative and usually hidden impacts of power, privilege and bias visible within investment practices, and provide concrete steps to address them.

This report from Criterion Institute examines ways that blended finance is currently being deployed to address unequal dynamics of power and promote flourishing communities, and offer some new perspectives and alternative approaches to using this tool.

This tool from Common Future aims to help funders explore what Participatory Investing could look like within their institution.

This framework from Justice Funders offers a strategy for how philanthropies can shift capital and power to frontline BIPOC communities who are building local regenerative economies.

This landscape scan from Just Futures explores the growing field of social justice investing.

This Center for Economic Democracy paper is about the promise and the practice of investing capital in coordinated alignment with social movements to amplify, augment and strengthen community power building.

The Equality Fund’s Intersectional Investment Guidelines aim to ensure investments are rooted in the pursuit of systems change, when used alongside its Gender-Lens Investing Criteria.

ClearView Research’s in-depth study in partnership with the Sumerian Foundation explored challenges faced by social enterprises led by individuals from underserved backgrounds and uncovered ways to empower them.

The tools and resources on this site have been developed to help allocators and investment influencers incorporate a gender lens alongside racial and ethnic justice* across the investment process.