Equality Impact Investing Project and Funders Together Announce New Partnership
The Equality Impact Investing Project (EIIP) and Funders Together are pleased to announce a new partnership that will see Funders Together become the fiscal host for EIIP’s work, while creating a stronger platform for strategic collaboration across philanthropy, social investment and community-led change.
The partnership brings together two collaboratives that have long worked to connect funders, investors, equality organisations and their infrastructure. While EIIP will continue to operate as an independent initiative, guided by its own Advisory Board, the new arrangement creates opportunities for deeper collaboration with Funders Together on shared priorities, learning and strategic projects.
Both organisations are committed to bringing together those who fund change and those who experience and drive it. Through their respective networks, they have championed approaches that place communities, frontline experience and equality at the centre of decision-making, recognising that lasting social change requires collaboration across sectors, disciplines and forms of capital.
At a time of deepening inequality, EIIP and Funders Together believe that achieving meaningful change requires a broader conversation about power and capital. Alongside grant making and philanthropy, unlocking the full potential of social investment, impact capital and community-led finance will be critical to building a more equitable, just and sustainable future. Both believe that communities should be recognised not only as beneficiaries of investment, but as generators of assets, knowledge, innovation and value.
While EIIP will continue to operate as an independent initiative, guided by its own Advisory Board, the new arrangement creates opportunities for deeper collaboration with Funders Together on shared priorities, learning and strategic projects.
The partnership reflects a shared ambition to harness the broadest possible range of capital for social change and to ensure that investment and philanthropy reaches organisations and communities that have historically been excluded from mainstream financial systems. It also responds to growing demand from a new generation of equality focused philanthropists, grant funders, investors and changemakers seeking to partner in vehicles and approaches that are more participatory, accountable and rooted in front line insight.
The organisations share a commitment to bridging top-down and bottom-up perspectives, ensuring that communities have a stronger voice in shaping how resources are generated, allocated and deployed.
Together, EIIP and Funders Together will continue to champion approaches that build community wealth, strengthen community power and create more equitable systems of finance and investment. They are particularly interested in advancing a place-based agenda that addresses inequalities within places as well as between them, recognising that equitable outcomes require attention to both geography and structural inequality.
Acknowledging Social Investment Business and The Access Foundation for Social Investment
As EIIP begins this new chapter, both organisations would like to express their sincere thanks to Social Investment Business for hosting EIIP since 2018.
Over the past eight years, Social Investment Business has provided invaluable support, enabling EIIP to establish itself as a leading voice at the intersection of equality, social investment and systems change. Its commitment to innovation, collaboration and impact has helped create the foundations from which this next phase can grow. Earlier this week, Access announced half a million pounds of investment for EIIP to now build on this, growing its cross-sector movement to centre advancing equity and justice in the investment ecosystem.
Quotes:
Ceri Goddard, Founder and Co- Director Equality Impact Investing Project said
“This partnership is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: inequality is not inevitable, if we want to shift unequal outcomes, we must also shift capital. For too long, conversations about inequality and conversations about investment have happened in separate spaces. This new arrangement gives EIIP a strong platform for its next phase while preserving the independence and collaborative spirit that have always been central to our work. Together with Funders Together and its members, we have an opportunity to better connect those conversations and help build a stronger ecosystem for equality impact finance and social change. We are also deeply grateful to Social Investment Business for its vision, support and trust since 2018”
Rana Zincir Celal, Co – Director Equality Impact Investing Project said
“The next phase of EIIP will place a strong emphasis on learning from and with the many inspiring equality impact investing initiatives already underway, as well as new ones emerging across the UK and globally. Funders Together is an ideal home for this next chapter, connecting us to a vibrant community of funders who are committed to tackling inequalities and helping create the conditions for deeper collaboration, learning and impact.”
James Banks, Chief Executive of Funders Together said
“We are delighted to become the fiscal host for EIIP and to deepen what is already a strong relationship. This partnership is not just about organisational arrangements, but is an opportunity to use/draw on/ our complementary networks, ideas and expertise to explore how philanthropy, social investment and community action can work together to tackle inequality and create lasting change.”
Jenny North, Chair of Funders Together said:
“Both Funders Together and EIIP believe that lasting change happens when funders and communities work in partnership. Acting as a fiscal host for an initiative which aligns so closely with our ambitions creates new opportunities for shared learning, innovation and collective action. It will help advance the vision we hold of communities being active agents in shaping their own economic futures, and that is hugely exciting.”
Notes for Editors:
The Equality Impact Investing Project (EIIP) is a collaborative, not-for-profit initiative established in 2018 to advance “equality impact investing” - investment and philanthropy used intentionally to tackle inequality and promote social justice. Working across the social investment, philanthropy and equality sectors, EIIP connects investors, funders, policymakers and community organisations, combining research, capacity building and collective action to drive change. It has played a leading role in defining the field, producing influential thought leadership, convening cross-sector partnerships including a national taskforce, and supporting the development of new funds and approaches that better connect capital with the communities it is intended to serve.
As EIIP enters its next phase (2026–2029), its focus is on scaling systemic change in the context of deepening inequality and growing interest in the “impact economy”. While progress has been made, significant challenges remain, including capital not reaching underserved communities and decision-making processes that often exclude those most affected. EIIP aims to address these by increasing the flow of capital to historically excluded groups, strengthening infrastructure for equality-focused investment, embedding community voice and more equitable power-sharing in decision-making, and influencing policy and practice so that the evolving impact economy delivers long-term, structural change aligned with social justice.
Funders Together (FT) works with the people and organisations that fund communities and civic life: the charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises that make places richer, better connected and more resilient. Funders Together help funders use data better, work more collaboratively and learn from each other, so that their funding reaches further and goes to the people and places that need it most.
They already bring together four of the most trusted names in UK funding: London Funders, 360Giving, Collaboration Circle and the Centre for Place-Based Giving.
Beyond their main platforms, they also work alongside a growing network of initiatives and partnerships that share our commitment to changing how funding works for communities. Acting as a fiscal host, we offer them connection, infrastructure and shared purpose, and they extend our reach into new corners of the sector.
Under the new arrangement, EIIP will continue to operate as an independent initiative, guided by its own Advisory Board and fiscally hosted by Funders Together.
Alongside this, the two organisations will work together on strategic projects, shared learning and sector leadership, drawing on their combined networks to generate more equality impact capital and advance more equitable approaches to funding, investment and social change. Through this partnership, they aim to strengthen the ecosystem for equitable finance, support the flow of capital to changemakers and contribute to a future where funding and investment are aligned with social justice, community power and long-term systemic change.
Contacts for Release:
EIIP – comms@equalityimpactinvesting.com
Funders Together – info@funders-together.org.uk
