Latest EIIP training - Leading Equality Impact Investing: From Principles to Practice

The Equality Impact Investing Project welcomed over 50 senior execs and equality managers drawn from the field of social and impact investment at our most recent course: Leading Equality Impact Investing: From Principles to Practice (LEIIP) in June 2022. If you have questions about the course or would like to inquire about bespoke workshops for your organisation, please write to us.

Equality impact investing requires vision, acumen and support from those in leadership positions. Leaders have a crucial role to play in stewarding EII within their organisations: they need to understand why EII is a strategic imperative, what it means to embed EII principles and practices into their organisations and the role they and others play in this process.

LEIPP is open to people in strategic leadership or decision-making roles in the UK social impact investment and grantmaking sector. The course builds your knowledge of the fundamentals of EII and to facilitate co-learning with peers leading work to put EII into practice. It includes reflection on the key challenges and questions that arise when exercising strategic leadership for equality impact.

LEIIP builds on our inaugural course offered in 2021, by drawing on recent innovations in the field of EII.  The primary course attracted resounding interest from over 85 social and impact investors – now all connected through the global EII Pioneers Network. Members are able to leverage the expertise within the network; some have joined forces to develop projects that advance the field of equality impact investing. All LEIPP course participants were invited to join the EII Pioneers community on completion.

Who is it for?

LEIIP is suitable for individual social impact investors and funds, private and charitable foundations, philanthropists and infrastructure and market building organisations. We are keen to encourage applications from those in decision-making / governance roles, such as chief executives and senior executives, board members and investment committee members given their key role in change and feedback from participants in our previous modules that such leadership engagement is key to enable them to pioneer. Emerging leaders who are entering such roles are encouraged to join the course.

To ensure an optimal learning experience, there are only limited places in this cohort, and priority will be given to people and organisations who are actively investing in or shaping the social / impact economy with a commitment to tackle inequality.

Course Overview

This course has been developed to both bring to life and supplement EIIP’s foundational report Equality Impact Investing: From Principles to Practice. Participants will broaden their understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of inequality and learn how equality impact investing principles, strategies and practices can be applied to funding and investment portfolios.

The course consists of two, two hour sessions with emphasis on participative peer learning, with facilitation and input by EIIP Course Leaders Ceri Goddard, Bonnie Chiu and Rana Zincir Celal.  Along with learning about practical strategies, tools and practices to transfer EII to your context, there will be opportunities for participants to draw on each other’s experience in pioneering EII. Participants will be expected to carry out pre-reading before the first course; estimated to take 2-3 hours. Participants are also be able to book dedicated one-to-one advice and support from the course leaders. 

Course Outline

Module 1 | The Theory of Equality Impact Investing

●       The purpose and principles of EII, and their basis in key inequality and sustainable development frameworks, including the Levelling Up agenda and DEI (link to Rana’s blog)

●       Setting EII impact goals

●       EII strategies

Module 2 | Leading Equality Impact Investing in Practice

●       Overview of the EII market

●       Applying EII within the investment process (investment thesis, sourcing and screening investments, decision-making, monitoring and reporting, impact management)

Course Leaders

Ceri Goddard, Director, Equality Impact Investing Project

Rana Zincir Celal, Co-Director, Equality Impact Investing Project 

Bonnie Chiu, Managing Director, The Social Investment Consultancy

The first LEIIP course was made possible with the support of the Connect Fund.