Institutional investors are still focused on the work of diversity and inclusion and are really looking to make inroads in DEI.
It is with this in mind that Alternatives Watch, with the support of our generous sponsors — HFR Investments; VC Include; Fifty Faces Podcast; HS Marketing; Tannenbaum Helpern, Syracuse & Hirschtritt; and Hedge Connection — surveyed U.S. investors on their immediate and long term aims. In Finding the ‘S’ in ESG, we sought the opinions of a broad range of investors to get an idea of how far the discussion of social justice has come in the world of institutional investing.
We surveyed 1,100 end-investor decision makers via email this spring. Responses were collected from consultants (38%); outsourced CIOs (23%); family offices (23%); funds of funds (23%) and pension funds (15%).
Alternatives Watch asked whether investment teams had a stated goal to allocate to diverse or minority/women-owned investment management firms, and the majority (70%) said no. The same number said they did not have an explicit allocation plan to promote diversity in their portfolios in 2021 either.
The findings highlight the reality that the asset management industry may still be in the early days of promoting diversity — although many acknowledged the importance of such initiatives publicly.
The findings and the full report are freely available to the public.