While charitable foundations regularly leverage grantmaking to advance their missions, the potential impact of their investments is not always similarly scrutinized.

To begin exploring your foundation’s effect on Black, Indigenous and communities of color in the U.S., here are three questions you should ask your investment manager:

  1. Who is managing my portfolio’s underlying investments? Only 1.3% of assets in the U.S. are managed by firms that are majority owned by women, or Black, Indigenous and people of color. How does your portfolio fare? Are the managers diverse?
  2. Do the companies I’m invested in reinforce systemic racism? Black, Indigenous and people of color face significant barriers climbing the corporate ladder and filling high-ranking positions across corporate sectors. Consider, only three CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are Black. As asset owners, foundations can help influence the companies they invest in through shareholder engagement.
  3. How are my investments affecting Black, Indigenous and communities of color? As a high-level starting point, investments that hurt Black, Indigenous and communities of color include private prisons, immigration detention centers and payday lenders. Investments that could potentially help include companies that advance access to quality education, affordable housing, business loans and home financing, and upward career mobility.

 Read the full article about tackling systemic racism at Exponent Philanthropy.