Industry GuidanceDiversity, Equity & InclusionDiversity, Equity & Inclusion RoadmapDEI: Due Diligence and Investment Decision-Making

Due Diligence and Investment Decision-Making

Practices that promote investment in and success of diverse teams

Organizational Policy and Infrastructure
Attract and Promote Diverse Talent
Build and Sustain Inclusive Cultures
Due Diligence and Investment Decision-Making
Reporting and Benchmarking

Support Diverse Investment Teams

Ensure that investment teams at your organization are diverse in the spirit of improved performance and decision making.

  • Go to Harvard Kennedy School, The Impact of Gender Diversity on the Performance of Business Teams: Evidence from a Field Experience
    Harvard Kennedy School, The Impact of Gender Diversity on the Performance of Business Teams: Evidence from a Field Experience
    This paper, authored by Sander Hoogendoorn , Hessel Oosterbeek and Mirjam van Praag, examines the impact of the share of women in business teams on performance and examines support for potential underlying mechanisms to explain the effect of gender diversity on team performance.
  • Go to Heidrick & Struggles Podcast, How PE Firms Can Recruit a Diverse Investment Team
    Heidrick & Struggles Podcast, How PE Firms Can Recruit a Diverse Investment Team
    The National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) hosts ongoing events that bring leading diverse investment managers together with chief investment officers, institutional investors and industry professionals for networking and insight into industry trends. Events provide a platform by which advocacy, business opportunities, and investment strategies are explored.
  • Go to IFC, Report: Moving Toward Gender Balance in Private Equity and Venture Capital
    IFC, Report: Moving Toward Gender Balance in Private Equity and Venture Capital
    In March 2019, together with RockCreek and Oliver Wyman, IFC launched this report which explores the link between financial returns and gender diversity; the lack of women in the industry; and steps needed to achieve gender balance.
  • Go to NAIC Report: Examining the Returns 2017
    NAIC Report: Examining the Returns 2017
    This report provides detailed and comprehensive insights on the investment returns generated by diverse-owned private equity firms in the United States, finding that diverse-owned private equity firms continue to outperform the relevant benchmarks.

Implement a Diverse Investment Strategy

Participate in or develop programs that target investments in diverse fund managers or leadership teams at portfolio companies.

  • Go to BDC Women in Tech Venture Fund
    BDC Women in Tech Venture Fund
    The BDC Capital Women in Technology (WIT) Venture Fund is one of the world’s largest venture capital funds dedicated to investing in women-led technology companies and helping to build a robust ecosystem to support women in tech today and in the future.
  • Go to Chicago Teachers Investment Manager Diversity Rule
    Chicago Teachers Investment Manager Diversity Rule
    The Public School Teachers’ Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago “CTPF” outlines its Investment Manager Diversity Rule which provides opportunities for emerging and other minority, women, and persons with disabilities owned investment management firms.
  • Go to CalPERS:Private Equity Emerging Manager & Transition Manager Programs Fact Sheet
    CalPERS:Private Equity Emerging Manager & Transition Manager Programs Fact Sheet
    This document outlines the California Public Employees Retirement System Investment Office's program to invest in Emerging and Transitioning Managers (early stage managers who no longer fit the emerging manager definition).
  • Go to GCM Grosvenor
    GCM Grosvenor
    GCM Grosvenor has a long history of engaging and investing with small, early-stage, diverse, and women alternative investment managers. As part of that commitment, they host events that inform and raise the visibility of managers while providing institutional investors access to these managers.
  • Go to Harvard Business Review Article: How the VC Investment Process is Failing Female Entrepreneurs
    Harvard Business Review Article: How the VC Investment Process is Failing Female Entrepreneurs
    In this 2020 article authored by Kamal Hassan, Monisha Varadan, Claudia Zeisberger, strategies are offered to eliminate the bias in the pitching process in support of funding a greater percentage of diverse teams.
  • Go to NAIC Growth Equity Funds Initiative
    NAIC Growth Equity Funds Initiative
    DescriptionEstablished in October 2019, the NAIC Growth Equity Funds Initiative is an effort, supported by the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), with the intent to aggregate $1 billion of growth equity capital to invest in ethnically diverse and women-owned business enterprises (DWBEs).
  • Go to NYC Emerging Manager Program
    NYC Emerging Manager Program
    The NYC Emerging Manager Program seeks to foster the growth and development of successful managers with whom the Systems invest, including Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) fund managers that typically do not have access to large institutional investors.

Provide Guidance to Diverse Fund Managers and PortCo Leadership

Work on a standalone basis or in partnership with established organizations to mentor diverse fund managers and portfolio company leadership, providing guidance on how best to raise funds and operate within the private equity and venture capital ecosystems.

  • Go to 500 Startups Diversity Scholarships for VC Unlocked Deal Camp Program
    500 Startups Diversity Scholarships for VC Unlocked Deal Camp Program
    Deal Camp is a four-day course focused on the nuts and bolts of deal making for investors who want to improve their ability to define, negotiate, and execute early-stage investments. 500 Startups offers two full scholarships for underrepresented early-stage investors, especially women and/or people of color.
  • Go to Black Founders
    Black Founders
    Black Founders is creating an ecosystem that stimulates tech entrepreneurship and fosters economic growth, developing global programs that equip entrepreneurs, inspire innovation, and share resources.
  • Go to CalPERS:Private Equity Emerging Manager & Transition Manager Programs Fact Sheet
    CalPERS:Private Equity Emerging Manager & Transition Manager Programs Fact Sheet
    This document outlines the California Public Employees Retirement System Investment Office's program to invest in Emerging and Transitioning Managers (early stage managers who no longer fit the emerging manager definition).
  • Go to Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies and Assets Mentorship Program
    Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies and Assets Mentorship Program
    The CAASA Mentorship Program is a volunteer led program that aims to connect emerging leaders with experienced industry professionals across Canada. Mentees must be CAASA members that are looking to further develop their leadership skills and currently have 4–6 years of experience.
  • Go to NVCA LP Office Hours
    NVCA LP Office Hours
    The National Venture Capital Association's LP Office Hours includes an in-person, half-day educational programs across the country for professionals of diverse backgrounds to receive advice from and connect with LPs and other GPs, with the goal of learning from LPs about the fundraising process, GP-LP relationship management, and other guidance for success as a VC from the LP’s perspective.
  • Go to NewME Entreneurship Education Program
    NewME Entreneurship Education Program
    NewME is an entrepreneurship education program, serving early stage business founders and their teams through mentorship, specialized curriculums, and for those companies chosen-- capital investment. As the first underrepresented founder focused program in the United States, NewMe has led founders to more than $47 MM in funding.
  • Go to The Techstars Foundation
    The Techstars Foundation
    The Techstars Foundation vision is to stimulate innovation and positive social and economic global change through empowering underrepresented communities and entrepreneurs.

Support Diversity on Boards of Directors

Encourage and promote diversity at the Boards of Directors of PE-backed portfolio companies.

  • Go to 30 Percent Coalition
    30 Percent Coalition
    The 30 percent Coalition is the coalition for U.S board diversity with members representing $6 trillion in assets under management. The Coalition works to increase gender diversity in corporate boardrooms and conceives and implements collaborative strategies with five principal groups: Corporate Partners, Private Equity, Institutional Investors, State Treasurers and Advocacy Groups.
  • Go to Him for Her
    Him for Her
    Him For Her is a social impact venture aimed at accelerating diversity on corporate boards. To bridge the network gap responsible for the sparsity of women in the boardroom, Him For Her engages business luminaries to connect the world’s most talented “Hers” to board service.
  • Go to theBoardlist
    theBoardlist
    theBoardlist is a curated talent marketplace for business leaders to recommend, discover and connect highly qualified women across industries with private and public board opportunities at scale.