Becoming a DIA Signatory

The Diversity in Action (DIA) initiative has seen incredible growth since its launch in 2020. Today, the initiative counts more than 300 LPs, GPs, and consultants as signatories. By supporting and participating in this initiative, signatories are building the momentum essential to seeing progress across the industry.

Interested in becoming a signatory? It’s an exciting time to do so.

The Significance of Becoming a DIA Signatory

By signing on to the DIA initiative, your organization publicly demonstrates its support for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the industry and signals that your organization:

• Believes in the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion to the future success and sustainability of the private equity industry
• Agrees that only by sharing information about specific actions taken will we encourage the mainstream implementation of DEI best practices and be able to measure our progress over time
• On a best-efforts basis, will voluntarily provide up to date information on specific actions being undertaken, but at minimum annually
• Recognizes the benefits that accrue to all market participants by collaborating to address specific challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion and commits to participating in future conversations about industry progress against the Diversity in Action framework

DIA Signatory Benefits

Signatories gain access to a community of practitioners dedicated to DEI, get connected with thought leaders in the space and are brought into high-quality forums for sharing resources and driving best practices, among several other offerings.

• Participation in signatory roundtables that allow for both learning from leaders in the industry on DEI topics important to the group—like creating an inclusive culture or tracking your organization’s DEI progress—and ample time for peer-to-peer sharing and conversation
• Access to and input on the annual DIA Progress Report, which tracks and highlights the group’s progress and insights on its area of focus for the year
• Access to a members-only website and its archive of past roundtables and resources to reference on-demand
• Access to frequent thought leadership and resources from ILPA staff, guest speakers and the network, providing your organization continual, reliable support on your DEI journey
• Affiliation with a network that is respected across the private markets community as a DEI leader, ensuring you are up to date on industry trends and evolving best practice

Applying to the Initiative: Criteria and Fees to Participate

Participation in the initiative is fully voluntary and self-reported. At the time of application, participating organizations are asked to identify which elements of the DIA framework mentioned above are in place within their organizations, as well as supporting details explaining how they have implemented the elements indicated.

In addition to meeting the initiative criteria to participate, GP and Fund of Funds signatories support the initiative through a modest annual fee based on AUM. LP signatories provide support through their engagement and participation in ILPA’s DEI initiatives, including DIA, and through their membership to ILPA.

Once submissions are deemed complete, signatories will be requested to authorize ILPA to list your organization’s name among participating organizations in future communications, including the ILPA website. Note that all information shared through the submission is kept confidential, though observations may be used to inform analyses of emerging best practices.

Ready to Apply?

Visit our application page to begin preparing your submission.

Looking for More?

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact the DIA team at diversity@ilpa.org.  We’ve also provided detailed responses to frequently asked questions about DIA.

Even if your organization is not quite ready to join the initiative, please reach out if ILPA can be helpful as you work to advance your own diversity, equity and inclusion activities.