The Diversity Forum, with the support of other organisations, including BSC, Access and Pathway Fund, has recently published findings and recommendations on diversity data collection, including a practical framework aimed at all stakeholders. BSC, Access and Pathway Fund are committed to improving our EDI data collection practices, and those of our partners, and believe the newly produced report and framework will play a key role in this. We would urge our partners and the wider sector to also engage with the findings, and with the work of the Diversity Forum.

Why did we need to improve our diversity data collection practices as a sector?

Effective data collection in the social investment sector is essential for understanding if our work is reaching those most in need, and to help us collectively drive change and measure progress. We know that data collection can be complex, particularly when it’s sensitive and relates to diversity characteristics, and we know there have been challenges in our sector, with many organisations collecting this data in different forms. The Diversity Forum, with the support of The Connect Fund, led a project to better understand the experiences of social investors and social enterprises in collecting diversity data, and to co-design solutions to the current challenges. The project produced a report and framework that function as a tool for any organisation collecting diversity data to interrogate and improve their processes, as well as ensure effective collaboration between social enterprises and social investors. While there is still more work to improve across our sector, these offer a great starting point for organisations at every level.

What are the challenges faced by social enterprises?

A key part of the project was a series of listening exercises with social enterprises and social investors, which aimed to better understand experiences around diversity data collection. These exercises revealed major differences in the two groups’ experiences of data collection and how data will ultimately be used. There was also a gulf in how both groups felt about data collection, with diverse social entrepreneurs experiencing it as a very personal challenge, whilst it was more of a professional one for social investors.

Social entrepreneurs shared that there was a lack of trust in social investors due to previous negative experiences of sharing characteristics and/ or personal information to access funding and as part of regular monitoring. They also reported issues with current data collection, with the forms feeling overly simplistic, and not capturing the complexity of diversity characteristics, and therefore seeming like a tick-box exercise. The lack of trust also stemmed from feeling that diversity data hadn’t been visibly used to drive meaningful change within the sector. Despite the challenges and barriers associated with sharing data, social enterprises recognised the motivations for collecting data on representation from their experiences of diversity data collection with communities who access their services. This data enables organisations to better understand the needs of the communities they serve, including identification of the best channels for engaging with more diverse audiences. Generally, there was consensus across the board on the importance of acknowledging power dynamics and making a power shift as well as in being user centric in the data collection approaches of both social investors and social enterprises.

What are the challenges faced by social investors?

Social investors mostly had a different perspective on diversity data collection, with their main challenges around (1) a lack of confidence on how to collect data due to there being no standardisation across the sector and (2) lack of resource, time, capacity and skills to collect and use the data to create change. It was felt that increased internal resource, rather than simply bringing in external consultants, could help organisations develop their own approach to translating diversity data into analysis and learning, rather than simply a one size fits all approach as is often taken with EDI. There was also an overwhelming desire and consensus on the potential to make change through the use of diversity data in investment decision making and influencing the wider ecosystem.

How does the framework help us improve our diversity data collection?

The Diversity Data Collection Questions Framework is a 14-step tool that is designed to ensure the quality and meaningful use of diversity data collection across five core areas – Why, What, How, Enablers, and Key EDI Considerations. It is designed for organisations in the social investment sector to ask themselves these 14 key questions and has accompanying guidance and recommendations tailored to the social investment sector as a whole, organisations collecting and sharing diversity data, and then for those collecting data from individuals across the five areas.

Access, BSC and Pathway Fund commit to:

• Incorporating the 14-step framework within our diversity data collection (including in the investment process)
• Engaging with the wider social investment sector on how different stakeholders can implement the framework in their diversity data collection processes
• Supporting recommendations for diversity data collection being led by an independent institution given power dynamics in the sector
• Continuing to work closely with The Diversity Forum
• Continuing engagement to bridge gap between social enterprises and social investors and make data collection more user-centric

We welcome our partners and others across the sector engaging with the report and framework, so that we can all continue to improve our diversity data collection in order to drive change and increase impact, specifically for minoritised communities.

This blog was written in partnership between Access, Pathway Fund and Better Society Capital. With thanks to Lydia Levy, Yusra Ali, Swati Pujari and Annelise Sauter for their contributions.