£1 million funding announced to drive more equitable social investment

The Diversity Forum and the Equality Impact Investing Project (EIIP) will work with Access – The Foundation for Social Investment to deliver against their shared goals of making social investment more equitable and better able to reach underserved communities. 

The two initiatives play distinct but complementary roles. 

The Diversity Forum will focus on embedding equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across the social investment sector by strengthening accountability, transparency and inclusive practice. Through collective action, shared learning and sector-wide commitments, the Forum will support organisations to make measurable progress towards a more diverse, equitable and representative social investment ecosystem.

The EIIP will focus on wider ecosystem change and capital mobilisation towards equality impact through policy, training, standard setting and convening. Work will focus on growing both supply and demand for equality impact investing, with direct influence on capital flows and beneficiary outcomes.

Together, these initiatives complement other work across the market, maintaining a broad-based equity, diversity and inclusion support infrastructure which will complement the role of Pathway Fund as a racial equity-focused wholesaler.

Access already expects all the social investors it funds to commit to the Diversity Forum manifesto and to show tangible progress against the commitments made. Over the next four years, the Diversity Forum aims to help create a social investment sector that is better equipped to understand, engage and invest in the diverse communities it seeks to serve, resulting in fairer access to capital and opportunity.

Seb Elsworth, CEO of Access said:

“Access’s vision is of an investment ecosystem which works for all charities and social enterprises. This cannot be realised without diversity being embedded throughout the social investment sector and more capital flowing to equality impact. Our renewed partnership with both the Diversity Forum and EIIP will help drive this agenda forward at a critical time.”

Ceri Goddard, Founder and project director at EIIP said: 

“A truly thriving investment ecosystem doesn’t grow despite tackling inequality—it grows because it does. This investment represents an important milestone for EIIP, enabling us to scale our work to harness more capital to play a proactive role in tackling inequality and advancing social justice.  It will accelerate a growing cross-sector movement to centre advancing equity in the investment ecosystem We are grateful for Access’s continued confidence in our vision, belief that systems can be changed and commitment to practical action.”

On behalf of the Diversity Forum, Patricia Hamzahee, said: 

"This investment reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that equity, diversity and inclusion remain central to the future of social investment. Over the next four years, the Diversity Forum will work with social investors, funders and intermediaries to strengthen accountability, improve representation and help create fairer access to capital for underserved communities. We are excited to continue building the infrastructure, relationships and evidence needed to drive long-term systemic change across the sector." 

Both projects were originally funded by the Connect Fund, a £6 million partnership between Access and the Barrow Cadbury Trust which ran from 2017-2024 aimed at supporting the infrastructure which underpins the social investment ecosystem. Building on this legacy, Access has committed in its 2025-29 funding strategy to supporting a small number of key Infrastructure and Ecosystem Development initiatives, including the Diversity Forum and EIIP.