EDI Action Plan 2023 – 2024
As we continue on our EDI journey, today we share our Action Plan for 2023-2024. Produced by our Board and Staff team, this Plan includes specific commitments and objectives to help us move with purpose towards real, measurable, change. Explore it here.
OUR PLEDGE: To continue working together to ensure that the sector reflects the communities it serves and that we use our tools, networks and experience to tackle inequality and bring about transformational change.
OUR COMMITMENTS:
- Take ownership of our commitment to equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Build accountability through meaningful collaborations & co-production with networks and Marginalised communities.
- Move beyond representation to work towards an inclusive culture.
- Accept the longevity and risk involved in meaningful pursuit of diversity and inclusion through open and transparent sharing.
- Act with integrity through the investment of time, energy, and resources in equitable representation
- Engage in intentional systems change and sustainable inclusion.
- Advocate for diversity and inclusion & amplify marginalised voices.
OUR APPROACH – We aim to ensure:
- Equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion are embedded in our systems, culture, and processes.
- Every individual within CCF contributes to the ongoing implementation of the EDI action plan.
- We look for opportunities in how we work and who we lend to, to address the structural causes of inequality.
- We work in an open and transparent manner within the sector we serve.
- We foster a culture of respect, curiosity, diversity, and equality in order to provide an environment that encourages discussion and challenge.
- We promote, recognise, and enable best practices within our organisation and the broader sector through education, networks, and resources.
- We adopt a learning-as-we-go approach, learning about what works and what doesn’t, internally and externally, while building our expertise.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) & Equality Impact Action Plan
Commitment 1: Take ownership of our commitment to equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion.
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Sign and Share the Diversity Forum Manifesto to show our commitment to achieving a sustainable systemic change towards a more inclusive social sector. | Sign up to the Diversity Forum | We signed up in Mar-22 |
| Acknowledging the need for inclusion and our commitment to change internally and externally. | Regular updates on progress against commitments and holding ourselves accountable. | |
| Share Online on our Website | EDI Page has been created |
Commitment 2: Build accountability through meaningful collaborations & co-production with networks and Marginalised communities.
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Establish an EDI Sub-committee, which includes CCF Trustees. EDI action plans, priorities and strategy will be overseen by CCF Board. | EDI Sub-committee, made up of 2 Staff Members and 2 Board Members, has been established with Governance from the Full Board. | Quarterly review of Progress at Board Level. |
| Encourage discussions and dialogue about EDI as part of Board & Staff meetings. | Subcommittee has been created. EDI is now a standing item at Board & Staff Agenda Meetings. | |
| Establish and maintain partnerships with diverse professional organisations to help develop and maintain a pipeline of diverse clients. | Identify relevant EDI & Networking events to attend and assess colleagues’ interest to join. | Regular attendance to the Diversity Forum Meetings.
Actively seek out learning and insight from others, particularly co-signatories, around the challenges they are facing and how they are addressing them. |
| Engage with friends and partners to share our EDI values, commitments, and expectations, and promote a collaborative working relationship to challenge and support each other on our EDI journeys. |
Commitment 3: Move beyond representation to work towards an inclusive culture.
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Create a fully embedded culture of inclusion throughout our business | Review and communicate CCF diversity annually. | Assessed through Staff & Board Annual survey. |
| Tailor and target recruitment based on data drawn out from diversity survey where and when applicable | ||
| Ensure Staff & Board understands that EDI, especially role-modelling a safe, inclusive, fair, equal workplace is everyone’s responsibility (not just the Subgroup) | ||
| Monitor and encourage staff & Trustees (and ICOF Members) self-disclosure and self-identification avoiding assumptions about people’s lived experience and privilege. | Assessed through Investee Members Annual survey. | |
| Review internal Member communications about the purpose of diversity data collection. | ||
| Embed the principles of EDI into our wider engagement activities. | Plan and deliver an EDI session with Stakeholders. |
Commitment 4: Accept the longevity and risk involved in meaningful pursuit of diversity and inclusion through open and transparent sharing.
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Establish EDI Training for the Staff Team & Board (mandatory and voluntary). | Provide training covering microaggressions, unconscious bias, allyship, power and privilege. | Use training tools and feedbacks to inform priorities, practices or changes. |
| Implement training into induction programme for all new Trustees & Staff. | ||
| Analyse impact of training via feedback. | ||
| Oversight of EDI action plan in practice |
Put the governance and accountability process in place to achieving the aspirations in EDI action plan. | Adopt and publish new EDI action plan (2023-25) |
| Ensure EDI commitments “are woven” into CCF existing procedures and policies. |
Commitment 5: Act with integrity through the investment of time, energy, and resources in equitable representation
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Improve our equality, diversity, and inclusion practice as an organisation | Audit & Review our existing policies to ensure these are fair and inclusive. | Improved Policies |
| Identify which additional policies will support the development of an inclusive culture. | ||
| Review and embed an inclusive recruitment process (this commitment relates to all CCF positions, From Support Staff to Board members) |
Revise recruitment strategy & plan. | More diverse and fairer recruitment outcomes |
| Implement blind CV shortlisting. | ||
| Include a diverse panel as part of recruitment processes. | ||
| Making sure all interviewers have completed their compulsory training. |
Commitment 6: Engage in intentional systems change and sustainable inclusion.
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion is about redistributing power, finances and resources. Acknowledging systemic inequality, our intention to change this and commit to annual reporting. | Collect and publish annual gender pay gap and diversity data on the make-up of Boards and Staff within CCF. | Annual EDI & Equality Impact Report.
Report to include analysis of monitoring data, initiatives undertaken and assessment of their impact/success. |
| Collect and publish annual gender pay gap and diversity data on the make-up of Boards and Staff within our investment portfolios. Include a clear statement of why this data is being collected and how it will be used. | ||
| Explore opportunities in our role as a Lender for promoting broader Equality Impact | Subgroup to write a Blog (as a first step) focused on CCF potential in the Equality Sphere |
Commitment 7: Advocate for diversity and inclusion & amplify marginalised voices.
| Objectives | How will we achieve this? / What will be delivered? | Measurable Outcomes |
| Integrate EDI & Equality Impact considerations into our investment strategy and reflect these principles in our approach to impact. | Where applicable and meaningful, incorporate EDI (goals, risks, KPIs) | Year on year continue to improve levels of applications received from underrepresented groups and increase impact on Inequality. |
| Ensure complete integration into the investment process, including the investment manual, due diligence, and guidelines on how to use this information to make better investment decisions. |