Diverse Asset Managers

Starting in 2010, Knight Foundation embarked on an effort to diversify its endowment holdings. As of June 30, 2018, the foundation had invested $830 million with diverse-owned firms, representing 36 percent of its endowment. Below, read more research, insights and news on diversity in asset management.

Woman- and minority-owned firms currently manage 39% of the Knight Foundation endowment

Since 2010, Knight Foundation has intentionally sought diversity in the ownership of the asset management firms where it invests. As of December 31, 2019, the foundation had invested $875 million with firms that are substantially- or majority-owned by women or minorities, representing 39 percent of its endowment.

Summary of Knight Foundation Woman- and Minority-Owned Managers

RESEARCH

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Diversity of Asset Managers in Philanthropy

A study to assess the representation of women and racial or ethnic minorities among investment firms used by the country’s top 50 charitable foundations

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February 12, 2020

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Diversifying Investments: A Study of Ownership Diversity and Performance in the Asset Management Industry

Research across a multitude of fields and industries has identified the potential economic and social benefits of diversity. Yet the asset management industry continues to struggle with a lack of diversity. […]

January 28, 2019

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Diversifying Investments

A study of ownership diversity in the asset management industry

May 3, 2017

REFLECTIONS FROM THE FIELD

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Aligning investments with our mission: Diversifying Investment Managers

Since its founding in 1940, the staff and trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund have increasingly recognized how our philanthropic efforts have influence beyond just grant dollars. The RBF, therefore, has taken the position that all its activities and resources must be utilized for meaningful progress toward its mission to advance social change, which contributes to a more just, sustainable and peaceful world.[…]

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Diversification can generate better returns

Eight years ago, Silicon Valley Community Foundation began examining the diversity of our staff, grantees, board members and our community, prompting us to also look closely at our investment portfolio. We discovered that it clearly lacked diversity. […]

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Investing in Diverse Asset Managers: A Performance Imperative

The investment team at Carnegie Corporation of New York is tasked with maximizing our endowment’s returns so that the grantmaking foundation established by Andrew Carnegie more than 100 years ago can fulfill its mission of doing “real and permanent good in this world.” […]

Research shows firms owned by women and minorities manage just 1.3 percent of assets in the $69 trillion asset management industry, though their performance is not statistically different from the industry as a whole, Knight Foundation’s chief financial officer Juan Martinez told the U.S. House Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion. In fact, a […]

June 25, 2019

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Op-Ed: Diversity Pays

Women- and minority-owned companies manage more than a third of the Knight Foundation’s endowment. It’s paying off. Several years ago, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation decided to start investing portions of our multi-billion-dollar endowment with firms owned and managed by women […]

June 12, 2019

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An Intolerance of Failure? Evidence from U.S. Private Equity

In our 2018 Diverse Asset Management Study (found here), we show that the asset management industry is characterized by extremely low levels of diversity in ownership. Overall, diverse-owned managers – defined as asset managers with significant female or ethnic minority ownership […]

June 11, 2019