The Economic Justice Program at the Open Society Foundations has committed $5 million to Illumen Capital, a majority Black-owned firm, in support of a new fund focused on addressing racial and gender bias in investment decisions.

Awarded through the Soros Economic Development Fund, the foundation's impact investing arm, the fund will support an innovative strategy in which Illumen takes stakes in other impact investment funds and provides long-term, evidence-based coaching designed to help fund managers mitigate implicit biases that work against businesses owned by people of color and/or women. The $87.9 million fund initially will invest in ten to twelve social impact investment funds focused on driving equitable outcomes in education, financial inclusion, sustainable energy, and health technology.

Additional anchor investors in the fund include the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Weingart Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, and Deutsche Bank.

"Illumen Capital's systemic approach to a structural problem is what initially drew us to this opportunity," said Catherine Cax, director of investments at the Soros Economic Development Fund. "The idea that we can try to influence the financial industry toward more diversity and inclusion while also deploying capital to underserved communities to provide agency in decision-making and opportunities for asset creation is a win-win."

(Photo credit: Leo Patrizi/Gettyimages)