Inclusion & Diversity

The key to the success of Ninepoint Financial Group (NFGI) has been our focus on identifying people with the skills, integrity and passion to join us on our mission to build Canada's best alternative asset and wealth management firms. Our ongoing success in achieving that mission reflects the quality of the people in our organization and their commitment and accountability to both our clients and each other. An unintentional outcome of that pursuit is the considerable diversity of our organization. In an industry with a well-documented history of a lack of diversity, over half of our staff and over 60% of our management team bring diverse backgrounds and experiences to our firm.

That said, we can and should be better. We have been horrified by the murder of George Floyd and the systemic racism it laid bare. It is not enough to sit by quietly, comfortable that we run a relatively diverse organization, thinking "we have done our part". Change on the scale our society needs means we need to do more, both inside our organization and more broadly in our community.

As a result, we are immediately pursuing the following four initiatives, with the goal of improving diversity and inclusion both within NFGI and in our community more generally:

We acknowledge that each of us, regardless of our background, likely hold biases and stereotypes that can insult, harm or disadvantage those who are different than we are. Every employee will now be required to complete diversity training as part of our annual compliance program, in addition to our ongoing respect in the workplace training.
Despite our success to date attracting a relatively diverse employee base, we can and will do more. Going forward, we commit to broadening our candidate pool, for every new position, with the goal of further increasing our organization's overall diversity.
As a leader in the communities we serve, NFGI has a long history of giving to charitable causes in those communities. Going forward, NFGI is committed to ensuring that causes which promote inclusion and diversity in our communities are materially represented in the charities we donate to.
Beginning immediately, NFGI is launching an employee diversity donation matching program. Employee donations to causes seeking to promote and improve diversity and inclusion in our community will be matched 1:1 by NFGI, up to $2500 per employee.

Our intention has always been to ensure that every employee or potential employee at NFGI is treated fairly and given equal opportunity for placement and advancement regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or disability. Part of achieving true diversity within our organization is not simply to know that all our employees are equal. We must celebrate all of our unique backgrounds and acknowledge that what some have had to overcome prior to joining our team and what some endure outside our working environment is not the same. We expect that all our employees and partners will support diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as your role impacts the success of our diversity initiative and commitment to continuous improvement. With the actions outlined above, we hope to do our part in pushing the goal of diversity, equality and inclusion into our society as a whole.

It is hard to put into words the pride we feel for what we have accomplished together with each of you over the past three years at NFGI. Our people have always been both our strength and our greatest asset. Increasing our diversity will only make us stronger.

Best,

John & James