Solving Gender Diversity On For-profit Corporate Boards

Summary

In 2023, Illumyn Impact committed to solving gender diversity in the most important room in business – the corporate boardroom. Diverse boards benefit all company stakeholders, including employees, their families and their communities. Illumyn Impact accelerates board diversity by bridging the gap between people in the boardroom today and the women – and especially women of color – underrepresented within their networks. Through executive roundtables and curated board introductions, Illumyn Impact gives visibility to the women ready to bring their expertise to the boardroom. As a result of the organization’s work, Illumyn Impact estimates 11,000 women will join corporate boards over the next ten years, creating a critical mass of women on the board of every U.S.-based public and growth-stage private company.

Approach

Illumyn Impact aims to solve board diversity within 10 years. They will do this by seating 11,000 board members (2 on every high growth private, 3 on every public) for U.S. based companies.

Board seats are usually filled for free from the personal networks of the CEOs, investors, and existing board members. Illumyn Impact has built a network of CEOs, investors, and board members that unlock board opportunities. They introduce board-ready executive women to that demand in curated settings. They are the only organization focused on giving women exposure for board opportunities at scale. They work with any for-profit companies at any size or stage. Because high growth privately held companies have historically been overlooked when it comes to board diversity, they work with PE and VC firms to address board diversity among their portfolio companies, but work with publicly traded companies as well. 

Progress to date:

100+ direct placements of women in board seats (41% WOC) 100 Venture Capital and PE Partnerships ($2.5T AUM) 6K women (35% women of color) , growing 50%+ y/y

Earned revenue growth 25% y/y, covering 50% of operating expenses

Programs:

Illumyn Impact partners with private equity and venture capital (200+ and growing) to uncover board seats. They curate referrals for board openings for free. They host executive roundtables (135+ and growing) across the country to build and extend networks. They attend CEO summits to advocate for CEOs and investors to add independent board members and create programs for women to maximize their visibility for board openings.

Action Plan

Illumyn Impact aims to solve board diversity within the United States within 10 years. This will mean they will place 11,000 board members during this time. They will grow their team and our philanthropic capital to do so. Since 10 years is a long way out, below are details of what they have done thus far, what they will accomplish in the next 5 quarters on the road to solving board diversity in 10 years.
Progress to date:

100+ board placements

~200 partnerships with venture capital and private equity firms

6000+ board ready women in the talent network, 40% women of color

In the next five quarters – by second half of 2024:

Move from 50+ board openings monthly to 100

Double the programming to 50 in person roundtables, 20 virtual roundtables, 30 CEO summits

Increase our introduction rate from 50%-75% Seat 200 women on boards

While the key priority is domestic, many of the firms Illumyn Impact works with are global, so they do have current work predominately in Canada, and the EU, as well as London.

Once they have made considerable progress amongst for-profit companies, Illumyn Impact will begin to expand their focus to non-profit boards.

Background

The well-being of our society depends upon the full participation of women in all rooms of power. In the US, our social and economic future is shaped by people in public office and corporations. The boardroom is the most important room in corporations. In addition to driving financial outcomes for shareholders and stakeholders, the corporate boardroom shapes policies on healthcare, caregiving and paid leave, technology and innovation, compensation, the environment and more. Today, less than one third of public company directors are women, and 40% of high-growth private companies have zero women on their board.

Board diversity is completely solvable. It will take 10 years and 11,000 board seats.

(https://news.crunchbase.com/business/him-for-her-2021-diversity-study-private-company-boards/)

Progress Update

illumyn Impact is on track to meet its commitment to create positive impact on society and the planet by introducing under-networked leaders to for-profit corporate boards. The organization has built a network of more than 8,000 board-qualified women (35% of which are women of color) , partnered with more than 100 investment firms, and worked with more than 1600 companies to connect with board-level executives. It has also hosted more than 170 roundtables, connecting board-qualified talent to more than 2375 board opportunities. More than half of the 180 board members and advisors who have been appointed into roles as a result of illumyn Impact’s work were women of color.

Since launching the organization, the number of women on high-growth private boards grew from 7-17%, and all-male boardrooms have been cut in half.

With the commitment, the organization has emphasized its impact on positively influencing technology’s impact on society, as well as climate action.

Partnership Opportunities

Illumyn Impact is seeking financial resources. From 2018-2023, they raised almost 8M to support their team and their cause. Illumyn Impact has also built a compelling earned revenue model that last year, covered almost half of their operating expenses. They are raising philanthropic capital to accelerate their growth, but believe they are building a company that will be self-sustained through earned revenue over time.,Illumyn Impact’s strategy relies on them partnering with venture capital and private equity. As part of their 10-year goal, Illumyn Impact will increase partnerships from the 100+ today to 600-900, which represents the total in the US. Through these, they provide overall network extension to our talent network by extending invitations to CEOs and investors to attend events and speaking at partner events on behalf of the work. They also offer free board referrals for board openings.

Illumyn Impact will continue to be a resource for board-ready women to work on their behalf to increase their visibility for board positions. They will continue to prioritize partnership with organizations like Black Women on Boards (BWOB) and the Latina/o Corporate Directors Association (LCDA) to focus on the visibility of women of color.