StartOut today announced a $500,000 philanthropic commitment from JPMorgan Chase to expand on the organization’s StartOut Pride Economic Inclusion Index (SPEII) which provides near real-time, data-driven insights into the US entrepreneurial ecosystem. This Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Impact Program will examine the effectiveness of various public policies by measuring LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented entrepreneurs’ economic impact in the US with respect to job creation, patents, financings and exits.

The investment from JPMorgan Chase will help to highlight effective local, state and federal policies which can generate successful outcomes for these entrepreneurs. The project aims to guide the deployment of capital toward the most impactful policies, leveraging the foundational work already done on the SPEII.

“The generous philanthropic investment from JPMorgan Chase will allow our project to gather even more comprehensive entrepreneurial data and thus expand the depth of our insights in terms of how best to achieve specific outcomes,” said Andres Wydler, StartOut’s executive director.

This investment is part of JPMorgan Chase’s broader effort to advance equity for underserved communities. The program, originally developed in June 2019, is supported under JPMorgan Chase’s $350M Small Business Commitment to expand opportunities for underserved entrepreneurs. The initial SPEII that was jointly published with Socos Labs and quantified both the economic contributions and unrealized potential of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in near real-time. Data findings addressed the talent and resource gap with a goal of improving and supporting founders with diverse backgrounds.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to advance our support for the Inclusion Impact Indexes, with one of our strategic non-profit partners, StartOut,” says Brad Baumoel, Global Head of LGBT+ Affairs at JPMorgan Chase. “This work aligns so well to our firmwide efforts to advance business growth and entrepreneurship for the LGBT+ Community.”

Initial Inclusion Impact Indexes insights show that over the last 20 years, for example:

• More inclusive access to resources for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs would have created over 400,000 additional jobs in the US, and 1.2 million additional jobs for female entrepreneurs.
• Less than half a percent of all US high-growth entrepreneurs publicly identify as LGBTQ+.
• $1 trillion in exits could have reached about $2 trillion if all entrepreneurs had been given equal access to resources.
• Women entrepreneurs raised $150 billion in funding while their potential was over $400 billion.

Socos Lab’s co-founder Dr. Vivienne Ming added, “The Inclusion Impact Index uses big data analysis and a custom AI-driven engine to measure the contributions of entrepreneurs and then calculates what they could have achieved with equal access. Policies play an important role and we’re excited to examine their impact on a granular level, all the way to individual metropolitan areas.”

StartOut values the continued pro bono support from Crunchbase and the many collaborators who are inviting their entrepreneurs to take part in the confidential survey. The list of collaborators is growing and includes 500 Startups, Aleria Research, Aspen Tech Policy Hub, AWS, Bunker Labs, FLIK, Global Entrepreneurship Network, Google for Startups, Halcyon, Impact Hub New York Metropolitan Area, NVCA/Venture Forward, KiwiTech, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, Out Leadership, PayPal, PitchBook, Republic, Reaching Out MBA, Silicon Valley Bank, Social Venture Circle, TechCrunch, Techstars, US SEC Small Business Advocacy Team, Vets in Tech and many others.

StartOut and their collaborators invite all entrepreneurs throughout the US to participate in this seminal DEI project and this survey. Participation is entirely voluntary, and all responses are held in confidentiality. Only aggregated, anonymized insights are shared publicly. Entrepreneurs in the US can easily complete the survey in 2-4 minutes and it can be accessed securely online at: https://bit.ly/3gSealD

The StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index is publicly available for free to all at www.inclusionindexes.org or www.startout.org/speii.

About JPMorgan Chase:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $3.7 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of customers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

About StartOut:

Founded in 2009, StartOut, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is the largest national organization to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs with over 17K members nationwide. Its mission is to increase the number, diversity, and impact of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and amplify their stories to drive the economic empowerment of the community. StartOut helps aspiring LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs start new companies; supports current entrepreneurs as they grow and expand their existing businesses; and engages successful entrepreneurs as role models and mentors, on its online portal and through targeted events nationwide. For more information, please visit www.startout.org.

About Socos Labs:

The mad science incubator, Socos Labs, was founded by Dr. Vivienne Ming to explore solutions to the world’s most intractable human problems. Socos experiments with whole new visions of work, education, health, innovation, and inclusive economies to inform more human-centered policy. To learn more about Socos Labs, email us at info@socos.org.

#startout #socoslabs #jpmorganchase #inclusionindexes

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