Fundid's Commitment to Gender Equality 

This pledge was sent to Fundid staff on October 7, 2022. We are taking action. We know it will take more than words to create gender equality, so we are committed to using unwavering focus and taking decisive action to drive change. We are proud of our progress but understand that more must be done. We will update this page as additional action is taken within our company to drive this commitment forward. 

We believe in gender equality and that all women deserve to feel supported as they navigate and seek balance in all aspects of life.

We commit to ensuring that our systems are transparent, supportive, and flexible, to not only provide new opportunities in the workforce but to provide a balance that retains employees and furthers our initiative toward gender equality.

• Fundid understands the demands that come from constantly balancing work with the ever-changing needs of a family. 
  • A recent study found that if women received better access to secondary education, childcare, and flexible work arrangements, they could occupy as many jobs as men and add $20 trillion by 2050 to the global economy¹. 
  • In response, Fundid has crafted our operations in such a way that creates clear boundaries to protect our team’s valuable time and promote balance in their lives.
    • Created the company based on a remote-first culture, so our employees can choose the work environment that best suits them.
    • Committed to posting salary ranges on all job postings to increase pay transparency and pay equity. 
    • Allow employees in any position to choose whether they want to work part-time or full-time, depending on their capacity. 
    • Created a company-wide policy that limits employee meeting availability to the window of 9 am - 2 pm MT to create boundaries, increase flexibility and protect employees' valuable time.
    • Committed to ensuring our employees receive PTO for all federal holidays to ease childcare costs whilst promoting the importance of time off.
    • Implemented unlimited PTO and half-day summer Fridays to increase quality time with family and friends.

We feel that these steps will assist in closing the gender pay gap and keep women within the workforce by providing flexibility in their daily lives.

We commit to providing valuable information to our community to empower their growth journeys by simplifying business finance and access to capital.

• We built our entire company with the mission of simplifying business finance and access to capital for businesses with under ten employees.
  • 98% of all women-owned businesses have ten employees or less
  • This is the most underserved segment, which has a disproportionately negative impact on women because they fall into this company size.
    
    
• Launched our weekly newsletter, The Friday Fund, to provide timely information, funding opportunities, and resources to the business owners we serve.
  
  
• We created a Partners for Growth resource for our community to promote equal opportunity in social networks and business growth opportunities. 
  • Social capital has been found to be significantly related to job authority. Studies have shown that women generally have less diverse occupational networks, creating an observed gender authority gap.²
  • Fundid believes that increasing access to resources and partnerships for our community will help strengthen their network, reach, and growth.
    
    
• We highlighted local, women-owned businesses in May 2022 to share their stories and inspire those around us to believe in their vision. 
  • Read our spotlight story here to learn more about their journeys.
    
    
• We review common questions from the business owners we serve and partner with industry leaders to provide their expertise through virtual events with live Q&As.
  • We host a professional Grant Writer to lead our Grants 101 series. 
  • We invite experts within our Partners for Growth resource to share their knowledge and solutions to support business owners on their growth journey.
  • We collaborate with professionals to simplify all things business finance and access to capital. 
    
    
• Intentionally focus our efforts on creating educational content to simply business finance for our community.
  •  We have published over 175 pieces of free educational content that provide guidance for business growth and access to capital.  
    
    
• We created the Grant Match Program to make it easier for business owners to find grants and receive weekly emails with new grants they qualify for. 
  
  
• Our community manager met one-on-one with 65 business owners  to learn the needs of those we serve 
  • From these interviews, we learned that one of the biggest barriers was fair access to capital, which is confirmed by research findings that ‘Businesses with otherwise similar risk profiles and characteristics (sales, economic sector, region, etc.) that are owned by women consistently get worse loan terms and conditions versus their male peers.”
  • This imbalance is something Fundid strives to undo by empowering women business owners with education on fair lending practices, providing easier access to capital applications, and creating products to help smooth their cash flow.⁶ 

We commit to hearing our customer’s stories and listening to their needs, so we can create innovative solutions that promote equal opportunity and propel our initiative toward gender equality.

• We launched Fundid Capital to create equal opportunity paired with education and valuable insight from an advisor to support the business owner as they navigate lending options.
  
  • On average, women business owners receive $59,857 in SBA loans, while men receive $156,279 in SBA loans. Since launching Fundid Capital, we have funded over $1 million to businesses we serve. 
    
    
• We committed to launching our Business Building Card intended to serve companies with ten or fewer employees, representing 98% of women-owned businesses. 
  • Our Business Building card is created on a unique and flexible underwriting model. Additionally, Fundid allows businesses to apply that have only been a registered entity for 9 months.
  • Women are about half as likely as men to receive an SBA loan, with only 3.2% of all women receiving an SBA loan versus 6.4% of male business owners. SBA eligibility relies more on credit score than annual revenue and time in business, often requiring a personal credit score of 700 or above.
    
    
• We committed to increasing our outreach to women-owned businesses, which has led to 88.12% of our community identifying as female. Of those who have identified as female, 81% have identified as a person of color.⁴
  • Research has shown that men are significantly more likely to start a business than women. This has been persistent over the past 2.5 decades, which strengthens our motivation to provide valuable content and education to encourage and empower women to bet on themselves and their businesses.⁵