Further to our statement on June 4, 2020, in an unprecedented way, the spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement has prompted us at Kirchner Group to examine the values we hold so dear and to continue holding ourselves accountable. The inhumanity of recent events are both egregious and unacceptable! Upon reflection, this is what we have learned and how we plan to conduct ourselves in support of the dismantling of systemic oppression and promoting the equitable society we value.

Thirty-five years ago, we launched this firm with a fully integrated vision of how business should integrate “earning” and “returning”. Philanthropy and impact are things we feel strongly about. We are proud to support the work of many organizations through our foundations. We are driven by a belief in equality and that you can do good while doing well. Our impact investing fellowship program assembles diverse pools of students in terms of nationality, race, culture and gender. We have had great success, but we will be more intentional about tailoring our curriculum in a cultural context. We will also improve on the diversity of organizations we support in terms of the populations they serve as well as the composition of management teams and Boards.

Relationships are at the very core of our business. We proactively cultivate honest, positive and enduring relationships with our clients and stakeholders, striving to create a sense of community. We recognize that relationships and networks can work to unintentionally preserve systems of exclusion. We are mindful of this reality and we want to be at the forefront of changing it.

With over thirty years of experience, we have deeply held respect for tradition. We recognize the moral imperative for more inclusive customs to reflect the evolution of our societal values. We want to see a more inclusive path forward and will advocate its importance while acknowledging the past and its influence on our success.

We are committed to treating everyone with respect, empathy, compassion, fairness and equality. We hold these values above all others, as we have illustrated over our decades as a firm. We will continue promoting the importance of these values. We believe that they are critical elements to driving change.

As we have done in other areas in need of societal change, particularly issues related to individuals with special needs, we will examine the ways in which our work can further embody our core values. Going forward, we will identify areas to improve, listen to new ideas and ultimately support, in any way we can, the change our industry and our society so desperately needs. We ask that you, members of the Kirchner community, help us to take these steps, hold us accountable and take steps of your own to create a culture and society of respect, empathy, compassion, fairness and equality.