In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests across the United States last year, prompted by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, corporations launched initiatives to address racial inequality and promote social justice.

Netflix pledged up to $100 million, or 2% of its cash holdings, to financial institutions and organizations that benefit Black communities. Target said it will spend more than $2 billion on Black-owned businesses by 2025. The Minneapolis-based retailer also formed an organization called OneTen, a coalition of 37 companies that seek to train, hire, and advance one million Black Americans without a four-year college degree into “family sustaining jobs” over the next decade.

“There has been a significant uptick in impact investment over the past 18 months,” says Mindy Frye, an institutional portfolio manager for RBC Global Asset Management, known as RBC GAM, the asset management division of Royal Bank of Canada that administers ServiceNow’s fund.

Whereas philanthropic organizations and other charitable groups historically focused on racial equity initiatives, corporations are now directly driving this surge in investments, Frye says.

From November 2020 to May 2021, companies committed $134 billion to racial equity causes, including affordable housing, lending, and community development, according to McKinsey research.

“2020 has also emerged as a moment of opportunity, a possible inflection point for addressing inequity in a profound way,” according to a McKinsey report. “The global protests following the killing of George Floyd demonstrated the widespread awareness of inequity and a willingness to do something about it.”