How JPMorgan Chase Run its Supplier Diversity Programme

Leading financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co have been running programmes to develop and partner with businesses run by diverse and underrepresented groups in the market.  Its Global Supplier Diversity Programme takes in companies owned and operated by ethnic minorities, women, military veterans, disabled veterans, service-disabled veterans, people with disabilities and members of the LGBT+ community.

Thanks to the strategy, it spends over US$2: billion with diverse suppliers, and they also use its scale to try and lower the barriers traditionally faced by those procurement partners.  It is designed to help grow and develop those businesses in its supply chain, and at the same time promote inclusion and equity across its whole portfolio.  

As part of the programme, JPMorgan Chase created a Supplier Diversity Network (SDN) to let diverse businesses register, to let procurement teams find the right eligible businesses to consider for contracts and collaboration. 

JPMorgan Chase and its Diverse Supplier Grant Initiative

The company launched a strategy to extend its work with diverse suppliers with the start of its Diverse Supplier Grant Initiative, to let eligible businesses access the essential capital they need to secure corporate contracts.

This can remove the barriers many small and medium sized businesses face to competing for business, as they try to meet industry standards for compliance and security. 

JPMorgan Chase formed a partnership with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), to manage the programme end-to-end. This includes reporting back on the success of the grants and how they impact all parties involved.  

“In our on-going commitment to entrepreneurs, LISC wants to establish market opportunities for aspiring businesses looking to work with supplier diversity initiatives nationwide, said Steve Hall, Vice President of Small Business and Economic Development lending at LISC. “LISC investments will be catalytic to support entrepreneurs, employees, and communities.”

The strategy has a circular element, as businesses that receive funds and use them to lead to financial success are required to return the funds to the fund, so it can then be invested in other diverse businesses.  

“Lowering barriers to corporate-readiness by bridging a common financial gap enables JPMorgan Chase and other participating corporations to develop a larger pool of capable diverse businesses to incorporate into their supply chains.” said Doug Roginson, Programme Director and architect of the initiative for JPMorgan Chase.

Roginson continues, “Through this initial grant, we could potentially transform as many as 100 diverse businesses in the short-term, positioning them not only for contracts with JPMorgan Chase, but for opportunities with the whole Fortune 500.”

JPMorgan Chase and its Tier 2 Supplier Programme

JPMorgan Chase also operates aTier 2 Supplier Programme, by working with direct suppliers to amplify the company’s diversity commitments, by encouraging them to also do business with diverse procurement partners.

Tier 2 Spend is measured both a direct and indirect spend and is reported to the company through a specialist portal.   Indirect Spend is calculated by measuring the initial supplier's company-wide diverse spending total with the percentage of its total business represented by JP Morgan Chase’s business.

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