Some institutional investors are increasing the number of checks they write to diverse alts managers and, more than ever before, are pushing for data on diversity, but there are still many challenges ahead, panelists said yesterday at the iConnections conference in Miami Beach, Florida.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which authors reports on the state of diversity in asset management, first took stock and analyzed diversity in its own portfolio in 2010 and found that its then-$2 billion portfolio had only one $7.5 million allocation with a diverse-owned firm, said Juan Martinez, vice president, the foundation’s chief financial officer and treasurer, during a hedge fund track panel focused on investing with female managers. Read more